Ola mi drag racing amigos! Whoa what a minute….last week was when the international spotlight was on dragracetires.com, this week things are a little more home spun, biscuits & gravy style. So after powering down a couple of Hardee’s finest, I got on the road again with my buddy Mike Freeman and headed up to Knoxville, TN for a little 5.70, IHRA “Quick Rod”, style racing. The rule book on this one says that throttle stops are legal, and with no minimum weight limit or tire rule, basically anything goes. If you can start it, you can run it. High dollar dragsters vs. door cars, vs. altereds oh my!

I hope this one’s got gas & brake pedals!

If it aint black…take it back

Ole Mike and I didn’t do too badly in the qualifying order, running a 5.71 on only our second pass. The only problem was that the 3 blind mice in the scoring tower failed to write down the number of our car along with those of several of our competitors. Therefore all of our times got thrown out the window, and who you lined up against in the staging lanes was who you raced. Just to keep it chaotic, there was a 3 hr rain delay thrown in for good measure, insuring that we’d all have a late night. Too bad ours ended early with a first-round loss due to a malfunctioning c02 bottle/throttle stop assembly. Oh well, we still had a blast, and Mike’s 125” roadster/bodied altered is a hoot to drive and the absolute perfect platform for funny car practice. Bleary-eyed, we drove down the road sipping on coffee and eating Krispy Crèmes….Mike is a detective for the Walker County, GA Sheriff s Department so it was only natural to set the mood with the correct cop food as we talked back and forth about classic crime stopper moments.

So Big John Dunn, his wife Melissa, and the IHRA’s Kurt Oberholtzer came through town the other day for a visit, and to talk about the future of nostalgia funny car racing. So when it came to bench racing, it seemed as though Corky (my boss) clearly had the upper hand on Dunn when discussing the level of sophistication required to race a timed rally event verses a drag car…demonstrating that for guys like me & Dunn to try to rally race, would be about like bringing a knife to a gunfight. I’m just glad he’s on my side and that the long pistol found its way back onto his desk…

Don't bring a knife to a gunfight!

Next weekend its crab cakes and drag racing as the IHRA Nitro Jam is going down at Budd’s Creek Maryland, where I’ll get to tag along with Army, Dunn and the gang as they duel it out in the nitro funny car ranks. Also right around the corner is the next ORSCA race where we’re currently sitting #2 in points, and the Camaro is sitting on full kill…locked/loaded and ready for a shot at the title….as the weather cools down the racing will definitely heat up.
Until next time…..

EG

Nostalgia Funny Car Nationals, MCIR, Marion, OH- So the latest installment of the nitro circus led me about 600 miles north into the great state of oh-my-Ohio for a little weekend get away with 28 blown alcohol nostalgia funny cars.  Also on the docket was a little bit of nitro funny car match racing between Army Armstrong and Bobby Rex’s “Mexican Revolution” funny car based out of PA (think of it as a neo-Amish squad with Spanish flair), and the Schumacher “Stardust” car out of the Chicago area.

Army and his Camaro dusted the Duster in the form of a shutout, 2-0 to end the weekend on a high note.  Personally, I was more than thrilled to be headed back down south, as my hounds and I had the opportunity to hold up at my parents place for a bit where we all enjoyed some of the finest KY cuisine and hospitality known to man or mutt, before continuing on home to TN (where people talk normal).

Welp, gonna keep it short and sweet this time.  Fixin’ to go up the road to Knoxville tomorrow where I’ll get to race my buddy Mike Freeman’s Phoenix tire equipped altered (basically a funny car without a body) for a little outlaw action.  Next weekend it’s off to Budd’s Creek, MD for the next installment of my nitro education, IHRA style.  Until next time…
Buenas noches!

