[Tabitha Draughon]

CCRA-Carolina Class Racers Association Racer Spotlight:

This week we are going to take a couple of hours trip towards the NC Coast where we visit Newport, NC; home of Mr. Al Brister. Al is 64 years of age & has been racing for 35 years. His current racecar, the RAMBLER, is a 1970 AMC AMX powered by a 360 CI engine built by Sloan Racing Engines. His sponsors include his wife Teresa & Uncle Sam! He says his most memorable win would be the bracket finals in 1999. Some of his accomplishments include: making it to the drag strip without getting lost & he married UP. He has survived a brain tumor operation, a heart attack, & growing up named Allison. Sounds like he's definitely been through it all! Al would like to give Special Thanks for his wife & sponsor, Teresa Brister, Billy & Carole Plage, & Sloan Racing Engines. He says his most epic fail is getting involved in drag racing. 😂 Al & Teresa were just here yesterday visiting Redline Speed Shop for the first time so I was able to learn a little more about them. They currently have about 10/11 cars of all makes & models; some racecars, some street cars, & others are a Work in Progress. He has raced a multitude of different cars & makes in his 35 years of racing. Al competes in NHRA Southeast Division 2 Stock Eliminator, CCRA-Carolina Class Racers Association events, & some local bracket racing at KDS Motorsports & Coastal Plains Raceway Park Dragway. Teresa told me that Al has a very strong work ethnic & even took a year out of high school to go to work. That has all paid off today as he is the owner of Clarkspoon in Morehead City, NC. If any racers enjoy fishing, you might want to look up Clarkspoon as well as talk to Al at the track next time you see him. Al wasn't able to race with us this past weekend at KDS Motorsports as he tested on Friday evening, heard a noise that didn't quite sound right, & didn't want to risk tearing it up. It ended up being the torque converter bolts were loose but he said they were much easier to tighten up on the lift in his air conditioned shop at his house instead of the heat that we all endured at KDS Motorsports. Teresa didn't really like that comment as she would have rather been at the dragstrip! Al even made the comment if it weren't for Teresa wanting to go racing, he probably wouldn't ever go.

Al is a very well respected guy around the dragstrip to all of his fellow racers. He has some very fine, clean race cars. If you are friends with Al on Facebook, you can check out some of his previous racecars on his page. We are looking forward to having Al & Teresa race with us at our final CCRA-Carolina Class Racers Association of the 2022 season at Coastal Plains Raceway Park Dragway in November. Hopefully by then those torque converter bolts will be tightened up!

CCRA-Carolina Class Racers Association is off for a few months but in the meantime, there is plenty of racing left for our racers. We hope to see you guys & girls competing & winning at the upcoming NHRA Southeast Division 2 race at GALOT Motorsports Park, NHRA national events at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Maple Grove Raceway, & zMAX DRAGWAY, as well as the NHRA Northeast Division race at Virginia Motorsports Park. See y'all at the track soon!