Hayes Southeastern Mopar Meet and Upcoming Drag Racing Reunions

Hayes Southeastern Mopar Meet at Atlanta Dragway September 8 & 9, 2006
It's less than a month until the Hayes Mopar Meet at Atlanta Dragway!

As usual, there will be drag racing, swap meets, car show, NHRA Pro Stockers, and a burnout contest. Gary Scelzi will also be back this year signing autographs.

New this year will be the Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car Showdown! See the flyers for scheduled funny cars/drivers and more details. Don't miss this great event!

2006 Event Flyers
More Info
Atlanta Dragway

2002 Photos
2003 Photos
2004 Photos
2005 Photos


Please support Hayes Chrysler (and Chevy, too) for sponsoring this event for the last couple of decades. Jim Trevorrow handles internet sales at Hayes Chrysler in Lawrenceville, GA. Jim is a straight shooter and will set you up in the best deal possible. I've bought several vehicles from Jim and he will be the one I go to the next time I buy a new vehicle. You can contact Jim via the Hayes website or 770-963-5251 or 800-556-2279. Tell him David at GeorgiaDragRacing.com sent you his way!

Old Drag Racers Reunion - Sept 29 - October 1, 2006 - Panama City, Florida
2006 Event Flyer

For more information, contact:
Sol Stewart
PO Box 144
Jackson, AL 36525
251-246-5588
t_pet@bellsouth.net

2002 Article
2003 Article
2004 Article

2002 Photos
2003 Photos
2004 Photos
2005 Photos

FINAL MAIL OUT 2006 OLD DRAG RACERS REUNION
From Sol Stewart

THIS IS LONG...LOTS OF INFORMATION...PLEASE READ VERY CAREFULLY

FRIDAY Sept. 29th Legends Of Drag Racing Dinner/Ceremony
We only have 63 tickets left fot this Dinner-Ceremony. When they are all gone, we will be full....Sold out. Friday, Sept.15th is the date I have to meet with the caterer and turn in the money and the head count for the dinner. Any money received after Sept. 14th will be returned. NO TICKETS, if any are left, will be sold after that date and no tickets will be available at the door on Sept. 29th. A Panama City police officer will be taking up tickets at the door and only persons holding a ticket will be allowed in. The door opens at 7pm CST, a cash bar will be available thru out the evening...The buffet will be served at
7:45pm and the Ceremony will start shortly there after.
Special guests for the Dinner/Ceremony will be Don Garlits, Darrell Gwynn, Jerry Gwynn
and Buddy Martin...There is a fair chance Roy Hill and David Pearson will come with Buddy Martin. HOW TO GET TICKETS TO THIS??? CONTACT ME.....
____________________________________________________________________
A video production company from Nashville, Tenn. is coming to the ODRR to video interviews for a SPECIAL "The Early Days of Drag Racing". They were at the big NHRA Reunion in Bowling Green, Ky. several weeks back and heard about our Event and now they are coming to Panama City to see what we are about.
___________________________________________________________________
Do we have any members of the ODRR who use Royal Purple Oil Products? Bobby Likis has this company as one of his major sponsors. Bobby would like to interview at least 3 of you on his National Radio Show on Saturday morning Sept. 30th, direct from the Car Show. PLEASE get in touch with me if you use the Royal Purple products and would like to be interviewed on national radio...just might be something in it for you!
__________________________________________________________________
CHARLIE MORRIS from the famous 422 Racing Group in Penn. will be at the Reunion
doing interviews and gathering information and pictures for his new book, "Drag Racing
In the 60's".
___________________________________________________________________
HALL OF MEMORIES 8:30am CST Saturday morning, Sept. 30th Ball Room
Again we ask everyone to bring old drag racing pictures, memorabilia, and racing artifacts
and place them in the "Hall of Memories" for everyone to see, enjoy and reminisce over.
Share these old treasures with others, just as the car show people share their cars in the
Car Show.
____________________________________________________________________
CAR SHOW 8:30am CST Saturday morning, Sept. 30th Rear Park Lot Motel
PLEASE let me or ROB COLE know if you plan to enter your car in the CAR SHOW. It is FREE ENTRY and we are expecting a big turnout. PHIL BONNER is bringing his famous 1964 T-Bolt to the CAR SHOW. We understand a gent from central Fla. is bringing the "FireBall" Roberts 57 Ford round track car...300HP 312. Also there is a good chance Marvin Panch will bring his 62 Pontiac round track car, thanks to the help of his good friend and ODRR member Sonny Rollo. There is a good chance that we will have as many as 7 origional 1964 T-Bolts at the CAR SHOW. We hope Todd Werner will bring his 1968 RONNIE SOX BARRACUDA.
PLEASE let me know if you would like to enter the "CACKLE FEST" during the CAR SHOW. This will start at 11am. We will also have a limited number of cars for the "BURN OUT" contest(10) which starts a 11:30am. PLEASE let me know if you would like to enter your car in this. Trophies will be awarded in the Car Show, the CACKLE FEST
and the BURNOUTS.
___________________________________________________________________
DRAG RACING SATURDAY NIGHT
Any cars entered in our CAR SHOW will be able to run in a special Bracket Race at the local drag strip on Saturday night. Entry fee for car and driver will be $40.00 and there will be a 100% pay back...For Instance...if we have 20 cars from the CAR SHOW race, there will be an $800.00 payout. There will be a special race for ODRR members over 75 yrs. old. Already there has been one protest filed that claims GEORGE WARREN is not old enough to race in this event. He will be required to provide a birth certificate proving he is 75 or older. Also, ELLIS MILNER(WOW, 49 yrs. in drag racing) is bringing his beautiful 1957 Chevy PRO MOD car to the CAR SHOW and for his daughter LYNN MILNER to drive in a MATCH RACE Saturday night at the track. LYNN is an outstanding PRO MOD racer and consistantly turns the 1/8 mile in the 4.20's at better than 170 MPH.

