The Setup:
My brothers Boone, Darren and I attended Drag Week '06 with our Dad. Boone and I drove a 78 Dodge 100 SWB, with a 915 headed, hyd cammed, 493 which had been bolted in front of the 8" convertered 727 and 3.91 geared 8 3/4 just hours before. Dad and Darren "ghosted" us in a PT Cruiser. We took home 3rd place in the 12.00 Daily driver class despite busting a rear yoke, and tossing out the D-shaft. Like everyone else who has done DW, plans for "next year" started immediately, but the event moved east, then south, and we were involved, like most mopar guys, with multiple projects, and it never materialized.



When the route for 2011 was announced, the fire was rekindled. While I reside in Phoenix, my 3 brothers live within 7 miles of Tulsa Intl. Raceway, we have all ran the NHRA Divisional at Great Bend's SCRA Drag Strip, and competed at HPT.

The plan called for 4 brothers, in 4 Mopars..the ultimate drag racing road trip.

The principals

We are a Family of 4 boys raised on God, Family, Hard Work, and Mopars...the order is completely optional. Now all in our 40's and time together becoming a precious commodity, we thought this would be a throwback to the days of our teens when we would thrash all week on our street driven rides, then head the 70 miles to Mo-Kan Dragway with our freinds for T&T.



A short introduction is in order so that the rest of this adventure will be easier for you to grasp. I'm the oldest, wisest and clearly best looking of the bunch. Looking at pics from '06 when I was 320 lbs. led to me joining Boone in his running hobby, resulting in the shedding of 60lbs. and a much brighter outlook on life.

Boone is the 2nd born, a mere 15 months younger than me and my roommate, best freind growing up. His strange moniker is a nickname given to him by me. Mom called us by our middle names, David and Danny, and we enjoyed watching the Davey Crockett/ Daniel Boone shows on TV, then re-enacting them. He is the runt of the family at 5'10" and 170, and easily the fleetest of foot. Incredibly intelligent, quirky, with a temper that is hard to ignite, but darn near impossible to extinguish.

Darren is 2 years and 8 months younger than Boone, but from 6th grade up they were nearly the same size. The consumate natural athlete 6'3" 230. In high school he was the 1000 yard tailback, the 17 point a game Forward, the second fastest 200m runner in the state of Oklahoma, all with absolutley no work ethic, and a total abhorrence to practice. Dad's Favorite, the girls' favorite...you know the type!

Dale was the baby, always eager to get along, to be along, 6 years my junior with many of the same features. Then we put a helmet and shoulder pads on him and he became an animal!! All the big Universities wanted him, but he just wanted to get married and work on cars. His dream of big time football died in the summer following his Senior year when the 727 in his 340 Duster exploded, breaking his right foot in 4 places. Simply the most mechanically intelligent and gifted person I've ever met. 6'1" 280 gentle monster.


The Cars:
I purchased my 62 Valiant in '06 from a freind. He had bracket raced it extensively throughout the 90's, but it had been parked, broken, for about 7 years when I brought it home.



After freshening everything, another freind was racing it in '08, and hit the wall in a top-end mishap. In '09, after already deciding to convert it to street use, the driveshaft failed in a burnout, trashing the trans, and most of the floorboard. It sat, parked, untouched, until the announcement of 2011 DragWeek stirred me to get back to it.

Boone had traded his 493 and an enclosed trailer for a 67 Belvedere street car in late '09, also ready to make a move toward a more street driven car. equipped with a 440, 727, and 4.10 8 3/4 it yielded easy low 13's on street tires.



Darren's plan was to take a myriad of parts from stalled projects, and combine them in his street driven 400 powered 73 Charger.

Dale had been buying smallblock parts from a local roundy-rounder when he came across Stock Eliminator engine builder and racer Jimmy Lewis, the chance meeting led to a conversation about a 66 Satellite that Jimmy was looking to sell. His son had grown tired of it, originally a 383 4-speed, the car was equipped with an 8:1 cast crank 440 with a small hyd cam, and a 727. He made the purchase, and immediately began driving the wheels off the tired old girl!!


"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines