First Divisional or National event stories

[Steve Polhill]

My first NHRA race was the National open in Milan Michigan. I won that race with a perfect .500 light in the final. My second race was the Divisional in Martin Michigan US 131. That race I set the National record. So my first few races were pretty memorable. nearly 30 years later still looking for that second win LOL. Been close but not quite.

[James Jeschke Jr]

Originally Posted by 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.

Jim,
I can relate to my first round run also. My dad asked me who do you have for first round and I replied, some bald guy thats driving a silver 65 Dodge! Dave Barton, lucky me!!

[Spyphish]

In 2009 I attended my first D4 divisional at Dallas to get a grade point. Brand new John Holt hemi car (7.50 cert was done at his shop), new license, rookie driver and only knew the Tuetons at that time. Filled out the tech card, EVERY item. SN of each wheel yata etc. Lil' Joe said "follow me to tech" to help me if needed. NHRA guy with Wesley on his shirt starts checking my papers then took a quick look at the car. "Pull over here to the right." out of the tech line. Lil' Joe shrugged his shoulders, completed his tech and returned to his trailer. MAN, Wes was in the car, under the car, engine room, trunk, had a magnet. Saying nothing to me he took off on a scooter and came back with 3 guys and a ring binder. OH %*&#. Then they really went over it....By that time Big Joe was with me running the starter motor on that old orange cart all the time. "Son, what they doin'?" I was freaking out.
FINALLY after what seemed like hours, Wes came over and said that is the most correct build of a hemi car he has seen and used it as an example to show the new guys. Correct inner fenders, interior, trick hidden cage bars, 11 weight bars correctly located at key points, fire suppression, mounted collectors (before tethers were even required). A perfect build. BUT I must put an NHRA and a Lucas sticker on it somewhere. Phish
PS Then made a run and was #2 qualifier in all of SS, heck of a grade point.

[Larry Hill]

My first Indy 1990 ran C/SA with 71 Cuda, white with 383 blue billboard. All the Union Hill, Tn. folks were parked in the "Triangle". We were squeezed in with our truck and off color camper shell complements of Jerry Bennett. Open trailer with shade provided by the umbrella borrowed from our lawn furniture. Across the road and down a couple of spots, but well within viewing distance, was the the C/SA of Dale Shannon. I think Dale won Class and the race at the Gators. His car had the all the "Good Stuff".

In Tech was a long hot day, heck it could have been cool, but I was sweating it. Made it through Tech no problem. The cool thing was the weight sticker 440 ci. 385 hp, not the 440 ci 390 hp that the 70 Cuda's and Challenger"s had to run with.

We had a four round race for class, man that was so cool. I can't remember everyone that was in the class, but here is who I remember. Darrell Stiger, John Foxbower, Manning from Michigan, Dale Shannon and others.

Being new to racing I received several pieces of advice, some good, some bad. It was all said to try to help me be a better racer. Richard Carter long time stick racer from "The Hill", advice: Hold a little bit and don't show'em what you got. Then when you need it, use it, and it will be like you hit them in the head with a hammer". The other piece of advice is from Ronnie Veatch, "There is a lot a ways to win a race without having the faster car, get in their heads."

So it was with that advice I approached Indy. We kept an eye out for Dale and crew. When they were out I would have Chris bring me some tools and go through the motions of adding or removing weight. Making sure that they noticed. Even if we just adjusted 5 pounds I would carry the weight in front of me like it was 50 pounds. You know walking stiff legged like the guy on the "Munster's" TV show. Then change shift points to slow down or speed up accordingly.

I knew I had one chance to surprise the racers for class. Talking to John Foxbower a few years later he said people were curious as to who the tall guy was with the straw hat. I get by Darrel in his Super Bee round one, he was runner up that year. Don't remember the second round race. I raced 1989 Class champ, John Foxbower, in the semi's. We had just enough time to put the weight adjusting show on one last time, This time I made two trips to the truck to make it look like we removed a hundred pounds or so. Dale and company took notice because they were in the finals also.

We had one more trick in the bag. Greg Luneack earlier in the year told me about this new thing called a 2 Step. It was faster but it made the #9 'Stones spin badly in the hot. Also another drawback I was Red or Dead Late, but it was 2-3 quicker.

With the sun going down, car at minimum weight, and the bleachers shading the track, maybe this 2 step thing will work. It worked and I got by Dale's 428 CJ Mustang to get my first class win at Indy.

