Profile of Kevin Lawrence
National Hot Rod Association Pro Stock racer
Chicagoland High Performance Gearhead News, 2006

In NHRA drag racing, Pro Stock is not simply a category, it is a lifestyle. One does not race in Pro Stock, one lives it. Almost anyone involved in it is consumed by it.

How well Kevin Lawrence knows. For the past 11 years the resident of Palos Hills, Ill., has been on a self-described mission to pull his car into the starting beams on Sunday of an NHRA national event and compete for the prestigious trophy.

Before Lawrence can race his 2002 Chevy Cavalier in eliminations, he has to qualify for the 16-car field, and he has yet to accomplish that feat. Full-time racers often have difficulty making the show at the 23 national events, so for part-time racer Lawrence, who attends only a handful of events, the challenge is magnified.

Even though Lawrence, 50, has had to endure a long qualifying drought, he is not deterred in his effort. "I keep going because of the racer in me," he said. "I enjoy working toward my goal. I want to do this, and I choose to do this. You'll never hear me whining. I just keep looking to get better."

One other reason motivates him: "I love going fast," he said. "I love driving. Making a run is my favorite part of racing." So far his Cavalier's best numbers are 6.76 at 206.20. The 2,350-pound car has a 500-cubic-inch GM engine, five-speed Liberty transmission, nine-inch rearend, and Goodyear slicks.

For Lawrence to improve those numbers and enter the elite 16 at a national event, he recognizes he needs one item - money. Specifically, money provided by a major sponsor. He is as committed to acquiring one as striving to qualify.

Money would buy Lawrence equipment, technology, expertise, and testing. He related that $1.2 million would enable him to run all 23 events with paid team members. Among the major expenses of a Pro Stock endeavor are a $110,000 car and a $120,000 engine (2-3 needed).

Even $100,000 would enable Lawrence to contend for a victory during the rest of this season, he noted. He is caught in a catch-22 scenario, since he needs money to race regularly to be able to show potential sponsors what he can do.

Because he has been close to qualifying, with proper funding Lawrence is confident he would make eliminations. The components on his car are similar to those of the regular qualifiers, and he has a close working relationship with Steve Schmidt, a Pro Stock racer who owns an Indianapolis engine-building service that produces qualifying power.

Lawrence has been a Schmidt customer since the mid-1980s when he raced other types of cars and has used a Schmidt Pro Stock engine since 1996. "Because of his experience, Steve has been a tremendous amount of help to me," Lawrence said. "He has taught me a lot about such things as car set-up. I also benefit from his research and development, so I have access to the latest information."

The Pro Stock teams of Greg Hill, Warren Johnson, Ron Krisher, Jim Yates, and Mark Pawuk have assisted Lawrence, too, providing parts and/or tuning tips. Help also has come from chassis builders Rick Jones, who built Lawrence's car, and Don Ness.

While Lawrence's machine has adequate horsepower (approximately 1,400 at 9,600 rpm), putting it to the track is tricky. That involves the proper combination of clutch, chassis, and gearing in the transmission and rearend for existing weather and track conditions.

Difficulty with a recent switch to a three-disc, six-inch Ace clutch led Lawrence to ask for assistance from Chuck Samuel, a long-time friend and Chicago-area resident. He is most well known for excelling at the fastest street car style of racing with various Chevrolets and Fords. He co-owns Fast Times Motorworks in Morton Grove, Ill.

Samuel will be assisting a team consisting of crew chief Billy Wolf, Lawrence's wife Pam, Lawrence's daughters Danielle and Nicole, and Vince Rollberg, who owns Modern Carriage Werks, a body shop in Bridgeview, Ill. Lawrence has worked there five years as a mechanic, and the business sponsors his racing effort.

Additional sponsorship is provided by Brandon Goodwin and Dave Pomeroy at WMC, a diversified custom fabrication and equipment installation firm in Alsip, Ill.; Greg Bustamante at On Site Support, a computer printer company in Willowbrook, Ill.; and Rick Zirk at Grand Point Homes in Elgin, Ill. Joe Eenigenburg of Tinley Park, Ill., has contributed special equipment.

To further improve his program, Lawrence may acquire a Cobalt, one originally built by Jones, in time for the U.S. Nationals in Indy over Labor Day weekend. "The cars are stiffer than when I started in Pro Stock," Lawrence said. "The combinations are all different from year to year.

"They use torque and power differently," he said. "You have to make perfect runs now because the fields are closer. You have to be very, very precise, and you can't even be 200 r.p.m. off on your shifts."

Lawrence began in Pro Stock with a 1994 Firebird in a joint effort with Scott Fulkerson of Midwest Engine Tech in Mokena, Ill. After five years he quit racing to concentrate on operating his business and starting a family. Wolf joined the team at that point. The Firebird was updated in 2000, and the Cavalier was acquired in 2003.

Prior to Pro Stock, Lawrence competed in Super Chevy events and the Outlaw Super Stock Association, a Chicago-area group he helped start in 1984. He ran a 1969 Camaro, whose quickest time was 8.80 at 151. He tried Super Gas at an American Hot Rod Association event in 1983 but found the class not to his liking.

Lawrence's racing activities have included a 1985-88 stint as a crewmember on the Chi-Town Hustler Funny Car team when Wayne Minick drove the car. Lawrence first worked on the bottom end and advanced to the top side of the engine.

Racing snowmobiles in 1987-90 resulted in an open fuel division championship every year and overall points titles the last two years. Competing on a 750-foot lake ice track, Lawrence went 4.90s at 138 aboard a tube-chassis Polaris with a three-cylinder turbocharged engine on nitrous oxide.

Lawrence became interested in cars at an early age. He read numerous magazines and hung out with an uncle who raced and cruised in a 1960 Ford Starliner and 1958 Corvette. Before Lawrence was 16 he had two Fords, a 442, and a Grand Prix. His first car after receiving his driver's license was a 1970 Challenger, with which he earned his first trophy at Oswego (Ill.) Dragway.

Later Lawrence had a big-block 1968 Chevelle and was among the original group of street racers frequenting Duke's Drive-in in Bridgeview in the mid-1970s. He said he won a lot of money street racing through the late 1980s. He also competed in Run Tuff Eliminator at U.S. 30 Drag Strip in northwestern Indiana. He bracket raced there a year but found he preferred heads-up competition.

In 1974-85 Lawrence worked at P&G in Bridgeview with Phil Slack, who competed in an injected Funny Car in United Drag Racers Association action. "He set me in the direction of drag racing," Lawrence said. "I ran a chassis dyno and ported heads myself, and the shop had the latest equipment." He next worked 15 years managing Wilrae Tire & Frame in Bridgeview before his current job at Modern Carriage Werks.

Soon Lawrence will be doing part-time driving duty in the "Shake, Rattle, and Run" 1957 Chevy owned by Dick Messino and his sons Chris and Paul. The legendary gasser first hit the strip in the 1960s and was raced last 12 years ago.

A new Gene Pudlo chassis, Modern Carriage Werks paint job, Schmidt engine, and Lenco transmission are expected to push the '57 into the high 6s at 200-plus m.p.h. Lawrence will match race "Animal Jim" Feurer or Arnie "The Farmer" Beswick in September at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill.

That experience or any other activity will do little to distract Lawrence from his mission in Pro Stock. "I appreciate every time I go to an event, and all the other guys in the class respect our team," he said. "I'm living a dream."

Feature about Chicago Wise Guys
Drag Racing Monthly, 1997

In the 1920s ferocious Chicago gangs asserted themselves with terrorism, corruption, intimidation, cruelty, and murder in the high-stakes battles to gain control of the city's underworld. Driven by a violent lust for greed and power, mobsters wily and vicious enough to survive were rewarded with millions of dollars reaped from people's wild desires for gambling, prostitution, and Prohibition booze.

Immortalized in books, movies, newspaper stories, and legends, the tough guys buzzed down Chicago streets in shiny, slick, yet nondescript cars. Four-banger engines hardly roared in the Roaring Twenties, but death-dealing Thompson submachine guns became the trademark of such notorious criminals as Al Capone, John Torrio, Bugsy Moran, Dion O'Banion, and Hymie Weiss.

Seventy years later members of a group known as the Chicago Wise Guys are indeed roaring down drag strips not far from the Windy City, relying on the firepower of raging, screaming engines that bang out 7 and 8-second elapsed times. Just as Mafia thugs often battled for recognition among themselves, the Wise Guys fight for on-track supremacy by match racing each other.

These Wise Guys have no use for a tommy gun (except as the official logo on the group's decal and T-shirt). Rather, their quarter-mile assault weapons of choice include a lightweight '74 Vega, the always popular '55 Chevy, an altered-wheelbase '65 Dodge Coronet, a hard-charging '67 Mustang, a radical '67 El Camino, and a wild '87 Chevy Caprice. Bullets loaded in the engine chambers can range from a supercharged small-block mouse to a maxxed-out nitrous rat to a legendary hemi to a stump-pulling wedge Ford.

Each lethal combination leads to killer quarter-mile times that have amazed fans since the first Wise Guys match race in 1995. The group has appeared at its home track, Great Lakes Dragaway near Union Grove, WI, in addition to Byron Dragway in Byron, IL; Cordova Dragway Park outside Cordova, IL; and U.S. 41 International Dragway close to Morocco, IN. In 1998 appearances are planned at the new Route 66 Raceway near Joliet, IL, just southwest of Chicago.

Track operators have not had to fear shakedowns or hits to be persuaded to book the group. Americans always have been captivated by gangsters' glorified spirit and romantic mystique, and the Wise Guys are building on that legacy by impressing fans with fantastic burnouts, reach-for-the-sky wheelstands, and rapid side-by-side runs. "We've had a good response from track operators," said organization founder, president, and godfather Pete Demos of Chicago, who started racing in 1974 at the infamous U.S. 30 Dragway southeast of the city.

In addition to starting the Wise Guys, the intense, fast-talking Demos gave the group its name. He based it on the movie "Wise Guys," a comedy about gangsters. "Besides, everybody keeps telling me I'm a wise guy, a smart guy, ya know," he said. "I chose the machine gun for the logo because of the movie. It's our trademark, but it's all in fun."

The organization has thrived under 1990s drag racing-style Prohibition in which NHRA and IHRA class racing and high-dollar bracket racing has become cost prohibitive for many competitors. Other than car construction according to NHRA safety standards, no rules are imposed on Chicago Wise Guys.

