First Divisional or National event stories

[Gary Merrick]

Hi Justin,

My first brand new car was a 1969 Yenko Camaro, which I gradually turned into a class car, a Super Stock D entry, which I sold in 1973. A few years ago after the racing season was over and boredom had set in I started thinking about that car and decided to do some investigation. I had heard about a website that had a lot of history about the original Yenko cars and I thought it would be interesting to see if my old car was on their registry. They have everything listed by VIN and sure enough I found my old car, but it was missing some information, so I sent a message to the Webmaster and asked if he would like some of the original information to fill in the blanks. Much to my surprise, he started a new thread, "Where is 69 Yenko Camaro 124379N663539?" Some of the members started asking for more information, so I started writing some short stories about the car and my DAD who co-signed a loan for a 19 year old kid so I could buy that car. One of the stories was about my first NHRA divisional race and my first opponent, the one and only John Lingenfelter. Actually, it wasn't my first NHRA race I attended with the car, but it was the first where I was allowed to race, which is a story all in itself.

If you are bored and have a few hours, you can go to Google and put in the search bar, "Where is 69 Yenko Camaro 124379N663539?" and the whole deal will pop up. I should mention that the Yenko site switched things around with a different browser and some of the stories will have some unusual punctuation and will look odd and that is not how they were originally written, but that is how they look now. Even with the odd punctuation and characters you will get the idea of the story. If you take the time, I hope you enjoy the memories of this old guy and his youth.

Gary Merrick
3522 Stock

[Jim Bailey]

Justin, my first National Event story in Stock Eliminator is very short. I believe it was Gainesville in 2002, maybe 2003. I knew Anthony Bertozzi from all our years running IHRA. I saw him in the staging lanes waiting for my first round pairing. He said, "Bailey who you got" I said, "some guy named Biondo." He just laughed and said, "way to go", and walked away. You can guess the rest of the story.

[Randall Klein]

When we first got the Nomad running, we went to Hallsville, TX, broke the cam in the waterbox first TT. We had engine parts scattered on our open trailer, got the front half of cam out, but not back piece.....use magnets someone suggested, after multiple efforts we pulled the trans & knocked it out the back, scrambled to find a cam. The beginning of a good friendship with the Johnson's (Dad, Gilly & Brent), as they loaned us a cam, after which I red lighted first round.

[JRyan]

I ran my first Divisional event at Brainerd in 1998. I had just turned 16 3 weeks prior. Got everything sorted a little late and didn't have time to run across the scale before the first pass. We knew we were close ended up 10lbs light. Next pass the fuel dad had purchased earlier in the season didn't pass. Cleaned out the system and put in the tracks fuel which was so bad that it barely tested straight out of the tank. The car slowed down .20 but at least I was on the sheet. Before first round we drained the system again and found some c-12 to use the rest of the weekend. Was lucky enough to draw Gary Stinnett first round. We ended up qualifying with an 11.54 with the bad fuel. The first pass the car had gone 11.32 when we were light. So we dialed the car an 11.3-. Gary was uncharacteristically late. I was like .016 to his .074 and I ended up picking up the win. We made it to the semis that day. Went up to the tower to get our check and Gary was standing there picking up his check for super comp. The whole time we were waiting he was just staring at dad and I. Finally he walks up and says why the hell did we dial a 30 when we had only gone a 54. Told him what had transpired over the weekend and he shook his head. Said it had bothered him all day. We got a good chuckle out of it. Since then I have run Gary 3 times all in either the semis or quarters. I've had pretty decent lights all 3 times and all 3 times I've left second and the win light has been on in the other lane. Go figure.

