Six short months ago, Virginia native Jeff Verdi loaded up his 1968 year model Pontiac Firebird on an open trailer, pulled by his 1999 model pick-up truck and headed west to the Spring Fling Million at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. As the sun fell on The Strip, Verdi left with the big check, literally, and the Million Dollar main event champion hardware, etching his name in history as the first winner of the event.,,,,, http://www.dragzine.com/news/legend-jeff-verdi-sweeps-both-million-dollar-bracket-races-in-2016/

Haven't seen a tow rig win a race yet!! LOVE the wins bu a true little guy!

That was really cool to see a true budget sportsman win

Nothing wrong with it. I however used an enclosed when I needed my car to have a garage, it was cheaper to buy an enclosed than an open and build a garage as I didn't own land.

I partnered up with another racer in 1984 with one of my motors in his 1970 Duster to run both S/St and Pro Bracket in NHRA combined Division 6 & 7. We made money with that car 9 out of the eleven times we raced it that year He drove it half the time and I drove it the other half. We took both cars to the bracket finals in Bakersfield that year and he won the Pro bracket for our half of the division, I got beat in the 1/4 finals by someone else :whiney
We where invited to the Golden Gate Nationals in Fremont, CA for a one run race un off against the northern half of our combined division winner to determine who the division Pro bracket winner would be, my friend and partner lost.
He hauled his car on the back of a 1 ton Ford Flatbed that he owned, he had a set of 14 inch wide aluminum loading ramps mounted onto the sides of the truck bed sticking up, they where around 10 feet long.
In the hotel parking lot on Saturday night some freak decided to scratch F--- Y-- in the gold leaf of his name he had on the drivers door behind the loading ramps He discovered it at the races Sunday morning, we had to borrow some race decals to hide it
We both ended up buying enclosed race trailer shortly after that, we both carried concealed weapons back then so it is probably a good thing we didn't catch the vandals doing that
I had started using a car hauling 1 1/2 ton bigger truck shortly after wrecking a 1969 hemi GTX race car on a open trailer when I hit a stray dog jack knifing the borrowed open car trailer towing it with my 1/2 ton pick up back in 1974
I've won races by driving the car to and from the track back in the day on a very limited budget and I have lost races with the current rigs
Lots of choices to make when racing

Not a thing wrong with an open trailer except very inconvenient. Unless you have a van or a truck with a shell, everything in the back is gonna get wet or stolen. Which means you unload it every time at home or at a hotel. No thanks. Bargain basement enclosed trailers are cheap, protect the car and parts

Well I get the point of the post I remember loading a 5 foot trophy into the back seat of my Savoy after going 11 rounds with a stick car at D42. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for a week. I guess it's hard the get a view from the bottom if you never started there
Thanks for posting this story
Gus

No problem getting in and out.

Jeff Verdi is hardly at the bottom. He has won a boatload of money in just those two races. He could easily afford whatever he wants. Now as to what his reasoning is for the low buck rig, who knows..........but it's not because he is broke. You don't tow thousands of miles and cough up $2000 entry fees if you are a broke ass racer.

I've used both. Local racing, stock body car that can be in the rain without ruining a bunch of stuff, not a ton of stuff to carry along, open trailer is fine. Traveling, multi day events, expensive car with expensive parts that don't need to be wet, spares, tools, enclosed.

I have been towing with the same open trailer since 1976. The last 30 years with a 1986 Toyota pick up. Truck has over 400,000 miles (timing sets only) and gets 18-20 MPG towing.
http://s843.photobucket.com/user/phogroian/media/Mason%20Dixon%202015/DSC_0814_zpsg5nbnhh1.jpg.html

Open trailers are at my local track every week and OFTEN stop by to visit and to BORROW needed items to get through the race day. I like to go to the track well prepared with a well stocked car trailer but some guys would rather BORROW stuff to get by.

Works both ways John. I have borrowed stuff from other guys and always returned it. I also loaned stuff out and always got it back. Most of the racers at our track were pretty straight shooters. And we always seemed to have something to eat or a cold drink for anyone coming to our pits. I sure miss this stuff!!

I have a 28' tag enclosed and wish I had a 44' or bigger goose neck. My open trailer hauls my skid steer.

Sometimes I wish I had a trailer. I drive my car to the track and if I am by myself I just leave a tool box and my drink in a pit space lol.