You read right - none! No minimum weights. No slick size restrictions. No cubic-inch limits. No illegal transmissions. No engine equipment prohibitions, so anything goes: mega cubic inches, one four-barrel or two, blower, fuel injection, nitrous, alcohol, and even nitro.

This may be run-what-ya-brung match-race madness taken to the extreme.

"It's more expensive to build a class car with a certain engine combination. We don't fit in any categories, so we decided to form our own match-race circuit," Demos said about the basis for organizing the group in 1995, which originally had eight cars. Four dates were booked in 1996 and 16 in 1997 from April through October.

Eighteen racers belong to the group, but not all of them appear at all booked-in shows, so fields consist of 10-16 cars. They are paired by group coordinator Tom Strazcka according to closeness of elapsed times after qualifying. He matches cars within 1-2 tenths of each other.

Times range from 7.40s at 185 to 9.00s at 150. Each pair only races against each other during an event. The two cars make three passes using a heads-up, four-tenths pro christmas tree, and the first car to cross the finish line wins. Delay boxes are not allowed, but air or electric shifters, two-steps, and transbrakes are permitted.

"We're in this for more of a show than anything," Demos said. "Win or lose, you come back and race again. The tracks like that because it puts on a bigger show for the fans. People want to see side-by-side racing.

"Everywhere we go we've had a great reception. It has really caught on," Demos said. "People tell us our cars are awesome. If fans are at food stands when we start racing, they come running to the fences."

Other racers also are keenly interested in the Wise Guys. Demos has received calls from people in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio about joining the group, but membership has been restricted because of track owners' limits on booking a certain number of cars. Also, members of the Chicago-area Outlaw Super Stocks and Modified Super Stocks are not allowed to race occasionally with the Wise Guys. The reverse also applies. "If they do, they're out," Demos said. "And we're not out to steal cars from other groups. We all respect each other."

Since the group concentrates on match racing, no eliminations occur, and no points are tallied toward a season championship. Points are awarded, however, for burnouts. Each racer burns out across the starting line "to please the fans. They like the smoky burnouts the best," Demos said.

At the end of the season, a trophy is presented at a banquet to the racer who did the best burnouts during the year. Trophies also are given to the most consistent racer and the one who made the most Wise Guys appearances during the season.

Even though the members match race, qualifying runs still are held to determine the match racing participants. "It makes it more exciting for the people in the group and in the stands. The racers figure they must step up their stuff to get in the program, and that makes for a better show," said Demos, who shares driving duties with partner Jim Agnos in their "Mad Greeks" 1985 Camaro that has 7.75/180 capability.

Each driver receives the same amount of money for racing at an event. "We're just trying to break even," Demos said about the money the group receives from each track for an appearance. Wise Guys also receive free admission for themselves, their cars, and three crewmembers, a special pit area, and scheduled racing times.

"We are the featured show, not bracket racers who have to wait four hours to run," Demos said. "When some guys start to complain about our group, all I have to do is remind them how things used to be. There's no alternative but to go back to the brackets."

Group members do not have to pay season dues or per-race fees. Most of the organization's operating costs are offset by contributions by sponsors. Those in Chicago are Bee's Gas & Auto Repair, ASM Auto Supply, C&R Tire and Automotive Center, and Central Printers & Graphics. Other sponsors are JC's Auto, Cicero, IL; New Wheels Auto Brokers, Lake Villa, IL; Syberian Express, Marseilles, IL; Stickney Auto & Truck Co., Stickney, IL; M. Goldberg Jewelry and Repair, Cicero; My Mistake, Forest View, IL; and Tom & Jerry's Lounge, Summit, IL.

Sponsors are feted during Sponsor Day at Great Lakes Dragaway and at the annual banquet. Posters also are displayed in the pits, decals on the race cars list the sponsors, and Wise Guys programs contain car photos and sponsor listings. Group income is supplemented by sales of T-shirts.

Besides wanting to buy T-shirts, fans come to the Wise Guys' pits seeking autographs. Children are allowed to put on the racers' helmets and sit in the race cars. "We go out of our way to be friendly," Demos said, noting he once spent $400 on food for a barbecue in the pits.

That friendliness exists among the members, too. "We're all one, big, happy family that wants to put on a good show for the fans. Our best friend may be pitted next to us, but when we're out on the track, we want to win," Demos said. "If somebody breaks down, we'll all help him get going."

Maybe the group should be called the Chicago Nice Guys, as a similar cooperative spirit is at work in other aspects of the organization. People attend business meetings, held 3-4 times a year, to discuss issues pertinent to administering the group and deciding its future. Votes are taken about proposed improvements, distances traveled to tracks, fining no-shows, and other matters.

For example, members decided early in the group's development that racers and crewmembers always should wear Wise Guys dress shirts near the starting area. "It's pretty impressive when 75 people go up to the starting line wearing the group's shirts. We try to show class and be organized," he said.

Demos is assisted with business matters by Jim Agnos and Rich Vitiritti. Strazcka, race day coordinator, was hired to pair the cars, direct racers on burnouts, record times, and schedule runs with track operators.

"Everybody has to be committed to doing this, or else it's not going to work," Demos said. "We all do this because we like it. We certainly don't break even racing, but it's an addiction.

"For me, it's like a second job because I'm on the phone constantly. But I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I love people and their response to the cars," said Demos, who can be found at the races shuckin' and jivin', grinnin' and jabberin'. He flits from one pit to the next cajoling, encouraging, back-slapping, and giving high fives.

Often in 1996 the cars did not respond well to the racers because breakage was a common problem, and it flared in '97 as many of them suffered while flogging their nitrous combinations. They will have to be refined further to avoid breakage, especially during hot weather, that "makes the show look bad when we overextend our parts," Demos said.

In '98 Demos wants quicker cars, and an 8.60 minimum is being considered. "I'd like to see the guys step up with more cubic inches in lighter cars or new cars. It's hard to say and do because it costs more money to go faster," he said, "but nobody likes to lose or not qualify."

Demos is planning an ambitious program for 1998, taking the 16 appearances in 1997 and almost doubling them to 30. He wants bigger sponsors and more of them. The group also may rent a track and conduct an event involving other groups besides the Wise Guys.

"I'm happy with the group now, and I hope it is in existence for many years to come," he said. "We are making a commitment to putting a good show on because there's so much demand for these types of cars."

Feature about how a track is cleaned after an oil-down
National Dragster, 1995

At the flash of green on the Christmas Tree, the car bolts from the starting line on a record-setting pass, but two seconds later a spectacular engine explosion dooms the run.

Almost as quickly as the car launched, the Safety Safari bounds into action to clean the oil dumped on the track from the damaged powerplant. Just as the racers aim for low elapsed times, the Safari crew strives for minimum downtime.

But the time required for oil removal carries less importance than restoring the track to optimum traction, according to Steve Gibbs, NHRA vice president of competition. In addition to his other responsibilities at National events, he often oversees clean-up operations by the Safari, on which he once worked after his hiring 26 years ago by NHRA.

"No two oildowns are the same," he said. "Some are 40 feet wide, some are 30 feet long, and some are all the way down the track. Sometimes it can be every pair in a qualifying session, which is rather disheartening.

"It just goes in spurts. We can have a good race, and then the next one can be bad. Overall, though, the quality of the cars is better than it used to be," Gibbs said.

Similarly, no two events are the same. Each is measured by the amount of oil-absorbing material used, with the worst being the 1995 Chief Winternationals and the best the Mopar Parts Mile-High Nationals several years ago.

At the Pomona race the Safari poured on almost 200 bags (weighing 25 pounds each) of the superabsorbent rice-hull ash from Greasweep Western in Sacramento, Calif. In contrast, at the high-altitude Denver race where engines cannot be pushed as hard, just three bags were emptied all weekend, so Safari crewmembers enjoyed the easy life.

When an oildown occurs, a quick but expert analysis of the situation is made by a trackside spotter closest to the problem area. Jim Caslin is positioned at 330 feet from the starting line, Lynwood Dupuy (also NHRA director of competition) at the eighth-mile mark, and Jim Van Dyke at the finish line.

One of them will go onto the track for a visual inspection while testing the surface for slickness with his shoe, which Gibbs termed "the best seat-of-the-pants indicator." Communication via Motorola radios provided by Racing Radios of Forest Park, Ga., links everyone on the Safari and Race Monitor Control in the racetrack tower.

The inspector will report about the severity of the oildown, and staging-lane officials will be radioed about the length of the clean-up. In turn, they will inform waiting crews and drivers, giving them the opportunity to exit their cars and firesuits.

While all racing engines have fallen silent, those powering Safari equipment are operating, including up to four GMC one-ton trucks from access points along the track. Each truck carries a crew of five people.

Crewmembers, sitting on the tailgate of the truck, spread rice-hull ash on the oil from bags in the truck bed. One or two people will dump the absorbent material while others use brooms to work it into the oil. The ash must be used judiciously, since what is applied must be removed: Excess absorbent only results in more time on the job, thus delaying the race.

Gibbs said the average oildown leaves a spray, as opposed to puddles, of oil on the track. He noted conventional motor oil, brake fluid, and automatic transmission fluid are easy to remove. Because it is heavier, rearend gear lube requires more work, but the worst are synthetic lubricants. "For whatever reason, they tend to be difficult to absorb," he said.

Crashed cars may spill gasoline, alcohol, or nitromethane when a fuel tank or cell ruptures, but such occurrences are rare. Alcohol and nitro evaporate, while gasoline must be removed quickly because it causes asphalt to deteriorate.

The Safari also has had to contend with small pieces of fiberglass (whether melted after a fire or in shards) and aluminum (from engine parts) embedded in the track.

Once the lubricant has been absorbed by the ash in just a few minutes, a commercial vacuum truck sucks up the ash, and the residue is blown off the surface with a jet engine mounted on a trailer pulled by a Safari truck. The gasoline-powered engine, an obsolete 1950s Westinghouse J-34-34, has been used the past 15 years for drying a wet track (by emitting heat up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit), but in the last few years the ever-resourceful Safari has found an additional use for the jet.

"We have to be careful that the residue is not blown over into the other lane," Gibbs said. The residue also is cleared from the track by a sweeper on the front of a John Deere 2155 tractor sponsored by Red Wing Shoes and driven by Richard Cooke of the Safari. In small areas a leaf blower works well.

