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Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2481488
04/12/18 08:57 AM
04/12/18 08:57 AM
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Dennis runs an auto in the '55.


69 GTX 68 Road Runner
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2481532
04/12/18 11:16 AM
04/12/18 11:16 AM
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Tulsa OK
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I couldn't figure out why Dennis made more passes either. But Dennis is hardcore and doesn't do anything half ass, including front axle destruction lol.


68 Barracuda Formula S 340
87 "Chrysler" Conquest
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: 340Cuda] #2481815
04/12/18 08:34 PM
04/12/18 08:34 PM
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Texas
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Originally Posted By 340Cuda
Originally Posted By MoparBilly
"Did you see Clark and his Dad?" Dale asked as we waited in line to give our slips to Tonya Turk. "Yeah, Clark (Bad340fish/Moparts)and Bill 340Cuda/Moparts) made the trip from Tulsa, while Charley (mprhound/Moparts) and Bill(wyldebill/Moparts) made the trip from Texas. It was great to get to visit with all of them, but it was also clear that Drag Week has it's hooks in deep, so I expect all four of them to be back particpating again in the future!"

Tonya shook her head, "Well...I'd say he needs to get a different car then, wouldn't you think?"

Can't speak for the Texans but Clark and I plan to be in Commerce GA the second week in September and he did get signed up.

Once again Tonya proves, with the possible exception of marrying Keith, she is a smart lady.


We will be there! I got signed up, and I am already behind on getting the car together!

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2482067
04/13/18 11:08 AM
04/13/18 11:08 AM
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In typical Drag Week fashion, if there are three hundred and eighty cars, and two of them are hoodless red Firebirds, at some point they MUST line them up!
Terry Miller's 3rd Gen 82 was holding the third spot in Modified NA, just ahead of Dale's Gremlin and features a 355 Pro 1 headed 565 BBC with a 2.75 low gear set turbo 350.
Stephen Chechak's 2nd Gen 80 is powered by a much more conventional twin turbo LSX. It was an odd race in that the turbo car walked around on the radials out of the hole, ran the NA car down, but then fell off at a thousand feet as the NA big block drove back around. 8.94-160.5 for the NA 3rd Gen, 9.154-155.7 for the LSX.

We were walking back to our pits and Rachael was already complaining about the route. "This is boring, it's nearly a straight run again, 150 miles up I-55, one checkpoint, then 180 up I-39 to the motel...terrible!"

Tom McGilton brought his '13 ZL-1 back to the line for his third hit of the day, and Lohnes confirmed on the PA that this was all about trying to get the big beast into the two hundred mile an hour club. The 7.51-199.17 was very impressive, but just short of his goal, and only an improvement of two hundredths over his previous run.

terry firebird.jpgtwin firebird.jpgterry and steve.jpgtom199.jpg

"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2482816
04/15/18 12:06 AM
04/15/18 12:06 AM
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One of the last cars to enter the water box at Gateway and round out day two of track time was Finnegan's Blasphemi 55. His opening day 9.53-141 had him solidly in third place, but he had only mustered an 11.78-90 earlier in the day. The all aluminum blown Hemi would need at least a 10.90 or better to stay ahead of Forbes and Grabiak, who were fourth and fifth in the A Gas class, running in the 10.20 range both days.

His first burnout attempt resulted in very little tire smoke, and a few pops from the engine, so he backed the 55 up for another attempt. The wheel speed and engine speed were both higher on the second attempt, but the engine was once again breaking up, and as he rolled towards the staging beams, the tire smoke was replaced with thick blue oil smoke from the headers. He would turn in the 11.79, but the 55 was done, and Mike's first attempt at Drag Week came to an end.

Rachael and I headed the Valiant out of the Pilot Travel Center ahead of the rest of the gang, and started the drive to Byron as the scout team once again. Out on I-55, I put the tach on 2800, nervously watched the temp gauge climb to 210, and did my best to maintain a gap between the Valiant and the cars ahead to get as much clean air through the radiator as possible. Ten miles out, the traffic eased up, and my focus on the temp gauge eased. Rachael had barely looked up from our phones, as she was syncing the map on one and group texting on the other.
"Look to your left in that field, Rachael", I pointed out the window. "What do you see?"
Her face lit up with delight as she recognized the place.
"That's the Pink Elephant Antique store, checkpoint one on Drag Week 15!"
"That's it. How does it look in the daylight!"
"Awesome! We've been on the road for what? Twenty minutes? It took Dale and I like four hours from Gateway to there in 2015!"
"True, but they ran us about eighteen miles out of route that year just to that point, definitely not a straight shot!"

