Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Here's where we go to kick back after the races with our pals. Pour a tall one, punch a few buttons on the jukebox, and relax...
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Tue Jun 18, 2019 11:30 pm

I tellya what...if I had a Top Alcohol Dragster, that crew would be my first choice!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Jun 24, 2019 6:14 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is Ernie Smith, from Spartanburg, South Carolina. In keeping with the return visit theme of tonight’s show, this is Ernie’s second feature, as he is now driving a 1966 Chevy II B/Gas Sedan, competing in the Southeast Gassers Association’s 2019 season.

Ernie and his wife Paula are one of the most popular and exciting teams in the Southeast Gassers group. This thing is the COOLEST car Ernie’s ever been in. People flock to it to check it out. And it has the added bonus of having more room in it to get stuff to the track.

It's not a car anybody would expect would be a hot rod...that's what makes it special...and the fact that they are using a 388 cubic-inch Ford motor to take a 3200 pound car deep into the low 6s in the 1/8-mile gets their attention.

It flies! I’ve watched videos of it.

They ran last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway on pit road. Ernie said the old hot rod ran good down there last night.

He bought the car from Quain Stott after helping him, Donovan Stott and Gabriel Burrell build it in 8 days for a TV show they did on the Discovery Channel last year. Since it was on such a tight schedule, there was no time to build an engine, but Jimmy Huff had a fresh 388 cube-inch Clevor engine ready to go, so a trip from North Carolina to Georgia to pick it up and install it was made. After the TV show, Ernie made a deal to buy it and Quain sold the Henry J he drove for him last year.

The best ET to date is a 6.27 at 116 mph; not bad for a 3200 pound race car. A brand new 388-inch Clevor will be installed next week and with the changes they’ve made, they expect 6.0s from it. Ernie said they will have it in the car for their next race, July 6th at Piedmont Dragway in Julien, North Carolina.

Ernie told me the Southeast Gassers appreciate this. He said it is a GREAT group of people. They are all really competitive against each other but it's all a big family with no drama or big egos, just a bunch of guys and gals having fun.

I can tell from watching videos that all of you definitely are a big family with no egos or agendas other than to go out and race and have fun...it shows!

I also think Quain Stott is a genius.

Ernie and Paula, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Jul 01, 2019 6:14 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is Lee John Honey, from Kunkletown, Pennsylvania. Lee John was recommended to me by our friend and the leader of the Mid-Atlantic Street Outlaws group, Duane Morris. Thanks, Duane!

Lee John has a 1969 Chevy Camaro that he races in the MASO group, and he is one of the top competitors and is a most respected and popular guy in that group of racers.

2 months after Lee John lost his son who tuned his car for him, In July of 2018, he crashed the car going 120 mph…he hit the wall, having run over a spot of oil on the track.

It was Lee John’s first time back in the car since that tragedy. The wreck did around 13 thousand dollars worth of damage but that was going to be his son’s car so he had to fix it. They are just now finishing it up.

The Camaro’s engine is a 409 Chevy small block with two 76 mm Precision Turbos, a CSU E85 blow through carburetor, and no intercooler. It has1,390 horsepower. With Lee John at the wheel it ran a 7.60 1/4 mile ET.

The build was done by Kockers chassis shop.

The paint job was originally candy apple green with white SS stripes but they changed it in 2017 to Hot Rod Black.

In 2017: Lee John had a big win at a no prep race in West Virginia, then a week later they battled some badass street cars and got the win against Boris Roja from Puerto Rico.

Lee John sends thanks to: Andy Jensen for building him a power plant engine and Joe Jensen for helping Lee John and his team learn the new computer system in the car,
Bob Kocker for fabricating the chassis that is in the car…they are a racing family and Lee John would like to thank his family for making this great hot rod possible!

Unfortunately they lost their right-hand man, Austin, their son, in May of 2018. Lee John thanks his boys, Austin and Ryan. He said he wouldn’t have accomplished his racing abilities without his sons. Austin sure knew how to computerize that car based on what kind of track they were racing on and get it to the finish line! Ryan will be carrying on Austin‘s legacy in the 2019 race season, and will be coming out with his own 1972 Chevelle in the near future. He’s sure Austin will be proud.

Lee John, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Jul 08, 2019 6:51 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is British Drag Racing Legend Dorset Horn, from Bridport, United Kingdom. Dick was recommended to me by his son, Dan Sharp. Thanks, Dan!

Dick Sharp would like to start by saying what a great honour it is to have some recognition from across the pond in the birthplace of his beloved sport.  He would also like to say thank you to the people who have made it possible both past and present, but most to his long suffering wife Carol who’s support and backing has enabled this to happen over the years.
 
My crew members Tim Russ & Bunt Willcox who both made up the main original team in the 70’s and have life long friends.  Bunt sadly lost his fight to cancer earlier this year but was my best and closest friends since the late 60’s and had shared the addiction from the start.  Bunt and myself resurrected the car in the 90’s until our massive top end crash in 2003.  Current crew members Terry Selman, Scott Chilcott and my biggest fan my son Dan Sharp.  Dan & Scott have built their own car which they race “Little Big Horn”.  Sponsors over the years have been many but the few I really need to mention for their massive support are; Richard Waters & Lee Johnstone , Specialist paintworks Scott Aldom and my good friend Pat Cuss of Fibreglass Applications.
 
I first found my love of drag racing as a school boy in 1963 being drawn to the awesome cover of Hot Rod Magazine which I quickly subscribed to.  At University along with some friends Santa Pod Drag way Northampton UK was visited  i was hooked and the seed was sown.
 
In 1970 after recruiting six mates for their time and money into the pot we set about creating my dream child.  As with all young lads we used to race around the town in our street cars.  “Twan” was well known for having a really hot 998cc Austen A35 (the predecessor to the Mini).  I decided that it would make a really cool drag car.  My younger brother Dave worked at a boat builders so that gave us access to the fibreglass.  A mould was taken off the Austin and this became the 1st Dorset Horn body made at the local youth club.  The chassis was was built in a friends parents garage constructed out of exhaust tubing from scratch creating one of the first tubular chassis altered’s in the UK.  Not bad for first times with no experience.
 
I wanted to use Pontiac Power  as this was King according to Hot Rod Magazine.  We acquired 421 cu in Poncho motor from a scrapped Bonneville along with its 3 Rochester tow-barrels.
 
After 3 years hard graft and £600- £700 later we made our debut at Santa Pod’s 1973 Easter meeting.  Dorset Horn 001 was red, white and blue all done the gel coat of the body, 421 Poncho Power, standard Austin A35 body with a wheelbase of 78”.  This car was was so much fun to drive with people saying it looked like a clockwork mouse when it ran swirling all over the place.
 
In the early days in the UK although Santa Pod was Britain’s spiritual home for drag racing, there were a few different association running meets at disused airfields and we tried to make all of them. Unbelievably in our first year we came out as the  NDRC Senior Competition Altered Champions, regular winners of senior comp altered at Santa Pod plus senior comp altered champs at both Blackbushe airfield meetings.  We had a storming first year and loved every minuet of it, the car was also a crowd favourite.  In fact it wasn’t until October 1973 that Motor Sport News reported us losing in the final saying “ for once Dick Sharp ‘s Austin Pontiac did now dominate Senior Comp Altered, in fact it looks as though the team at last have met their match in the Page’s Topolino Altered”.  ~We had some great years following this tussling with long time friends the Page family.
 
Over the winter we made a new body, this time with an air dam on the front, a roof chop and a full flopper style, doing away with the doors on the previous one, that I use to have to unbuckle my harness over the stripe to hold shut!  After replacing the engine block, rods, pistons and making improvements to run methanol we were back out in 1974 with Dorset Horn 002, painted white with red flames this time.  By the second meeting we had dipped well into the 10’s and the first few meetings were reported as “Dick Sharp and the Page’s dominating Senior Comp Altered until the pages wrecked it at the end of May 1974.  We ran the ‘74 season again dominating the class with the absence of the Page’s after their mishap.  In Late August the Page’s debuted their new Model T  “ Panic”   427 Altered.  We then back to tussling in the finals at every meet.
 
Over the winter of 74 –75 we built Dorset Horn 003.  The aim was a 9 second car , Par Cuss of Fibreglass Applications built us a body from our mould, agreeing to it as long as we agreed to increase the wheelbase.
 
Dorset Horn 003 was ready in 1975 with a stretched body weighing 80lbs instead of 250lbs, a wheelbase of 98 inches instead of 78.  The engine was rebuilt and spoilt with an Isky race cam brought home from the states by a crew member and hillborn injection to achieve the 9’s.  Unfortunately it wasn’t to be.  On its maiden run it ran well and hard, all seemed good and set for a 9 but shifting from 2nd to 3rd the rear wheels span up gripped and turned the car hard into the guard rail after fishtailing right at the finish line.
 
Dorset Horn 004 was built over the rest of 1975 and we were ready to get back to it in 1976.   Dorset Horn 004 was basically 003 rebuilt with the Hillborn Methanol injection and it’s isky cam the motor was up to 428 cu inches.  The body was its now iconic yellow with a flame job and sporting 20 inches more horn.
 
We ran this car with great success over the 76 – 77 season with numerous senior comp altered wins and trophies, even running at the fames summer of 76 meet when Garlitts came to the UK to race and the crowds were huge.  We went on tour with a great bunch of other races and friends also now all iconic cars of the UK Drag Racing history to Sweden.  These two seasons racing were up there with our best ever and luckily all caught on film, by my friend Nick Gilbey in the period documentary “Drag Mad”.  Right up until our unfortunate end in 1977.
 
This crash saw the end of the car and team, although we remained friends, whilst everyone settled down, had kids, got mortgages and all the rest.
 