Traction is re-established by the application of VHT Track Bite, a liquid mixture of alcohol and resins manufactured by PJH Brands in Scottsdale, Ariz. Sprayers are positioned on two QuadRunner all-terrain vehicles and the tractor, and portable, hand-held units are used, too.

To further aid traction, a unique device that literally puts down a thin layer of rubber is mounted on the back of the tractor. The machine, which resembles an excavating or spreader box used in the construction and landscaping industries, contains the treads (no sidewalls) of four Hoosier asphalt road-racing slicks, whose rubber is softer than drag slicks.

The rubber is transferred to the track by the weight of the 1,250-pound machine, and the tractor hydraulics enable Cooke to adjust for track surface variations and the desired amount of rubber. Adjustments also are made by small metal plates pressing on the tires. The movement of the plates is controlled in their mountings by valve springs from an automotive engine.

Mounted on top of the rubber applicator is a system for spraying Track Bite. The system consists of three 10-gallon tanks of Track Bite, a tank of alcohol to clean the Track Bite spray lines, a tank of carbon dioxide to pressurize the system, and a pump driven by a small electric air compressor for traction compound application.

The applicator also has a hard-rubber squeegee for removing water from the track. The squeegee flips up when not in use.

Developed in 1990 at Firebird International Raceway near Phoenix, Ariz., the rubber applicator has worked well. "It simulates burnouts by working a fresh, tacky coat of rubber back into the track surface," Gibbs said. "We used to have to give away runs to do that, but we don't have to sacrifice them anymore. I wish I would have thought of it 20 years ago."

Regardless of the location of an oildown, no one portion of the track is given preferential treatment, but he did emphasize the importance of having maximum traction at the starting line. "However, you can't ignore downtrack. We strive for consistent traction all the way down the track," Gibbs said.

The best traction from start to finish is in the approximately 17-foot groove that develops in each 30-foot lane. The inside edge of the groove is approximately three feet from the centerline, while the outside edge is 10 feet from the guardwall. Gibbs attributes the position of the groove in each lane to the natural tendency of racers to stay away from the wall and more toward the center of the track.

"We clean up and restore the groove, but we don't pay any more attention to it than any other part of the track," Gibbs said. "In fact, we usually apply more traction compound to the cushion (area outside the groove) because if a racer gets out of the groove, he still has to drive on the cushion."

Whether in the groove or on the cushion, track clean-up also is accomplished by using portable propane burners operated by hand. The torches work efficiently for evaporating small areas of water and heating the track where a minor oildown occurred to remove traces of the lubricant.

Torches also are used after Gold Dust, a traction-enhancing rosin, has been put on the track, primarily near the starting line. The gold-colored powder, produced by Herb McCandless Performance in Graham, N.C., works best after the application of heat.

Regardless of the clean-up required, it is done by the Safari members who are proud of their work. "It is a thankless job and not glamorous at all," Gibbs said, "but the guys have a lot of pride to do a good job.

"Their reward is having a good, safe race. They like to see good numbers on the board and the competitiveness among the racers. It gives them a good feeling that they have done a good clean-up job," he said.

Approximately 20 Safari members work at each event, although 40 are on duty at the U.S. Nationals because it is the biggest event of the season. Of the 20, eight are full-time who drive Safari trucks pulling trailers with national event equipment from race to race. Once the trucks leave NHRA headquarters in Glendora, Calif., after the Winternationals in February, they will not return there until the Winston Select Finals in October.

That schedule does not mean the eight full-timers never go home during that time. Because they live in various parts of the United States, the Safari members take the trucks home between events.

The balance of a Safari event staff consists of people who fly to the races and volunteers who live near a particular track. Their regular jobs may be as doctors, lawyers, hairstylists, mechanics, engineers, house painters, or farmers, "but their common bond is the love of the sport," Gibbs said. "Many of them are ex-racers. They have that extra feel so they, like the others, want to make the track as good as it can be."

Although most of the Safari members have many years of experience, new members always are being cultivated. No special training is required: "They just have to have good common sense and must like doing the work," Gibbs said.

Most of volunteers work at 5-6 races per year and receive compensation only for their lodging, food, and travel expenses. "We could never begin to pay for the true value of what they do," he said, "but money is not an issue for them. Instead, it's their interest in the work."

All Safari members have to be intensely interested in the care of a track, since they arrive first in the morning, usually at 6 o'clock, and often leave last, sometimes as late as 2 a.m. "The guys do whatever it takes," Gibbs said. "They don't watch the clock."

He recalled their most significant display of dedication at the 1980 Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., when a track repaving problem resulted in them working 36 hours straight.

They also were tested at the 1984 Cajun Nationals in Baton Rouge, La., when another poor track resurfacing job meant they had to spend five hours scraping by hand the top layer of asphalt for the first eighth of a mile.

At one of the Summernationals (now called the Mopar Parts Nationals) events in the 1970s at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in New Jersey, fissures opened between sections of the track after paving. A carpentry nailer had to be used to close the gaps, and the race was completed with nails embedded in the starting line.

Those situations are the extreme, since most track maintenance by the Safari is routine -- and never compromised. "We will never cut it short to the point that safety becomes a factor," Gibbs said. "Sometimes we may have to work faster because of weather or curfew factors."

He acknowledged the added pressure of live telecasts of final-round races, but noted clean-up time is factored into the show. "We may have to do a five-minute clean-up in three minutes, but we will never yield to TV for not doing a proper job of track clean-up.

"Fortunately, we have not had a major oildown on live TV, but if we did, television would just have to wait. We are not going to compromise safety," he said.

The impact of some of the oildowns has been lessened by a diaper required by NHRA on each engine in Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Car. The antiballistic material strapped under the oil pan not only contains engine pieces but limits the amount of oil -- up to 12 quarts -- dumped on the track.

Two types of diapers are manufactured -- Kevlar and nylon. A Kevlar diaper is required by the SFI Foundation, the California organization that sets safety standards for drag racing equipment, on every T/F and F/C engine. The Kevlar piece, which is four times stronger than its nylon counterpart, weighs three pounds, has seven layers of material, and costs $600.

The nylon diaper required on every Alcohol engine does not have to have the SFI certification. Compared to the Kevlar unit, the nylon diaper weighs seven pounds, has 20 layers, and costs $310.

NHRA first required diapers at the beginning of the 1994 season. Teams adjusted easily to using the diaper, which is attached to chassis frame rails or sides of the engine with straps.

Despite stopping churning crankshafts and hurtling rods, a diaper lasts a season. Maintenance is by simple cleaning with solvent, but replacement is necessary if damaged by fire.

"The diapers have helped a lot to contain oil, but it can still find a way to get on the track," Gibbs said. "But, we are actually more concerned about them containing parts so racers don't drive over pieces of rods, cranks, and pistons."

Oil on the track also is prevented by an overflow tank that catches oil vented from the engine through two plastic hoses connected to the valve covers. Although most of the tanks are made of aluminum, some are constructed from carbon fiber, but Gibbs said the latter have been known to become brittle and rupture.

Each tank must have a two-gallon capacity as mandated by NHRA, an increase over the one-gallon minimum in 1994. To handle more volume and increased pressure, Gibbs said NHRA may require an even larger tank for 1996. For example, Dale Armstrong, crew chief on Kenny Bernstein's Top Fueler, has experimented with a four-gallon tank.

All of the devices, whether on the cars or used by the Safety Safari, are aimed toward one goal -- cleaning up the track as quickly and effectively as possible. "The frustration is the time it takes. We always wish it could take shorter," he said.

Time could be cut by pouring different solutions on an oily track, but Gibbs said experimentation has not proven productive. He has worked with chemists who have suggested liquid Freon and ketone. "They have good absorption, but they are caustic and hazardous to handle.

"Water and detergents would work well, but then we would have a wet track," he said. "In every case it's a catch-22 kind of thing in which the cure is worse than the illness or more time-consuming."

Feature about five-disc clutches
in Top Fuel and Funny Car
Inside Motorsports, 1999

Constant moans and groans have been heard in the Top Fuel and Funny Car pits the last few years from teams suffering terrible disc pain in the backbone of their drivetrain combinations – the clutch.

Drivers, crew chiefs, mechanics and team owners all have been tortured by the pain actually stemming from heat exhaustion: Clutch temperatures had reached such extremes that discs were welded to the flywheel, pressure plate and disc separation plates (commonly known as floaters). Each car's performance posture was crippled by an extra burden of time, that dreaded drag racing virus that affects qualifying placement as well as entrance to the magical winner's circle.

Like doctors studying x-rays, crew chiefs pored over computer screens showing runs gone awry due to feverish temperatures and performed numerous surgeries to try to relieve the misery. Occasionally, they succeeded, but a remedy strong on consistency eluded everyone until one of the mechanical specialists, Dr. Dale Armstrong, discovered a breakthrough last year.

As the crew chief on the Larry Dixon-driven Top Fueler owned by Don Prudhomme, Armstrong tired of dealing with the never-ending clutch destruction from the excessive heat. His cure was simpler than many other tuners probably would have thought: He decided to add another disc to the common four-disc set-up.

Assisting Armstrong in the discovery was Bob Brooks, clutch and fuel systems consultant on Prudhomme's car. He also co-owns Applied Friction Techniques (AFT) in Orange, Calif., that produces clutch units used by 95 percent of the Top Fuelers and Funny Cars. Brooks said, "This wasn't magic, and a lot of people said, `Is that all you did?' We were trying to address keeping the parts alive because they are strained way, way past what's reasonable. We had to make a move."

That move was made late last August when the Prudhomme car was tested for the first time with five discs at Indianapolis Raceway Park a week prior to the U.S. Nationals at the same track. During the event Dixon led qualifying for the first time in 1998, which he opened by winning the Chief Auto Parts Winternationals but did poorly after that, often qualifying in the lower half of the field and losing early. His 4.56 at Indy, a track record, was .06 quicker than his previous best, and he registered the quickest times in the first two rounds.

For the balance of 1998 the fifth disc brought Dixon and Armstrong back into the top five. After a season-opening runner-up, 1999 has been highlighted by pole positions at the races in Gainesville, Fla.; Houston, Texas; and Dallas, Texas. The Houston qualifier was 4.48, making the Prudhomme rocket the first fueler to eclipse the 4.50 barrier.

