First Divisional or National event stories

[Greg Gay]

But wait! . . . There's more! My first national event is Columbus. First round, I get paired up with Bob Gere I think; he had a 350 Buick back then, J/SA. We're staged, the lights come down, he takes off, my second yellow comes on and then nothing. How I didn't move, I don't know how, but I didn't move. I look over at Buster and he's just looking straight ahead. So, I drive down the track, get my time slip, and go back to the tower. Turns out Buster's finger slipped and he shut off the tree! On the re-run, I won the round, which is probably all that I won that weekend.

It makes me think that there really is a lot to learn at this game. When I bought the car, I knew nothing about having to go to points races, etc. to get into national events. I thought you just showed up, paid your money at the gate, and ran the race; just like the local bracket race. For anyone that's going to try it, I do suggest that you attend at least one race with someone who's done it.

[joe huestis]

My most memorable race. back in the day was attending the Dutch Classic at Maple Grove back when they had that race in the Springtime in May either ‘74 or ‘75. We had an entourage of about 5 or 6 cars follow each other from upstate N.Y. , most of us flat towing our cars using those old NMW hubs. Cars ranged from my ‘69 Camaro stocker, Clem LaChance and his H/MP Maverick, Fred Rice with his D/SA Mustang and a couple other local racers with their cars from back home.We arrive late at night and park in the driveway outside the gate. We all ended up sleeping in either the “Camaro Cottage “, “ Blazer Bungalow” or the “Ford Motel”. I slept in the back seat of my Camaro with my feet hanging out of the side window. I’m 6’4” tall and man did I pay for that mistake the next day ! Anyway, I make it to the semis in stock eliminator and I’m paired up with the “Mooney and Weed” E/SA Cobra Jet Convertible. I win the round and return to the pits when an Official comes up to me and says we had the handicap wrong and you need to rerun the round. Back then there was no scoreboard showing any dial. I don’t believe the index system was used yet and we may have run off national records ? Anyway, after cooling our cars down we rerun our race and I win again. Back in the pits again an official tells me they still had the “spot” wrong. We run a third time and I lose. Now everything is fine ??? I was just a 19 or 20 year old kid at the time and who was I to bitch to ? Still had a great time and would not trade those years for anything!

[James Jeschke Jr]

Justin,
I dreamed all my life to run stock eliminator. I thought it was the coolest class in the world but I had no money! Started buying parts slowly thru the years. I’m a machinist and started doing as much machine work as I could to keep the cost down and finally after a couple of years, I get the engine done. Dyno the engine and it made great power, 17 pulls to be exact. Put the motor in the car and she is ready to go. The car sat in the trailer for about three weeks and then it was time for my first divisional race at Maple grove. I head out to Maple grove a day early to make some test runs prior to the meet so I can learn something and learn how this whole class racing works because remember, I know NOTHING about this class except I thought it was cool as hell. And remember, I know nobody there. I was a very lost person!!!

I get the car teched in and everything is good! Now I’m excited. I have a great engine, car and I’m finally here. I head to the staging lines for my first time trial. Bring the rpms up in the burnout box, pull second gear and BOOM! It kicks a rod out the side of the block. I get back to the pits and want to puke. What the hell happened? I drive home the next day and tear the motor down very carefully to analyze everything. Found a crack in the bottom of the cylinder that was leaking water!!

Built a new motor for next year and was able to run 1.1 under and the rest is history! Sine then, I have met some of the nicest people in the world. I love class racing and people in it. I feel like the luckiest guy in the world being around all you great class racers, regardless of all the complaining about NHRA and differences in personalities. I couldn’t be happier!

I’m truly living and dream being around all of you. I have learned so much from a lot of great racers! And I would like to thank everyone that helped me or gave me advise, it meant a lot to me and my wife!!

[MR DERBY CITY]

1989 Indy points meet, it was not my first points meet but I recall meeting and talking to a YOUNG Lance and Jason Line at this race. I drank HEAVILY in those days so I could have a. few things mixed up. Jason was driving a R/SA 66 Chevy wagon that he purchased from Canadian Peter Boslovich. He was a very thin, well mannered kid from Minnesota. He was either in the military OR was set to join ....Little did I know that in a few short years he would go on to win the STOCK world championship , work for Joe Gibbs, crash in his first pro stock race and eventually win a Pro Stock championship. Lance would go onto building some of the baddest STOCK eliminator engines on the planet. The mom and dad race, all the siblings race, the cousins race, Lance’s daughter races...
The LINES are an amazing RACING family....

