Tell about your local match race heroes

[Danny White]

When I was growing up the local match racing scene at Paris Drag Strip included racers like Willie Frank Michem in Donald Giddings 69 Nova, Bobby Burns in the Survival Vega and later Camaro, Kim Barr in the Wildfire Camaros, and Nickey Ragsdale in his PS Camaro. I know most of ya'all had local match racers I would like to hear about them.

Danny

[bandit]

US30 had a bunch! Bobby Woods stands out. I loved that Nova funny car!

[draglist]

Great post, Danny. My favorites from the early days were Ron Hutter in his pro stock Vega, Dale Evans in his pro stock Camaro, Dick Bourgeous in the Doug's Headers silver Vega, Frank Mazi in his killer Opel... Ohio legends all! (Well, Dick was an honorary Ohioan!) bp

[WCB]

Back in the day...CHI TOWN !!!!

[jim sanders]

I remember a few matches uncle Curt had at St.Louis including Gary Dyer in Mr. Norm, Rapid Ronnie in Blue Hell corvair, a couple against Ira Hollensbe,i wasn't old enough yet to see many events when unc had the corvette but saw him race the Zakery (sp) eldorado f/c at St.Gen dragway, and a few times at M.A.R..... This match looked fun, i don't recall being there though
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... e=1&ref=nf

[WildcatOne]

Here in Houston we pretty much had 'em all pass through the gates, but there were a few who raced here regularly. We had Hayden Profitt, the Melrose Missile (my favorite paint job), Color Me Gone, The Ramchargers, Hubert Platt, Gas Ronda, the Hemi Marlin with Preston Honea and Gene Snow's Rambunctious, the CKC fastback Nova, but locally I recall Ronald Swann's 427 injected Falcon and Don and Roy Gay's awesome "Infinity" series of Pontiac GTOs and Firebirds. Tommy McNeely and Kelly Chadwick were often racing here, and Dickie Harrell also showed up at times and ran like the devil. I got sidetracked in the 70s and I missed out on all the fun over there but I know they had it all going on for years as the classes evolved into the modern era. WC1

[morebetter99]

At US 30 in Gary, In., Arnie always put on a good show...

[draglist]

Nice shot, Pete! bp

[Iowa Al]

I was fortunate to see many of the Midwest UDRA circuits race,
and got to see the Coca Cola Cavalcade of Funny Cars.
Saw Gary Ostrich in his newly altered wheelbase car
against Kelly Chadwick. Tom Hoover v Powers & Riley,
Dennison, Arlasky and Knox v Gabby Bleeker, Arnie Beswick v
Dickie Estevez in the Phil Bonner Warbucks car.
Lots of good memories of many Cordova World
Series, as I made at least 12 of those.
IA AL

[Diana The Doc]

A couple of years ago, the E-Town Ultra Quick 8 were quite an item... The class was made up of "street appearing" cars running heads-up, with rules that provided pretty good parity among entries with various power combos... The class was full of clean 'n' fast rides (7 sec time slips were the norm)... Some of the different drivers certainly established themselves as "local match race heroes" among hardcore fans... The late Leo Barnaby of Neverlift Motorsports fame was among the most feared competitors-- Leo often managed to smoke the competition in spectacular fashion-- I still miss Leo... Brian Ferrari and his immaculate '66 "Mean Green" Chevelle was also very strong, and although Brian Ferrari and Leo Barnaby were good friends, they had an extremely heated rivalry once their respective cars hit the strip... Connecticut's John Schroeder and his '02 Camaro was also thick in the mix... Long Island's "Charlie Boy" Micallef with his "phat and phurious" '70 Chevelle was a big fan fave... Other notables included Mitch George, Chuck Ulsch, Henry "Naturally Aspirated" Jackson, Dave Hance (racer and promoter of SHAKEDOWN AT ETOWN)... I really loved the heads-up E-Town Ultra Quick 8 class, sometimes we'd race on Friday nights-- that was always a blast-- and I used to cover the class for Raceway News, Natl Dragstr, and Fastest Street Car magazine... Those dastardly doorcar drivers were most definitely my "Local Match Race Heroes".... "The Doc" (Celebrity Drag Racing Authority & Visionary)...

P.S. read today's blog... BERNSTEIN, BOTOX, BONO BOOBIES... COSMETIC CONTROVERSY CONTINUES TO MAKE HUGE HEADLINES IN OUR CULTURE...
http://www.dragracingunderground.com/in ... &Itemid=27