My first thought upon seeing Terry's Barracuda on the paved oval of Gateway was "Wow, what a beautifully done Drag Week car!" The color theme was carried over to a custom trailer hooked on the back, and it looked sensational.

My first thought upon seeing it run was, "Wow, I thought it would be quicker than that!"

My conclusion is, that makes me a great big hypocrite!!

Let me explain, every time someone asks me for advice on building a new, first attempt bracket car, or NHRA Super Street car, or Drag Week car I tell them the same thing: Don't get caught up in a big horsepower race right off the bat! Build a well engineered car, with all the best pieces you can afford, then put together a mild motor to get you out there learning what it takes to turn on win lights, or survive the entire week.

Terry's Barracuda follows that principal to a tee, and he finished his first attempt at Drag Week, which is certainly the main goal of everyone who shows up. Therefore, don't expect me to bang on the guys for bringing a low eleven second turbo BB Mopar! They spent the money on paint, a killer long block can wait.

Terry entered the SS BB PA class which was well stocked with a pair of seven second hitters, and a pair of nine second hitters, so he was along for the ride. But stuff happens on Drag Week, and when the nine second cars couldn't finish, the Barracuda was there to take home the third place plaque.

#12 Terry Keifer Copper 67 Plymouth Barracuda
Day 1: 11.16-123.0
Day 2: 11.17-120.6
Day 3: 11.29-118.0
Day 4: 11.27-118.2
Day 5: 11.13-122.5
Final Average 11.207-120.49

The Barnyard Viper's ET average was 7 hundredths slower than last year, which left Boone pretty upset, despite the fact that he picked up another third place plaque. The big truck ran three of it's fastest MPHs recorded on Drag Week, due to the converter change, but the tight torque convertor and a few changes in the rear suspension slowed 60ft. and cost him ET.

#13 Brian (Boone) Gebhart White 65 Dodge D-100
Day 1: 11.32-120.2
Day 2: 11.21-120.3
Day 3: 11.36-118.8
Day 4: 11.39-116.8
Day 5: 11.39-118.7
Final Average: 11.337-119.02

Since it was clear that the awards ceremony was going to be delayed, Boone and I headed back over to our pit area. We stopped in our tracks when we saw Tina Pierce of Street Outlaws fame storming across the path in front of us. The pace at which she was marching, and the scowl on her face was easily readable to a couple of Okie guys. When you see an Oklahoma gal on a mission like that, you steer clear, and hope you aren't the one she's looking for!
"Any man don't want to get killed, better clear on out the back", Boone did his best Clint Eastwood impression, then laughed.
"Don't suppose David is in trouble do you?"
"Naw, had to be something else...he is a man though, sometimes that's enough!"

Dale and Darren were back when we returned to our spot, but Rachael and Skippy were gone in Darren's Ram.
"So, you got your head fixed", I questioned Dale.
"Yeah, a shop just up the road", Dale got a big smile on his face, "Ever hear of Gary Duckworth?"
"Yep, raced Pro Stock in the eighties with a third gen Camaro, AHRA, UDRA, Midwest Pro-Stock Association, stuff like that. Darrell Alderman drove for him for a while before Wayne County."
Dale's smile was quickly replaced with a dumbfounded, surprised look, "How the heck did you know that?"
"You know I was a magazine junkie back then, and there was an article that featured like 6 or 8 outlaw style Pro Stocks...can't remember if it was Car Craft, or SS&DI...but I remember that Gary's car had Darrell standing beside it, and it was like 615 inches."
"Did you know Ronnie Sox drove for him also?"
"No, that's news to me!" I admitted with a shake of my head.
Dale's smile returned, now that he had enlightened me on something I didn't know, "Yeah, I had never heard of him before, but when we walked into his shop...it was awesome, tunnel rams from back in the day sitting everywhere, pictures all over the walls, really cool, and he was great...super nice guy!"
"Where did Rachael go?"
"She stole my truck!" Darren interjected.
"We ordered like eight or ten pizza's from Pizza Hut, and they are going to get ice and soda as well", Dale explained.
"Quickly becoming a Drag Week tradition, at least one Pizza Hut stop a year", I agreed
"Yeah", Boone added, "right up there with getting less than half of our daily recommended amount of sleep!"


