SUMMER SIZZLER AT ATLANTA DRAGWAY A BLAST FROM THE FAST PAST
By Tim Glover
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/175624893cyPFKp
(Commerce, GA -August 14) The weather was fantastic, and fans who came to the Summer Sizzler event at Atlanta Dragway received more than their money's worth all day long. Activities on the grounds included the Blast From the Fast Past Charity Car Show, a Super Gas Association Southeast race, an on track Test and Tune open to all participants, a lively vendor's midway and swap meet, live music, Doug Geiser, aka KOTO (King of the Oldies) playing 50s, 60s and 70s rock and roll music all day, Marc Fenyo's mobile pinstriping service, Waddles the Clown and more.
Darryl Hollin from Pelzer, SC may have qualified 13th in the Super Gas field, but by day's end he was the number one racer in the Super Gas Association Southeast race. Hollin's purple '27 Roadster was close to the 6.40 eighth mile index all day, and he said the car was so good he left it alone after round two and just went racing. In the final against fellow racer Ricky Purcell from Jesup, GA, Hollin was near perfect with a .006 second reaction time (.000 being perfect). When he got close to the finish line for the final round pass, Hollin realized Purcell's '97 Firebird was nowhere near him, so he eased on the brake pedal to slow his race car to a 6.50 second, 103.14mph pass on the 6.40 index. Purcell's car broke something at mid track, as cylinder compression was escaping to the atmosphere from somewhere on his engine, slowing it down dramatically to 6.95 seconds at 104.51mph. Gene Abbott's show quality Gainesville, FL based '37 Chevy finished in the semi-final round, along with Billy Crenshaw ('27 Ford Roadster - Pendleton, SC). "I'm happy," stated Hollin. "A win is a win". He was joined in the winner's circle by wife Twiss and their three "kids", puppies of various ages. The following paragraph includes the results for the Super Gas race.
SUPER GAS CAR HOMETOWN ET MPH INDEX
Win: Darryl Hollin '27 Roadster Pelzer, SC 6.50 103.14 (6.40)
R/U: Ricky Purcell '97 Firebird Jesup, GA 6.95 104.51 (6.40)
Semi: Gene Abbott '37 Chevy Gainesville, FL
Semi: Billy Crenshaw '27 Ford Roadster Pendleton, SC
Two Atlanta Dragway regulars enjoyed winning awards in the Blast From the Fast Past car show. Lonnie Cothran from Buford, GA and Joe Haddon of Oxford, GA normally run in the Sportsman class, but Cothran talked Haddon into entering his car into the car show. Haddon won the Atlanta Dragway Award, and Cothran won Best Pro Street Modified. Cothran's machine is an original '69 Super Stock Nova, ordered with all accessories deleted, which only saw 830 miles of street usage. Haddon spent a lot of money and time making his '67 Chevy II into a show quality race car.
Some of Atlanta Dragway's Junior Dragster contingent introduced more spectators to their brand of racing. Matt Gillen, Valerie Clements, Joshua Sisson, Dylan Kent, Lauren Turner and a new racer for Team PTI experimented with different changes to their cars in the never ending quest to go faster. Gillen enjoyed a much faster ride with his brand new car, and Clements's dad "uncorked" her car to gain another half second. Lauren Turner's Team PTI car picked up two tenths with a new style torque converter.
Shortly after the test and tune session opened, fans were treated to another Blast from the Past when Joe Ralph from Nicholson, GA paired up his '29 Chevy 3-window coupe against the '29 Ford 5-window coupe of Lane Wiedmann from Atlanta. Both cars went almost 100mph on the race course, and no one cared who made it to the finish line first. Ralph spent three years building his car, and Wiedmann and his dad put together the '29 Ford in Pennsylvania, where it stays most of the time.
Lots of older model cars graced the Blast from the Past car show. One of the more nostalgic examples was Wayne Andrew's '58 Impala convertible, an original 315 hp, 348cid Tri Power (three two barrel carburetors) car. The car recently underwent a frame off restoration, and was actually available for the paltry sum of only $65,000. A new Panoz Esparante was on display, close to a 1957 Rolls Royce belonging to the Haulbrook family from Marietta.
The vendor's midway featured many performance and car care products. Several twin four barrel intake manifold / carburetor setups were available. Dennis Hinton of Vintage Chevy Parts had performance parts from yesteryear on sale, and another vendor featured lots of chrome dress up items for engines.
In the center of the car show area was a 60 foot long mobile studio and nostalgic gift shop belonging to Doug Geiser, widely known as KOTO. KOTO played rock and roll oldies from the '50s '60s and '70s, and kept the crowd entertained all day with his unique brand of humor, anecdotes and pertinent show information. Local talent Connie Osborne treated fans to live performances with her mix of country, rock and gospel songs. Another character, Marc Fenyo, made his mobile pinstriping service available on site. Waddles the clown made balloon animals and performed face painting on many happy kids.
Sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), Atlanta Dragway is located just off I-85 at Exit 149 in the Banks Crossing area of Commerce, Georgia. Information on all 2004 events, including the Hayes Mopar Meet, may be obtained by calling the track office (706-335-2301) or logging on to http://www.atlantadragway.com/.
