Why did we race a Stocker? A short story to share

[Dwight Southerland]

One of my favorite incidents happened back when I had my A/Stock Camaro. I went to a track one weekend that was supposed to be promoting a Stock-SS race. I never been to the track before and when I arrived, they informed me that they only ran bracket cars and Super Gas and Super Street. So I said put me in Super Street. The tech guy looked at the car, eyeballed the 9" slicks, the lack of hood scoop, the all-steel body, the full interior, the stick-shift and tried to convince me that I would have a better chance in a bracket category. I said no, that I preferred the heads-up races, to which he replied quite emphatically, "But you have to be able to run 10.90s!" I replied that I was quite aware and I would take my chances. He shook his head and passed me through.
It would have really capped off the day if I had won, but I didn't. However, the announcer and line crew made a big deal about the car on every pass and it quickly became a point of interest and excitement for everybody. I did make it to the semis where I lost the race because I broke out. While I was loading up to leave, the track operator came over and told me how glad he was that I came and then gave me a hand written pass for free entry for that car for the rest of the season. The guy who had teched me in was with the operator and said, "I would never have believed it. We need more cars like that!" Where had those guys been? It made my day!