Following Armstrong's prescription for an ailing tune-up, last year the five-disc set-up was installed in several fuelers and some floppers, and it has become almost standard equipment on the dragsters this year. Fewer Funny Cars have been converted. For instance, crew chief Austin Coil has chosen to stay with four discs in John Force's record-holding and points-leading Mustang, but teammate Tony Pedregon's similar 'stang has been switched.

The new trend in clutch configuration continues a progression that began in the 1960s when dragsters were outfitted with just two clutch discs. The arrangement sufficed because the slicks were not built well enough to handle the horsepower and prevent tire spin. Wes Cerny, crew chief of the Joe Gibbs-owned Firebird Funny Car driven by Cruz Pedregon, stated that "clutches and tires have gone hand in hand. When the tires stopped smoking, then the clutches were more and more stressed. It's been an evolution of horsepower, traction and tire size that all combine to put a strain on the clutch." Having started in the sport in 1965 by racing dragsters, he has seen all the changes.

Three discs became the norm in the early 1970s, and a fourth disc gained favor at the beginning of the '80s to respond to better slicks and more powerful engines. 1986 was a pivotal year, as Armstrong devised the lock-up clutch that featured secondary levers beyond the six primary ones that operated the traditional centrifugal clutch. The innovation was developed for Kenny Bernstein's Funny Car.

Ironically, at the same time AFT, which Brooks owns with Frank Carstensen, built a lock-up clutch for Joe Amato's fueler. Brooks related that data loggers and computers showed that a fuel engine and clutch did not engage one to one until almost the end of a run when that should have happened by half track to make full use of the engine's power.

He explained that the additional clutch levers (a dozen or more), which were held in neutral when a car launched, were triggered by timers to apply more pressure on the discs. "There were tremendous gains," Brooks said. "Cars would pick up three tenths of a second. The new set-up made such a difference that it wasn't even believable compared to the small gains made with five discs."

The four-disc lock-up clutch remained standard equipment until the advent last year of the five-disc combination, but it was tried before then. Brooks recalled Dave Settles being reasonably successful with five discs in 1992 or '93 when he tuned the Gunite Express fueler. Cerny suggested Force crew chief Austin Coil may have been one of the early experimenters, too. Cerny speculated that Coil dropped the experiment because it was "too aggressive. The tires were not as good as the ones we have today," Cerny said, "so they couldn't absorb the pressure of the extra torque."

In 1997, while still working on Kenny Bernstein's nitro dragster, Brooks and Armstrong experimented with a five-disc set-up, but "it did not show anything that it was the particular way to go at that time," Brooks said. "Back then we were trying a lot of things, and we did not spend enough time with it, so we did not see the results. We were not in as critical a problem then as we were in 1998 and this year when it was nuking everything we put in the car. So, we were in a position where we said to ourselves that we have to make this work.

"We were wearing the clutch clear out, and the car would not make it to the other end of the track," he said. "The only way to control it would have been to take power out of it, but we couldn't do that and still hope to win races. Our only option was five discs."

Brooks explained the clutch's back was broken by generating intense heat when a fuel driver mashes the throttle at the starting line and the engine roars to 8,000 r.p.m. Since the 18-inch-wide Goodyear slicks would spin fiercely if the engine's full horsepower (between 5,500 and 6,000) were unleashed, the slipping clutch must cut the power output to the slicks to 2,500 h.p. for a good launch.

Dan Olson, crew chief on Tony Schumacher's 330-m.p.h. dragster, knows the situation well, since he was planning to switch to five discs before he heard about anyone else doing so. Heat is the devil, he said because "the further the engine r.p.m. is away from the driveshaft speed, the more heat builds up. Plus, if the engine goes to 8,000 instead of 7,500, there's going to be more heat and therefore more slipping."

Brooks said, "The temperature goes berserk, the BTUs are incredible, and the clutch can't stand it. It's tearing itself up, and it's totally abused." On a harder-running fueler or flopper, the damage occurs 1.5 seconds into a run, according to him. "By that time the clutch is wounded already," he said, "and the clutch continues to wear as the car goes down the track."

Full clutch lock-up is set for 2.2-2.6 seconds into the run, well before half track, but the overheated discs and floaters hurt lock-up. In fact, they have become hot enough to weld together just before lock-up, so when it does happen, the engine is pulled down 1,000 r.p.m. At that instant on a track with poor traction, the slicks may spin.

Disc and floater surface temperatures can reach 3,500 degrees, reported Frank Slocum, president of Raybestos Aftermarket Products in Crawfordsville, Ind., that makes almost all the discs. "The clutches in nitro cars are operating on the principle of friction to keep the cars from smoking the tires or rotating themselves around the rear axle," he said. "When you rely totally on friction, you're in a real hair-trigger situation for the difference between being right and wrong on the set-up. The car may go 60 feet or 300 feet before it smokes the tires or it might not at all.

"To prevent tire smoke or rotation around the rear axle and to get the car to go down the track, they were ripping the clutches out of them to absorb the energy," Slocum said. "They were running into excessive wear. No, make that destruction."

He also noted that the intense heat can build within the first tenth of a second of a run. When clutch welding happens on a run, back in the pits the clutch discs and floaters have to be beaten apart. The damage also may affect the bellhousing and the clutch management system. Engine explosions also result, some so violent the car's frame is damaged, necessitating the use of a second car at a race.

The 3,500-degree temperature almost is double the 1,900 degrees applied to the discs in the manufacturing process. Each disc is heat-treated and put under pressure several hours for the proper application of the materials, which consist of powdered iron, copper, flux and carbon particles.

Slocum also pointed out the discs and floaters wear differently, depending on their positions in the clutch. For example, the disc next to the flywheel does not grow as hot as others because the flywheel absorbs heat. "There are definitely temperature variations among the discs," he said. "Once the discs are used, they seem to get seasoned, so there's less wear on the second run. It has to do with reheating and annealing processes."

Mechanically, adding the fifth disc and fourth floater was not complicated. To account for the additional height (approximately 3/4 inch), the procedure required a longer output shaft from the clutch to the rearend and longer clutch stands. Nine of them connect the pressure plate to the flywheel. Different clutch levers and counterweights also were needed.

Brooks said the switch cost $2,200. He also noted that each fuel team has 4-5 clutches, which cost $9,000 apiece. Much of the high price can be attributed to the use of titanium for the 10.5-inch pressure plate, flywheel and stands. A disc costs $130 and a floater $50, so a pack of them for each clutch costs $850.

The clutch is installed in a titanium bellhousing that is priced between $3,000 and $3,500. Although a steel bellhousing costs 50 percent less than a titanium unit, the latter weighs half as much (representing a 20-pound weight advantage) and is twice as strong as the steel housing.

To accommodate the extra clutch height, some teams may have had to purchase new bellhousings (as each team keeps at least 1-2 spares). Apollo Trick Titanium in Troy, Mich., which manufactures all the bellhousings, produces them in two sizes (measured as the inside depth) – 8.625 and 9.400 inches. The longer one is thicker (.250 inch) than the shorter one (.200).

Since Cerny already had three of the shorter bellhousings, he reduced floater thickness from .360 to .270 inch to accommodate the five discs and four floaters. Besides avoiding a chassis modification to fit the longer bellhousing, he saved its extra weight of 6-7 pounds.

Apart from the bellhousing, the new clutch set-up added approximately 12 pounds, but that negative factor was offset by several positive ones. For example, the four extra surfaces allowed for better distribution, absorption and dissipation of clutch heat, thus lowering the overall temperature and preventing disc and floater welding.

The fifth disc returned the clutch to health, resulting in consistency, the one major benefit that drag racers celebrate as much as low elapsed and reaction times. "It smoothed everything out," Olson said. "We don't have to worry about welding discs anymore. When everybody gets their combinations figured out, it will result in better side-by-side racing and less blow-ups because it's not going to jerk the motor down when the discs are welded. It will also save teams money."

Olson, who joined the Schumacher team last December, was convinced of the effectiveness of the five-disc unit in preseason testing and has remained with the set-up. His tune-up enabled Schumacher to break the 330-m.p.h barrier Feb. 28 at the Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals at Firebird International Raceway near Chandler, Ariz.

Cerny's first race with a five-disc clutch in Cruz Pedregon's Funny Car was the Arizona event. Testing before the season did not produce enough data to warrant racing with the additional disc at the season-opening AutoZone Winternationals. "It's been a pretty darn good unit so far," he said. "I was wary of it at first because the cars that tried it were smoking the tires at 300 feet, but the added surface has allowed the clutch to absorb more heat so we can still have a functional lock-up."

Olson, Brooks and Cerny reported no major changes had to be made to the engine combination or the clutch management system for the clutch upgrade. Primarily, the clutch timing had to be changed so the stages were activated later. The stages and lock-up also were affected by removing counterweight from the clutch levers.

"It was easy to get the new setup to respond, but we had to slow down the lock-up or else it would try to do it too soon," Brooks said. "Now we can control the clutch easier, but the best thing is that we are not tearing things up. The five-disc unit is easier on everything. Parts are lasting longer."

Clutch wear was reduced from .150-.200 inch with the four-disc set-up to .085-.120 inch with five discs, depending on a team's particular engine and clutch combination. The discs last longer, three runs versus two. Floaters are replaced after two runs instead of one, although the better-financed teams still use new floaters in every clutch pack so floater flatness never is an issue.

Usually each team enters an event with eight clutch packs, enough for the maximum of four qualifying runs and four rounds of eliminations. When budgets permit, teams buy up to 550 discs at the beginning of the season for consistent quality related to the coefficient of friction that is dependent on the material mix and heat-treating in manufacturing. Raybestos supplies practically all the discs wholesale to companies such as AFT that install the output shaft hubs in the discs and sell them to racers.

Between-round maintenance is similar between the four and five-disc units. If a disc or floater can be reused, first each side is ground .010-.012 inch and installed in a pack that typically has three new discs and two used ones. The same amount of grinding is done on the pressure plate and flywheel "shoes," the steel inserts that are replaced after seven runs.

Better clutch performance has meant tuners can shift their focus to the engine producing more horsepower and applying it to the track better. "More things with the motor combination are possible," Olson said. "We can run it harder and be more aggressive now. We are always pushing, and new avenues are always being explored. Everybody is doing things to try to be more competitive."

