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The McNeely Files: My First Match Race
By Tommy McNeely
In 1964, I took my Z-11 Bel Air to San Antonio to race. Fritz Callier with CKC racing team was with me. The car was not quite stock -- it had an aluminum front end, 446 cubic inch engine, etc. Since no one there knew the car, I entered it in A/SO. Also entered was a ’62 Plymouth that had been beating all the 409's.
We held back during time trials, so our performance appeared to match the Plymouth’s. John Durand was the track manager. He approached me to run the Plymouth in a three out of five match race for $100. We went for it.
We won by a car length or so the first two rounds. We then got a side bet going, and I beat him by eight or ten car lengths in the third round.
Just when I started to feel bad about being too hot for the class, it dawned on me: I'm legal because we are match racing!
I don't know if they hated the Plymouth or if there were a lot of Chevy fans in attendance, but the crowd went wild.
That was also the first time I ever got paid to race.
Tommy
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