Racing Heats Up as the Season Winds Down
By Annette Barton & Sandie McCollum
Photos by Annette Barton

Spokane County Raceway — We are most fortunate to have a quality track nearly in our backyard and we do spend a lot of time there. August 1st and 2nd, 2009, we attended the 1st Annual “Nitro Nationals” emceed all 3 days by awesome Jack Armstrong who in his spare time organizes a huge car show in Boise (details in the Northwest Motorfest ad in upcoming issues of CruZin’). We also got to watch the NiteHawk and WarHawk jet cars run not once, not twice but three times! The ground shuddered at the midnight jet launch and Armstrong announced over the track PA “wakey, wakey prisoners!” referring to the short distance separating the raceway from the nearby correctional institution.

We also got to visit with Idaho’s own Ed “The Outlaw” Jones and his wife, Wendy, at their Jelly Belly Candyland Wheelstander exhibit. My brother had mentioned seeing Ed’s “Jolly Rancher” stagecoach set fire all the way down Boise’s Firebird Raceway one time in the 1970’s and we wondered if that still could happen, so we asked Ed. He and Wendy remembered the event clearly and said that with all the VHT on some of the tracks nowadays, the titanium rods don’t make clean contact with the track surface and won’t create the rooster tail of sparks “like the good old days”. Sparks didn’t seem to matter to the throng of kids young and old who cheered and whistled all through Ed’s 100-plus mph pass each night; he is a master showman and he and Wendy are perfect promoters of the Jelly Belly line of candy with their traveling show which includes showering the crowds with bags of the great tasting treats! Ed, along with Rick Marcum, in his pickup wheelstander flying the American and Canadian flags, had the crowd roaring in appreciation!

We also had the tremendous pleasure of talking with Garrett Bateman, driver of the Plueger and Gyger Nostalgia Fuel Funny Car. We are working on a feature about Garrett and his rise in the world of Nitro racing – he is currently points leader in the Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series. By the time you read this, he and his team will be done with the Governor’s Cup race at Sacramento Raceway and will be preparing for the final race of the 2009 season at the California Hot Rod Reunion at the Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield October 16-18. He is a veteran driver and has some of the best talent around in his crew – we wish him well!



Speaking of Spokane Raceway, got a call from “240 Gordie” Bonin just before the SCR Nitro Nationals. Seems he fell off of a pickup truck over in Tacoma and not only broke 3 ribs and punctured a lung, but tore up his knee to boot. Due to the severity of his injuries, he was not allowed to travel over the mountains to home for several weeks. He is currently taking some well-advised recovery time up in Alberta — get well soon Gordie, and good luck to your caretakers! We would say listen to your caretakers, but we know better…

Boise, Idaho — In August we attended the 38th Annual Pepsi Nightfire Nationals at the Firebird Raceway with family and friends. It was a fantastic turnout, elbow to elbow on Saturday, and decent weather for spectators. Friday night, August 14, with header flames over the roof of his AA/FC, Garrett Bateman blasted down the track to a track record 5.85 @ 235.17 mph to lead qualifiers. His car seemed to struggle on Saturday but he made it to the semi’s on Sunday night. Orange, CA, resident Kris Krabill, driving Gary Turner’s “The Pedaler”, took Sunday’s final with a 5.95 @ 241.48 over the “Northwest Hitter” Bucky Austin.



In the AA/FD semi finals we saw a real jaw-dropper between Rick White and Brett Harris — the ’tree lit and Harris launched. White’s butterflies didn’t open so we assumed he had broken at the line; meanwhile Harris’s Big Red suddenly made a hellacious noise and the RPM’s went way up at about 100-200 feet. He was still coasting, we knew he had detonated something, but, we thought he might roll on through to the lights albeit very slowly. Suddenly White’s CNC butterflies rolled open and the blue car slingshot past Harris to take the win in the semi’s: The entire crowd and the Neal & White crew were standing with a “What the…?” look on their faces. We heard later that White lost focus and “was on vacation” in his mind. Obviously White regrouped because he beat Jim Murphy, last year’s winner, in the final with a 5.70 @ 254.45 mph.

Pro Modified winner was Baker City, OR resident Dennis Radford in his bad ’70 Plymouth Duster. He qualified on top with Saturday’s run and took the final with a 7.07 @ 190.59 mph. The Charlie Buck-built 854 c.i. engine obviously did its thing! You need to see this Mopar run the track! It is seriously the best looking Mopar in the field! Saturday night’s entertainment was Ed “The Outlaw” Jones and his wheelstander and the Jet Funny Cars, NiteHawk and WarHawk. After the finale with the jet cars, we noticed the Safety Safari heading down track at full throttle; later in the pits we heard that one of the Jet cars had rolled at the end. True, the NiteHawk had skittered then barrel rolled out at the end of the track, off into the desert brush and sand. The chassis was heavily damaged as was the body which looked like it separated during the roll. The tubing did its job with all of the crush supports breaking where they are supposed to. The driver’s cage was scuffed and full of dirt and team owner /driver Richard Smith walked away.



