Dale's Gremlin seemed to trail more than just tire smoke after the burnout, but it could have just been burning off the oil that had leaked on the headers when he tore it apart. He had so much timing removed for the nitrous that the 440 struggled to come up on the converter and he gave Myers' LS powered Corvair wagon a sizeable jump, but drove around the mid twelve second car for an easy 10.21 win.

Monte guided Dave Schroeder and his Vette into the beams, the car blew the tires off about forty feet out in what appeared to be a much more aggressive hit than their usual "We are just trying to get down the track" Drag Week approach.

At the call for second round, I jumped in the Valiant, fired it up then pushed the trans-brake button to back up, nothing. Checked the shifter, looked down as I pushed the button, nothing. I flagged Boone and Skippy over to push me back out of the pit spot.
"What happened?" Boone looked at me, concerned, as he pushed from the window post.
"No reverse...or no trans-brake, not sure which. You're the trans guy, you tell me!"
"Not like we have time to do anything now", he smirked, "What are you going to do?"
"Foot brake it, and hope I don't get put in a position where I have to back up!" I informed him as I headed the Valiant towards the lanes.

Dale was paired up for the second round with Keven Rolph's 67 GT 500 Mustang, and once again he had trouble on the leave. The Big block Mustang had a car before the Gremlin moved. It sounded as if Dale stabbed the throttle from nearly an idle and the nitrous hit instantly. As soon as the front end came down, the Gremlin jumped hard right, completely out of the groove forcing Dale to lift and guide it back before giving serious chase to the original Ford muscle. His 10.04-142 was certainly up to the task, but all his troubles at the start made it harder to get around the 11 second FE than it should have been.

Kyle from 1320 video walked over to ask about my previous wheelie, but I had to inform him not to expect another, as I was foot braking for the remainder of the day. My competition for the second round was the same T-type Buick that had dispatched John, so I knew it was capable of 10.0, but Lisa was wearing a complete fire suit and the cage was certed, so I figured the car was well in the nines when it needed to be. My only hope was that I could force the V-6 to show everything it had!

Before we were able to run however, Keith Harrison's all fiberglass 34 ford coupe managed to lose the passenger's side door at half track on a winning pass! Keith bought the coupe at a police auction, and had added the BBC from his
white 55 Chevy Gasser to win 3rd in the Hot Rod class.

I had two tenths when we cleared the tree, and I had my hands full as well. The Valiant had made a significant move to the wall when I pushed the nitrous button on the shifter about twenty feet out, so I was tasked with guiding it back to the groove with my left, while shifting to second with my right. Once I had successfully moved the old girl back to the center of my lane and made the 2-3 shift, I took a peek in the mirror for the Buick. I had five cars at least, so immediately I lifted off the nitrous and took another look to see if the turbo V-6 was going to make a charge. It appeared the race was pretty much over, but then the thought occurred to me,"I've never been nines in the Valiant so why am I being so conservative? Besides, the trans obviously has a problem, and I'm not going to outrun those mid eight second players in the field!"
"Screw it", I told myself aloud in the Valiant, and grabbed the nitrous again for the last 150 feet or so.

It was a long drive to the time slip booth, and my first thought when I glanced at the ticket was: "Wow! I have a legit nine second street car for the first time in my life!"
Before I made the turn into the pits, that thought was followed closely by another one:..."and it's a dang small block."

congrats billy !

Billy, it was great getting a chance to talk to you on Drag Week 2016 this year, I love reading your stories, looking forward to more.

I stayed for the Heads Up race to have some fun and when I got matched up with Dale and the Gremlin in the second round I figured the fun was over lol, but when I left the line and the Gremlin wasn't immediately running away from me I thought "Oooh...We're going to have a handicapped race after all". It was exciting for a little while, and I held out some hope, but he reeled me in well before the finish line. I know Dale was fighting some issues, but I enjoyed getting the chance to race him.

Hopefully I'll see everyone again on Drag Week next year.

