Atlantic Seaboard Rat
The McClains Have Nitro and WILL Travel
By Stephen McClain
The Tri-State Top Fuel Chevy nostalgia digger wants to race! Book
them and let us know when you do it! Photo by Bob Bradley
The Tri-State Racing team wants to bring nostalgia fuel dragster racing to the East Coast in 2002! We have a 1996 Stirling Big Block Chevy, front-motored AA/FD. The driver is Ernest McClain. On Nov 4, 2001, we ran a 6.678 @ 200.22 at Bradenton, Florida.
We are looking for places to race in the spring. We can set up a match race deal with Lincoln Hassel. He has a new front motor top fuel car out of North Carolina. It's a nice car, a fuel burning small block in a Stirling chassis. (It's actually Stirling's small block, the motor Alicia raced.) We would really like to put together two-cart match races in 2002. Or we can arrange a match race with Ron Hope, who drives the Rat Trap AA/FA.
Our name is Tri-State Racing because we are from Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. You might remember Ernie McClain from the early days. The name of our car then was the Mill Road Boys. At that time, we were all from Delaware. We raced a few years ago in Pro Comp (like 25 years). That was a front motor blown small block Chevrolet dragster. Now we are back at it with a front-motored big block Chevrolet dragster. We are using a combination that I learned while touring the country with Jim Bucher. It's amazing how the thing ran good right away. I owe a lot to Jim for showing me how to run the car. The 6.67 was the first full run on the car.
The car is a 100% legal Goodguys setup. The tires are used tires that I bought three years ago. With new tires and a few more runs under our belts, I think this thing is going to fly. We are in the process of getting the car ready for this year, including putting together a second motor. A friend of mine from work asked if he could stop and see the car one day. I told him he could. He asked what would be a good day. I told him to stop about ten minutes before we leave for the next race (that is, if you want to see it in one piece). Some things never change.
Our plans for 2002 are slim right now. We have a race in Rockingham, NC, on June 1 and the Goodguys race at Indy on the following weekend. If you are a track promoter who wants to bring NITRO powered AA/Fuel Dragsters to your track, let me know. We can put together a pack of information for track owners.
By the way, the photographer's name is Bob Bradley. He is the guy who has Nitrocentral.com.
Bob is from Maine. He used to race with Guy Boucher's AA/FD car. Bob was with us in Florida when we ran the 6.67. He may be building a car of his own. If you get a chance, check out
Nitrocentral.com to see some good pictures of the car on the 6.67 pass. Tab down until you see the stuff from Florida -- there are three or four pictures of it.
Does anyone ever go up to the Motorsports Show at Fort Washington, PA? It's kind of neat; it starts next Friday through Sunday. I'm going up on Friday. If you are going, stop by and say hello.
Stephen McClain
Tri-State Racing
410-392-6619
MAC123@dca.net