Never had a trailer,but my work truck gets me where I want to go and doubles as the biggest picnic table on the gounds,,,,,,,,

I have been on here almost from the start of moparts. Why is it I have seen hundreds of posts busting peoples balls about having enclosed trailers? Never in all of these years one time have seen anyone say anything bad or make fun of someone having a open trailer.

I race with people who have 500,000 dollar rigs and people who have 1500.00 dollar trucks and 800.00 trailers. Its funny how we are all friends , get along , eat together and cheer for one another and not one time have we even thought about how much money each other has or discussed it.

But on the internet it seems to be the norm. I have seen people (not my friends) call another racer a A hole who just happened to have a good size rig, When I asked what made that racer a A hole I found out they have never talked to them or met them. I guess spending your hard earned money sometimes makes you a A hole.

No offence to anyone in particular just an observation and not a stab at you Therif,I have read lots of your posts and you seen cool to me. just the internet in general.

Its funny also here at the shop when someone gets a new car, truck or a better house some of the others call him or her an A hole behind there back, but never to there face.
Interesting to say the least.

I think the incredible part is that he does it with a pure Pontiac that really isn't that fast by today's standards.

I started with no money. In 1985 I built a 6X12' flat bed trailer to haul a 3 wheel ATV on and later 4 wheel ATVs.

Then got a better job and bought a suzuki 1100 katana bike and went hog wild and turned it into a full on drag bike with all the tricks, no more street use. Hauled it on my homemade open flat bed trailer. Won races with it, it went 9.20s and I sold it turn key to a racer in Toledo Ohio.

Then bought a 225" dragster chassis and spent 18 months putting it together. Had to buy a 26' enclosed to haul it, it was a low 8 second bracket dragster. Then progressed to a quick 32 dragster and then a quick 8 dragster. Also upgraded to a 40' goose trailer and got a larger pickup truck.

Then sold all my bb chevy stuff and my quick 8 dragster and bought my first psi blown BAE hemi to go in my TAD chassis I had custom built for me. Hauled it for a 1/2 season in my 40' goose and then bought a used 49' gold rush trailer and hauled it with my dually for a half a season and it almost killed my dually. Then got a freightliner to haul the gold rush.

I borrowed stuff from other racers and returned it every time and made sure I had spares by the next race. Eventually I had all the spares I needed as TAD is not like racing with the good ole boys, everyone is pretty serious about winning. Then at that point folks started coming to us to borrow parts/tools and we were very helpful at first, kind of like pay back. But then I got taken advantage of too many times and stuff started not to come back that we lent out. Almost like if you can afford a big truck and trailer then we don't have to return what we borrowed. So at one point I stopped lending anything out. We traveled for every race and was at different track/city for every race so we did not see the same racers every race sometimes too to return stuff.

After racing for 15 years I could build a complete top alcohol dragster in a week, not 18 months as I did it twice after fires at the track. One time from a blown engine that burned every thing off the rear of my car, everything and another after a punctured front mounted fuel tank that burned every body panel off my car. Both times we were back on the track in one week one time and 2 weeks another.

Then I took a break from racing and sold my 49' trailer and bought a open trailer to haul a driver car on vacations behind our frieghtliner. I much prefer and enjoy pulling the open trailer over the enclosed because we can go more places and folks can see what we have on the trailer. When I haul my muscle cars we get all kinds of thumbs up and that is pretty cool instead of being asked on the CB what was in the enclosed trailer. If I was still racing then yes I would want a enclosed trailer for sure but sure do enjoy our open trailer.

Plus it easier to store and move around in the driveway at home. Never could take my enclosed trailers home, they were too big. Now I pull the rear tires off the open trailer and move it around by hand and store it in small corner of my driveway and you could not get it there with 4 tires on it. Not a big deal to pull the tires off of it.

So I have seen it all in my time.

Still have 4 of those BAE heads and 2 complete hemi short blocks and the car in my signature picture. Just waiting for me to go back racing someday. Actually I have 2 290" TADs in my shop right now, one hanging from the ceiling.

Long ago my friend and I used to race together and he used to be able to tow both of our B-Bodies. The company tow truck was a F-350 with a ramp that went up and over the cab with a tow hitch on back for the borrowed equipment trailer we used. It was fine for us for the local races that we went to. It would be nice to have an enclosed trailer some day, but I don't lack for garage space and if I go somewhere to race and break the toy, I will bring it home to fix at my leisure. I will get my own tilt-bed open trailer next year. I am too old to wrestle with ramps.