Clark Lamb and his 68 Barracuda have successfully completed four Drag Weeks, with a stock stroke 360 doing all the heavy lifting. 2015 was the small block's best performance numbers, but a W-2 stroker will probably surpass those soon.

#14 Clark Lamb Blue 68 Plymouth Barracuda
Day 1: 11.38-118.6
Day 2: 11.37-118.5
Day 3: 11.50-117.6
Day 4: 11.52-166.6
Day 5: 11.39-118.5
Final Average: 11.435-118.01

Dan Smith and his '79 300 suffered an accident and had to work hard just to stay in the chase for the quick 32, but it was a great effort and the big Chrysler was impressive. I hope he found all the parts needed to return the flag ship to it's pre-drag week condition!

#15 Dan Smith White 79 Chrysler 300
Day 1: 11.59-116.1
Day 2: 11.48-116.3
Day 3: 11.51-115.6
Day 4: 11.50-115.5
Day 5: 11.62-116.0
Final Average: 11.545-115.94

Clark Strong improved his average ET by 3/4 of a second over last year's debut attempt, and I have no idea how. The big Road Runner gives off a decidedly Pro Touring feel with it's massive sway bars and oversized billet Magnum 500 wheels, but it moves down the strip really well and the hood is nearly never open, so I don't know the secret!!

#16 Clark Strong Yellow 69 Plymouth Road Runner
Day 1: 11.56-116.9
Day 2: 11.55-118.2
Day 3: 11.55-118.2
Day 4: 11.63-117.6
Day 5: 11.50-116.6
Final Average 11.563-117.54

Clark was the last no-bar car to make the Street Machine Eliminator Quick 32 car field, and as the class continues to get faster every year, he might hold that distinction for a long time.

While a group of us made our way over to the tent, in an effort to save enough spaces for everyone to sit together, Dale, John and Aaron stayed behind to thrash on the Gremlin.
They came in with Rachael and Skippy, with arm loads of Pizza and sodas for all of us about twenty minutes later. As in...our group...not enough for the whole tent! Since many of them had brought their own beer, our Pizza purchase was looking pretty good, and I thought we might get bum rushed for a minute!

David Kennedy might be a fine Magazine Editor, and a wonderful human being, but he isn't an MC. Think Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller's day off, combined with the effect of cars screaming down the track directly behind him, and drifters screeching just off to our right, and you had worn out Drag Weekers with no adrenaline left in their bodies falling asleep right in the chairs. Rick Johnson of Gear Vendors, who usually is the straight man to all of Freiburger's antics during the ceremony, did his best to liven up the proceedings to no avail, and even tried to get Freiburger engaged, but he would have none of it. This was the first real sign that the transfer of power over the event had not went smoothly, and Freiburger was clearly willing to watch Kennedy struggle, even to the detriment of the final act of Drag Week 2015. If you like twenty car pile-ups in NASCAR, it had a degree of entertainment, if you were simply waiting for your name to be called to get an award, it was painful.

Boone picked up third for B-Gas, and I got third for Pro-Street NA, while Matt Blasco was awarded Quickest Mopar. For us though seeing our friend Jesse Madaffari receiving the Spirit of Drag Week award was the highlight. His twelve second John Deer painted Chevy half ton will never be fast enough to compete in class, but Jesse and his grandson are always willing to lend a hand, and spent late nights shepherding others to successful finishes. When you consider he is a Pastor, School Bus Driver, Substitute Teacher, and part time tractor mechanic...who would expect anything less on his "vacation"!!