Over the years we would talk and laugh about that Indy race. At that race Dale a made statement that to this day holds true.
During the first part of the week at Indy before anyone went down the track, the Ladies that used a pole in their dance routine would hand out free admission tickets to the clubs. Well Dale, not married, and crew used their tickets one evening. He said a good time was had by all. Dale said that the girls had so much cheap perfume on that if you were married "You would have to burn your shirt to keep from getting a divorce for it smelled real bad"

I wonder what happened to all the cars in class that year. Greg Gay has Darrell's car, John Foxbower has his 68 CJ, and I have mine. It would be cool to find out what happened to the other cars

[MEXJOE]

My first Div. race was 1992 Dallas. I purchased the1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 from Tony Goodman in MI. K /SA In the fall of 1991. It was a super clean, beautiful car with 17 original miles on it. Ya 17 ! Any way, We went down to Lloyd Bray’s shop
in Bartlesville OK. We went on to Dallas with him and D.G..
My transmission burned up on the 2nd pass. I ripped it out went in to town, bought a rebuild kit, some place, and went back to the track.
I had the trans. apart on my open trailer when out of nowhere, A man came up and said,
“ Do you need some help son?” That man was John LeMoine, from LA. He slapped that 350 turbo together like nothing I have ever seen! I still owe him! I don’t know how I would ever repay him!

I managed to Qualify in the top 5 at that race.( did I forget to mention the car was also quite fast?) then, made it 3 rounds.

Then came a time I will never forget.
I had to go up in the tower to meet with Jay H.The Div. 4 Director. To see if he would let me attend the Huston National Event.
I did not have a points race until the Dallas event we were at.
He could have told me to go home.
Lloyd Bray and my friend, went with me. He was my attorney at charge, I plead my case. Jay sad I, “don’t know.”...
Just then Lloyd said in his “Okie Drawl”, Now, Jay you need to understand the young men, you see here are the Future Of NHRA. You have an obligation to let this young man who came all the way, from Minnesota, to race in Houston. He has a beautiful legal car, and wants to race. Jay said... Is that right, Lloyd?Jay, looked at me and my friend, then at Lloyd,..a long silence ensued. Jay looked up and said, “Well, Lloyd, I suppose you are correct, I will allow it this time. Never again! I paid the entry fee, and we were off to Huston TX! (Thank you,Lloyd, RIP my friend)

Arriving in Huston, we were in a mall parking lot. It had rained hard for days. The track was closed. We sat in the parking lot for 2 days. A nice Mexican Restaurant became home,.
Then another storm was coming. Big hail We had open trailers NOW WHAT?!

By luck, Mr. Mcelroy offered us a spot to park in his huge building! Thank goodness!
Holy Cow! ,
how much more luck could a guy have!

After days in the rain, the race was on!

I got to know many people who instantly felt like old friends.

We pitted next to Jerry Bennett.

I won class! I will never forget it!

1st round I had to race my friend, we traveled from MN. to Huston now we had to run each other in round one.(did I mention, my friend is JASON LINE?)

Well, I did win that round, made it to the semifinals then went on to red light.

We drove back to MN, going through a snow storm and other adventures.

If you think that’s a story to remember, I’ll tell you the story about the kick off to Jason Line’s Stock Eliminator World Championship!

This has been one Heck of a ride!

Wonderful People thank you all!


Thanks for the Memories!

[1matcoman]

Great story, Joe. Lloyd was a great guy, indeed.

[rboyle]

After years of staying home as family demands were necessary I brought my oldest daughter to watch her Uncle race when her softball tournament got rained out nearby. He had a fleet of cars at that race and out of all of them she said she'd like to drive the Stocker he had there.
I told him if one becomes a available for a reasonable price to let me know.
When one did it was in Florida, I'm in NY so my best friend made some concessions and arrangements and next thing I knew I was flying to Gainesville to buy it. He hauled it to the Sportsnationals in Belle Rose and I was going to race it there.
What a great experience. I flew in and we did the test and tune. I made 10 runs. First run I did everything wrong, lifted my foot off the gas twice and shifted early. I got better every round and we picked it up a little each run. Fixed a few gremlins and changed plugs and timing, adjusted the valves etc. My last run of TnT I ran a 12.31 on the 12.30 index. Next morning was first qualifying shot andI don't think I slept at all.
Well I was the first pair down the track figuring we might need all the time between rounds possible. I left on the last yellow and it auto shifted then as it got to 5200 rpm started to vibrate a little, I shifted into 3rd hoping to clear it up and wham bang bam, silence. We t down the middle of the track all the way to the first turnoff since I thought I might run over the oil and spin or not be able to stop.
I shut the track down for an hour at least. Kicked a rod, cracked the trans in 3 spots, spit the driveshaft out and broke the yoke!
Thank God for ALL the help from my best friend and family!
Overall though it was an amazing experience! Got to eat Cajun food every day, ride in the Thrilla, a personal tour of the bayou, a pig roast! I think they put on such a great race and experience.