Fast forward 18 years, we took my son Dan drag racing by the suggestion of my wife Carol as Dan had managed to become drag racing mad all on his own accord from watching my film and studying the scrap books.  I hadn’t been back at the track for more than an hour or so and the reception from old friends asking when I’m bringing Dorset Horn back out again, coupled with a friend saying “I’ve got your old body mould in my field” the seed was sown again.
 
I dug the old Pontiac motor and the chassis we threw together before mothballing it in 78 in my Father in laws lock up.  We cleared out the mouse nest from the sump and found the motor internals all good and shiny.  Good old Wynn's additive!
 
We opened a money kitty and over the next 2 years Dorset Horn 005 was born.  Very generously Pat Cuss made us three body sections from our mould which we slid and stretched until we got it right.  J & W Automotive painted it in our Dorset Horn yellow with flames and sporting “20 years on & Hornier” and in 1997 we were ready to race.  The same but refreshed 428 Pontiac motor from the 70’s although now with a Ford 9” rear end , much to my disgust to have Ford parts!
 
We joined the Wild Bunch Nostalgia Drag Racing Association and went racing with a great group of like minded racers, who want to keep the fun feel of racing of yesteryear, who we still race with now.
 
Between 1997 – 2000 we picked up trophies every race meeting and at the year final awards, for numerous Best Altered, Best tuned out, Best mph in class along with a couple of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place in championships  as well as event places.  We had also dipped well down into the 9’s with the addition of The Ron’s Flying Toilet Injection.
 
2002 was a great year for us running with the new Dorset Horn 006 four link and full suspension chassis.  We were constantly in the 9’s and starting  to really get down there.  We constantly picked up Best Altered, Best turned out and Best engineered trophies, also winning a couple of events and placed well in others.  We were invited to show the car along with good friends & fellow racers at the internationally acclaimed Goodwood festival of Speed for the first ever celebration of drag racing, parking the car on Lord March’s lawn and VIP passes for the weekend.  All this accumulated to us winning countless trophies at the end of year awards ceremony including  the converted Don Garlitts Spirit of Drag Racing Shield.
 
2003 set out to be yet another great year for us, again taking lots of best of trophies , consistent mid 9’s and best mph and best  ET  in class at one point.  However in August 2003 I was on another good run when the car turned hard left at 100ft, I went across the strip on my side at 120mph going on to barrel roll 6+ times totalling the car and giving me an overnight in hospital.
 
In the wake of this wreck and after talks with Bunt he decided that he couldn’t  continue in the team for financial reasons.
 
After a while of thinking it was all over Terry joined the crew with my son Dan and Scott.  We rebuilt Dorset Horn 007.    We have had had one small mishap since with a throttle sticking open causing the car to slide away on it’s side, after some considerable body repairs we now have Dorset Horn 007.5.
 
As yet our current best is 8.7 at 152mph, which I ran alongside my son Dan in his car which he built himself with Scott, this was my proudest moment of my racing career.   We are hoping to make a firm stamp on it being an 8sec car once we rebuild the motor after we spat number 1 & 2 rods, still attached to the crank pin, across the track at dragstalgia 2016 at Santa Pod, seeing the dramatic end to the crank that has served us since 1973!

Now, back to me…if ever I have seen a worthy candidate for the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame, here he is, folks. He’s been in it for 50 years and he’s still going strong! That’s my take on it.

I'm posting the links to the 3-part movie that Dick's good mate Nick Gilby filmed of him for his Photography course in 1977. He won an award for it, and it was shown in the British film society cinema in Leicester Square in London!

I have watched the entire movie and it is an outstanding historical drag racing film.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n55OaaU ... H5SMCrScIY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZLj_qi ... E2gvocp-Bw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raxHC1L ... S2YMBK4jSI

Dorset Horn, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby draglist » Tue Jul 09, 2019 6:51 am

Great stuff.
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Jul 15, 2019 7:36 pm

Thanks, BP! Dick's son Dan will be in an upcoming feature as well! They're great folks!

My pick for Racer of the Week is Don Silva, from Lihue, Hawaii. Don was recommended to me by our friend and the admin of the 808_FUEL page, Michael Baba Balbarino. Thanks, Michael!

Don’s beautiful 1972 Toyota Celica is the finest in the State of Hawaii. It’s a street-legal car that outperforms its competition on the drag strip. The last thing you’d expect when you’re out there racing with your hot rod is to have your doors blown off by a ’72 Toyota, but that’s what Don does.

When he’s not working at the NAPA store in Lihue, he’s perfecting his ride, which has a lot of high-performance parts that are rare and not often seen.

The engine is a 3TC nitrous powered aluminum block with a
clutchless transmission! It’s absolutely immaculate; the photos I’ve seen of it scream big horsepower and attention to detail.