The traffic thinned out even more, the scenery was great, and the small block was purring along. I had the bit in my teeth was ready to chew up some miles, but Rachael shook her head about thirty minutes later, and turned her phone screen towards me.
"The natives are getting restless!"
"What do you mean?"
"The group text", she explained, "Since we are out in front, they have tasked us with finding a restaurant for dinner!"
"Well...kick it down the road if you can, I don't want to stop right away!"
she spent a little while looking at the map on one phone, with google opened up on the other.
"We're about thirty miles out of Springfield Illinois, and there is a Bob Evans just off the highway?"
"That'll work, I guess...they are a chain right? Never been in one."
"I'll put it on the group text, and see what they think", she decided.

We pulled into the parking lot and Rachael spotted Squirrel's red Chevy II A/FX already parked there.
"Hey! Jim and Dan are here!"
"Well, that sucks", I commented.
She looked at me like I was crazy, "I thought you liked those guys?"
"I definitely do, but I don't see Brian's coupe anywhere, and I'm sure they'd be traveling together, so I'm assuming they are out!"
"Oh...yeah, that would suck", she agreed as we walked towards the restaurant.


mike 55.jpgdrag-week-day-2-1146.jpgdrag-week-day-2-1531.jpg

"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2482903
04/15/18 02:37 AM
04/15/18 02:37 AM
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yeah, that did suck.

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2483077
04/15/18 02:10 PM
04/15/18 02:10 PM
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central il.
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Billy I grew up about 1/4 mile from that restaurant and worked for the company that owned the power plant at that exit.

Even stranger the serial killer John Wayne Gacy lived about 4 blocks from there. He was the Springfield Jaycees man of the year in 1965.

Now back to drag week.

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2483138
04/15/18 04:23 PM
04/15/18 04:23 PM
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When the wait staff and the cook staff start arguing about whether or not either will be able to handle a party of thirteen on a Tuesday afternoon, it's probably a good indicator that you should choose another place, but we are Drag Weekers, and don't scare away easy.
We did have to wait quite a while on our very average meals, but the company was good, and they kept the iced tea and water coming, so I have no complaints. It was a comfortable atmosphere for our group to chat about what we had been through so far, and what was ahead.

We went across the street to the Shell station to prepare for our next leg of the journey as the sun was just about to disappear. It was one of the few times that we were all together on the road at the same time all week. We had spent an hour and forty minutes in the restaurant, then another thirty at the station, so I was itching to get moving, and Rachael and I were once again the first to hit I-55.
"How far to the checkpoint?"
"Sixty-six miles", Rachael shook her head, "easiest route ever, just look for exit one sixty in Bloomington".

Twenty miles down the road,we were cruising along without a care in the world, enjoying the cool evening air and the drive when the temp gauge dropped from two hundred to zero. I furrowed my brow, leaned forward in my seat and pecked on the face of the gauge with my index finger.
Rachael laughed, "I've seen that in the movies a hundred times...it never works!"
"I guess you're right", I agreed, "but I had to try!"

We took an exit five miles later, crossed over the street at the top of the overpass and parked on the gravel as we started down the entrance back onto I-55. I removed the hood, checked the hoses, fan belt, wiggled the wires to the sensor, everything looked fine. Eventually we decided nothing was wrong with the engine, just that the gauge wasn't working. We saw Michelle, Derek, and Rick drive by, but Dale and Boone hadn't caught up by the time we accelerated back up to highway speed.

089_HRD-FACES-OF-DRAG-WEEK.jpg21731865_1988889194713671_8319277764490889283_o.jpg

"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2485946
04/21/18 07:51 AM
04/21/18 07:51 AM
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The checkpoint for our Tuesday drive was Carl's Ice Cream Factory in Bloomington. We didn't arrive until 8:45 pm, but it was still loaded with Drag Week cars and onlookers. We grabbed our pictures and moved to the back parking lot to allow others a place to pull up and get the sign and the car in the same pic as required. They had closed down the dining area, and were preparing to close completely, but Dale managed to grab some sundaes to go so we could get our ice cream fix.
Boone dug around behind the place until he found a live electrical outlet, and ran his 50ft drop cord to the Duster so he could get the battery charger on it right away. The ice cream was enjoyable, the company was enjoyable, but I was itching to get moving. We still had a hundred and twenty miles ahead of us and I desperately wanted to spend more time in a comfortable bed than we had the night before.

Rachael and I once again were the first on the road, and we decided to hit a station and top off the tank, hoping to run all the way to the motel without stopping again. After spending twenty minutes at the checkpoint the temp gauge starting working, but only lasted about forty miles before it quit once again. It was cool out, so I wasn't too worried, but another twenty miles down the road, I looked over to notice the voltmeter hovering at about 11.8, and I was immediately filled with dread!

We pulled over, got out our Harbor Freight flashlights, removed the hood, and checked everything. The belt was tight, the plug in the back of the alternator was tight, the power cable was tight. I fired it up again, and it showed thirteen and a half with the lights and fans off, so the alternator was working, just wasn't keeping up for some reason. I began to suspect that one of my Optimas might be going bad. Back on I-39 North, I started cycling the fans on and off, which was dicey since I had no temp gauge, and slowly but surely the voltmeter climbed back up to 12.6 or so and I breathed a little easier.

22712312_779860468864099_8078679711471671139_o.jpg20170912_205632.jpg

"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2485960
04/21/18 09:07 AM
04/21/18 09:07 AM
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Tulsa OK
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Billy have you ever tried plugging your scoop on the road? I have often wondered if a forward scoop works against the radiator airflow when going down the highway. My car with the stock hood is very sensitive to airflow, it will warm up when there is a semi a long ways up the road, i can't imagine a scoop jamming air in would help any of that.


68 Barracuda Formula S 340
87 "Chrysler" Conquest
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2486133
04/21/18 05:27 PM
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Clark, Have not tried that.

It was a little before midnight when we pulled into the curved entryway to the Country Hearth Inn in Rochelle Illinois. It was a fairly new motel built across the street from an equally new Super 8. It wasn't a very developed area, so both motels were surrounded by large expanses of grass fields but featured small parking lots.

The truth about "Trailer Week" as our own Ray Meyers (sixpackgut/Moparts) likes to call it is that many of these guys love using those small, short trailers to haul all their extra stuff, but nearly all of them lack the skill or patience to back them up more than four feet without jackknifing them. So four of our trailer pullers had chose to park along the curb of the barely two lane wide curved entryway. I started laughing as we drove past them, and I saw the semi with his 53 foot trailer sitting in front of the office with his door open, all lights and four-ways on, engine running.
"What's so funny?" Rachael asked, giving me a look.
"As a truck driver, I can tell you that the only way he can make it out is with his passenger's front tire rubbing on the outside curb, and his back trailer duals rubbing on the inside curb. That means every single one of those Drag Weekers are going to have to move their cars for him to get out of here!"
I was able to barely squeeze the Valiant past his front fender and find a spot to park, then we grabbed our bags and headed to the lobby.
The Driver was standing in front of the desk, clearly agitated, and it was obvious that he had been berating the night clerk for quite some time. The young man's hands were shaking as he checked the computer screen in front of him, trying to match the tag numbers on a hand written note to those turned in by the room registrations. I interjected myself into the conversation in the hopes of calming everyone down, and expediting the issue of our rooms.
"The yellow 67 Mustang is Rich Pedraza, if you have that name on your guest list."
The clerk's shoulders dropped and he exhaled audibly, "Thank God...I wasn't having any luck with these tag numbers!"
The trucker turned and sized me up. "Any idea about the white notch or the blue Camaro?"
I gave them two possible names for each car, and the clerk found matches for both on his list. He was clearly relieved , and happy, but his hands were still shaking as he reached for the phone to call the rooms.
"Sorry, I have no idea who owns the tan fox body though."
The trucker laughed, "He doesn't know what a fox body is, but that's the one owner he found by the tag number."
"Okay", the clerk stammered, "I reached all of them, and they'll be right down to move."
The trucker spun on his heel and walked back out to his truck without another word.
"Thanks...thanks a bunch...I thought he was going to pull me over this counter!"
"No problem!"
A disheveled twenty something walked by with shorts and flip flops, shook his head with an embarrassed smile and walked out to one of the cars.
"Two rooms for Billy Gebhart, pre-paid", I explained.
"The clerk brought up our info and issued key cards. One of the rooms smelled of cigarette smoke, so I sent Rachael back down to confront him. She returned a few minutes later to explain that these were the last two rooms, and the smelly one had been "converted" from smoking to non-smoking in the last week.
"He said they shampooed it and aired it out", Rachael shrugged.
"Dylan smokes, Dale's wife smokes, Darren's ex smoked, so we'll leave this room for them, and take the other one. You know Boone would have a cow if he had to sleep in here!"
I had already gave Darren detailed instructions on the phone to find the motel while Rachael was in the shower, so I went straight to bed after mine, and I never heard the other guys even come in the room, so Rachael must've got up and handed out the keys.