Rick Ryan

[Jeff Swanson]

My first points meet was at Memphis in '95ish. My car was very stock. Stock camshaft, valve covers had never been off, etc. Would just barely run the K/S index. I was running pump gas and wasn't sure if it would pass fuel check. But the bigger problem was that Red Anderson was running fuel check and he scared the crap out of me. So I man up and go down there with my fuel jug, picture the one you use to fill your lawn mower, and ask Red if he will check my fuel. He looks at me like I was completely clueless (he wasn't wrong) and tells me he's too busy and to come back later. So I do, and the 2nd time he tells me to leave my fuel can and come back later, he wasn't happy. I come back later and my fuel can is right where I left it and he growls at me "It's fine" or something similar and I get my fuel can and get out of there as quickly as possible. I think he could smell the fear on me.

[Casey Miles]

I was at the Gator nats with Rick Stewart was the starter, when I came up to the starting line I looked and my dial was wrong. I racing the car through the mufflers so there was no other way to get Rick's attention, so I blew the horn, Rick nearly jumped over the Christmas tree. Evidently he didn't expect a car horn!

Casey Miles
248H Stock

[Carl Battis]

What A Great Thread Idea!

2005 Division 7 Bakersfield

My first Points Meet was Div 7 in Bakersfield in 2005. I took my B/SA 69 Camaro there with a borrowed open trailer to make the trip. The car was a good piece - I got a lot of great advice and help in the two years when I was building it. I ran the Test N Tune and with the help of Chuck Echmalian, John and Terry Schloe the car ran really well. My big debut awaited the next day and I was really pumped up to go racing.

When it came time for the warm up the car made a weird noise when I went to start it, and the motor didn’t turn over. As I pondered what it could be, the guy pitted next to me came around the front of his trailer with something in his hand. “Looks like you could use one of these” he said and held out a starter for my 396. I didn’t know what to say - I was there on a bare bones budget and had virtually no spares. Even worse - I had to leave Saturday to go to work and knew I couldn’t return it that weekend. “No problem, just bring it to your next race whenever and you can give back then.”

Once again I was amazed at the generosity and good sportsmanship of Class Racers. Although I think he knew who I was from my years of crewing for my friend, I didn’t really “know” this gentleman at that point. We went on to become good friends over the years. Always humble, and a really good driver - God Bless you Larry Belden!


2005 AC Delco Nationals Las Vegas

This was my first National Event driving, and I was really excited to be there and get a chance to run in Class Eliminations. My car was running great and I had found some performance in the events leading up to this one. They called Stock to the lanes and I coasted down the hill to the staging area to join the group of racers in B/SA and sort out the pairings for Round 1. In 2005 the racers were still doing the pairings and this group decided to use a deck of cards for the line up. I felt like I had snuck into a Stock Eliminator Hall of Fame drivers meeting: Dan Fletcher, Stevie Wann, Clark Holroyd, Mary Ann Method, Dick Dreher, among others...nine of us in total. I got lucky and drew one of the non-legends like myself with car that I knew I had covered by a couple of tenths.

As it turned out my opponent red-lit so badly that he left before the tree was activated. I did not have to run the car out and reveal my hand. Second Round we drew cards again and I got the bye run - Lady Luck was on my side. I did not run my car out on the bye run - I felt it was best to keep the others guessing as to what it might run (not that it mattered actually - no way was my car as fast as the legends’ cars) Round Three had me paired up with Clark Holroyd’s 70 Nova - a rocket ship for sure. Clark had done the carbuerator on my car, and I consider him a friend. My improbable run was about to come to an end, but man what a blast so far!

I did my burnout and pulled up to get ready to stage. After what seemed like an eternity (in all likelihood probaby 15 seconds) the starter rapped on my window and held up one finger. I looked over my shoulder and they were pushing Clark’s car back out of the waterbox - I was getting a single into the final. Once again I launched the car but did not run it all the way out. I would arrive at the final an enigma; the new guy on the scene who had yet to make a full pass that weekend.

Now came the final and I was paired up against Mary Ann Method in the 1970 Nova that she and her husband Cal had campaigned so successfully. Cal Method builds some really fast motors, and they both had more experience already than I will probably ever achieve. There was no way I was going to outrun her that day, but as they say - anything can happen. And boy did it! Despite trying to focus 100% of my attention on the bottom bulb I caught a sliver of motion out of the corner of my eye as we launched. The race was already over because she was half a car length ahead as our front wheels came down. There was no way I was going to catch her.

But as I looked down track I noticed my win light was on. I glanced up at the scoreboard and saw the dancing lights indicating I had won. How could this be I thought as I let out a war whoop suitable for a John Wayne movie. I had just won the Class Elimination Final in B/SA at my very first National Event - despite the fact my car was not the fastest by a long shot. When I got my time slip I saw just how lucky I had been.....she had gone red by -.001 and I had dodged a major bullet. On that day I was not the fastest, but I was the last man standing. It was a day I’ll never forget.

[Bob Gullett]

Brainerd points meet 1986. Zenon Kotelko and I were having coffee and he was bugging me to come with him to Brainerd. I'm not a good spectator and was in the process of converting the Nova into a stocker so had no ride. At the time I worked at the local Ford dealer. The had a used 1981 Ford Escort wagon with of all things a stick in it. At the time it fit FF/S. I took the exhaust off it and loaded it up on the trailer and went to Brainerd. Ran the test and tune and was I think 4 tenths over index. New I was going to be a duck. First round drew the A/SA mopar of Marlin Bogner though if I remember someone else was driving the car. We were a few pairs back and some guy walks up to the car and says he bracket races the same car I was driving. I asked him how do I make it go faster? He said when it don't rev no more then shift it. I thought I got nothing to lose. Launched the car and tried it. Thought I had a decent lite. Got to the MPH marker and thought he's not going to catch me. And he didn't. I went a hundredth over the dial in and won my first round. IN A FORD ESCORT STICK CAR! The guy who I beat was pitted close to me so I thought I would go over and talk to him until I saw the helmet and a few other things flying. Figured I'd better keep my distance! LOL. Raced Dave Young in Scott Carlson's car next round and got my butt wooped but still had a great time.

[Mike Schwartz]

I enjoyed reading the stories. I'll add mine.

It was 1982, when NHRA first allowed FWD cars into Stock. I read an article in one of the magazines on how they built a Daytona (?) for the Winternationals. They seemed to have no problem getting it under the index so I thought I would try. I was working at a Dodge dealer in north Jersey at the time, so I rented a Dodge Aries 4-door sedan off the lot.

I drove the car down to the Division 1 WCS opener at Englishtown. The total modifications to the car that I made on site were: apply stick on numbers and class (Y/SA), remove the hub caps and air cleaner assembly, insert a remote starter switch into the radiator fan wiring so that I could run it at will, and guesstimate advance the distributor.

The car was a dog. It was at least a second off the index. I knew I had no shot in eliminations, but I actually dialed down a tenth to try to throw off my opponents. I deliberately tried to line up against the quickest car I could find, and I succeeded. I had Dave LeBrun's A/SA Camaro in the other lane for Round One. I had hoped that the huge handicap would force him onto a foul, but no luck.

I kept the car for one more week before returning it, and raced it at Island where I made the money rounds in Street Eliminator. A couple of months later a magazine did an article on the variety of cars in Stock and a picture of the car from the WCS race was in it.

[jimmyparker]

In July of 1961Okla City had a NHRA Regional event which preceded divisional races. I had a '53 Olds that I had been running in J/SA for a little while on a weekly basis but had never won class. At the divisional I went a couple or three rounds for class and had to run a similar Olds from Kansas for the class. I had a mentor who was Fonzie before Fonzie was and he told me to watch the flagman's muscle and leave when I saw it flex. It sounded far fetched at the time but I tried it and my opponent sat there a bit and I won the class on a hole shot, first ever trophy and I still have it today along with the clipping out of the paper listing all the class winners. My late friend Freddie Cain had the Dragster with the race in it but it didn't list individual class winners. I'm sure there will be much better stories posted but probably none will go back further than mine.

Jimmy Parker