Below is a partial list of Race Cars we hope will be ready to race after the CAR SHOW...
AUBREY PADGETT...."BIG IRON" CHEVY
ROBERT McLELLAND..."BIG CHIEF" PONTIAC
BILL TRIPOLI...SS/DA 67 FAIRLANE 427
RUSTY GILLIS...69 MUSTANG 428CJ
WILLARD O'BRIAN..."OLD RUSTY" CHEVY
JIMMY SPINKS..."COUNTRY BOY" CHEVY
R. D. HELMS...CHEVY
SPEEDY BALL...CHEVY POWERED FORD
JOE TEUTON...426 HEMI BARRACUDA
CHARLES COOK...WILLYS COUPE
MARCO DeCESARIS...DICK BRANNAN'S T-BOLT
TOM GOULD...28 TIMES NAT. RECORD CORVAIR
JEFF NELSON...71 MUSTANG
MIKE OSBURN... 1964 FORD 427
PLEASE advise me if you would like to race your car at the local drag strip on Saturday
night sept. 30th. The car must be in the CAR SHOW Saturday morning in order to get into our SPECIAL BRACKET RACE Saturday night.
__________________________________________________________________
HALL OF FAME CEREMONY SATURDAY 2pm MOTEL BALL ROOM
The WORD is out...there are two or three of the 2006 Hall Of Fame inductees who may
get "ROASTED" real good....LOOK OUT RANDY....There will be celebs galore for everyone to meet and talk to....
__________________________________________________________________
THE HOST MOTEL THE HOLIDAY INN SELECT PANAMA CITY, FLA.
The phone # for reservations is 850-769-0000. REMEMBER to tell them you are with the OLD DRAG RACERS REUNION to get the good room rate.