Took you long enough to post Kevin! 8 months LOL.

I parked in the pits, then walked back to the lanes to inform Lonnie Grimm and Kieth Turk that I had ran faster than 10.0 and was eliminated. On my way back to the Valiant, I stopped and talked with Lisa and her crew to let them know that they were still in the race, then I hung out in Harrison's pit to watch them try to glue enough of the passenger door back on the '34 coupe to make another run.

I was about to head back to camp Gebhart when I saw Lisa pull back in her pit with the V-6 Buick, so I walked over to have a chat.
"Lonnie said they weren't re-instating the cars that lost in round two, so both of us were out!" She didn't seem upset in the least, which caught me off guard a little.
"That's crazy...they're just changing it up round to round?"
"No big deal really", she smiled, "We've been slowing down all day, and I borrowed this engine from my brother, so I'd rather not tear it up!"

Robert and Aaron were hanging out around the Valiant when I finally returned to our pits, and I relayed the story about the trans-brake failure to them as Dale swapped a fresh bottle into the Gremlin.
"Let me see the time slip", Aaron asked with his hand outstretched. He pulled out his phone, and took a picture of it as soon as I handed it over.
He gave it back and smiled, "I can't believe it ran in the nines...and made it look effortless."
"Oh, there's plenty left in it..." I began to explain.
"Spoken like every drag racer in the world", Robert interjected with a hearty laugh.

I pulled a cold drink from the cooler, and handed the slip to Boone.
"Why did you take so much stripe? You had her covered."
"Well, I'm pretty sure that V-6 ran nines earlier in the week, and she has her brother and Pranis wrenching on it so I wasn't taking them lightly!"
"Pranis", he cocked his head to the side, "Where do I know that name from?"
"James Pranis, 572Charger from Moparts, that brutal black Hemi 68 Charger that ran at the Pump Gas Drags a few years ago!"
"Yeah, OK, but why would he be helping her out?"
"He's her boyfriend..."
"What the heck!" Boone sat up, "I was hoping that title was available! So they are a couple AND he's got that awesome Charger...he's two for two. He must've signed a deal with the devil."
"I'm two for two...it's not that unheard of, I've been married to Holly for thirty years and I have the Valiant..."
"HAH! Now you've just proved my point", he laughed.
"What do you mean? Holly is your favorite sister-in-law!"
"True", he shook his head, "But the Valiant is no 68 Hemi Charger...not even close!"
"She's sitting right there within ear shot, Boone!"
"Yeah, dripping trans fluid on the asphalt. She knows her place in the pecking order of desirable Mopars, and a nine second time slip doesn't move her that much closer to the top!"
"So...you were checking Lisa out this week?" I changed the subject.
"She reminds me of Seger's 'Night Moves'..." he smiled.
"Humming a song from 1962", that reminds me more of the Valiant than a T-type Regal", I shot back.
"She was a black haired beauty with big dark eyes, and points of her own, sitting way up high", He laughed.
"Way up, firm and high, I quoted the next line and laughed, "Ok, that's a valid comparison, but if she's been on the back roads with James in that Hemi Charger, you've got nothing to offer her!"

Boone wasn't the only one. The 3 single guys in my group nicknamed her "the perfect woman"

I think I'm confused on this thread. Looks like it started out about last year's DW. But has this year's results added to it. Or am I crazy.

Billy is still only writing about 2015.

I'm seeing a hint of small block envy in your family Billy!

Sorry for the confusion Jim, The Hot Rod Drag Week Shootout on Saturday isn't counted in the official 2015 results...it's more of a stand alone event.

Hot Rod Drag Week 2016: The Last Hurrah?

I did begin a forward, and separate thread for the 2016 story, but it seemed to lack any real traction, while the views on this thread continued to grow, so I figured that was everyone's way of telling me to finish this one first!