It has a 22 R turbo system developed by Edgar Hernandez for Don. Edgar said he has 3 more back at the shop that he’s been saving for years, and Don got this one. It’s a powerhouse. This car will easily win any car show it’s entered in. The engineering that went into it is world-class, and the performance on the track is nothing short of outstanding!

Don shows up at most of the events at the Hilo Drag Strip and cleans house on the competition. We expect to hear a lot of good news from him in the upcoming season!

Don, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Jul 22, 2019 4:41 pm

My pick for Racers of the Week is the Father-and-Son team of Andrew and Calvin Nelson, from York, Pennsylvania. The Nelsons were recommended to me by our friend and the admin of the Mid-Atlantic Street Outlaws group, Duane Morris. Thanks, Duane!

These guys are a great racing family. I’m going to read what they sent to me, word-for-word:

This is from Andrew:

I got the racing bug from all of my Grandparents. My paternal Grandfather (Poppy) raced motorcycles. He was a gifted craftsmen who worked in the shipyards of New York during WWII on minesweepers. My maternal grandfather (PaPa) an incredible machinist helped build and repaired PT boats during WWII. PaPa repaired and built performance vehicles including a wild Small Block Willys that I loved to ride in with him as a kid in the 70s. They both taught me things about cars and I still use many of the tools that they used in WWII. My maternal GM (MaMa) worked at Stillwell Dodge and brought home demo cars in the late 60s and early 70s – the Mopar colors of the day were fantastic. Ultimately my paternal GM (Grandma) loved cars, loved car trips, loved car stories and was totally engaged whenever I talked about my latest car project or race endeavor – what an incredibly encouraging influence she was!

I was involved with 3 different racing endeavors when I was 14 years old and that led to me actually start racing myself in 1979 before I had my license. Since then I have owned over 150 cars, won 30 plus races, set 18 land speed records, have been in 118 publications including 13 cars in 78 magazines (Hot Rod 10+ times), raced Mike Finnegan in General Mayhem at Norwalk with our Bugzilla, attended Hot Rod Top Speed Challenge 4 times, Drag Week 3 times, was the first to record a Land Speed record with a car in Maine in 2009, participated in the Grassroots Motorsports Challenge 13 times, won Hot Rod’s the Quickest for Cheapest Home build Heroes contest in 2007 and the list can go on and on. We have pulled our one trailer 107,500 miles through 25 states going to races everywhere from Texas and Florida to Indiana and Maine.
But all of that is nothing compared to the experiences that we have had doing it as a family. Our team name is PACC Racing. PACC stands for Paula, Andrew, Cameron and Calvin. Our tribe has had the privilege to travel through our great nation to all these incredible races and have had the blessing to be competitive and meet so many incredible people. I would have to say that our greatest success is that we have been adopted into every racing family at every race venue we have participated in. We have friends all over the country who go out of their way to come to see us. And we are often housed by our racing families when we go to some of our crazy events. And everyone knows they are welcomed to break bread with us when the roll through York. What a joy and privilege to be part of the racing community!

Our efforts are now starting to blossom. With both boys now through college we have been able to get more focused on the future. The LS craze has hit our barn and our current heaps include a mid-9 Crapmaro that sports a junkyard 4.8, a 9 second Sunturd with a 5.3 and Spray Can our 74 Nova that sports a LSA fed 6.0. My sons current monster is a Fairmont wagon with a twin turbo LS 6L that we plan to hit Drag Week with. We have not lost our interest in the small and big blocks. We have some near future plans for some builds to be shared in the future.
We are enjoying getting into the No Prep, No Time, Heads Up events and we are planning to make our return to the Land Speed world in 2020. We are very blessed to have a group of friends who are helping us build the cars and to be competitive. Without their support we would not be where we are.

I am very honored by this. I would be grateful if in this presentation my wife Paula were to be recognized for her commitment to what we are doing. While it is easy to see Calvin and I in action because we are running the cars, it is with the support of my wife that this is possible.

Mr. and Mrs. Determination is names that we have sported with the work we put into the racing and other aspects of our lives. Both the boys have adapted and exhibit that Determination nature and they have overcome some real challenges of their own. My son's conduct themselves as real gentlemen in the communities they circle within and to that I am the envy of many fathers.

This is from Calvin:

My father and I build race cars. My dad is a Mechanical Engineer, and I am an Electrical Engineer. Both of us graduated from Penn State. Our areas of expertise compliment very well.

My father has been building cars for 35+ years. He has always been the kind of person that would use his mind rather than money to build a fast car. I was brought into the world with a wrench in my hand. I was out in the garage often, and naturally grew into the car fanatic I am today.

A perfect example of the kind of people we are, is the Grassroots Motorsports Challenge. We began participating in the Grassroots Motorsports Challenge when I was 10. This event has a budget cap of $2,000 for you to buy and build your car. This forces you to use your wit rather than money to build a fast car. This is what we have always enjoyed and been very good at. It is very rewarding to spend the time to figure out how something works, and duplicate for a fraction of the cost. We are the kind of people that look a race car part in the face, and saying “We’re smarter than you”, and then prove it.