EG

After experiencing PA’s hottest stretch of the summer a couple of weeks back, only to come home to similar conditions in my home state of TN, I thought how much hotter could it get? Well, I found out. My a/c at home decided to go on an untimely strike for a couple of days (it was repaired last minute or I would’ve been staying at home in Memphis’ kiddy pool with him; ed. note – see dog in pool pict.), so we decided to pack up and head further south into the heart of Dixie for a little outlaw racing. Saturday it was 90 degree’s at 8:30 in the morning…and it didn’t get any cooler throughout the day, staying above 100 for most of the afternoon. OK, OK, enough about the weather. It was just something else we’d have to deal with, and it was the same for everybody…but man it was hot!

DOG DAYZ...

Speaking of things to deal with, some serious race rust had accumulated since the last time I’d been in my outlaw car. It’d been over 2 months since we’d competed, and after running Army’s nitro funny car a couple of weeks back…I was pretty much a mess when it came to getting comfortable again in my own ride. The two cars are about as similar as apples and pineapples. Steven pointed out that it would be in my best interest if I got re-acquainted with the differences between brake lever placement in a funny car, and shift lever placement in a door car. Oh well, at least the gas pedal was in the same place…we qualified with the #7 position at the end of Saturday, which was just about smack dab in the middle of the pro-ladder and meant that we weren’t going to have any bye run’s or a smooth route through eliminations.

“Mid-day qualifying, ODRA 5.30…still fine tuning some camera angles”

Throughout the day I kept thinking about a book that I read on my way up to PA about the life of Billy Graham. At first I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about reading it, but since my Mom had given it to me and told me I’d better get after it…..I felt somewhat obligated to do so. Turns out that what I thought was a slight burden, ended up being a major blessing. The book is written from the death bed of Charles Templeton, who as a young man was Billy’s best friend and fellow evangelist. Templeton goes on to talk about how several trials in his life lead him to a crisis of faith in which he publicly renounced his faith and became an outspoken atheist. This would have a devastating impact on Billy and led to a major crossroads involving a decision that could have altered the salvation of many lives if the outcome had been different. Graham ultimately decided to walk by faith and not by site, and as we all know went on to do many great works for the kingdom of God.

I guess what I got out of it, is that often times the difference between a mess and a masterpiece is perspective. Only God could use the damage that Templeton had inflicted upon Graham as a platform for His glory. From what I can tell and by most standards, Billy was a fairly ordinary guy…but he had faith and he had God’s favor, which was all that he needed.

My faith isn’t where I would like for it to be at times…which makes me feel undeserving of the doors that seem to keep opening up for me these days. However, all I can do is keep thanking God for the good times and the bad, while I try my best to walk by faith and not by site. Although I’ve raced something for most of my life now, I don’t consider myself particularly talented and I don’t have much drag racing experience, so it’s very humbling for me when things go our way…..

Oh yeah, there was a drag race going on…and we won it!!

Team 5.30 Montgomery; J-Rod, EG, Steven, Cynthia

Winning one of these deals is never about one person, but losing it can be. Fortunately for me, my good friends Steven, Cynthia and Jerry were all on board all day long giving selflessly for the cause and helping get it done. The only crew member that was missing was my favorite, my girlfriend Amber. She’s overseas serving Uncle Sam for a couple more months and I’m counting the days till she’s headed home and the team will be complete.

Special thanks to all of our amazing sponsors; Corky Coker and David Leach of Coker Tire, Steven and Cynthia Farrow of Farrow Motorsports, Jack McInnis of Dart Machinery, Chris Douglas of Comp Cams & Zex Nitrous Systems, Stanley Poff of TCI Transmissions, Patrick Burris of Royal Purple Oil, Joe and Marlene of Holeshot Wheels, Michael Walton of Impact Racing.

I know it sounds trite, but it really couldn’t be done without anybody on this list. All of these people, companies, and products are top shelf and are a joy to be affiliated with.

I heard some advice a long time ago, that when it comes to motorcycles, cars, racing, etc…..always, create and build to your vision – not to your abilities or resources.  Contrary to what a lot of big ego people in racing will tell you, nobody is born knowing how to do this stuff, and it’s the level of desire to get there that separates the pro’s from the Joe’s.  If you don’t have what it takes today, and you want it badly enough…then persevere until your vision becomes a reality.  Don’t settle.