Unfortunately Jay,
I think you are correct, no matter how many times I told them after last year's lone nitrous pass of 10.18-129, that "this thing will go nines easy on the juice", they chose to ignore it. Then, when the little commando finally showed the numbers, they had to admit..."maybe a 3100lb all steel early A-body with a stroked LA is a pretty good choice for a quick street machine...period, no apologies needed"!

Thanks Billy for taking the time to write up your drag week adventures. It is always a good read.

I am looking forward to the 2016 version.

Dale's opponent for the third round of the Shootout was the same 10 flat running, BBF powered, nitrous huffing '73 Ranchero that had put the Barnyard Viper on the trailer in round one. The fact that Dale had dumped so much timing out caught up with him on that pass however, as the 440 coughed, popped back through the carb, and died as he tried to come up against the converter. So, after all that thrashing Friday night and Saturday morning, the Gremlin still went out with a wimper, instead of a bang.
"Yeah, but it drove up on the trailer!" Dale laughed as he loaded the Gremlin for the drive back to Oklahoma.

Great story, I need to get the old savoy back to streetable and give dragweek a shot

#23 Jason Ogle Yellow 73 Plymouth 'Cuda
Day 1: 13.65-108.8
Day 2: 12.36-88.9
Day 3: 12.25-111.1
Day 4: 12.19-111.4
Day 5: 12.20-116.6
Final Average: 12.536-107.41

Jason's slow ET on Monday, and bad mph on Tuesday, skewed his average, but the E-body ran well the final three days. After the disappointment of breaking on Day 1 in 2014, it was awesome to see Jason and his son make the full pull in 2015.

Many say that Hot Rod Drag Week is like a fantasy camp for people who fell in love with the 1971 movie "Two Lane Blacktop", and that movie ends with a shot of the hero's car ripping down an air strip.

The news of Jason's passing was a hard thing to deal with, and I've saved this final picture as the way I choose to remember a drag weeker that I wasn't given a chance to say goodbye to.

Godspeed, my friend.

#24 Rachael Gebhart Blue 67 Plymouth Belvedere
Day 1: 11.96-97.3
Day 2: 11.62-114.9
Day 3: 11.53-100.0
Day 4: 11.71-100.6
Day 5: 20.00-50.0
Final Average: 13.367-92.59

Rachael was on pace to set a new best five day average for the Belvedere right up until she tossed the driveshaft out on the final day. She finished, and her future ex-husband made it all the way as well...somehow.

By the time we had all our cars and stuff loaded up for the long trip back to reality, Monte and the Schroeders had coaxed a 6.96-209 blast from the blue and white 66 Vette, the little black GLH had went 9.99, and the Gremlin was in the burnout box again.
Boone and I were watching from the fence as James checked the slick pressure.
"Why did he decide to make a time run?" I shrugged at Boone.
"The timing had slipped all the way back to eight, so he bumped it up to twelve, where he thought it was all along, and said he just had to know!"
It packed the tires, but drove out of the groove on landing, and he had to pedal it once, but the 440 sounded sweet, as the scoreboard lit up with a 9.10-149.6.

"Ok, that should put a bow on Drag Week 2015, now we can roll out of here!" I slapped Boone on the back.
"I think we have to take Rachael and Opal somewhere to celebrate their birthdays...John has a Mexican place picked out." Boone explained.
"Just as long as someone else leads, and I don't have to follow line by line instructions, I'm good with that!

#25 "Hemi" Joel Nystrom Blue 67 Plymouth GTX
Day 1: 13.78-100.4
Day 2: 13.72-100.6
Day 3: 13.78-100.6
Day 4: 13.65-100.9
Day 5: 13.90-100.7
Final Average: 13.768-100.68

The Hemi Drop-top GTX is quite simply as luxurious as the Plymouth brand ever got, and after 50 years, it still holds up.

In this day and age when most of the true classics are locked up in private collections, rarely seen without ropes around them, it's great to see this one out among the masses, doing what God and Ma Mopar intended.

It should be noted that those official et's were all sandbagging because of the 13.50 roll bar limit on convertibles. It ran 13.40's, but I couldn't turn in those slips.