FOR ANYTHING ELSE.....CONTACT ME SOL STEWART
P. O. BOX 144
JACKSON, ALA. 36545
251-246-5588
EMAIL: T_P@Bellsouth.net



East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame & Reunion - October 20-22, 2006 - Henderson, North Carolina
2006 Event Flyer
Official East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame Site

2002 Article
2003 Article
2004 Article
2005 Article

2002 Photos
2003 Photos
2004 Photos
2004 Photos - Album 2
2004 Photos Album 3
2005 Photos

Southern Nostalgia Shootout at South Georgia Motorsports Park October 27-29, 2006

2006 Event Flyer
SGMP

Track information and a registration form can be found at SGMP.
Race questions - Mark Adams at 229-253-1025
Car show questions - David Dean at 229-460-2463

Update: Top Fuel Dragster and Blown Altered classes have been added to the program of the Southern Nostalgia Shootout, scheduled for October 27-29, 2006, in beautiful Cecil, Georgia. These highly popular classes are some of the fastest in nostalgia racing. Nitromethane or alcohol fuel is permitted in either class. Payout for each class is a nostalgic $1000 for the winner, $500 for the runner-up, and $250 for each semifinalist.

A few professional vending area, swap meet, and car corral spaces are still available. Sponsorships for a few of the ten racing classes are also still available. Additional information for the event can be found at SGMPracing.com or contact Mark Adams (229) 253-1025.

BAZEMORE QUALIFIES NO. 11 IN MEMPHIS

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
Contact: Judy Stropus

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Aug. 19, 2006) - Whit Bazemore drove the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car into No. 11 in qualifying for the O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals, posting his quickest pass of the weekend in the final round: 4.948 seconds at 300.66 mph.

In only three qualifying rounds held because of a three-hour rain delay on Friday, Bazemore also clocked a tire-smoking 5.048/264.49 last night and another less-than-perfect pass of 5.289/215.03 earlier today in 100-degree temperatures.

"It was good," said Bazemore of that last pass in slightly cooler air. "We would have liked to have been more aggressive tonight, but because we struggled a little bit last night we had to go down the track tonight and just try to move up. We couldn't risk overstepping the boundary.

"It's been a good weekend so far. We made good progress every run with the Matco Tools Dodge and we had a few little things that weren't 100 percent. The last run was good and I think tomorrow - especially in the first round and probably the second - it's going to be whoever goes down the race track is going to win," he said of the extreme heat that is expected again on
Sunday. "It puts more pressure on the drivers to be in a position to help the car go down the race track, so those are the conditions that we typically enjoy and some of the races we have won have been in those kinds of conditions, so we like that.

"It's awfully hot, it's miserable here. It is what it is. It doesn't bother me physically. I feel good. I've ridden (on his Seven Cycle) 40 miles every morning from the track. I feel nice and relaxed all day. When you're sweating, and it's 100 degrees and you're packing the parachute or driving
the car, you're just drenched all day. In that aspect, it's not a job on Wall Street. The rest of the time it doesn't bother me at all."

Bazemore faces Tommy Johnson Jr. in first round of eliminations on Sunday.

KJ Improves, Will Start Fourth in Memphis

Contact: Jon Knapp
TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.

Qualifying for the O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals was completed on Saturday under conditions that severely challenged teams in the NHRA's Pro Stock category. The combination of 100 degree temperatures and drenching humidity combined to strangle the naturally-aspirated "factory hot rods", magnifying the importance of even the slightest error in judgment.

Starting the day confident that his 6.784-second, 203.03 mph pass from Friday evening would keep him in the sixteen-car field, Kurt Johnson used his first attempt on Saturday to gain valuable tuning information on his still-new ACDelco Cobalt.

After duplicating his elapsed time from the previous day on that initial run and bettering his top speed to 203.68 mph, which was third fastest among the 23 cars making an attempt, the second generation racer changed his approach for his last attempt trying to improve his starting position.

Running in the right hand lane, Johnson's car made its best pass of the weekend, a 6.765-second, 204.26 mph blast to capture the fourth starting position for Sunday's final eliminations in Millington, TN.