By Tim Glover
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/175624893cyPFKp
(Commerce, GA -August 14) The weather was fantastic, and fans who came to the Summer Sizzler event at Atlanta Dragway received more than their money's worth all day long. Activities on the grounds included the Blast From the Fast Past Charity Car Show, a Super Gas Association Southeast race, an on track Test and Tune open to all participants, a lively vendor's midway and swap meet, live music, Doug Geiser, aka KOTO (King of the Oldies) playing 50s, 60s and 70s rock and roll music all day, Marc Fenyo's mobile pinstriping service, Waddles the Clown and more.
Darryl Hollin from Pelzer, SC may have qualified 13th in the Super Gas field, but by day's end he was the number one racer in the Super Gas Association Southeast race. Hollin's purple '27 Roadster was close to the 6.40 eighth mile index all day, and he said the car was so good he left it alone after round two and just went racing. In the final against fellow racer Ricky Purcell from Jesup, GA, Hollin was near perfect with a .006 second reaction time (.000 being perfect). When he got close to the finish line for the final round pass, Hollin realized Purcell's '97 Firebird was nowhere near him, so he eased on the brake pedal to slow his race car to a 6.50 second, 103.14mph pass on the 6.40 index. Purcell's car broke something at mid track, as cylinder compression was escaping to the atmosphere from somewhere on his engine, slowing it down dramatically to 6.95 seconds at 104.51mph. Gene Abbott's show quality Gainesville, FL based '37 Chevy finished in the semi-final round, along with Billy Crenshaw ('27 Ford Roadster - Pendleton, SC). "I'm happy," stated Hollin. "A win is a win". He was joined in the winner's circle by wife Twiss and their three "kids", puppies of various ages. The following paragraph includes the results for the Super Gas race.
SUPER GAS CAR HOMETOWN ET MPH INDEX
Win: Darryl Hollin '27 Roadster Pelzer, SC 6.50 103.14 (6.40)
R/U: Ricky Purcell '97 Firebird Jesup, GA 6.95 104.51 (6.40)
Semi: Gene Abbott '37 Chevy Gainesville, FL
Semi: Billy Crenshaw '27 Ford Roadster Pendleton, SC
Two Atlanta Dragway regulars enjoyed winning awards in the Blast From the Fast Past car show. Lonnie Cothran from Buford, GA and Joe Haddon of Oxford, GA normally run in the Sportsman class, but Cothran talked Haddon into entering his car into the car show. Haddon won the Atlanta Dragway Award, and Cothran won Best Pro Street Modified. Cothran's machine is an original '69 Super Stock Nova, ordered with all accessories deleted, which only saw 830 miles of street usage. Haddon spent a lot of money and time making his '67 Chevy II into a show quality race car.
Some of Atlanta Dragway's Junior Dragster contingent introduced more spectators to their brand of racing. Matt Gillen, Valerie Clements, Joshua Sisson, Dylan Kent, Lauren Turner and a new racer for Team PTI experimented with different changes to their cars in the never ending quest to go faster. Gillen enjoyed a much faster ride with his brand new car, and Clements's dad "uncorked" her car to gain another half second. Lauren Turner's Team PTI car picked up two tenths with a new style torque converter.
Shortly after the test and tune session opened, fans were treated to another Blast from the Past when Joe Ralph from Nicholson, GA paired up his '29 Chevy 3-window coupe against the '29 Ford 5-window coupe of Lane Wiedmann from Atlanta. Both cars went almost 100mph on the race course, and no one cared who made it to the finish line first. Ralph spent three years building his car, and Wiedmann and his dad put together the '29 Ford in Pennsylvania, where it stays most of the time.
Lots of older model cars graced the Blast from the Past car show. One of the more nostalgic examples was Wayne Andrew's '58 Impala convertible, an original 315 hp, 348cid Tri Power (three two barrel carburetors) car. The car recently underwent a frame off restoration, and was actually available for the paltry sum of only $65,000. A new Panoz Esparante was on display, close to a 1957 Rolls Royce belonging to the Haulbrook family from Marietta.
The vendor's midway featured many performance and car care products. Several twin four barrel intake manifold / carburetor setups were available. Dennis Hinton of Vintage Chevy Parts had performance parts from yesteryear on sale, and another vendor featured lots of chrome dress up items for engines.
In the center of the car show area was a 60 foot long mobile studio and nostalgic gift shop belonging to Doug Geiser, widely known as KOTO. KOTO played rock and roll oldies from the '50s '60s and '70s, and kept the crowd entertained all day with his unique brand of humor, anecdotes and pertinent show information. Local talent Connie Osborne treated fans to live performances with her mix of country, rock and gospel songs. Another character, Marc Fenyo, made his mobile pinstriping service available on site. Waddles the clown made balloon animals and performed face painting on many happy kids.
Sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), Atlanta Dragway is located just off I-85 at Exit 149 in the Banks Crossing area of Commerce, Georgia. Information on all 2004 events, including the Hayes Mopar Meet, may be obtained by calling the track office (706-335-2301) or logging on to http://www.atlantadragway.com/.
posted by David @ 11:52 PM
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