[Stewart Way]

In 1972 I was a partner in a SS Barracuda and I also worked for Buster Couch and Darrell Davis in Division ll as did my partner. Buster didn't really like this idea but he let it go but made it VERY clear if there was ever a question about anything, we loose. This is the first race for a new car and once it was at the Phoenix City track my partner and I had nothing to do with it. The car was light when it was weighed before time trials so our driver got some weight and "added" it to the car. First round he beats Jimmy Waibel and I was at the scales and as the car rolls across and I say the weight is good Jimmy tells me to look under the carpet behind the seats and there was loose ballast he had seen being added. With the words of Buster in my ears we threw out our car. No one knew I had anything to do with the car and we kept it that way. Not the beginning we had hoped for but we got thru it. Later that year I got drafted and the car was sold. I ended up at Fort Bragg and kept working for Buster a few more years but no more cars during that time.

[Justin Graham]

I don't how to express thanks or gratitude to you guys for sharing your stories. I'm over the moon, stoked that you guys answered. You've made this "old" kid really happy...and hopeful.

I hope you all know, it's greatly appreciated.

[Gary Merrick]

Hi Justin,

My first brand new car was a 1969 Yenko Camaro, which I gradually turned into a class car, a Super Stock D entry, which I sold in 1973. A few years ago after the racing season was over and boredom had set in I started thinking about that car and decided to do some investigation. I had heard about a website that had a lot of history about the original Yenko cars and I thought it would be interesting to see if my old car was on their registry. They have everything listed by VIN and sure enough I found my old car, but it was missing some information, so I sent a message to the Webmaster and asked if he would like some of the original information to fill in the blanks. Much to my surprise, he started a new thread, "Where is 69 Yenko Camaro 124379N663539?" Some of the members started asking for more information, so I started writing some short stories about the car and my DAD who co-signed a loan for a 19 year old kid so I could buy that car. One of the stories was about my first NHRA divisional race and my first opponent, the one and only John Lingenfelter. Actually, it wasn't my first NHRA race I attended with the car, but it was the first where I was allowed to race, which is a story all in itself.

If you are bored and have a few hours, you can go to Google and put in the search bar, "Where is 69 Yenko Camaro 124379N663539?" and the whole deal will pop up. I should mention that the Yenko site switched things around with a different browser and some of the stories will have some unusual punctuation and will look odd and that is not how they were originally written, but that is how they look now. Even with the odd punctuation and characters you will get the idea of the story. If you take the time, I hope you enjoy the memories of this old guy and his youth.

Gary Merrick
3522 Stock

[nwebber]

My first divisional was pretty cool. It was 2001 at Boise when all the fast A cars were going for the first in the nines. On my way to the track Thursday evening my old Suburban diesel throws a fan belt going up a pass in the snow and I limp it in to the first town with a motel and an auto parts store. I make it to the track about noon on Friday and Jerry Valentine techs me in, checks a lot of stuff but not the carb. I did not know you needed to run a choke plate but had an air cleaner on so it was not noticed. As I walked around I could see everyone had a choke plate so I figured I would just see If it would continue to go unnoticed. I get to race the Tiger car in time trials and am so excited I shake his hand in the scales. First round I get Robert Pond and was just excited to race another super fast A car. It was only about 45 degrees out and he spun. I get lucky and keep going rounds I was pitted down in the hole and noticed Steve Wann moved up closer to the lanes as the eliminations went on. I ended up racing Steve in the finals and he said to me as we are in the staging lanes "you need to get more of those". I had to ask him what he was talking about. It was contingency stickers. I thought it was just cool to see the Wally's up on the guard. I ended up winning the race. Took 17 years to win another.

[Steve Polhill]

My first NHRA race was the National open in Milan Michigan. I won that race with a perfect .500 light in the final. My second race was the Divisional in Martin Michigan US 131. That race I set the National record. So my first few races were pretty memorable. nearly 30 years later still looking for that second win LOL. Been close but not quite.

[Jack Matyas]

So it wasn't my first Divisional or National - I can't remember what year it was but the second Divisional in D1 that year and we went to Cayuga , Ontario , Canada on a Friday and after sitting in the tech line for over an hour I was getting PO'D 'cause the line was barely moving so I went up to the front to see what was up and there was Greg Xakillis .I approached carefully and asked him if he would mind getting me done so I could head to the motel.He asked if I was sick or something.I said no but i didn't want to miss that week's episode of 'Dallas'.It surely was something he didn't have words for but he did it and sent us on our way.Greg and I are still friends today ...........