CLASS RACER FORUM - View Single Post

Tabitha Draughon · 08-21-2023, 07:07 PM

This past Saturday, August 19th, Carolina Classic Modified Production debuted at Rockingham Dragway for the first time since the early 80's. This series was thought up at the beginning of the year by my husband, Robbie Draughon, who had always dreamed of owning a C2 Corvette to race in Super Stock/Modified. That dream came true in 2014 when his 1966 Corvette was purchased from a guy in Tampa, FL. It was a very quick trip to & from as we had to hurry home & start the build process. This car made its first appearance to our local race track Fayetteville Drag Strip in April 2016. From that time till now, he has competed in NHRA Super Stock AM, BM, & GT/G. With the dreams of Modified Production being brought back & the realism that it wasn't happening, plans went into action to create our own series to make it happen. Robbie, Leigh Anne Flynt, Dave Ley, & myself announced the Carolina Classic Modified Production Series on April 25, 2023. There was instant excitement from fellow racers for the creation of this series & guys quickly went to work on their hot rods. Strawberry Motor Company (Strawberry Dixon), Wayside Landscapes & Supply (Brad Butler), G-Force South (Roby Myrick), GBM Land & Construction (Brodie & Gary McKee), & MJ Printing & Graphics (Mark Joyce) came on as sponsors for the 4 races scheduled for the remaining part of the 2023 season. With much anticipation leading up to the weekend, our series tech inspector, Dave Ley, found himself in a unexpected 4 day hospital stay & was going to be unable to attend our first event. Needless to say, he wasn't a "happy camper" & let all the doctors & nurses in the hospital know he was supposed to be on his way to NC on Thursday. When we received this news on Monday afternoon, Plan B instantly went into place & additional hands were called in to help. Anyone who knows me (Tabitha), knows that this sent my stress level through the roof but I was reassured by all of my peeps, that it was going to be A-OK. This brings Friday afternoon at 12 p.m. when the gates opened at Rockingham Dragway. There was a track hosted test & tune event where several of the Carolina Classic Modified Production cars made their first hits with their new combinations & the guys made changes plugging away to reach maximum potential. Saturday AM rolls around & it's race day which means tech inspection takes place (everyone passed) & then Q1. Although we had a small crowd of only 5 cars, each racer made the best of it & pulled together to put on one hell of a show for the fans at Rockingham Dragway. Strawberry Dixon (BM) from Gastonia, NC, Gary McKee (AM) from York, SC, Darrell Lail (BM) from Maiden, NC, Steve Johnson (CM) from Spartanburg, SC, & Robbie Draughon (AM) from Fayetteville, NC were our 5 racers in attendance. After Q1, Robbie was the leader of the pack running a 5.2822 @ 130.85 mph -.6178 below his 5.90 index. Next was Darrell Lail running 5.5425 @ 126.48 mph -.4675 below his 6.01 index, followed by Steve Johnson 5.7994 @ 101.42 mph -.4006 below his 6.20 index, Gary McKee 5.5577 @ 127.55 mph -.3423 below his 5.90 index, & Strawberry Dixon running 5.6967 @ 119.81 mph -.3133 below his 6.01 index. Q2 was up next, Johnson improved his time to a 5.6345 -.5655 under the index, Lail improved to 5.5323 -.4777 under his 6.01 index, McKee ran 5.4723 -.4277 under his 5.90 index, Robbie sat Q2 out due to an oil leak, & Strawberry had some issues & aborted his run. The ladder was set for the 5 car field where it was Gary McKee (AM) vs Steve Johnson (CM), Strawberry Dixon (BM) vs Darrell Lail (BM), & Robbie taking the 1st round BYE. Johnson came out on top over McKee improving his previous Q2 time to a 5.6003 @ 124.72 mph, Lail took the win over Dixon; also improving from his Q2 run to a 5.4807 @ 126.62 mph, & Robbie took the tree & backed off the starting line. Round 2 pairing was Lail (BM) vs Draughon (AM) with Johnson on the bye. This one was over at the hit when Robbie went -.0015 red & threw away his best run 5.2553 @ 131.16 mph -.6447 under his 5.90 index to Lail who had 2nd gear transmission failure. Johnson took the tree & backed off. The finals were now set to declare the 1st Carolina Classic Modified Production Winner. With the transmission failure for Lail, the decision was made to get his car fixed & complete the finals on Sunday morning. Neither one of the competitors were eager to get off the starting line but Johnson came out victorious over Lail. Lail mowed through the clutch & had to abort his run. Steve made his best run of the weekend in Sunday morning's finals, 5.5632 @ 124.24 mph -.6368 under his 6.20 index.

On behalf of the Carolina Classic Modified Production, we would like to congratulate Steve Johnson on the 1st ever Carolina Classic Modified Production win & thank you to the racers who supported our first event. There was a brief meeting following the finals & a decision was made to change the body year rule to 1985 in hopes of bringing a few more cars out for the next race. All other rules will stay the same for the rest of the 2023 season.

Our next race is on Saturday, September 9th at GALOT Motorsports Park. A flyer will be available in the next few days.