Those things have included an increase in fuel pump size, according to Sid Waterman, owner of Waterman Racing Components in Gualala, Calif., that makes pumps used by more than 80 percent of the nitro racers. In 1998 an engine required a nitro at 61-62 gallons per minute (g.p.m.), and during the off-season pump gears were changed to provide 66 g.p.m. With the five-disc clutch, demand has increased by another four g.p.m.

"I changed more gears at Gainesville (in Florida during the Mac Tools Gatornationals on March 18-21) than I did all last year," Waterman said. "The five-disc clutch has made a big difference by taking off a tenth of second on the elapsed times across the board. We have had to increase the pump size dramatically."

He explained the extra disc has resulted in greater loads on the engines, slowing them from their normal 8,000 r.p.m. to 7,500. When engine speed drops, the powerplant actually is working harder and attempting to make more power due to better cylinder heads, magnetos and superchargers. So, the demand for more nitro is higher, meaning a boost in pump volume.

"Inside the bellhousing is probably the biggest area for gains in performance," Waterman said. "There's more tuning you can do with the clutch than what you can do with the engine."

Finer tuning has led to 8-9 Top Fuelers are running 4.50s and most of the balance of a 16-car field is in the 4.60s. Waterman predicted a 4.42 or 4.43 dragster run before the end of the year but nothing better than the 330 m.p.h. top speed unless prime conditions are present.

Since he described Dixon's 4.48 pass as a "Hail Mary run in which everything we did was right," Brooks said that he would be "very surprised if there is another run in the 4.40s this year." If it does happen, he suggested the e.t. could drop to 4.46, and a 332 or 333 speed could happen. "There are more gains to be made in speed than e.t. because any new widgets will help the cars run better at the other end," he said. "After all, these cars can only leave so hard, and you can't get much better than the .820 or so second 60-foot time Dixon had."

Olson forecasted more cars running in the 4.40s, but the best e.t. in 1999 will be in the mid to high 4.40s. He doubted any other car than the Schumacher fueler he tunes will run 330 m.p.h. because "we've got a couple things right on the engine that nobody else has done," he said. "They are secrets that we have developed so the motor is well and healthy at the other end of the track to run high speed."

Having the advantage of wings providing additional downforce, the dragsters are benefitting more from the new clutch system than the Funny Cars, Brooks said, adding that they eventually may run in the low 4.70s at 330 m.p.h. "Funny Cars are tougher because they do not have enough traction available to them," he said. "A lot of the guys know they are not going to beat John Force, so how much pressure is there to step up? Force and Tony Pedregon are one and two, so the rest of the guys may decide to be competitive among themselves."

Cerny concurred with the elapsed time prediction and agreed with Brooks about dragsters' bigger performance gains. "A Top Fueler loads the engine harder, so it has the ability to run harder," he said. "Still, in a Funny Car the engine is more consistent at the hit of the throttle, and the new clutch gives us the ability to run good e.t.s anywhere."

Marginal tracks and hot, sunny weather conditions will pose problems for Funny Cars, Cerny suggested. "I'm a little concerned about tire smoke, and it could be that the five-disc clutch will not work as well as the four-disc," he said. "However, we'll be able to switch back easily." He also emphasized the importance of better F/C aerodynamics and stated he has improved Pedregon's Firebird recently so more power is put to the pavement.

More emphasis is being placed on aerodynamics by Murf McKinney, owner of McKinney Corp., the Otterbein, Ind., company that builds almost all the nitro dragsters and several floppers in drag racing. "There was nothing required in chassis design change for the new clutch set-up over what has been running the past couple of years," he said. "A possible area to look at is the bodies because with better clutch control the cars are going to go quicker and faster."

Slocum of Raybestos was surprised neither by Dixon's 4.48 and Force's 4.70s nor the faster speeds in both categories. "I projected the speeds now two years ago, and I think a high 4.40 is possible on the right day," he said. "There's a whole lot more there once guys get the fuel mixture and combustion technology figured out. If they can get a full power pulse in every cylinder every time, it will dramatically affect speeds and e.t.s."

With more power comes more parts breakage, Brooks stated, so he does not see any more clutch innovations for a while. "The five-disc clutch is going to last the rest of the time we race before rules would have to be changed by NHRA," he said. "When guys start blowing stuff up, then NHRA is going to pass legislation so they will have to back them down."

Profile of Don Little, National Hot Rod Association Stock Eliminator racer
Inside Motorsports, 1999

Don Little may not race in Pro Stock, but he does compete in Stock like a pro. Due to his professional approach to the category, he drove his well-prepared 1970 Plymouth Barracuda A/SA to the 1999 NHRA national and Division 6 championships.

Both of the titles are firsts for the 48-year-old Little, whose singular focus in life is on drag racing, much like many Pro Stock competitors. Although he does not race Stock as his profession, he makes his living by building engines, cylinder heads and carburetors for drag racers, 90 percent of them running Stockers.

Besides working on racing components at his business known as Don Little Racing, he admitted that "I think about drag racing all the time," he said. "I eat lunch with other guys who race, so we talk about it. I watch all the NHRA stuff on TV, read about it in magazines and go on the Stock/Super Stock forum on the computer. So, yes, you could say I'm hooked on drag racing.

"I lead a mundane life because everything is put toward racing," said Little, who began racing in 1975 with a three-year stint in Super Stock and switched to Stock in 1981. "I don't drive a new car, I don't live in a fancy house, and I wear holes in my shoes before I buy new ones. Those are the kinds of personal sacrifices a lot of racers make that go unnoticed.

"I don't take vacations. Instead, I go to the races," said Little, who lives in Westley, Calif., located approximately 50 miles east of San Francisco. "To me, going on a vacation would be a total waste of time because I could not get work done for anyone or do something on my car."

Little's intense dedication to the sport is matched by his never-ending quest to improve the performance of his Barracuda, which he has owned since 1988. "I love trying to make the car do something someone else has not been able to do yet," he said. "I'm a statistician, so I make small goals for myself, things like going faster from 60 to 330 feet or running more miles per hour in the eighth-mile than any other A/SA."

As special as the '99 season was for Little, his success frustrated him because he dared not tamper with his consistent-running car. "When I was in the points deal, I had to leave the car alone and not do any experimenting," he said. "I love to play with my car by changing things on the engine, the headers or the torque converter and then comparing the changes.

"I'm always evaluating everything honestly and accurately," he said. "Then, you can resist making changes on a lot of things when you know exactly what caused a big change in your reaction time or elapsed time."

Little's close friend Chuck Rayburn, who lives in Castro Valley, Calif., in the San Francisco metropolitan area, understands the basis for Little's success. "The secret to Don Little is that he approaches drag racing as a science project," he said. "He takes impeccable notes and then refers to them. He's really, really organized, and he's honest with himself. That's important."

Rayburn has known Little since 1980 when they met at the Golden Gate Nationals at Fremont (Calif.) Raceway. They worked together on Rayburn's first car, an SS/DA Barracuda formerly owned by Jim Kinnett of Georgia. Rayburn has benefitted infinitely from Little's expertise, and his 1970 Dodge Challenger B/SA, acquired in 1991, has carried him to the 1995 NHRA Stock national title, three national-event victories, 13 division wins and national records.

"We hit it off right off the bat," Rayburn said, "and now we're both pretty stuck on Stock. Our common thread is that we see that this is only physics, thermodynamics and understanding an internal-combustion engine. The difference between us is that Don will wear out an idea verifying it while I'm probably too quick to jump to a conclusion. He has way more patience than me. But either way if you're not 110 percent obsessed, you can't be a national champ."

The differences in the two men's personalities also extend to driving, Rayburn pointed out. "If live by the light, and I die by the light," he said, "but Don cuts pedestrian, commercial lights between .530 and .550 all the time. When you race him, you have to be ready because Don is not prone to making mistakes. You better dial your car a hundredth faster than it will go, and you have to hit the light.

"The only way to beat Don is if you tree him," said Rayburn, who finished No. 6 nationally and No. 3 in Division 7 this year. "If you don't, he knows you're late, and you can't count on him not seeing that. When that happens, he's going to have you covered in the last 100 feet, and he's not going to give the finish line back to you."

Rayburn noted they have split their four career races. He added the biggest margin of victory has been .006, and they even had a dead-even contest at a division event.

Little's steady driving performances combined with his outstanding mechanical skills for a national championship that was won largely at the divisional level in the Federal-Mogul Drag Racing Series. Although a resident of California that is in Division 7, he chose Division 6 as his home division.

Able to claim points at five of eight division races, he triumphed at all five, bringing his career total to 14. He also tied a season record set by fellow Division 6 Stock racer Jim Waldo. Little won three points races in Division 6 and then scored at two Division 7 events for an incredible total of 515 division points of a possible 525. The 515 led Stock in all seven NHRA divisions, and the next closest was Division 1 titlist Peter Biondo with 433.

While Little excelled on the divisional level, his national-event performances could not compare. He garnered only 131 points of his 646 total at the three of six national races he could claim. His best finish was third round at the Autolite Nationals at Sears Point International Raceway near Sonoma, Calif., the closest national event to his Westley, Calif., home.

The discrepancy in success at the divisional and national levels flipflopped from his 1998 season when his national-event record was a win (one of four in his career), a semifinal and a quarterfinal while scoring just one division win and two semifinals. He earned a No. 5 national ranking and placed fourth in Division 6. "There's no real reason why I didn't do better at national events this year," he said, "but the division points races are more important because you can claim more of them."

In reflecting on his division racing, Little was thrilled by winning his first event of the season. "I said to myself that it was great to win and it would be nice to contend for the division title, but this win will be it for the season and I'm not going to get another win," he said. "After the second win I said, `That was neat, but there's no way I can get any more wins this year.'"

After victory No. 3, he was convinced his winning ways were finished, but by his fifth win he was in a state of amazement. "I had no idea I would win that many races," he said. "I did not try that hard to win. The round wins just came. When it was over, I looked back and it was really not all that hard. But then if it's not so hard, I wondered why I don't do it every year."

Little need not wonder. "I have days when I drive pretty good, and then I have days when I make a mistake and get away with it," he said. "I realize I got away with a whole lot of situations this year. If I had a .580 light when the other guy was .550, then I ran dead on and he did not run his dial. I did not beat myself horribly, and nobody put a killer package on me."

He compiled a 39-9 round record, and none of the losses was by a redlight. He had no bye runs. His reaction time average was .548, with a couple in the .500 range, a few in the teens, some .520s but most in the .530s-.550s, just as Rayburn said. One of Little's lights was above .600.

