[jmcarter]

My first year was 1985, back in the hang out at the Holiday Inn days where Labbous and others held court. Went with good friend Norman Chesney (RIP), a two time IHRA MOD Champion. I’m thinking that might have been the first year that the slow door cars (i.e. 12.99) were starting to win some. Had gotten cocky by getting beat in the semis by Ike Hamma in a big money race in Clarksville so went to the 5-Day and got beat first round every day. It was always tough to win but it was definitely the biggest race of the year east of the Mississippi. Remember helping Lonnie Johnson change a motor in his Daytona and riding a cherry picker behind Lonnie on his four wheeler. As the years have turned and I’ve slowly shifted my focus to class racing I get frustrated by NHRA’s treatment of Sportsman racers (after all, we are the ones keeping them afloat) but think John makes a good point that we need to support our tracks and class racing programs otherwise the tracks will close or rely solely on import/outlaw/etc. to keep going.

Thanks John for continuing to provide insight and occasional nudges to remind us of what our passion for the sport means.