Bremerton Raceway — We were unable to attend the 15th Annual Nostalgia Drags / 6th Annual Northwest Hot Rod Reunion and Cacklefest on August 22-23 but we will piece together some of it thanks to Barbara Howell and others who e-mailed about how much fun they had! We know that the Handlers Racing Association has been putting on great races since they were the Handlers Car Club back in the mid-1950’s and have promoted safe and controlled racing since 1959-60 at the former Bremerton airport. This year at the Nostalgia Drags event they celebrated 50 years with a host of Northwest heroes in the sport, guys who preceded “Big Daddy” Don Garlits in innovation.

The Northwest Pro Street Association put on a heck of a show with some of the quickest and fastest Chevrolets around; a few Fords and a Fiat made the top of the heap too. Wait — Only one Mopar in the stats? Did everyone else go to the Graham Mopar show? At any rate a lot of fun was reported from that side of the mountains and we will try to get over there next year for the show. Again, thanks to the Handlers for making sure that everyone stays safe and has fun! Don’t forget that just like all the other tracks, something is going on every single weekend, not just during the signature events!

Pros — History was made Labor Day weekend when at Indy all four of John Force’s cars made qualifying spots at 1, 2, 3 and 4 on Saturday; no other race team has achieved this. Another historical note: Ashley Force-Hood won Indy in FC, second only to Shirley Muldowney in women winning at the tough Indy. “Big Daddy” Don Garlits had his 8-time FD win at Indy equaled by Tony Shumacher as Larry Dixon smoked ’em in the final. Garlits was there to watch that feat go down from the starting line. In the Al-Anabi FC camp, Dickie Venables, former crew chief for Tony Pedregon, hired on as crew chief for the Del Worsham FC putting Aaron Brooks back in crew status. Brooks is a talented guy and will hopefully stay on and work to earn another crew chief spot.

Alcohol — no, no the stuff that burns! We just wanted to acknowledge some of the fantastic runs we have seen with the BB Nostalgia Funny Cars and the Lucas Oil Series TAD dragsters this year. Some of the Northwest players we have seen include Royce Taylor, Don and Shane Harter, Greg Howland, Dale Harsin, Randy and Kim Parker, Ken Webster, Trevor Lebsack, Dave Germain, Leon Aines and Ron Huegli in BB/FC. Then there are the Top Alcohol Dragsters with drivers running hard in Division 6 like Ashley Bart, Shawn Cowie (who we saw rip out a 5.515 @ 262.90 at SCR in June), Joey Severance and Justin Davis. We appreciate the chance to see some of these cars run at tracks like Spokane and Acton and hope you do, too. And we would like to thank the Hart Braker team for the best BBQ in the pits once again! You rock Shirley!

Fandemonium — We are seeing a lot of young folks going to the drag races and YAY for mom and dad for taking them! The drivers of the cars love to sign autographs for the kids (and us older kids) and some kids leave the show with awesome goodies, like shirts, pistons, tires, etc. We saw one young man rolling a Goodyear slick all over the pits at Spokane, having drivers sign it with a silver Sharpie. Thanks to the crew who forever gained a fan by helping a youngster out. We have had an opportunity to take photos of several kids when crews popped them into the cockpit of a Nitro car after the races and know that they will never forget sitting in that car.

Like the Foxhunt where ladies get in for free, it would be cool for tracks to have a larger event featuring Nitro, Top Alcohol or Pro Mod and allow anyone 16 and under in for free, if just for one day. Do you know how many concessions these kids can eat and drink? That should make up a little right there, not to mention the benefit of getting more kids involved in the sport who will return with their own cars in a few years. I’m just saying…

Web Watch — here are a couple of web sites with good information: NWBBFC.com (NW Alcohol Funnys) and BracketRacingNW.com for information on Brackets in the NW.

Other news – I see on the news where young cancer patient Jody Lawrence, of Alabama designed and colored the new “paint” scheme for NASCAR Carl Edwards’ 99 car. That has to be the coolest thing ever for a 13 year old! Clever contest too!

That’s it for now, tune in for more in a couple of months! Meanwhile go to the track! They are not closed yet by any means. And don’t forget our nation’s servicemen and women, overseas and here at home. Veterans Day is coming – spend a day at a Veterans Home and show them your favorite track photos or just listen to their stories. I’ll bet more than one of them gets a gleam in his eye talking about the good old days of racing on airstrips! If nothing else, just thank them. As we all know, they are the reason you have the freedom to play.