08-21-2023, 07:07 PM	#5
Tabitha Draughon Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Fayetteville, NC Posts: 442 Likes: 115 Liked 688 Times in 230 Posts	Re: Carolina Classic Modified Production This past Saturday, August 19th, Carolina Classic Modified Production debuted at Rockingham Dragway for the first time since the early 80's. This series was thought up at the beginning of the year by my husband, Robbie Draughon, who had always dreamed of owning a C2 Corvette to race in Super Stock/Modified. That dream came true in 2014 when his 1966 Corvette was purchased from a guy in Tampa, FL. It was a very quick trip to & from as we had to hurry home & start the build process. This car made its first appearance to our local race track Fayetteville Drag Strip in April 2016. From that time till now, he has competed in NHRA Super Stock AM, BM, & GT/G. With the dreams of Modified Production being brought back & the realism that it wasn't happening, plans went into action to create our own series to make it happen. Robbie, Leigh Anne Flynt, Dave Ley, & myself announced the Carolina Classic Modified Production Series on April 25, 2023. There was instant excitement from fellow racers for the creation of this series & guys quickly went to work on their hot rods. Strawberry Motor Company (Strawberry Dixon), Wayside Landscapes & Supply (Brad Butler), G-Force South (Roby Myrick), GBM Land & Construction (Brodie & Gary McKee), & MJ Printing & Graphics (Mark Joyce) came on as sponsors for the 4 races scheduled for the remaining part of the 2023 season. With much anticipation leading up to the weekend, our series tech inspector, Dave Ley, found himself in a unexpected 4 day hospital stay & was going to be unable to attend our first event. Needless to say, he wasn't a "happy camper" & let all the doctors & nurses in the hospital know he was supposed to be on his way to NC on Thursday. When we received this news on Monday afternoon, Plan B instantly went into place & additional hands were called in to help. Anyone who knows me (Tabitha), knows that this sent my stress level through the roof but I was reassured by all of my peeps, that it was going to be A-OK. This brings Friday afternoon at 12 p.m. when the gates opened at Rockingham Dragway. There was a track hosted test & tune event where several of the Carolina Classic Modified Production cars made their first hits with their new combinations & the guys made changes plugging away to reach maximum potential. Saturday AM rolls around & it's race day which means tech inspection takes place (everyone passed) & then Q1. Although we had a small crowd of only 5 cars, each racer made the best of it & pulled together to put on one hell of a show for the fans at Rockingham Dragway. Strawberry Dixon (BM) from Gastonia, NC, Gary McKee (AM) from York, SC, Darrell Lail (BM) from Maiden, NC, Steve Johnson (CM) from Spartanburg, SC, & Robbie Draughon (AM) from Fayetteville, NC were our 5 racers in attendance. After Q1, Robbie was the leader of the pack running a 5.2822 @ 130.85 mph -.6178 below his 5.90 index. Next was Darrell Lail running 5.5425 @ 126.48 mph -.4675 below his 6.01 index, followed by Steve Johnson 5.7994 @ 101.42 mph -.4006 below his 6.20 index, Gary McKee 5.5577 @ 127.55 mph -.3423 below his 5.90 index, & Strawberry Dixon running 5.6967 @ 119.81 mph -.3133 below his 6.01 index. Q2 was up next, Johnson improved his time to a 5.6345 -.5655 under the index, Lail improved to 5.5323 -.4777 under his 6.01 index, McKee ran 5.4723 -.4277 under his 5.90 index, Robbie sat Q2 out due to an oil leak, & Strawberry had some issues & aborted his run. The ladder was set for the 5 car field where it was Gary McKee (AM) vs Steve Johnson (CM), Strawberry Dixon (BM) vs Darrell Lail (BM), & Robbie taking the 1st round BYE. Johnson came out on top over McKee improving his previous Q2 time to a 5.6003 @ 124.72 mph, Lail took the win over Dixon; also improving from his Q2 run to a 5.4807 @ 126.62 mph, & Robbie took the tree & backed off the starting line. Round 2 pairing was Lail (BM) vs Draughon (AM) with Johnson on the bye. This one was over at the hit when Robbie went -.0015 red & threw away his best run 5.2553 @ 131.16 mph -.6447 under his 5.90 index to Lail who had 2nd gear transmission failure. Johnson took the tree & backed off. The finals were now set to declare the 1st Carolina Classic Modified Production Winner. With the transmission failure for Lail, the decision was made to get his car fixed & complete the finals on Sunday morning. Neither one of the competitors were eager to get off the starting line but Johnson came out victorious over Lail. Lail mowed through the clutch & had to abort his run. Steve made his best run of the weekend in Sunday morning's finals, 5.5632 @ 124.24 mph -.6368 under his 6.20 index. On behalf of the Carolina Classic Modified Production, we would like to congratulate Steve Johnson on the 1st ever Carolina Classic Modified Production win & thank you to the racers who supported our first event. There was a brief meeting following the finals & a decision was made to change the body year rule to 1985 in hopes of bringing a few more cars out for the next race. All other rules will stay the same for the rest of the 2023 season. Our next race is on Saturday, September 9th at GALOT Motorsports Park. A flyer will be available in the next few days.