One racing accomplishment I am particularly proud of is watching my dad race Mike Finnegan from roadkill in the Hellcat powered "General Mayhem" Dodge Charger. It was really cool to watch my dad take on a car celebrity. Not only that but he beat his $100,000 car with our $2,000 V8 powered Volkswagen bug.

Our current project is a 1981 Ford Fairmont Station Wagon. We are nearing completion. It will be powered by an LS based 6.0L truck engine with stock internals. It has two 7875 Chinese Turbochargers. We are aiming to have it at Drag Week this year (in September). The class we will be participating in is Street Race Small Block Power Adder. It is an index based class, with cars trying to hit 8.50 et quarter miles as close as possible. Our goal is to survive. A secondary goal is to go an 8 every day of competition. Next year we will try to be more competitive.


There are many more things we do in the car world. Land Speed Racing, No Prep, etc. This just gives a small window into our world.

Calvin and Andrew Nelson, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Aug 05, 2019 3:38 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is Dan Sharp, from Bridport, United Kingdom. Dan recommended Dorset Horn, his Dad, to me last month and when I saw that Dan is also an excellent drag racer, I included him in the Racer of the Week series. He has recommended a few more racers to me that I’m following up on at this time. Today, he sent me an outstanding bio and hot rod history, and I’ll read it to y’all word-for-word.

I have been very lucky with my experiences thanks to my parents. My very first taste of the drags, was on my 10th birthday, we went to visit and stay with my god parents in Bakersfield, my godfather, my dad n bunt, took me to the boat drag at Castaic lake

It was when we got home from there my mum told my dad he better take me to the drags, as I was chomping at the bit

When I left school, I was told we might not do big family holidays much again as I was going out to work n college. I was asked if I could choose any vacation anywhere as celebration and final big one, where would it be, my choice was America to see a big American Drag racing event, ha, for quite a few years after, every year we went to the states, always a different state from previous to watch drag racing, the last holiday idea back fired lol

Although it quickly became obvious that racing was in the blood, being a 2nd generation drag racer of one of the UK's veterans of the sport, I didn't actually get my first taste of methanol and nitro or feel the noise properly until my 10th birthday. As a nipper it was obvious the path I would be taking, from the age of 1st starting school and being able to use the VCR I use to get up at the crack of dawn on a weekend take myself downstairs on my own and watch Dad's racing VHS religiously a long with Saturday morning cartoons, and also studying his scrap books from the 70's with all the old programs, photos and magazine and newspaper cuttings. Dad purposely never pushed racing onto me as at the time he was not involved due to house building for us, however I seemed to find all this stuff out myself and as any kid I naturally had a thousand questions about everything. I remember also as a kid when we eventually got Sky TV, and being so excited we could see some NHRA coverage regularly in the late 80's early 90's, I remember watching in awe every race that John Force was in running the early Castrol funny cars, and sitting 6 inches from the screen as he motor mouthed about each run and win!

On my 10th birthday went to Bakersfield California with Dads crew chief and life long friend Bunt, and Dinah and their boys, for a holiday and stayed with my God parents Jenny and Dale who lived just in the suburbs! It was an amazing holiday that opened my eyes to all things American, the cars, the Kenworths, the RV's, the camping in the mountains, Disneyland, a place where all houses had pools in the back yard, also one thing that stuck with me was my first taste of drag racing, no not at famoso or any other strip, but Dale took me, Dad and Bunt to Castaic Lake to the boat drags! Seeing and feeling V8's everywhere, including feeling the nitro motors pound the bank and your body from the lake, and the seed was well and truly sown, the addiction had started, from then on life was drag racing!

When we got home, mum pretty much told Dad, they were going to have to take me to see a drag race, I was taken to Avon Park raceway, aka, Shakespeare County Raceway, where I spent the whole day like a kid at Christmas. Even more exciting for me, was how many of the racers kept coming up to Dad like long lost family, each one letting me sit in their cars, giving me posters and t-shirts including the pro drivers and teams, who all turned out to be dads racing buddies from yesteryear. As we went round meeting more n more people, slowly the plan of rebuilding dads iconic Dorset Horn Altered became more n more real, with people coming up and saying things like, "I've got your old body mould in my field if you're coming back out"! 

It was not long before the chassis Dad and his mates put together in 78 and mothballed was back in our garage, along with the original Poncho V8. I was as keen and excited as a kid getting a puppy at the thought of a real race car in the family, I spent hours in the garage on my own, after being giving the task of rust removal on the chassis, with strips of Emory cloth, sanding for all I was worth to get this thing cleaned up! Over the next few years the garage was a give of activity every weekend, with all sorts of great people and big names in UK drag racing turning up, as I watched and learned how an iconic altered was born from the ground up, I knew as soon as I was old enough, I had all the ideas of what to do to build one of these things, and I knew that my absolute ambition was to build my own and race my dad! Once the Dorset horn was built, in my last year of high school, I spent quite a few years, proud as punch to be crewing alongside Bunt for Dad, learning how to run a car like this, how to swear and cuss when it keeps fighting against you with all sorts of problems, and also how to drink like a drag racer!
 