Wednesday Day 3, Byron Dragway
I got up, showered and dressed before I got Rachael out of bed, then I grabbed my bag and headed down to the car. I recognized Car Craft Editor John McGann in the hallway and I introduced myself.
"You know I have an IMM built small block in my 62 Valiant", I explained.
"Brian and his Dad are good guys", he nodded, "We've worked together on several articles."
"I've seen those, good reading, so that's why I mentioned it".
"So you like the engine?"
"Yeah", I smiled, "Pump gas driver, 10.30's on motor, 9.40's on juice, fourth Drag Week in a row with only plug and oil changes..."
"That's awesome! Certainly nothing to complain about there!"
"So, you enjoying this so far?" I asked as he popped the trunk on the HellCat Challenger and slipped his bag inside.
"Yes! This is awesome, so glad Hot Rod invited me to tag along!"
"The event, or the car?" I asked with a slight chuckle.
"Both!" He laughed, "Driving this HellCat, getting to make a pass each day, taking pictures of all these great cars and interacting with all the people...it's been a dream week so far!"
I walked over to the Valiant and stuffed my bag in the back, listening to the rumble of the Challenger as it disappeared into the morning fog, and I couldn't help but be a little jealous of John.

20170913_072019.jpg20170913_072311.jpg20170913_072303.jpgdrag-week-day-3-1823.jpg

"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2486155
04/21/18 06:33 PM
04/21/18 06:33 PM
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I thought the fog was Thursday morning, not Wednesday morning? smile

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2486160
04/21/18 06:56 PM
04/21/18 06:56 PM
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Wednesday morning was just an appetizer, it burned off pretty quickly. Thursday morning was the main course!!


"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2487120
04/24/18 06:06 AM
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In my mind's eye, it was about fifteen miles from the motel to Byron Dragway, and had that been remotely accurate, we would have rolled through the gate on fumes and been ready to dump in some Rockett 114, to make a nitrous pass. It was, however, twenty-eight miles in reality, and that was about to become a problem. The fog was gone, and the morning sun was bright by the time we covered the eleven miles north on I-39 to exit 111. IL State Route 72 is a narrow, meandering two lane that is completely without shoulders. The curbside boundary lines had been sprayed at the very edges of the asphalt, and there was less than six inches of gravel before the lush green drainage ditches on each side came up to meet the road. It appeared that every participant and spectator attending the event was using this stretch of road, and we were in bumper to bumper traffic as far as I could see ahead and behind us. This development had me once more nervously watching the temp gauge, which had decided to work again. I should have been nervously watching the fuel gauge, but that's a feature on the fifty-five year old car that I have never attempted to repair.
The first time the noisy electric fuel pump changed pitch, Rachael's eyebrows shot up, and she turned her head to look directly at me.
"Dang it Dad, is that what I think it is?"
"Yes dear, we're scavenging the bottom of the tank!"
"You should've stopped at the BP when we came off the exit."
"Apparently! How far are we from the track?"
She looked down at her phone, "still nine more miles".
The engine coughed, and I tapped the accelerator pumps a few times while shaking the car side to side.
"We aren't going to make it that far. Is there another station ahead?"
She worked her phone with both thumbs, "no, nothing between here and the track".
I was looking for a place to land when the engine finally died, I managed to ease the Valiant into the mouth of a private driveway just enough to clear the line of traffic, and instructed Rachael to call Boone or Dale and see how far behind us they were going to be.
Roughly ten cars had passed us by before Jesse Madaffari pulled alongside and stopped. He looked over from his John Deer Green 83 Chevy C-10 and asked, "What seems to be the problem, Billy?"
"Ran out of gas", I shrugged.
Jesse nodded, then instructed his co-driver/grandson Cameron to jump out and give us a gallon or two of their race gas as it would be easy to reach. He had positioned his truck just off my quarter panel and was blocking traffic, basically forcing everyone to drive around us. It was exactly the kind of move we have come to expect from the cool headed Oklahoma Tractor mechanic/School Bus Driver/Substitute Teacher/Church Pastor. His "No racer left behind" attitude, combined with his rock steady demeanor in adverse situations led him to become the 2015 Spirit of Drag Week winner, but the picture of him dealing with a carb fire on Keith Harrison's Coupe while on the side of the road during Drag Week 2017, simply added to his legendary status among Drag Weekers.
Cameron muscled the John Deere Green Jerrycan out of the truck while I opened the trunk, removed the cell cap, and grabbed a funnel. We were back on the road in a matter of minutes.