[HR9121]

Great stories by all and a great way to kill some time since I know everyone is about to go crazy. My first national was Charlotte, I don't remember what year it was but it was the year they changed it to March for one year. North Carolina can be a little unpredictable weather wise in March and I thought this might be a mistake by NHRA when I saw the schedule for the year the first time.
A week or so before the race the weather forecast looked terrible, cold and rainy Thursday and Friday and then just plain cold the rest of the weekend. Quite a few dropped out but I was determined and for the most part I think it was close to a full field for quota. We got there and parked late Thursday and by luck we got parked behind the grandstands where the Pro Mods normally park even though we got there late. If I remember correctly Friday was a complete wash but they had started drying the track several times even though it was only about 42 degrees. None of the usual "Live" reporters were there that weekend so my buddies Greg and Steven Rowe talked me into starting a "Live" from thread so I did and that was how I got started in the Reporter business.
It was determined late Friday that we would get one hit on Saturday morning and then into eliminations. This is where it gets good, the week before I had put new disc brake conversion on the rear of the car. One and only qualifier the car didn't feel like it wanted to leave initially and I had like a .120 light even though I felt like I nailed it. Car runs about .90 under in -200 of DA but wasn't that concerned because I was trying to slow it down. Get back to the trailer, jack it up and pull the rear wheels. After inspection can't really find anything and someone gets in the car pumps up the brake and releases them but for a split second you can't turn the axle then it finally frees up. Must be air in the system so we decide to bleed them and this is when we find out how smart I am. I had installed the breeders on the bottom of the caliper. Genius, pure genius! Get it straightened out and ready for first round.
First round I'm running like a Q/SA can't remember who it was but neither one of us is particularly great on the tree and he wanted the stripe awful bad so I dumped hard and win the round going like a 11.43 which is 1.02 under the index.
I didn't really understand the AHFS at the time and thought I need to slow this thing down some more but one of my friends says well you already flagged it one time so it really doesn't matter now and it was flagged earlier in the year. So I thought he's right and it will be hard to dial it if I change anything.
I had some good rounds and was able to make it to the quarters before finally losing a good race to Jeff Strickland.
So at my first national I became Live reporter for Classracer, won 3 rounds and got to race on Sunday and looked like an idiot making 4 passes more than a second under the index.

[Dave Casey]

1st National event , Summernationals around 1975. Pull in for tech, no idea who the tech inspector was. Looks at my car (66 nova) promptly turns tech card over and writes down these infractions

wrong glove box emblem

It's a nova not and SS, need door edge molding down both sides

There are holes in the bottom of the doors(for the SS trim which I removed)

laying under the dash he can see light thru a couple of holes in the firewall

"Fix it and come back he says"

off to the local bone yard, we find some impalas and buy the edge trim, and cut it down , glue or screw it on. Also find a NOVA emblem and attach that to the glove box

buy some red silicone(car is red) and fill the holes in the bottom edge of the doors

buy some black silicone and fill the firewall holes

Back to the track and we pass, whew , how times have changed

[Glenn Briglio]

My first national event 1983 Summernationals at Englishtown,NJ. I freshen up engine two weeks before race. I assemble complete engine and install into my 67 Camaro F/SA.Start engine up in my garage on Long Island, NY. It precedes to run for 10 seconds and shuts off and doesn't want to turn over by starter or by hand. Pull engine out and disassemble. Come to find a hole in cylinder wall were a broken valve punched a hole in it.The person who degreed in camshaft screwed up. Yes only myself to blame.I called Pierre Mansur who was doing my machine work and sheepishly asked what could we do. Pierre said no problem bring complete engine into Brooklyn with new block and heads.We got all the machine work done in 4 or 5 days. I assembled complete engine again at Pierre's shop in Brooklyn.Got it done on the Tuesday before the summers and asked Pierre how are we going to get it home and to the race? No problem Pierre says bring car into Brooklyn. Next day get car on an open trailer into Brooklyn and car onto sidewalk outside of his shop.Get engine out of his shop and it starts to rain. OK no problem until lightening storm and wind whip up. So Ken Lazzeri of Indy Cylinder fame and myself are putting engine in race car in a major storm on the sidewalk in Brooklyn.Get it installed but nothing hooked up because of storm. No problem Pierre says bring it over to my cousins Farid's shop.It's now 8pm and we go to Farid's shop Fark's supercars in Brooklyn. Get it all done and running at 12pm.Ok time to get to Etown. Next day pretty wiped out but car is running well. I run class eliminations but lose to Bill Quinn in class final. Bill gets torn down and gets bounced for something I can't remember and I get my first class win!!!!! Can't thank all the people involved enough for all that I put them through including my family.