"We used our first run as a learning experience, trying a few different things to see how this new car would act. We made a decent 6.784-second pass, but when we saw V. Gaines run 6.76, we worried that we might have missed a potential opportunity. So, for the last session, we put it back to the way we had it in Q1 last night and made a few subtle changes.

"I thought it ran pretty well, and even though we might have lost a little in the back half with the carburetion adjustments, it really picked it up in the early part of the run, which is a trade-off we're willing to make.

"This ACDelco Cobalt is really coming around, looking pretty impressive. On each run, it's picked up a couple hundredths on the correction, so now we're looking for a few thousandths. We're looking to have a good day tomorrow with the car and on the tree, and if we do that, it'll be a hit."

WJ Builds Drama, Starts Tenth in Memphis

Contact: Jon Knapp
TMG Sports Marketing, Inc.

Entering the final qualifying session of the O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals, Warren Johnson and the GM Performance Parts GTO Racing team faced a tough assignment. Sitting outside the starting field of sixteen, not only would he have to run quicker than the 6.837-second time posted by current sixteenth place Erica Enders, but he would have to do so in the heat of the Memphis afternoon, where temperatures had exceeded 100 degrees, with an equally oppressive humidity.

In addition, he would have to solve whatever issues had plagued his race car in the first two sessions at Memphis Motorsports Park, where it inexplicably shut off immediately after launching. Undaunted, the Johnson-led crew worked through the heat between rounds, looking for the combination that would get them in the field.

Fortunately, their efforts were rewarded when Johnson's car launched hard and rocketed straight down the track, tripping the finish line timers in 6.780 seconds with a top speed of 203.55 mph, earning the tenth starting position.

Despite the strong performance under the trying conditions, The Professor was not quite ready to declare the problem solved as he prepared for Sunday's final eliminations.

"I had been listening to reports about how unhealthy the American population had become, so I decided to conduct my own blood pressure check," joked Johnson afterwards. "However, we still have to get to the root cause of whatever caused our dilemma in the first place. Since it first cropped up in Brainerd, we had been making incremental changes, and thought we had it handled at the shop. That proved to be a negative assumption because it continued through the first two runs this weekend.

"However, with our backs against the wall prior to this last run, we changed everything on this GM Performance Parts GTO but the paint job. We knew we had the chassis straightened after Seattle, and felt this was an engine related issue because it flat shut off when you let the clutch out.

"I really didn't worry about it when we went up for the run, because once I let the clutch out, the car has to do its job. Fortunately, we were able to make a fair run and get ourselves in the show. Of course, we left a little on the table because we weren't sure where the tune up was going to be. Now that we can see what was happening, we can tune it up a little better for tomorrow.

"We have a box of parts to analyze, and even scarier than that, the problem may still be in the car, and it might just happened to make a good run. In any case, we're not going to fret or be overly optimistic. We'll just take whatever it gives us and make the best of it."

Fuller, Hight, Anderson and Smith Top Pro Qualifiers at the NHRA POWERade O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals presented by Pennzoil

Robbie Shaw (Douglasville, GA) qualified #1 in Stock Eliminator with a -1.101 (12.95) in his '87 Firebird F/FIA! Robbie recieved a bye in round one of Stock.

NHRA Recap

RONNIE SOX MEMORIAL RACE

East Coast "Drag Times" Presents the 1st RONNIE SOX MEMORIAL RACE on Thursday October 19, 2006 at ROXBORO MOTORSPORTS DRAGWAY

Special guests Diane Sox, Buddy Martin, Joe Jacono and "The Rolling Stoned" funny car, Bob Rosetty's "Tweety's Rat" Vega funny car, Shirl Greer's "Chained Lightning" funny car, Dave Heitz and "CHRISTINE" the pro mod, Marco DeCearis "Black Arrow",
Fred Bear and the S&S crew, Sox Sinclair 63 Z-11 Chevy plus many more Gassers, NSS cars and Jr. dragsters.