100_0511.jpg21752856_922267174595208_4943176669271634201_o.jpgIMG_0738 - Copy.JPG

"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2487127
04/24/18 06:53 AM
04/24/18 06:53 AM
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The scene as we drove through the gate at Byron Dragway quickly reminded me of just how far Hot Rod Drag Week has grown in both size and stature over the last decade. In the early years, a medium sized facility like Byron might look at Wednesday as a chance to grab some easy rent money in the middle of the week, and they'd bring a skeleton crew in to run the track, minimal track prep, open the gates for five or six hours, and call it a day.
Now it's a major event with multiple media outlet coverage, and a serious spectator count, not to mention three hundred plus cars. Byron rolled out the red carpet, and it was all hands on deck. They had multiple greeters and traffic directors at the gate, and throughout the facility. The stands were full, the spectator parking was full, the pits were full. It was amazing day at the track, but the property was pushed to capacity, and the staff handled it wonderfully.

Drag-Week-2017-Byron-Dragway3.JPGDrag-Week-2017-Byron-Dragway125.JPGDrag-Week-2017-Byron-Dragway4.JPG21731814_10155786254687112_2986654935074254059_o.jpg

"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2487129
04/24/18 07:28 AM
04/24/18 07:28 AM
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As drag week motels go, the Country Hearth Inn was fairly nice, but other than coffee, and a few pieces of fruit, they had no breakfast. When Rachael purchased small boxes of cereal at Walmart on day 1, I thought it was a waste of time, but they made for a nice little break after we unloaded all our belongings onto the grass and attempted to hold spots for the family's arrival.

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"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks" 4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2487325
04/24/18 03:11 PM
04/24/18 03:11 PM
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Tulsa OK
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To take us a back a few posts, I have a very poor video of Dale vs Billy at Gateway. I went back to look at my youtube channel for something today and saw this. I had forgotten that I even took the video, much less uploaded it to youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY7RMH3ll7E


68 Barracuda Formula S 340
87 "Chrysler" Conquest
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2487357
04/24/18 04:27 PM
04/24/18 04:27 PM
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Billy you should write/publish a book about you/your family members & friends many Drag Week experiences - I'm certain they would fly off the book store shelves! Always enjoy reading my friend! Hope you/family are doing well.

Wes


"Any fool can know. The point is to understand"

- A. Einstein
Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: EvilB1Dart] #2487698
04/25/18 10:39 AM
04/25/18 10:39 AM
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Canada north shore lake Ontari...
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Canada north shore lake Ontari...
Originally Posted By EvilB1Dart
Billy you should write/publish a book about you/your family members & friends many Drag Week experiences - I'm certain they would fly off the book store shelves! Always enjoy reading my friend! Hope you/family are doing well.

Wes


Billy had mentioned authoring a book awhile back. I asked him if he could possibly do it before I croaked but I am beginning to wonder about the time line.

Re: Hot Rod Drag Week 2017: The Experience. [Re: MoparBilly] #2487704
04/25/18 10:53 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,448
Phoenix, AZ
By the time Rachael and I had unloaded our stuff from the car and sat down to enjoy our breakfast, the first session was already thirty minutes in and the first five mopars to hit the track had already ran the passes they would turn in to get their route sheets for the trip to Union Grove.
Corey Pant and his 74 Duster went 10.63-125.9, which was just thousandths off what he ran on opening day. Rick Callahan however, was struggling with his big block Roadrunner. He was nearly three tenths slower than on day 1, and down sixteen mph as the beautiful B-body visibly slowed on the big end. I don't know what the issue was, but since he turned that slip in, he must've realized it was something he couldn't remedy at the track. Rod Munchiando and his familiar black Dart GTS were enjoying their eleventh Drag Week, and an 11.85-110 was indicative of what the small block car has ran the last three years. Certainly an improvement from the low fourteens it averaged in 2007!
Marty Gorman's 72 small block powered Valiant decided to square off against the 70 Hemi Roadrunner of Mike Chenoweth, and due to a hole shot, the little "purple people beater" had a fender on the Lime light B-body for the first fifteen feet. It was all big inch Hemi after that though, 10.79-131.6 to 12.83-107.9.

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