I had also been collecting parts as and when I could along the way, with the intent of putting my plan into action, including acquiring an altered chassis with I had slowly been trying to mount parts on. 

My good friend Scott Chillcot, had attached himself to us as a team after pestering me about wanting to come racing sometime to see what it's all about, and also caught the bug after his very first time, he also convinced me that he really wanted in on what I was building and said we should build it together sharing the financial costs. I always knew I wanted to follow in the old man's footsteps and build something that was not the norm, and would stand out in a crowd of altereds. I showed Scott all the drawings I had done in my teens of ideas I had for different bodies, he was in total agreement it should be something different. By complete accident I called a guy about an axle who I'd heard was selling one from a famous altered that use to race with Dad in the 70's, called Stagecoach, owned and made famous by the later European top fuel legend Barry Sheavills. After discussing what parts and prices this guy wanted and had, it turned out he still had the whole altered, and didn't want much for the whole thing, so between me and dad we agreed to buy everything he had, Dad was really keen to get the specially made injection for a poncho, and I was keen on the body, a fibreglass Austin 7 would be and was a great body for an altered, especially with dads being an Austin as well! 
Once we got it back I loved the idea of the body how it use to look, unfortunately the body had been butchered and narrowed beyond recognition, so between me and Scott we set about try to rectify it and make it our own. A grueling 1000 + hours later and loads of weekends over a year and a half, after cutting splicing, making panels in Ally and moulding into the body, we had a shape we were happy with, however the body now weighed a ton, so over God knows how many more hours and weekends burning huge amounts of midnight oil, we made our own mould and produced a new body from it. Once mounted and tinned out we had what was quickly starting to look like a cool altered, and a childhood dream was really taking shape! Being glutens for punishment, we both agreed the old chassis I had acquired years before, was no where near the standard we wanted this car to be, so we tore the whole thing down, got rid of the chassis, and decided with me now being a qualified welder, and also helping build dads new improved chassis, we should build one from scratch to the look we wanted. After taking advice from other racers, we decided the best way to go was to build high spec chassis, rated at far more than we intended to get to for quite a while, so we built a 6 second chrome molly nostalgia funny car chassis, and just for fun, then had to re do everything including all the tin work in the body! After more years than I ever expected or wanted, my childhood dream was realised, expect sadly, there was only one meeting left before the close of the 2014 season, and we still had a handful of loose ends to tie up, and had never even spun the engine over, let alone run it up! In true drag racers style the decision was made, do or die, we loaded up what we had, including the parts needed to finish it off, and set off for the hot rod drags at Shakespeare county raceway, now with an increased crew, as I was now engaged to be married with my now wife and stunning B.U.G, Sammy Sharp, and my 2 young sons Harry and Blaize. 

We spent all of the Saturday of the meeting finishing the car off with everyone in the extended racing family helping wherever possible! We eventually got the car fired up for the first time ever, confront of a big crowd of friends and racers with my stomach in knots at the thought of it all going wrong, just in the nick of time to get the car off the stands, on the tow rope, and in the que for the cackle fest as an un notified and unexpected debut entry! I rounded the corner of the absolutely packed grandstands, we fired the car up for the 2nd time ever, and I drove out in front of the crowd for my first attempt of driving the car and moving it under it's own power, with my stomach in massive knots but the biggest grin and goosebumps ever I lined up on the track feeling like I'd won the lottery!

Chassis is a home made chrome moly nostalgia funny car style speced down to 6 seconds, the body is a fibreglass Austin 7 body, as talked about earlier. Trans is an art carr race spec turbo hydro 400. Engine is now a 468 Alky injected Big Block chevy, eagle forged crank, forged h beam rods, 14:1 forged Ross racing pistons, topped off with a crower porcupine injection

In 2015 after wrestling all the gremlins of a new car, I managed to achieve my ultimate dream of racing against the old man a number of times! Unfortunately in 2016 at Santa Pods dragstalgia meet we along with the old wrecked our motor! In the year following whilst trying to sort both cars and rebuild them, family priorities have come first as they did with dad all those years a go, Sam and I had our 3rd baby boy Cruz, the final one of the trilogy of 3rd generation racers to come, and again house building has moved in front of racing.

With the house building now coming together hopefully next year will be our year alongside the old man again, where we can get into the 8's that looked so promising after our 9.3 145mph PB! As well as my best mate and crew chief Scott, and also my amazing wife and B.U.G Sammy, I have to give a massive thanks to my mum and who have always been amazing and I couldn't ask for better. Also a big thanks needs to go out to Darren west of Power Race Graphics, for all the sponsorship he,s given me and Dad.