#17 Scott Abbott Orange 70 Plymouth Road Runner
Day 1: 11.64-122.1
Day 2: 11.57-120.5
Day 3: 11.51-121.8
Day 4: 11.63-116.9
Day 5: 11.58-119.9
Final Average: 11.587-120.28

Scott and Kim have brought their well worn 70 to Drag Week seven times, and this is the first time they've failed to make the bracket race for Daily Driver/Street Machine Eliminator. He won the class just two years ago, but Scott can see the big changes that the pro tree, and then the lower ET break have brought to the class.
"The days of a part time racer having a shot at this deal are over", he shook his head wistfully, "there's much more experienced drivers dipping their toe into this field, with serious cars as well!"

#18 Charley Ogle Gold 72 Dodge Challenger
Day 1: 11.48-121.7
Day 2: 11.26-123.9
Day 3: 11.63-121.6
Day 4: 11.72-119.5
Day 5: 11.89-116.8
Final Average: 11.600-120.72

Charley's fading clutch cost him the opportunity to make the quick 32, and he had to settle for 35th, just one slot below Abbott's Road Runner. The Challenger runs strong, looks great on the track, and the street, and you can always find Charlie with a big smile, under his black cap with a big gold Mopar M on it.

The Awards ceremony ground to it's inevitable conclusion, so Boone and I said our goodbyes to quite a few fellow Drag Weekers, then made our way back to our tow rigs parked in impound. It took us a good 45 minutes to re-organize the way we had left our trucks and equipment behind Monday morning, and by the time we returned with our rigs to our pit spots, the place was beginning to look like a ghost town.
"Is anyone running the Shootout tomorrow?", Boone asked in disbelief.
"Sure doesn't look like many are sticking around!" I countered.
We were talking loudly to be heard over the screeching tire sound emanating from the drift pad.
"Wonder how the Barnyard would do on that?" Boone laughed.
"I've got my old street tires for the drives...we can mount them up real quick!" John volunteered.
Had either of them been remotely fresh or rested, I fear they would have went for it, but it had been an incredibly long week, and after a brief flicker in their eyes, they both laughed it off.


#19 Ross Dudley Yellow 68 Plymouth Road Runner
Day 1: 11.67-119.6
Day 2: 11.51-120.8
Day 3: 11.51-118.8
Day 4: 11.71-118.1
Day 5: 12.04-112.4
Final Average: 11.689-117.96

Ross makes his way down from Canada, just so he can spray a little nitrous, and beat on his big yella bird! These are the guys that make this fun, Ross is always smiling and joking,even when things aren't going perfect.

Looks like so much fun. Would love to bring a Aussie Valiant over one year. Any $pon$or$ help welcome

Seems like the best way to make the numbers work for most of the Aussies is to leave the cars over here for a couple of years at a time. Brian Jensen with the white 77 Holden Torana, and Greg Trapnell with the purple 72 Holden Monaro HQ shipped them over in a container together, then stored them in Missouri and came back for Drag Week 2016 as well.

After many of the Drag Weekers had cleared out, Trapnell jumped in the injected purple Monaro, put the steering wheel on full lock and did about 4 360's in a full burnout with the car spinning like a top!
"And you were worried about being kicked out for a few dry hops!" Dale laughed at me as Trapnell loaded the beast on an open trailer.

What a year at DW.Billy has some stories for sure.LOL.Brian is shipping the VEGA back home.It broke so its ok to call it a Vega and not a Torana.He told me so.Hes plannning on just coming over and following along unless he sees something in the States to buy that he likes.So surprised to see all of the Gebhart brothers sitting in the stands and talking and joking around on the last day.LOL

#20 Jason Patrick Blue 65 Rambler Marlin
Day 1: 11.79-118.6
Day 2: 11.93-117.2
Day 3: 12.12-116.3
Day 4: 12.22-114.8
Day 5: 12.68-111.3
Final Average: 12.151-115.71.

I reserve the right to chose who I include on our "Mopars" list, and Jason's Rambler makes the cut because he has a pretty wife, who was really sweet to talk with on the trip!







#21 Patrick Culkin Silver 90 Dodge Shadow
Day 1: 11.99-115.0
Day 2: 11.83-114.0
Day 3: 12.39-113.2
Day 4: 11.99-110.9
Day 5: 12.94-111.2
Final Average: 12.233-112.91

Not sure what kind of problem Patrick was dealing with on Friday, but he still ended his week by solidly whipping up on quite a few muscle cars, which is exactly what the driver of a front scratcher econobox dreams of, right?

