First Divisional or National event stories

[joe huestis]

My most memorable race. back in the day was attending the Dutch Classic at Maple Grove back when they had that race in the Springtime in May either ‘74 or ‘75. We had an entourage of about 5 or 6 cars follow each other from upstate N.Y. , most of us flat towing our cars using those old NMW hubs. Cars ranged from my ‘69 Camaro stocker, Clem LaChance and his H/MP Maverick, Fred Rice with his D/SA Mustang and a couple other local racers with their cars from back home.We arrive late at night and park in the driveway outside the gate. We all ended up sleeping in either the “Camaro Cottage “, “ Blazer Bungalow” or the “Ford Motel”. I slept in the back seat of my Camaro with my feet hanging out of the side window. I’m 6’4” tall and man did I pay for that mistake the next day ! Anyway, I make it to the semis in stock eliminator and I’m paired up with the “Mooney and Weed” E/SA Cobra Jet Convertible. I win the round and return to the pits when an Official comes up to me and says we had the handicap wrong and you need to rerun the round. Back then there was no scoreboard showing any dial. I don’t believe the index system was used yet and we may have run off national records ? Anyway, after cooling our cars down we rerun our race and I win again. Back in the pits again an official tells me they still had the “spot” wrong. We run a third time and I lose. Now everything is fine ??? I was just a 19 or 20 year old kid at the time and who was I to bitch to ? Still had a great time and would not trade those years for anything!

[James Jeschke Jr]

Justin,
I dreamed all my life to run stock eliminator. I thought it was the coolest class in the world but I had no money! Started buying parts slowly thru the years. I’m a machinist and started doing as much machine work as I could to keep the cost down and finally after a couple of years, I get the engine done. Dyno the engine and it made great power, 17 pulls to be exact. Put the motor in the car and she is ready to go. The car sat in the trailer for about three weeks and then it was time for my first divisional race at Maple grove. I head out to Maple grove a day early to make some test runs prior to the meet so I can learn something and learn how this whole class racing works because remember, I know NOTHING about this class except I thought it was cool as hell. And remember, I know nobody there. I was a very lost person!!!

I get the car teched in and everything is good! Now I’m excited. I have a great engine, car and I’m finally here. I head to the staging lines for my first time trial. Bring the rpms up in the burnout box, pull second gear and BOOM! It kicks a rod out the side of the block. I get back to the pits and want to puke. What the hell happened? I drive home the next day and tear the motor down very carefully to analyze everything. Found a crack in the bottom of the cylinder that was leaking water!!

Built a new motor for next year and was able to run 1.1 under and the rest is history! Sine then, I have met some of the nicest people in the world. I love class racing and people in it. I feel like the luckiest guy in the world being around all you great class racers, regardless of all the complaining about NHRA and differences in personalities. I couldn’t be happier!

I’m truly living and dream being around all of you. I have learned so much from a lot of great racers! And I would like to thank everyone that helped me or gave me advise, it meant a lot to me and my wife!!

[MR DERBY CITY]

1989 Indy points meet, it was not my first points meet but I recall meeting and talking to a YOUNG Lance and Jason Line at this race. I drank HEAVILY in those days so I could have a. few things mixed up. Jason was driving a R/SA 66 Chevy wagon that he purchased from Canadian Peter Boslovich. He was a very thin, well mannered kid from Minnesota. He was either in the military OR was set to join ....Little did I know that in a few short years he would go on to win the STOCK world championship , work for Joe Gibbs, crash in his first pro stock race and eventually win a Pro Stock championship. Lance would go onto building some of the baddest STOCK eliminator engines on the planet. The mom and dad race, all the siblings race, the cousins race, Lance’s daughter races...
The LINES are an amazing RACING family....

[Stewart Way]

In 1972 I was a partner in a SS Barracuda and I also worked for Buster Couch and Darrell Davis in Division ll as did my partner. Buster didn't really like this idea but he let it go but made it VERY clear if there was ever a question about anything, we loose. This is the first race for a new car and once it was at the Phoenix City track my partner and I had nothing to do with it. The car was light when it was weighed before time trials so our driver got some weight and "added" it to the car. First round he beats Jimmy Waibel and I was at the scales and as the car rolls across and I say the weight is good Jimmy tells me to look under the carpet behind the seats and there was loose ballast he had seen being added. With the words of Buster in my ears we threw out our car. No one knew I had anything to do with the car and we kept it that way. Not the beginning we had hoped for but we got thru it. Later that year I got drafted and the car was sold. I ended up at Fort Bragg and kept working for Buster a few more years but no more cars during that time.

[Justin Graham]

I don't how to express thanks or gratitude to you guys for sharing your stories. I'm over the moon, stoked that you guys answered. You've made this "old" kid really happy...and hopeful.

I hope you all know, it's greatly appreciated.

[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.

[nwebber]

My first divisional was pretty cool. It was 2001 at Boise when all the fast A cars were going for the first in the nines. On my way to the track Thursday evening my old Suburban diesel throws a fan belt going up a pass in the snow and I limp it in to the first town with a motel and an auto parts store. I make it to the track about noon on Friday and Jerry Valentine techs me in, checks a lot of stuff but not the carb. I did not know you needed to run a choke plate but had an air cleaner on so it was not noticed. As I walked around I could see everyone had a choke plate so I figured I would just see If it would continue to go unnoticed. I get to race the Tiger car in time trials and am so excited I shake his hand in the scales. First round I get Robert Pond and was just excited to race another super fast A car. It was only about 45 degrees out and he spun. I get lucky and keep going rounds I was pitted down in the hole and noticed Steve Wann moved up closer to the lanes as the eliminations went on. I ended up racing Steve in the finals and he said to me as we are in the staging lanes "you need to get more of those". I had to ask him what he was talking about. It was contingency stickers. I thought it was just cool to see the Wally's up on the guard. I ended up winning the race. Took 17 years to win another.

[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.

[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