Dan, thanks for the great info tonight. We wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Sun Aug 11, 2019 9:02 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is Vince Generalo, Jr., from Las Vegas, Nevada, originally from Oahu, Hawaii. Vince was recommended to me by our friend and the admin of the 808_FUEL page, Michael Baba Balbarino. Thanks, Michael!

Vince is one of the most talented and promising drivers in our sport. His story is an inspiration and a glorious drag racing revelation. Kick back and enjoy:

He was born on July 14, 1994 in Honolulu, HI, the son of Vince and Odette. He is the youngest of 3. He has an older brother Everett and a sister Shaundra.

Vince is a third generation racer (grandpa Anthony started in the 1960’s, dad Vince started at age 11 in 1975). He grew up at Hawaii Raceway Park watching his dad drive his top alcohol funny car. The family moved to Las Vegas when he was age 9 and he started racing junior dragsters. He won his first race at the age of 13. Won the 2010 LVMS track championship to defending 2018 div. 7 super comp champ Chad Webber. (Ricky and Cal).

Vince accidentally got a Monaco Motorhome sponsorship in Jr Dragsters after testing a brand new car went wrong and the rear tire came apart and he didn’t crash the car.

He drove his first “big car” at age 15 at the Super Chevy show without anyone knowing. It was a 1970 Nova. His first pass went 9.90 which is what the car ran at the time. He officially got his big car license at age 16 in a dragster, and then short wheel base in an injected alcohol altered a few months later. From 16-17 aside from finishing his Jr career, Vince drove a 1979 El Camino that ran 10.20s owned by Paul Savoy.

He got his Adv. ET License at age 17 in Doug Williams’ 7.0 pro front engine dragster.

In the summer of 2012, he drove the same Nova that he made his first run in and hit a 5 race series, racing in a 9.60 index. He went to 5 finals, sealing the deal in 4 of them.

Vince traveled all over the continental US with his dad when he drove the Hough family’s Nanook AA/FA.

His Post youth years:

Vince moved to Arizona for 2 years and put racing on hold to focus on school. He went to UTI for auto and diesel mechanics. Once graduated he moved back to Vegas and finished putting together a Camaro that his dad had built back in 2003. As a backstory to that car, Vince’s dad built a complete car for a customer and was testing the car on Father’s Day of 2003. Third pass down the track went 7.77@ 187, the cross wind took the car once the chutes blossomed and sent it barrel rolling 7 times. They ended up with the car and Vince, Sr. had a broken neck. They finished putting the car back together at the end of 2014. They raced it here at there in 2015 but it worked too well for his liking. It did everything for him so he told his dad to get rid of it and now he wanted an altered.

In 2016 they put an altered together to race 7.0 pro at the March Meet and Vince experienced the first of a lot of things: the backfire of an intake on the first run, the oil bath of a lifetime and a trip to the ambulance on his second run to flush his eyes out against his will.

In 2017, Vince’s girlfriend at the time at he got down to the finals of Super Pro at the Thanksgiving Bracket Nationals in Las Vegas and decided to split the 7k purse so they both went home with a smile.

The 2018 March meet was devastating. They destroyed a motor in their new altered on its fifth run on everything and the first full pull. Vince is still racing that car to this day.

May  17-19, 2019 was the weekend that he had been dreaming of his whole life. The opportunity came to travel to Hawaii to race 2 door slammers that had never been successfully down the racetrack down there and Vince jumped at it. Not for ego’s sake but to drive at a racetrack that he seen his dad, cousin James (Butchie Boy) with the impatient fuel altered go down as a child. Prior to this his quickest run in a door car was 8.80. The first pass Vince made down there was 7.41@186 but it felt slow. He had the time of his life down there and he plans on making the trip again soon. Vince said he can’t thank his family and Uncle Derrick Moreira enough for giving him the opportunity to go down there and fulfill that dream.

Vince Sends Thanks To:

His Dad (Vince) for literally everything from building him a safe car, to being a life coach, he owes it to him

His Grandfather Anthony for starting all of this and giving the family something to be passionate about and for always being there

His mom Odette and sister Shaundra for always supporting him in life no matter what

His nieces and nephew for being his biggest little fans

The Houghs for their support and allowing his dad to drive their historical ride

His family in general for their continuous support in life

The Whynaught family for everything that they do for him to this day

The Pressimone brothers for always lending a helping hand

His Uncle Scotty for giving him his car to make his first laps in

The State of Hawaii for welcoming him back with open arms

Everybody that has been there along the way, the list is long but he appreciates all of you!

Goals:

To do well at the 2019 California Hot Rod Reunion along side his dad (Vince Sr.) and Cousin Kyle Hough in the famous Nanook originated by Papa Dave Hough

To upgrade his license to drive a fuel altered or nostalgia funny car

To eventually before he hangs it up, drive a top alcohol funny car

To inspire people and make them just as excited about life as he is.