The FWD mopar guys represented.

I am diggin' the Marlin!

I believe the Lohnes-Frieburger announcing team referred to the marlin as the "Most majestic fish in the sea"

Rodney Munchiando's stunning GTS completed Drag Week for the 8th time out of 9 attempts, and while his 11.58 will stand as a new best single run, his 5 day average from 2013 is still better than this year. Drag Week isn't easy on a car, or the driver for that matter, and after 9 Drag Weeks...I'd have to say the Dart has held up better than Rodney!!

#22 Rodney Munchiando Black 68 Dodge Dart GTS
Day 1: 12.01-111.2
Day 2: 15:34-81.5
Day 3: 11.58-115.8
Day 4: 11.60-115.2
Day 5: 11.90-106.8
Final Average: 12.489-106.12


Dale was still intent on getting the Gremlin re-assembled, with John, James, and Aaron still providing assistance while Boone, and I were organizing our pits and deciding what would make the trip to the Motel, and what we would leave behind for Saturday. Once the drifting pit and the drag strip went silent, and the locals started loading up and going home, I felt more at ease about leaving the majority of our stuff at the track.

Dad was seriously dragging tail at this point so we loaded him up with Rachael and Skippy, and sent them to the motel. When the track went dark about an hour later, shutting off all the lights in the pits, I convinced the guys we would be better off returning early in the morning to finish up the Gremlin, as opposed to a bunch of very tired guys fumbling around in the dark.

Ordinarily, I would've used the Belvedere to transport us the eleven miles to the motel, but since Rachael had tossed the driveshaft out it was not an option. I didn't really want to disconnect my 1 ton from the two car trailer, so Boone, James, Dale and I ended up in Dale's 4 door dually for the trip.

Since I had spent most of the evening with Boone, and had fairly ignored Dale's second attempt at patching the Gremlin back together, now I had a chance satiate my curiosity as to how he managed to get the head repaired on a late Friday evening.
"So...did one of the locals give you directions to Duckworth's shop, and how late does he stay open? I asked as Dale nosed the 1 ton out the only gate still open. A Gateway employee waited to lock up behind us.
"No,...no, that's not how it happened at all", Dale chuckled, "It's actually a pretty crazy story! Dumb luck or good karma, I guess".
"Go ahead", I prodded preparing to make mental notes, he was tired, and the words were coming out slow, but perhaps recounting the story would keep him out of a ditch on the way to the motel.
"I dug into it as soon as I returned from that last pass, and I was pulling it apart when this older gentleman walked up to the front of the car and started making conversation. Talking about how much he liked it, and how impressed he was with what it ran. Now, usually people walking through the pits like this exchange a few lines with you, then move on to the next car, but I realized after about 10 minutes that he really wanted to talk, and had no intention of going anywhere!"
"And this guy was Gary Duckworth? What tipped you off that he was a racer or machinist? I interjected to keep him moving along, Dale is not the natural orator that his father is.
"Oh, absolutely nothing! He was playing it close to the vest and never even hinted, he started telling me about his BB Chevy powered Pinto street car that he did quite well with back in the day...not bragging really, just very matter of fact...and nothing he told me set off any BS meters, so I just listened and kept the conversation going. He was standing right in front of the radiator, where someone could have been working to help me, but I didn't say anything, and continued to listen to his stories and answer his questions. Then he stopped mid-sentence at one point and offered to help get it apart if I wanted him to. I handed him some wrenches and he jumped right in!"
"That's crazy", I exclaimed, "maybe he was feeling YOU out, deciding if he wanted to offer assistance!"
"Could have been, I suppose", Dale agreed, "I guess If I had been short with him, or rude, he might have walked away, and I'd still be sitting back there with a bent valve!"
"So, you got the head off...", I prodded again.
"Yeah...him and I are looking at the damage with the head standing up on my tray, and he just casually mentions that he thinks it's an easy fix if I want to follow him to his shop a few miles down the road! That was the first hint of any kind that he gave me that he was a machinist, then when I walked in his shop...wow, I was just blown away!"