When I first got into drag racing, Mike Bell (former IHRA Pro Stock Champ) told me the story about John Force, and his humble beginnings.  Long before he became a household name and drag racing’s poster child on ESPN2, “Brute” Force paid his dues racing and blowing stuff up coast to coast for 14 years before he won his first race.  FOURTEEN YEAR’s!!!  That’s perseverance…Shawshank Redemption style perseverance.

Last week I was fortunate enough to take the first small step towards getting a big elephant out of my small room.  I’ve been around nostalgia funny cars for a little while now, and have been completely hooked on them since day one.  My buddy Army Armstrong (former driver of the Jungle Jim Nitro Funny Car) offered up a ride in his ’67 Nova “Joker” Nitro Funny Car for a test session at the Nostalgia Nationals in Beaver Springs, PA.  The plan was to see if I had the stones & desire needed to eventually get a nitro funny car license.

Located deep in the heart of PA’s is the “The Funny Factory” which is the nitro funny car equivalent of NASCAR’s “Days of Thunder”

After making the 12 hr road trip from TN to Amish country PA (I could literally write a book about my experiences as a tattoo’d So Cal transplant with a recently acquired mild southern accent cruising around the rural PA countryside in a beige Toyota Camry wagon……those horse and buggy types were staring at me like I had a fish swimming out of my nose) Army gave me a tour around his shop and then we talked shop about all of our collective resources, experiences and how cool it would be to someday have a 2 car team.  His crew chief (he hates being called that) Nick Lanzaretta and nephew Randy “the baby Cuban” Owens, drove in from Cleveland, and along with Randy “Son of Jungle” Liberman, made up the crew for the weekend.

Army’s Shop - Birth of a Funny Car

Where the molds are poured and bodies made.

Nick told me that nitro methane is a very powerful solvent…so powerful in fact that once racers get a taste, it can dissolve bank accounts, marriages, friendships, etc., lol!  Several other people have told me that there’s no turning back once it’s in your blood.  Funny car icon Big John Dunn said that before I knew it, I’d be selling my household furniture to buy pistons.  I just figured there’s a reason why everything had fallen into place so far and that just like so many other things in life- half of the battle is just showing up.

Sunday finally arrived and I was about as nervous as a long tailed cat in a butcher shop.  The pits were absolutely packed with nostalgia stock, super stock, and alcohol funny cars that were racing for the prestige of a Nostalgia Nationals title.  Army’s car was the only nitro car at the event and was booked in as an exhibition.  He was scheduled to make 2 full passes on the day, and if everything held together without mishap, I would take a hit at the end of the show with a planned early shut off.

Old skool cool – no double stacker trailers or motor homes here…just a ramp truck and a 4,000 hp car!

Check out the shifter…guess nitro cars really are a loaded gun!!

Late afternoon rolled around and Army had successfully put on a great show with 2 passes, clicking it off a little early each time in an effort to save parts and get us through the day.  My final debriefing consisted of a series of instructions on what NOT to do, as the consequences would be extremely unpleasant for everyone if any one of a number of potential driver mistakes was made.  Plus the team was leaving for an IHRA race in Canada this week, so they would need most of the race car and engine to go with them.  All I can say is…there’s absolutely nothing normal about getting into one of these things for the first time.