"I'm a slightly above-average to good driver. I'm consistent and have good reaction times when it counts on Sunday," he said. "I have a good ability to judge the finish line that comes from years and years of catching people. I'm more comfortable chasing someone because it's tough to judge my car because of the miles per hour it runs. I won a few more rounds this year than other years when guys broke out."

In previous years Little was not so lucky. He remembered winning just a few rounds in 1997 despite driving well. "The worst part about drag racing is losing a race when you drive OK and the car runs fine," he said. "It's frustrating not getting any racing luck. It seems like bad luck comes in bucketloads when it does. But, the more times you go out early, you have to figure that eventually you will race through it."

His philosophy of perseverance is balanced with enjoyment. "I want to have a good time out there racing," he said. "It's not worth doing otherwise."

Little has maintained such an approach despite undergoing a pronounced shift after his first event title - national or divisional — at the 1982 Winston World Finals. "When I found out I could win, I took it more seriously," he said. "Before I was just going through the motions. It happens to a lot of people. When they find out they can win, it changes them. Your attitude is different."

Another pivotal moment in Little's career occurred in 1990 at the TRW All-Stars race during the Springnationals at National Trail Raceway near Columbus, Ohio. Participating in the event for the first time, in one round he faced Ron Garey, already a two-time national-event winner that season. "I cut a .525 light, put a wheel on him and led him across the finish line," Little said. "That win gave me a lot of confidence because I was competing against guys who were the best."

To do his best, Little drives with determination. "About 15 minutes before I get ready to run, I get serious all of a sudden," he said. "I have to get a focus going. I figure you owe it to yourself to put your best effort into it."

Such an effort includes strategic positioning in qualifying to be matched against less competitive racers or other A/SA drivers whose cars do not run as quickly as Little's. "I try to focus on winning rounds and just that event," he said, "so all the little things you can do really do make a difference.

"Any drag racer knows he's going to lose more than he's going to win." Little said. "It's tough to be better than 50-50 over the long haul. If you're going to do well in Stock Eliminator, you've got to be willing to put in long years. The key is when it comes to operating your whole program and putting the right number on the window. Consistency is the name of the game."

Such consistency resulted in his fifth divisional win that put a lock on the Division 6 title. That victory was the high point of the season, Little said.

He hit a low by losing in the second round of the eliminator at the U.S. Nationals after being defeated in the four-car class final. He never has won class or the eliminator at Indy in the six times he has raced there. His eliminator loss was due to an electrical malfunction that interrupted power to the ignition.

"I was intending to win rounds there, so I was pretty low after that because Stockers are so reliable," he said. "As I drove back to the pits I was thinking my fantasy year had come to an abrupt end and that my chance to win the national title was gone. It was so disappointing, but I got over it by the next day.

"I knew the other guys had to do a lot of winning to catch me," Little said. "If everybody did what they had to do after Indy, they could've won it, but they didn't. I hate to sit around and root for people to lose, but that's what I did. If the tables were turned, I think they would do it, too."

Once he realized the national title was his, Little did not celebrate much. "A football or basketball player has to win the last game to win a title, but it wasn't that way for me this year," he said. "If I had to win a final round at a race, then I might have a different feeling.

"I celebrate for about three seconds when I win a round and a little bit longer after winning a race," he said. "I don't spray champagne or wave the trophy over my head like other people. I'm fairly reserved."

He might cut loose if he were to step into the winner's circle at the U.S. Nationals, the one race he'd like to win. It even would replace his '82 World Finals win as his most memorable. That first one shocked him because he had not won a division meet at that point. "I figured it wasn't so hard to win a national event that I would win one every 1-2 years," he said. "But, I found out that doesn't happen because it was seven years before I won another one."

Little's winning attitude was influenced strongly by Harry Holton and Dick Boynton, both residents of Modesto, Calif. Little worked more than 20 years in Holton's auto repair business that also served as the base for his racing operation consisting of Super Stock Hemi Plymouths. Boynton ran Max Wedge Mopar machines in the mid-1960s under Chrysler sponsorship. "Otherwise, there's no one in particular," he said. "I watch other racers and put their ideas to work for myself."

He executed his and others' ideas so well this season that he earned approximately $25,000, including $7,500 for the national championship and $1,500 for the division title. He has not tallied his costs yet. He has found his racing turns a profit about once every 10 years.

His major sponsor is Bob Mazzolini Racing, a Mopar Performance warehouse distributor in Riverside, Calif., whose sales volume ranks among the top 10 distributors in the United States. Owner Bob Mazzolini, whose has raced 39 years, sponsors nine other Mopar racers.

Mazzolini, who plans to run a GT/IA Sebring in Super Stock next year, met Little in 1982 at the World Finals and has sponsored him the last 11 years. "I decided to sponsor him because we have traveled together a lot and I wanted to help him," Mazzolini said. "It's good for my business because he's like a salesman out there for me.

"People know that all of the cars out of my shop go fast. There are a lot of overachievers and No. 1 cars," Mazzolini said, "so people call us for technical information and parts. It's good for his business, too."

Mazzolini was proud to see Little finish No. 1 in the points. "We are friends first, and I think the world of him," Mazzolini said. "At the season-ending banquet Don singled out Bob Mazzolini Racing as his most important sponsor, and that brought a tear to my eye.

"Don well deserved to win the championship," Mazzolini said. "I told him he is the ultimate racer because he not only builds the engines and works on the car but drives, too. There aren't too many people left who do it all anymore."

Little does not intend to change his approach to racing next year. He will field the same car in the same class. He would like to win the season-opening AutoZone Winternationals. "I've never gone to the Winternationals thinking that I'm starting toward the national title," he said. "But, it would be a big boost to win the Winternationals because it would make me think about going after the title more. You think that it might be one of those years when it would work out."

If he doe not repeat as the champion in 2000, Little will try again in 2001 and several years after that, since he plans to compete another 10 years. He is prepared for significant changes to NHRA drag racing over the next decade. "NHRA has changed a lot over the years, and in another 10 years I think all the races will have more professional categories," he said. "That means they will be cutting down on the number of sportsman cars, which then will play a bigger part at the smaller races."

The performances of the vehicles will continue to improve, Little stated, and NHRA will loosen rules for easier technical inspection. Concerning revising the Stock rules, Little said that "another 10-page article could be written about that. There are numerous problems from my viewpoint, but there are no major issues. Racing is fair. If there were more heads-up racing, then more horsepower factoring and use of aftermarket parts come into play.

'The thing is that you could ask 20 different racers and get 20 different opinions about drag racing," he said. "Some guys are all doom and gloom when they say that NHRA is trying to push us out. But I say that NHRA is making money off us.

"I just let all the politics go past me," Little said. "Anyway, running an event is not what it looks like on the outside. It's a big undertaking, and I respect either NHRA or IHRA for doing what it takes. I hear all the whining, but the guys who do couldn't orchestrate a box-lunch picnic for five people, let alone a national event."

Because of NHRA's growth, Little does not foresee the association making rash decisions as it tried to do in 1998 when a throttle-stop ban for Super categories was proposed. "If something like that happened again, the manufacturers would jump in and tell their side of it real quick. Drag racing is too big a business now for some sanctioning body to say it's tired of running certain guys without getting flak from manufacturers."

Even if Winston pulls its sponsorship from NHRA, Little suggested that it could find another major sponsor in a nonautomotive company. "Drag racing is healthy enough to keep growing without Winston," he said.

Column about NHRA Nitro Mall and consumerism
Inside Motorsports, 2000

Nothing seems to proclaim the wisdom of contemporary times better than bumperstickers. I saw one recently that stated simply, "The best things in life are not things." Immediately I thought of Nitro Mall, which debuted in early June at the NHRA national event at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill.

Contrary to its name, Nitro Mall is just one store. It covers 4,000 square feet under a white plastic tent filled with things to buy. Lots of things. Most of them contain the NHRA logo, as the association valiantly is branding practically anything in an effort to gain greater NHRA recognition in not only motorsports but sports in general and the entertainment industry.

To what extremes is NHRA stretching to develop so-called brand awareness? The organization apparently has no limits on licensing products sold in the store, which is operated by Sport Service of Indianapolis. For instance, the NHRA logo can be found on a yo-yo, which could symbolize the nitro cars' consistency. A Race Face temporarily can tattoo the purchaser's face with the NHRA logo. It also can adorn the fingernails of someone who buys Spirit Accents.

The store's shelves and racks include NHRA T-shirts, caps, sweatshirts, tank tops, golf shirts, jackets, pins, key fobs, decals, diecast models, cushions, banners, tote bags and license-plate frames. The product variety seems endless, since it consists of NHRA hitch caps, mailboxes, mugs, can holders and shot glasses as well as racing team merchandise items.

A couple items especially caught my attention. The first one was an inch-long rubber Funny Car emblazoned with the NHRA logo. Offered in various colors, each squishy object cost one dollar. Must be dozens of people in the middle to boost the price of something costing mere pennies -- or less! -- to manufacture.

The second item was a stuffed yellow duck wearing a kerchief with -- what else?-- an NHRA logo. I can't recall if my eyes rolled faster when I saw this or the rubber flopper. What were Sport Service and NHRA executives thinking when they approved such tacky products? Perhaps such a question is answered by the products themselves.

To me, everything in drag racing can be measured against the racing vehicles and the people who tune, drive, build and maintain the vehicles. Just as important are the people who operate companies providing parts for the vehicles and services for the teams. From every aspect the sport is demanding a higher and higher level of refinement, sophistication and concentration from everyone.

So, if the goofy duck and rubber Funny Car were held next to a real Top Fueler (or practically any other drag racing vehicle), how can the former possibly be connected to the latter? Is NHRA saying everything, irrespective of its tastelessness, is an opportunity for branding? Is NHRA bent on pushing the public's gullibility to the max for maximum association revenue?

Of course, NHRA must consider a larger question. It applies not only to the association but all companies vying to market their products and services through drag racing: How far can the sport be sold before it is sold out? How long before the on-track action is overshadowed by commercialism? When will NHRA's and companies' names and logos on fences, guard walls, towers, vehicles and pieces of clothing obliterate people's fascination with the teams, drivers and racing vehicles?

