First Divisional or National event stories

[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

[Jim Bailey]

Justin, my first National Event story in Stock Eliminator is very short. I believe it was Gainesville in 2002, maybe 2003. I knew Anthony Bertozzi from all our years running IHRA. I saw him in the staging lanes waiting for my first round pairing. He said, "Bailey who you got" I said, "some guy named Biondo." He just laughed and said, "way to go", and walked away. You can guess the rest of the story.

[Randall Klein]

When we first got the Nomad running, we went to Hallsville, TX, broke the cam in the waterbox first TT. We had engine parts scattered on our open trailer, got the front half of cam out, but not back piece.....use magnets someone suggested, after multiple efforts we pulled the trans & knocked it out the back, scrambled to find a cam. The beginning of a good friendship with the Johnson's (Dad, Gilly & Brent), as they loaned us a cam, after which I red lighted first round.

[JRyan]

I ran my first Divisional event at Brainerd in 1998. I had just turned 16 3 weeks prior. Got everything sorted a little late and didn't have time to run across the scale before the first pass. We knew we were close ended up 10lbs light. Next pass the fuel dad had purchased earlier in the season didn't pass. Cleaned out the system and put in the tracks fuel which was so bad that it barely tested straight out of the tank. The car slowed down .20 but at least I was on the sheet. Before first round we drained the system again and found some c-12 to use the rest of the weekend. Was lucky enough to draw Gary Stinnett first round. We ended up qualifying with an 11.54 with the bad fuel. The first pass the car had gone 11.32 when we were light. So we dialed the car an 11.3-. Gary was uncharacteristically late. I was like .016 to his .074 and I ended up picking up the win. We made it to the semis that day. Went up to the tower to get our check and Gary was standing there picking up his check for super comp. The whole time we were waiting he was just staring at dad and I. Finally he walks up and says why the hell did we dial a 30 when we had only gone a 54. Told him what had transpired over the weekend and he shook his head. Said it had bothered him all day. We got a good chuckle out of it. Since then I have run Gary 3 times all in either the semis or quarters. I've had pretty decent lights all 3 times and all 3 times I've left second and the win light has been on in the other lane. Go figure.

Rick Ryan

[Jeff Swanson]

My first points meet was at Memphis in '95ish. My car was very stock. Stock camshaft, valve covers had never been off, etc. Would just barely run the K/S index. I was running pump gas and wasn't sure if it would pass fuel check. But the bigger problem was that Red Anderson was running fuel check and he scared the crap out of me. So I man up and go down there with my fuel jug, picture the one you use to fill your lawn mower, and ask Red if he will check my fuel. He looks at me like I was completely clueless (he wasn't wrong) and tells me he's too busy and to come back later. So I do, and the 2nd time he tells me to leave my fuel can and come back later, he wasn't happy. I come back later and my fuel can is right where I left it and he growls at me "It's fine" or something similar and I get my fuel can and get out of there as quickly as possible. I think he could smell the fear on me.

[Casey Miles]

I was at the Gator nats with Rick Stewart was the starter, when I came up to the starting line I looked and my dial was wrong. I racing the car through the mufflers so there was no other way to get Rick's attention, so I blew the horn, Rick nearly jumped over the Christmas tree. Evidently he didn't expect a car horn!

Casey Miles
248H Stock

[James Jeschke Jr]

Originally Posted by Jim Bailey

Justin, my first National Event story in Stock Eliminator is very short. I believe it was Gainesville in 2002, maybe 2003. I knew Anthony Bertozzi from all our years running IHRA. I saw him in the staging lanes waiting for my first round pairing. He said, "Bailey who you got" I said, "some guy named Biondo." He just laughed and said, "way to go", and walked away. You can guess the rest of the story.

Jim,
I can relate to my first round run also. My dad asked me who do you have for first round and I replied, some bald guy thats driving a silver 65 Dodge! Dave Barton, lucky me!!