Saturday, Day 6, Hot Rod Drag Week Shootout

We were seriously dragging Saturday morning, and barely made it down to get breakfast.
"My oil cooler is cracked, and is leaking," Boone informed us, "So I'll have to bypass it before we run today".
"What do you have left?" I questioned Dale.
"The head is on, everything is done on that side, but Gary loaned me a tool to change the valve springs on the other side as well...as they all tested down, which probably led to the problem."
"We better get moving then!"
"Actually", Dale looked like he was hung over as he sipped his coffee, "I think John is already out there working on it!"
"He's saved your butt several times on this trip!"
"Agreed. He's not the only one...James, Boone, the mopar pollack..."
"That's not very nice!" Rachael commented as she sat a waffle in front of me.
"That's what he calls himself", Dale laughed, "besides, his last name has way too many syllables for me to remember!"

When we arrived at Gateway, I pulled the fresh nitrous bottle out of the disabled Belvedere, and bolted it into the Valiant, then added another couple gallons of Rockett racing fuel.

They put us in four lanes, and pulled cards for random pairing. 37 cars made the call, Schroeder's Vette and McGilton's ZL-1 Camaro were also present, but they elected to make time runs only.

Adam Hodson's single turbo 73 Camaro was the first to advance, with a 9.87, followed by Chris Bishir's twin turbo LS powered 82 S-10, cranking out an easy 8.92, so things started out with two wins for the Street Race Small Block Power Adder class. The pretty red EFI stack injected 67 Chevy II of Josh Norris advanced with 10.35, followed by the twin blue late 70's Novas of Tom Taylor, and Tom Hogshead, reeling off a 10.38 and 10.35 respectively.

I was in the sixth set, paired with Jeff Oppenheim's 86 El Camino. Another member of the SR SB PA class, he had used a single turbo LS to lay down nearly identical numbers to mine all week, so if I ran him NA, it should be a close match...I had no intention of running him NA.
I left on the trans-brake, had the tree by a bunch, and the Valiant did a nice wheelie, but it headed right and landed outside the groove. I pulled second guided the car back to the groove, then finally grabbed the nitrous button. On the shift to drive, I looked in the mirror, realized he was well back and let off the bottle. Finally, I eased back on the throttle and took him through by 5 cars or so. 10.88-110, apparently he had problems, and I just used the nitrous and the trans-brake to run my slowest pass of the week!

A couple of cars behind me, Jeremy Heizer, and Nick Taylor, who had both turned in low 10's all week, laid down a 9.78, and 9.83 respectively to win their races, but were eliminated for running faster than their 10.0 tech, but I don't think they really cared! Nick brought his green 80 Malibu around for a couple of 9.75 time hits later, and was clearly leaning on the turbo LS.

Boone and the Barnyard Viper drew Michael Peevey's 73 Ranchero which had been running bottom 10s all week with a nitrous, stroked BBF. Boone ran 11.32 to the big Ford's 10.04, and called an end to his time in the Barnyard Viper on Drag Week.
"I definitely want to bring something different next year", he wistfully commented as he looked at the time slip.
"You going to make a few time hits? We've got the track pretty much to ourselves."
"Naw...I'm good, it's been a long week, and I'm ready to head to the house!"

John pulled his Valiant alongside the 87 T-type of Lisa Fischer. He had left the pipes off from the night before, and was rewarded with a stout 10.90-120, which was no match for the whistling V-6's 10.03-132.
"Sure would have liked that run yesterday!" John smiled as he checked the numbers, "best sixty for Gateway by a bunch...track never was that good yesterday, or Monday for that matter".
"Throw some jet at it, go see if it will run eighties?"
"I think I'm ready to load up, find a good restaurant, and relax", he shook his head, "those drag radials are shot, I was lucky to hook that run!"