[Carl Battis]

What A Great Thread Idea!

2005 Division 7 Bakersfield

My first Points Meet was Div 7 in Bakersfield in 2005. I took my B/SA 69 Camaro there with a borrowed open trailer to make the trip. The car was a good piece - I got a lot of great advice and help in the two years when I was building it. I ran the Test N Tune and with the help of Chuck Echmalian, John and Terry Schloe the car ran really well. My big debut awaited the next day and I was really pumped up to go racing.

When it came time for the warm up the car made a weird noise when I went to start it, and the motor didn’t turn over. As I pondered what it could be, the guy pitted next to me came around the front of his trailer with something in his hand. “Looks like you could use one of these” he said and held out a starter for my 396. I didn’t know what to say - I was there on a bare bones budget and had virtually no spares. Even worse - I had to leave Saturday to go to work and knew I couldn’t return it that weekend. “No problem, just bring it to your next race whenever and you can give back then.”

Once again I was amazed at the generosity and good sportsmanship of Class Racers. Although I think he knew who I was from my years of crewing for my friend, I didn’t really “know” this gentleman at that point. We went on to become good friends over the years. Always humble, and a really good driver - God Bless you Larry Belden!


2005 AC Delco Nationals Las Vegas

This was my first National Event driving, and I was really excited to be there and get a chance to run in Class Eliminations. My car was running great and I had found some performance in the events leading up to this one. They called Stock to the lanes and I coasted down the hill to the staging area to join the group of racers in B/SA and sort out the pairings for Round 1. In 2005 the racers were still doing the pairings and this group decided to use a deck of cards for the line up. I felt like I had snuck into a Stock Eliminator Hall of Fame drivers meeting: Dan Fletcher, Stevie Wann, Clark Holroyd, Mary Ann Method, Dick Dreher, among others...nine of us in total. I got lucky and drew one of the non-legends like myself with car that I knew I had covered by a couple of tenths.

As it turned out my opponent red-lit so badly that he left before the tree was activated. I did not have to run the car out and reveal my hand. Second Round we drew cards again and I got the bye run - Lady Luck was on my side. I did not run my car out on the bye run - I felt it was best to keep the others guessing as to what it might run (not that it mattered actually - no way was my car as fast as the legends’ cars) Round Three had me paired up with Clark Holroyd’s 70 Nova - a rocket ship for sure. Clark had done the carbuerator on my car, and I consider him a friend. My improbable run was about to come to an end, but man what a blast so far!

I did my burnout and pulled up to get ready to stage. After what seemed like an eternity (in all likelihood probaby 15 seconds) the starter rapped on my window and held up one finger. I looked over my shoulder and they were pushing Clark’s car back out of the waterbox - I was getting a single into the final. Once again I launched the car but did not run it all the way out. I would arrive at the final an enigma; the new guy on the scene who had yet to make a full pass that weekend.

Now came the final and I was paired up against Mary Ann Method in the 1970 Nova that she and her husband Cal had campaigned so successfully. Cal Method builds some really fast motors, and they both had more experience already than I will probably ever achieve. There was no way I was going to outrun her that day, but as they say - anything can happen. And boy did it! Despite trying to focus 100% of my attention on the bottom bulb I caught a sliver of motion out of the corner of my eye as we launched. The race was already over because she was half a car length ahead as our front wheels came down. There was no way I was going to catch her.

But as I looked down track I noticed my win light was on. I glanced up at the scoreboard and saw the dancing lights indicating I had won. How could this be I thought as I let out a war whoop suitable for a John Wayne movie. I had just won the Class Elimination Final in B/SA at my very first National Event - despite the fact my car was not the fastest by a long shot. When I got my time slip I saw just how lucky I had been.....she had gone red by -.001 and I had dodged a major bullet. On that day I was not the fastest, but I was the last man standing. It was a day I’ll never forget.