A pre-show event for the East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame to be held in Henderson , NC October, 20 - 22, 2006.

Gates Open - 10 AM,
Time Trials - 11 AM
Race - 8:00 PM

For more information contact: Julio Marra, Promoter - 941-876-1587

Friday Night Drags at Atlanta Motor Speedway August 25th

Friday, August 25th
Atlanta Motor Speedway

1/8th mile drag racing on pit road
Street Drags - No timing system, no lights, straight up racing!
Domestic Street Cars, Imports, Pro StreetCars and a Pro division!
Plus, Show-N-Shine Car Show; Disc Jockey; Vendors and more!
5,000+ spectators for all three of the first shows this year!
$20 to enter car & driver
$7 for spectators (six and under are FREE)
Enter infield at Tunnel off of Speedway Boulevard.
Enter grandstand at Gate 15 (Earnhardt Tower). Fans can access the pit
area through the pedestrian tunnel or watch from the stands.
Infield opens at 6pm. Grandstand at 6:30pm.
Practice runs at 7:15pm. Drivers meeting at 9pm.
Show-N-Shine "Speedway Parade" at 9pm. Judging immediately follows.
Drag Eliminations at 9:25pm.
More information is available by calling 770-946-4211 or on line at
Atlanta Motor Speedway Friday Night Drags

Celebrating Georgia's Racing Heritage Event September 9th

The 3rd Annual "Celebrating Georgia's Racing Heritage" Event will be held September 9, 2006 (10 AM - 4 PM) at the Diamond Lakes Regional Park in Hepzibah, GA.
Click here for more information
Event Flyer

Frank Groves Passes

Tony Bobo let us know that Frank Groves passed away Wednesday evening August 16 after a long battle with cancer. He was 68. Frank was the original builder and engine man on the Hemi Hurricane Willys Gasser. Much of the car (as it is now) was hand built by Frank. He was a true pioneer in the Gasser Era.

Another sad day for Georgia drag racing. Our condolences to the family and friends of Frank Groves.

R.I.P. Frank Groves

Bernstein, Johnson, Connolly and Brown Win the NHRA POWERade Lucas Oil Nationals

NHRA Recap

Harold Dutton Fairlane Super Stocker Diecast Now Available from GMP!

Georgia's GMP now has Georgia Drag Racing legend Harold Dutton's Super Stock Ford Fairlane available as a 1:18 scale diecast. If you're not familiar with GMP's quality diecast, you really need to check out their great products. GeorgiaDragRacing.com hopes to provide a full review of the Dutton Fairlane in the near future. Check the articles section on this site for reviews of other GMP drag racing diecast models.
GMP's Harold Dutton Ford Fairlane

Chris Hutchison's Altered Fiat at SGMP.

Thanks to Marvin T. Smith for sharing this photo.

SGMP Report (August 11) From Marvin T. Smith

SGMP -August 11
Photos

Just another Friday night test and tune? Hardly! Over 80 vehicles turned out for some great runs. Headlining the event was David Workman testing his blown nostalgia front-engined dragster and Chris Hutchison in the Lucas Oil blown Fiat altered making check-out runs in preparation for the October Southern Nostalgia Shootout. Workman was testing a new motor and new front end geometry to hopefully provide better handling. Hutchison made two check out squirts in his new altered. The crowd greatly enjoyed the show.

Friday afternoon, Jody Graham had his IHRA top dragster in testing mode with his new 14-71 blower. Jody ran a best of 6.666 at 200.95. Kurt Damron was also out testing his super pro dragster. Best time for the evening session was run by the Morgan Motorsports camaro with a stout 7.48 at 178mph. This 68 Camaro looks as good as it runs with its candy red paing and shost flames.

Don't miss the Southern Nostalgia Shootout, featuring Big Daddy Don Garlits, the last weekend in October.
Marvin T. Smith