HAYES FAN FEST A BIG HIT WITH RACERS
Hayes Fan Fest opening day event at Atlanta Dragway in 2006
by Tim Glover
(March 4, 2006 - Commerce, GA) After a long winter's wait, hundreds of drag racers finally got their chance to get back on track, at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, GA for the season opening Hayes Fan Fest. The track had scheduled Test and Tune sessions on the three prior weekends in February, but rain and cold weather stepped in, canceling those dates. A big thank you goes to Mike Hayes and the Hayes Family Dealerships, sponsors of today's event.
There were new faces in the crowd, some getting started for the first time, some switching from other tracks. Two new kids on the block in Jr Dragster were eight year old racers Alex Krause and Hunter Ramsey. Both have older sisters who are already active in Atlanta Dragway's Jr Dragster program.
Lots of enthusiasm made up for lack of experience in the Trophy Street car class, with many new racers mixing in with the old. They were working on either figuring out new combinations, re-learning skills, or just getting back in shape after time off. Two former Super Pro "door car" racers switched over to dragsters, Mike Holman and Joe Haddon. Both dragsters are capable of sub five second eighth mile elapsed times. Later in the day, Haddon took a quarter mile time shot, running 7.77 seconds at 170mph, much quicker than his Chevelle or Nova. Holman kept his GS Extreme logo, but upped the ante from a quickest of 6.14 in his '70 Buick GSX to 4.97 in his Year One GS Extreme dragster.
David Lee of Suwanee, Ga. purchased a 6.0 Outlaw Street car ('70 Nova) at the end of 2005 and is planning to run the Outlaw Series (see schedule for Atlanta Outlaw race dates) in 2006. His car is equipped with nitrous, but he chose to take it easy and learn his car first, making several 6.90 second passes "on the motor".
Ray Murphy brought his Murphy's Law Top Alcohol Funny Car to make exhibition passes, to the delight of spectators. Murphy made several six second, 200 plus mph passes.
Several former Jr Dragster racers are stepping into Super Pro Dragsters for 2006, including Ashley Dumas and Howard Snelgrove. Dumas' very first time in her '92 S&W dragster became quite exciting after an inner tube failed, causing the car to shake, but she simply lifted immediately off the throttle and took control. The car is already proven, having finished fourth in 2004 with Jeremy Hancock and fifth in 2005 with Gary Dunn at the wheel. It also has several Atlanta Dragway event wins under its cowling. Former Super Pro champ Henry Snelgrove, Sr put son Howard into his championship Bos Dragster, and was teaching him how to handle a really fast car.
This being a race track, some competition was bound to happen, even though no race was scheduled. Thanks to the Hayes Family Dealerships, a reaction time contest was held in the Jr Dragster ranks. The best reaction time went to Jordan Thurmond of Statham, GA, who pulled a 0.001 second reaction time out of his bag of tricks during the last session. Thurmond was rewarded with a Jr Dragster engine starter. Amber Stroud had carried the lead all the way
until the last session, with a 0.002 second react. Her efforts were rewarded with a very nice Hayes jacket. Another Jr Dragster racer, defending 13-17 champion Lauren Turner, won the Jr Miss Pantara pageant at her school last night.
After a late afternoon track cleanup, announcer Steve Queen took a $20 bill out of his pocket and announced the first person to get a perfect 0.000 react would become the new owner of that bill. Racers responded enthusiastically, with many going red trying to hit the number. Prior to the pass, Larry Barefoot said to his wife Nancy, "I'm either going to get it or go red in the process." He nailed it, so dinner that night for the Barefoots was courtesy of Steve Queen.
Racers are now looking forward to the first race of the season, set for March 11, 2006.
by Tim Glover
(March 4, 2006 - Commerce, GA) After a long winter's wait, hundreds of drag racers finally got their chance to get back on track, at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, GA for the season opening Hayes Fan Fest. The track had scheduled Test and Tune sessions on the three prior weekends in February, but rain and cold weather stepped in, canceling those dates. A big thank you goes to Mike Hayes and the Hayes Family Dealerships, sponsors of today's event.
There were new faces in the crowd, some getting started for the first time, some switching from other tracks. Two new kids on the block in Jr Dragster were eight year old racers Alex Krause and Hunter Ramsey. Both have older sisters who are already active in Atlanta Dragway's Jr Dragster program.
Lots of enthusiasm made up for lack of experience in the Trophy Street car class, with many new racers mixing in with the old. They were working on either figuring out new combinations, re-learning skills, or just getting back in shape after time off. Two former Super Pro "door car" racers switched over to dragsters, Mike Holman and Joe Haddon. Both dragsters are capable of sub five second eighth mile elapsed times. Later in the day, Haddon took a quarter mile time shot, running 7.77 seconds at 170mph, much quicker than his Chevelle or Nova. Holman kept his GS Extreme logo, but upped the ante from a quickest of 6.14 in his '70 Buick GSX to 4.97 in his Year One GS Extreme dragster.
David Lee of Suwanee, Ga. purchased a 6.0 Outlaw Street car ('70 Nova) at the end of 2005 and is planning to run the Outlaw Series (see schedule for Atlanta Outlaw race dates) in 2006. His car is equipped with nitrous, but he chose to take it easy and learn his car first, making several 6.90 second passes "on the motor".
Ray Murphy brought his Murphy's Law Top Alcohol Funny Car to make exhibition passes, to the delight of spectators. Murphy made several six second, 200 plus mph passes.
Several former Jr Dragster racers are stepping into Super Pro Dragsters for 2006, including Ashley Dumas and Howard Snelgrove. Dumas' very first time in her '92 S&W dragster became quite exciting after an inner tube failed, causing the car to shake, but she simply lifted immediately off the throttle and took control. The car is already proven, having finished fourth in 2004 with Jeremy Hancock and fifth in 2005 with Gary Dunn at the wheel. It also has several Atlanta Dragway event wins under its cowling. Former Super Pro champ Henry Snelgrove, Sr put son Howard into his championship Bos Dragster, and was teaching him how to handle a really fast car.
This being a race track, some competition was bound to happen, even though no race was scheduled. Thanks to the Hayes Family Dealerships, a reaction time contest was held in the Jr Dragster ranks. The best reaction time went to Jordan Thurmond of Statham, GA, who pulled a 0.001 second reaction time out of his bag of tricks during the last session. Thurmond was rewarded with a Jr Dragster engine starter. Amber Stroud had carried the lead all the way
until the last session, with a 0.002 second react. Her efforts were rewarded with a very nice Hayes jacket. Another Jr Dragster racer, defending 13-17 champion Lauren Turner, won the Jr Miss Pantara pageant at her school last night.
After a late afternoon track cleanup, announcer Steve Queen took a $20 bill out of his pocket and announced the first person to get a perfect 0.000 react would become the new owner of that bill. Racers responded enthusiastically, with many going red trying to hit the number. Prior to the pass, Larry Barefoot said to his wife Nancy, "I'm either going to get it or go red in the process." He nailed it, so dinner that night for the Barefoots was courtesy of Steve Queen.
Racers are now looking forward to the first race of the season, set for March 11, 2006.
posted by David @ 1:02 AM
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