Attitude:

I’m reading Vince’s message word-for-word now:

When I was younger, I was caught up on winning and needing to do well and didn’t care about anything other than winning. It wasn’t until the March Meet of 2016 that everything just hit me, and I needed to sit back and understand why I am really doing this. When I am in the seat of the car and the helmet is on I am a fierce competitor no matter what kind of a car or racing it is. Whether is just a local bracket race or the March meet. The BS stops once the visor drops. And from a young age that’s who I was just a competitor and just had this mentality that I know I am not the best or the greatest, but you better be on your A Game to beat me. In my opinion there are racers and there are drivers. Racers do good when everything goes right and the car works perfect to the conditions and does the work for you. Drivers have situational awareness and can understand what is going on and make it work to get the car to the other end and that’s what I aspire to be. My idols growing up and the people I really respect as a driver are Mike Dunn, Del Worsham, and my Dad. Not just because is my dad, but he has situational awareness and finesse in the seat like no other that I have seen in this present-day technology. I’m truly grateful to have him as a father and mentor. He made me sit in a car from the time I was 6 and tell me what everything did and have me go through motions blind folded with different scenarios and make hundreds of runs before he would let me even start it. As frustrating as it was growing up wanting to just go out there and try it, it made being comfortable and respecting the reality of the dangers that much more at ease. In my head sitting there waiting I think about different things but I am not scared or afraid of what can happen, I can only be aware and understand how to prevent those things from happening and when to put my ego aside a save it for another run. Which I feel is lost in so many ways these days, so often you see people destroying things for no reason other than a win light or because of who’s in the other lane. There’s a quote from top gun that has really stuck with me lately, “Son, your ego is writing checks your body can’t cash!”
Back to why I do this now. At the 2016 March Meet, I was in the staging lanes sitting on the tire putting on my boots with my headphones in just focused on getting by first round. I had a little chip on my shoulder because I’m the young buck in the class. I looked up to see a little boy with his grandfather just excited to be around the race cars and he was pointing at me. It wasn’t until that moment after so many years of driving that it hit me as to why I am really doing this. He came up to me and said,” Excuse me sir? Kick some butt!” and gave me a fist bump. Then, everything just sank in for me as I remember when I was that little kid running around the racetrack jumping in tires and excited to watch race cars that I was giving a new perspective of everything. The trophy or checks suddenly didn’t mean anything to me like they used to be seeing a little kid so excited and look up to me was life changing and humbling and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

This is an extraordinary young man, folks. He gets it. And he’s passing this knowledge along to us. I hope we can all learn something here.

Vince, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!

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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Aug 19, 2019 7:36 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is Randy Lee Warriner, from Lake Elsinore, California. I found Randy on Facebook one day and got in touch about being a Racer of the Week because we have 110 mutual friends, and once I saw what he’s doing I was blown away.

"NEWT" was born in AITKIN, MINNESOTA, Moved to CALIFORNIA in 1977 because of drag racing and the BROTHERHOOD OF STREET RACERS of which he is a member. He is the owner and operator of THE NITRO GARAGE at his home shop. He’s been doing it for 18 years. He builds race race cars, hot rods, and trucks. He’s a master fabricator, welder, machinist, mechanic and graphic artist. He does chassis',tin work, roll gages, fiberglass funny car body mounting, and more. They do kustom paint, lettering, Randy’s been airbrushing since 1975, doing t-shirts, grills and tail lights on funny cars. He’s raced and crewed on everything from Nostalgia Top Fuel, & Funny Cars to Nostalgia Eliminator and door cars. He crewed on the Fighting Irish Nostalgia Funny Car and he painted Ed Dugan’s bike for him while he was at it. Randy said he’s really into NOSTALGIA RACING, He doesn't care for the Big Show. Newt and his son are building a Street / Drag race car now. Its a 1964 FORD TAUNUS from GERMANY. He also has a couple of GMC trucks they’re building. One is a pro street car with Double beadlock 21.5 / 33 wheels n tires, a BOOTH & ARONS 540 bbc/ 8.71 blower, with a big n’ ugly injector for the street. They have a '67 Fairlane that’s getting a BOSS 429 and a 5-speed. Randy’s had his '56 Chevy for 38 years. He said he’s just getting it figured out. It’s a street-legal hot rod.

Newt, his grandson Nate and his dad Wayne did an interview a couple years ago with Ronnie from C10 TALK podcast about the C10 truck build they did together. Now the three of them are building another C10 for the dad Wayne.

I complimented Randy on the awesome dragster he has on his Facebook page. He said “Thanks. I had fun with that dragster for about 5 years and then I sold it to a guy in Canada and started building my ‘56 Chevy that I’ve owned for 35 years.”

The Nitro Garage has a great website and Facebook page, and I highly recommend taking a minute and visiting it. There, you’ll find one of the best hot rodders around.

https://thenitrogarage.com/?fbclid=IwAR ... jQUQjk1b0U

Newt, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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