Nitro Mall, NHRA's Taj Mahal of consumerism, represents just how rigorously such questions are being tested. In some respects NHRA is counting on fans, especially new ones, to connect to the sport by buying things rather than acquiring an appreciation (which cannot be measured in dollars and cents) of the teams and drivers and what they achieve by racing their vehicles.

At Route 66 Raceway the store occupied the best space in the pits. That position contradicts priorities of NHRA as it struggles to boost declining attendance figures. It is doing unprecedented promotion of the racers (professional and sportsman alike), but they are being pushed deeper into the pits where fans may not venture.

The store also symbolizes flaws in NHRA's alleged new vision. By its name alone, Nitro Mall attempts to capitalize on a concept embedded in American culture, but attending a race should be a unique experience of entertainment and education presented by the teams and their vehicles. Judgments about the products' quality aside, shopping at a race holds little special value.

Since people hunger for more information to appreciate and understand the complexities of the sport, NHRA could have allocated Nitro Mall's space for fan education. Museum-quality displays with vehicles, components, diagrams, photos and texts explaining the many and varied aspects of drag racing are needed desperately. People would not be so frustrated by nitro cars smoking their tires, alienated by Super category cars "bogging" off the line or confused by handicap racers breaking out if reasons for the cars' performances were detailed.

Poorly informed fans will not return to drag races or gain an interest in the sport. But how will they ever become educated? Pit areas are roped off or too distant, staging lanes are off limits, many announcers gloat over themselves or sponsors instead of reporting about racers, PA systems are drowned by track noise, and racers are too busy.

Such obstacles make tough going for fans. However, another bumpersticker should diminish everyone's discomfort: "When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping."

Profile of Regis Lepage and Chevy S-10 pick-up
Drag Racing Action, 2005

Most Super Comp racers at the 2004 Gatornationals no doubt smiled to themselves upon seeing Regis Lepage pull his Chevy S-10 pickup into the staging lanes for the first round of qualifying. His competitors – and even Lepage – knew the likelihood of him winning a round, let alone the race, was slim in a category dominated by dragsters.

Seven rounds later, Lepage wore the biggest smile. He had completed mission impossible by winning the event, outperforming the 119 other racers. At the same time he garnered a place in NHRA history by becoming the first truck racer to be victorious in Super Comp. The win was his first national-event triumph as well.

Months after the monumental occasion, Lepage said he still was smiling. "Words can't describe how it feels to win the race," he said. "It was an incredibly emotional time to get my first national-event win after racing for 30 years. It was very satisfying to win with an unconventional setup."

Normally, the truck is raced in Super Gas, an eliminator ruled by various styles of roadsters that permit excellent visibility like the dragsters. So, the truck could be considered unconventional even for that eliminator.

However, Super Gas was not contested at the Gators. "We went to Orlando for the points meet a week before Gainesville and ran in Super Gas, and we decided we would enter Super Comp at the Gatornationals," Lepage said, referring to accompaniment by his wife Carolyn. "I have experience running IHRA Quick Rod at 8.90, so we figured we might go a couple of rounds and have some fun."

Did they ever. With expert delay-box and throttle-stop settings, consistent truck performance and outstanding driving, Lepage defeated David Tatum III of Palmetto, Ga., in the double-breakout final. Tatum was No. 1 in Super Comp at the time and the 2003 Super Gas winner of the U.S. Nationals.

"We had to race strong players, so it was nerve-wracking and exciting," Lepage said. "The truck goes 170 miles per hour, so it's competitive with the dragsters. That surprised a lot of them. We also were an unknown, and that worked to our advantage."

Competitors, particularly those in NHRA Division 1, became very familiar with Lepage as the season unfolded. Racing in Super Gas, he won the Englishtown points meet and the Lebanon Valley national open on his way to one of his best seasons. He finished first in the division national open points and fifth in Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series division points.

Nationally, Lepage finished 43rd in the NHRA standings after running 20 events in 2004 (including a few IHRA races). He noted that if his Gators victory had been in Super Gas instead of Super Comp, he would have ranked in the top 15.

Since Lepage continues to improve, such a ranking this season is feasible. He stated he would like to win more national events (especially Indy and Englishtown) and claim the division championship.

"All the major pieces are in place," Lepage said. "From mid-season of 2003 on, we got our program together and have gone rounds. As with any vehicle, it takes a while to get it set. I don't have the luxury of making 400 or 500 runs a year. Seat time is huge, especially in being able to drive the finish line well. The last two seasons I've been a better driver."

Carolyn has been instrumental in the success of her husband, to whom she's been married 27 years. She focuses on predicting performance and setting the throttle-stop dials. She applies some of her scientific skills from her profession as a hydrogeologist.

"We try not to out-trick ourselves," Lepage said. "We're carrying the same setup through into 2005. It's a real temptation to make big changes in the engine, chassis or dial, but usually that only confuses the issue. It's too easy to get lost."

Lepage's setup is built around his S-10 that was constructed in 1999 by Dan Page Race Cars in Hampstead, N.H. Page has constructed several types of drag cars, including 2002 NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster champion Art Gallant's A/FD and jet dragsters.

The machine, which meets the specs of the former Pro Stock Truck category, was intended as a Super Gas or Comp racer. "The truck looked really good, and it looked like the visibility was good," Lepage said. "It seems like everyone has a Corvette roadster. Anyway, I like to be different."

Sponsorship also was a consideration. Lepage is sponsored by Motor Home & RV Super Center in Auburn, Maine, a city of 23,000 where the 50-year-old Lepage has lived all his life. "The truck fit the profile of the customers," he said. "A lot of them drive pickups or tow their RVs with trucks."

Lepage's primary profession is management consulting, and he specializes in sales and marketing for small businesses. He also serves as a sales representative for his sponsor at races, where he shows his Holiday Rambler coach to members of racing teams.

According to Lepage, Page incorporated unique features into the truck, which is a 2000 model. No roll cage down tubes extend through the rear window. Instead, bridges were built under the rear deck.

The four-link rear suspension consists of rocker arms with cross shafts and connections to the coilover shocks and rearend. "It is compact and lightweight and works incredibly well," Lepage said. "It's easy to tune. The adjustments are made above, not below, the rearend."

Besides the chassis, Page built the unique carbon-fiber rear quarters and seats. His shop wired and plumbed the truck, made the wheelie bars and did the tin work (including the wheel tubs). Carbon fiber from Hairy Glass also was used for the nose, hood, doors and deck. The truck was painted by Allan Dame of Elliot, Maine, based on a design by Bruce DeVeau of Amesbury, Mass., who also did the lettering. Powder coating was done by Diversified Finishers in Charlotte, N.C.

Powering the 2,460-pound truck to a best time of 7.92 at 172 is a 632-inch Donovan Chevy built by past U.S. Nationals Super Stock champ Tom Boucher at his shop in Rowley, Mass. Originally the truck had a steel 540-inch big block Chevy.

The engine switch was made because "the truck works best when the front end is as light as possible," Lepage said. "Opposed to a roadster with a 105-110-inch wheelbase, the truck is 124 inches, and you need a lot of power and less weight to leverage the weight of the truck."

Bottom-end components are from Callies, Oliver, Clevite, JE, Moroso and Speed Pro. The valvetrain and Big Chief heads, which were massaged by Reher-Morrison Racing Engines, contain pieces from Comp Cams, Crower, T&E, Manton and Manley. Everything is sealed by Fel Pro and Clark gaskets.

The oil is Valvoline, and the fuel is VP. It flows from a Jaz cell and through Barry Grant pumps, Aeroquip lines and a Holley 1,250-cfm carb modified by Don Garbinski of Philadelphia, Pa. The Dominator is bolted to a Dart intake. Ignition is done by MSD, Moroso and AC Delco products, and the exhaust goes through headers from Custom Tubes in Boston, Mass.

Transmitting the power are a 1.80 first-gear Powerglide, converter and brake by Select Performance in West Babylon, N.Y. The trans has a B&M cooler and is shifted by a Quarter Pro.

In the back are a Mark Williams rearend, spool (with a Richmond 4.30 gear) and axles. Other pieces are Lamb brakes, Afco shocks, Weld 15x15 wheels and Hoosier 16x33 slicks. The same brands are used on the front end, which also has a Flaming River rack-and-pinion steering.

Lepage monitors engine and vehicle functions with an Auto Meter computer and gauges (tachometer, oil pressure, water temperature, vacuum, voltage and brake pressure). He uses a Dedenbear delay box and #1 Stop throttle stop.

The truck is Lepage's fourth drag racing vehicle. He began with a two-stroke Kawasaki motorcycle in the early 1970s before teaming with friend Fred LeBlanc on a 1965 Chevelle that they raced locally and won bracket events.

In 1985 Lepage bought a 1969 Camaro. In the course of racing it before having the truck built, he equipped the Camaro with three different chassis and progressed from having a small-block and a four-speed to big-block and automatic for Super Gas and Super Comp. In addition to winning the Division 1 S/C title in 1996, he advanced twice to the semifinals of national events.

Lepage first was exposed to drag racing when friends took him to Oxford Dragway, a small track in Maine that often booked in pros such as Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney, Bill Jenkins, Sox & Martin, Connie Kalitta and Don Nicholson. "I fell in love with the noise, the smoke and the screaming engines," Lepage said. "It was way too cool."

As he progressed in the sport, Lepage found the biggest challenge being competitive at the divisional and national levels. But, he wouldn't want it any different. "I like the fact that drag racing is difficult," he said. "It's a head game, and it takes a lot of intensity and focus."

Those characteristics have served Lepage well in other pursuits. He has competed in endurance races on rivers with a 100 m.p.h. boat. In high school he was a state champion slalom snow skier, and later in life he officiated at national skiing events and coached skiers.

For the last several years Lepage has focused intensely on drag racing. "I love the sport, and I love to race," he said. So when he wins, no wonder he can't stop smiling. He could very well be doing much more of both this season.

Coverage of 1998 World Power Wheelstanding Championships at Byron Dragway
Drag Racing Action, 1999

When employees at Van Senus Auto Parts in Hammond, IN, see a sales slip made out to "The Wheelie King," they know the merchandise was purchased by Steve Penrod, so nicknamed because his cars always fly high from the starting line.

