[jerry witzel]

My first ever race in Super Stock was the 2000 IHRA World Nationals. I had bracket raced and ran some occasional 10.90 for some years but I always wanted to race Super Stock, so I finally decided it was time to try it. I throw together and old 283 I had and put one of my dad's old 650 Holley 2 barrels on it to run Super Stock Production and put it in my 66 Nova. Get there and go to tech in. I didn't realize that you had to have a restrictor plate between the carb and the intake. I found an old friend that races at my local track and asked him if he had an extra one, he said no but knew someone that did. The guy reluctantly let me borrow one but adimently told me that he better get it back and every time I saw him he made sure I knew he wanted it back. I get it installed and go back to tech. The tech officials kept giving me hell saying my engine looked like a 350. They said now if we pump that are you sure it will come up to the cubic inches that you are claiming, I said yes I know it will. As I look back they were probably giving me a hard time because I was new. I finally get through that and then I hear my name being announced, they want me to come to the tower. I hike up there and they ask how did I get my competition number ? Said someone else has that number and has been getting points with it all year. I said that's the number I had asked for and was never told otherwise. Well they change my number to a 3 digit number so I had to pull off some of my nice new numbers that I had just had made. I finally make a few passes and the car just doesn't want to run, it was way slow. They call us up for class and I wasn't sure how many were in my class because I never looked at the qualifying sheet so I went up hoping I was the only one. Well there was 3 of us. We flipped coins and I was the odd man so I got the bye run. I thought well at least I'll be in the final of class. I go up to make my run, start doing the burnout and the car dies. I ran out of gas, somehow I forgot to put some in. My girlfriend at that time that I'm still friends with, still doesn't let me live that down. Since I couldn't make the run, so much for the finals of class. Finally get to the first round. I hadn't come close to the index on the few runs I had made and I knew if I dialed the index my opponent would probably know it wasn't gonna hit the number. I dialed it a tenth under and hoped for the best. I was paired up with a guy named Kevin Helms, he was driving a SS/CA 67 Corvette. He came up to me in the lanes and introduced himself and asked how the car was running. I told him that I was having carburetor problems but that I thought I had everything straightened out. We go up to run and I get a conservative green light and he red lights !!! His weekend wasn't a wash though as he won Stock in his Camaro. Second round I'm paired up with the late Danny Carr, tragically he was killed a few months later. Danny cuts a green light and beats me pretty soundly, ending my weekend. My first race in Super Stock was very memorable and quite a learning experience.