Just how high was impressed upon people at the fourth annual World Power Wheelstanding Championships on a windy, chilly day last October at Byron Dragway south of Rockford, IL, when Penrod's 1972 Chevelle went all-four-wheels-off-the-ground vertical two consecutive times. The awestruck crowd's applause, which rated the dozen cars' performances at the event, crowned "The Wheelie King" with three honors – Highest, Most Violent and Best Overall – and earned him $1500 from track owners Ron Leek and B.J. Vangsness.

Penrod, 32, a resident of Hobart, IN, held the awards in high regard due to his philosophy toward drag racing: "I would rather do wheelies than anything else. I like to have the front wheels come up three or four feet and then run a good number." His Chevy has a nitrous-boosted 498-inch big block that has powered the hefty 3,475-pound musclecar to a best elapsed time of 8.97 at 143 miles per hour.

He was concerned more with hang time during the event, but he was shocked by his Chevelle rearing back on just one wheelie bar on back-to-back runs. "Those wheelies were comparable to other ones I've done, but it was weird for the car to go straight up and down twice in a row. It's usually hit or miss on something like that," he said.

An earlier run found the Chevelle's front wheels three feet off the asphalt for 330 feet — a typical run for Penrod, so he did not expect much different on a later run that produced the first violent mega-wheelie. If the height of the wheelstand did not drop the fans' jaws, the Chevelle's landing 80 feet off the starting line certainly did.

The impact was a jaw-cruncher. "The launch was so hard it lifted me off my seat. I was watching the tach, so I knew when all four wheels were off the ground," Penrod said. "When the car slammed down, the dash flew in the air, my helmet was crooked, and there was dust in my eyes so I could hardly see.

"It was ugly," he said wryly about an experience that never ceases to exhilarate him.

Naturally, all the spectators viewed the powerstand as a thing of beauty, and they roared their approval. "The fans loved it. When I came back down the return road, they were screamin' and goin' nuts," Penrod said. "Then I knew I had to go back a second time."

To be able to do that, he first had to replace the Chevelle's automatic transmission oil pan that was damaged during the landing. When he entered the water box after the repair, he discovered the car's Line Loc did not work, so he worried about heating the slicks enough to give the fans another display of the Chevelle's aerial acrobatics.

A foot-brake burnout proved sufficient, as once again the Chevelle struck a rocket ship pose upon launch. The stance lasted just a couple of seconds before the '72 shoebox smacked the Byron tarmac, collecting another trans oil pan. The force also pushed the front shocks through the A-arms and broke the front bumper, and out back the wheelie bars were bent.

Such carnage does not surprise Penrod. He constantly is paying the price of having fun. Why, at a Michigan race a month earlier a vicious wheelie meant the sacrifice of a transmission case, driveshaft and rearend.

Just as the wheelstanding Chevelle often seems out of control, Penrod realizes the same may be said about his interest in drag racing. "This is so addicting. It's much worse than any drug they ever could come up with," he said.

Penrod first became hooked eight years ago with a 1968 Camaro. It was bracket raced three years before he upgraded it with a beefier drivetrain to compete with the Chicagoland-based wheelie-poppin' Outlaw Super Stocks and in fastest street car events. The drag strip outings contrasted from his profession as a yearbook and portrait photographer at schools, a position he has held the past 11 years at his father's company, Interstate Studio in Crown Point, IN.

After the Camaro was sold, three years ago Penrod bought the Chevelle for $1300 off a used-car lot. After driving the car on the street a while with a small block, he decided to go racing again. He converted the Chevy to a race car for more Outlaw Super Stocks action and spent the winter of 1997-98 doing a frame-off restoration.

Although a 12-point chromemoly steel cage fills part of the interior, it still has the stock seats, steering wheel and console, which also contains all switches. Why, the clock even works!

Valuable assistance in the project was provided by fellow Hobart resident Mark Underdahl, Gene Pudlo at PRC Race Cars in Hammond, IN, (who installed the back-half chassis) and All-American Tire in Hobart. The chassis consists of a 12-bolt rearend with a 4.11 gear, Strange components and 15x32 Goodyear slicks on Center Line wheels.

Penrod's big block has Bowtie aluminum heads that are fed by a Carburetor Shop Holley Dominator atop a Dart intake. Below the carb is an NOS single-plate nitrous system that gives the 875-h.p. engine a 250-h.p. surge the moment the car launches. The valves are moved by a Crower roller cam, and the air-fuel mix is fired by an MSD ignition and wires. The exhaust goes through Hooker headers and Borla mufflers.

TCI manufactured the Turbo 400 transmission and eight-inch converter whose stall speed is in the 4800-5100 r.p.m. range. Penrod does not use a transbrake. The 1-2 shift is made at 6500 r.p.m. and the 2-3 at 7500. Finish-line engine speed is 7500.

Penrod plans to defend his title with the Chevelle at the 1999 Byron wheelstanding contest. He is so enamored of wheelstands that someday he may construct a vehicle just for wheelstands. "I have ideas to build something different. I'm thinking about an old hearse or an ambulance with a chopped top and the motor behind the driver," he said. "It could be called 'One Last Ride,' but I wonder if that would be too morbid."

Randy Dolensek, who won the Longest Wheelstand Award driving his 1969 Mercury Cyclone Cobra Jet, made his last ride of the 1998 season memorable. His Merc's front wheels went airborne just off the line and touched down more than 200 feet later. Even after landing, the green machine again bounced up two feet a couple times.

Although the 44-year-old Dolensek, a Calendonia, WI, resident, was pleased with the award and $750, he wanted his Cyclone's wheelies to be judged the best. He placed third the first time he entered the contest in 1996 but a broken engine sidelined him at last year's event. "I was on a mission this year. I had it set on kill," he said. "I even bought a new pair of Mickey Thompson slicks because when they are new they hook like a bear.

"I wanted to be the Byron wheelstand champion, so I untied the front suspension and went for broke. It even surprised me when it went up extremely high," said Dolensek, whose car is known for its almost bumper-scraping wheelstands.

To produce better elapsed times in 1998 while competing with the Modified Super Stocks (MSS), another Chicago-area nitrous doorslammer group, Dolensek reduced front-end travel, limiting wheelies to two feet. The adjustment produced the Mercury's best numbers — 8.60 at 156 m.p.h.

"There's a couple tenths difference when the front end is tied down, and I was more competitive, but people kept coming up to me and asking what happened to the giant wheelstands," he said. "So, I'm going to leave it loose because that's the way people like it.

"People love to see burnouts and wheelstands, and the car is known for that. I'm really not into the racing all that much. I'm only in it for the fun," said Dolensek, who joined MSS four years ago. He has finished in the top 10 in season points the last two years.

He explained the front suspension is stock except for NAPA gas shocks. Travel is controlled by links of chain from the frame to the A-arms. Each link permits three inches of travel. "I adjust it enough to make the car plant itself on the rear wheels. It doesn't instantly pop a wheelie, but it comes up and then drives into a wheelstand. It climbs as it goes out when the nitrous takes hold," he said.

Dolensek uses a controller to vary the nitrous oxide fed to the mammoth 604-inch Ford engine. If track conditions are slick, he cuts back on the Blue Oval's laughing gas diet so the Mickeys hook better. With a .093 jet in his NOS Big Shot 250-hp system, he usually gives the engine 40 percent of the joy juice for the first 1.5 seconds but 100 percent the rest of the run.

"Because the car is so heavy (3800 pounds), it reacts slow and you have time to react and steer. That's what I like about the big car. It's always left like it was on railroad tracks. It always goes up straight and goes down straight, so I'm always confident it will land straight," he said. "Sometimes it's hard to tell when it goes up that high.

"The wheelies are smooth and such a natural thing, and I know what it's going to do. You just let it come down under power. It doesn't scare me at all," he said. "However, sometimes it was all over the place at Byron, and it was almost out of control.

"It did get a lot of response from people. They liked it, and they came running to the fence when I ran.You get a lot of recognition in the wheelie contest, and that makes it fun. That just inspired me to do more wheelies," he said. Byron co-owner and announcer Ron Leek has dubbed the car "The Mercury That Made Milwaukee Famous" because Dolensek's home is near that city.

The well-known Mercury, the only race car Dolensek has had, was built eight years ago. He chose the Cyclone because it reminded him of the green one he bought from his brother, a diehard Ford man who had bought the car new.

"I got the Cyclone because I wanted to be different, and it is really different," he said. Even though the car is a 428 Cobra Jet model, Dolensek installed a 466-inch (bored 460) engine for bracket racing. Initially the Mercury "was built just to see what it would do, but then I wanted to go faster and faster. I'd say I've pretty well done that."

The 4.6250-inch bore Ford Motorsport SVO block has a 4.5-inch stroke steel Ford crank with 6.7-inch aluminum Howard's rods. When Engine Systems in Tucker, GA, assembled the engine, it was topped with Ford Motorsport heads and intake manifold and a BG 1150-cfm Dominator. Ignition is MSD, and the headers were built by Bob Faestel of Germantown, WI, who also constructed the 12-point cage and did the backhalf chassis.

Without nitrous, the powerplant produces 1,020 horsepower, and it is transferred to the rearend by a transbrake-actuated GM Turbo 400 and 10-inch converter (4200-4500 stall speed) from Automatic Transmission Design, another Germantown firm. A Dana rearend with a 4.10 gear, Strange axles and spool anchors the ladder-bar rear suspension. The M/T slicks are 14x32s. Shifts are made at 7000, and the car crosses the finish line at 7400.

Except for two racing bucket seats and the roll cage, the Cyclone's interior is stock. It has the factory carpeting, back seat, dash and radio. And, in typical '60s style, two Stewart-Warner gauges are under the dash.

After freshening the engine over the winter, Dolensek will be ready for more quarter-mile action in 1999, but his increased commitment to his family will decrease his racing. He, his wife and two young children occasionally will go cruising in his stock 1969 Cyclone 428 CJ with a four-speed. He also will stay busy at his Mack truck service center in Caledonia.

However, he will not miss the next Byron wheelie competition to see if he can claim victory. He also wants to entertain the fans. "There's no doubt in my mind that fans like to see wheelstands better than low elapsed times. There are 8.30 cars in the Modified Super Stocks, but people are not impressed," he said "They don't care how fast a car goes. If it can pull a wheelie and run 9.70, they like it more because they are near the starting line and close to the action."

Dolensek knows firsthand: "I never had so many people come up to me in my life as at Byron. Even after the event I got phone calls. It started making my head big. But, racing is something that you're not going to get rich doing, so you might as well feel good about it."