I tried my best to be super careful and respectful of what the monster was capable of, and also the fact that it wasn’t my equipment.  But after the fuse was lit and the body came down, I was in a world of my own…  Once you focus on the movements, coordination and timing it takes your mind off everything else…it’ll tell you what it wants, and if you can believe it or not, those are actually the peaceful slow motion moments, where you’re not thinking about anything else in the world.  Within a few short seconds and with a blinding sun in my eyes it was all over….the only collateral damage was a timing cone around the 1/8th mile mark.  Not too bad.  Army, Nick and the gang were stoked and I can’t wait to further my education…

On a separate note, the outlaw’s at ORSCA have decided to take a summer time siesta from racing, and will resume the series in September, crowning a champion in November.  Therefore it looks like I’ll be beating the bushes for some racing around the southeast in this summer.  I’m also planning on taking a trip or two out on the road with Army and the gang to a couple of IHRA events…and although I’m not ready to start selling furniture just yet, I am definitely keeping my eyes on the prize….with perseverance and faith.
God bless and keep the rubber side down,

EG

…and never the bride.  At least that’s what it’s starting to feel like after last Friday night.  Upon taking a look at the ORSCA schedule and seeing that we had a fair amount of time off before the next point’s race, we made the last minute decision to pack up and head south for a non-sanctioned outlaw style race about 50 miles west of Birmingham, AL.  The goal was to gain more seat time in the 5.30 class, while perfecting our tune-ups for hot weather competition.  The sketchy part was actually getting there, we drove 4 ½ hours through some of the worst thunderstorms imaginable, (at one point I considered putting on my helmet and H.A.N.S. device inside the motor home), thinking that there’s absolutely no way that we would be racing that night.  Wrong.  We got about 10 minutes from the track, and the place was dry as a bone, where they had just completed time trials and the entire evening’s program was on schedule.  Super.  No testing tonight, just qualifying and racing.  Somehow we made it in the field, and 4 rounds later found ourselves in the semi-finals again, where I promptly turned on the red-light by 15 thousandths of a second and ended our evening.  Oh well, at least we were in the wedding…
Saturday morning the race promoter came by the trailer and offered us a deal that we just couldn’t refuse.  He was running an anything goes, quick 8 outlaw feature event that evening, and offered us a free entry fee + free crew admission if we’d just give it a shot to qualify.  This meant turning up the nitrous and going for broke…all the while hoping we didn’t break.  After the first quick 8 qualifying pass, it became apparent that we were going to have to lean on our equipment pretty hard to make the show…and after considering all the options, particularly those that might not have a good ending, we decided to focus on the 5.30 race that evening instead….and this time we didn’t even get a wedding invite as my nemesis Mr. Red-light himself showed up in the very first round of racing.
Oh well, I learned a lot.  You have to be focused to show up at somebody else’s home track and hope to win.  With non-sanctioned tracks everything is different; the Christmas tree, timing lights, starting line roll-out, shut down, etc.  However, seat time is always beneficial, especially when you’re running for a championship and I’m sure this experience is going to help us out somewhere further down the road.
Speaking of the road, tomorrow morning I’m leaving for Nashville to get my first taste of TV land.  Horsepower TV’s Power block on SPIKE TV has asked us to bring the car and to talk a little bit about its metamorphosis over the winter, as well as those companies and individuals who’ve made it possible.  TV aint really my deal…racing is, but opportunities like this don’t come along very often, so I owe it to our sponsors to make the most of it.  Look for a post on that one soon…
In the meantime, here are a couple of reality TV clips from last weekend deep in the heart of Dixie…

Keep the rubber side down,

EG

I-22 Outlaw 5.30 qualifying

I-22 Outlaw 5.30 eliminations

I-22 Ride-along

Riding the momentum from a semi-final appearance in Atlanta last month, expectations were high for a strong showing in Steele. But before we get into the meat of the coconut, I’d like to make mention of the fact that it’s still difficult to get my mind around just how much ground we’ve covered in such a short period of time. Seems like the sleepless nights, logistical difficulties, parts shortages, and last minute thrash of getting a new race car ready, no testing, etc were just last week.……whoa, hold on a minute, it was just last week! It’s every week, same song…different verse, but never mind all of that let’s go racing!

Saturday morning was a blue bird day, not a cloud in the sky, and hot….hot like jungle hot. Steamy southern summer weather had rolled with the “tide” right into ‘bama just in time for qualifying. Just how hot was it? Try 94 degrees in the shade, and 140 on the track. Conditions were challenging to say the least with most competitors struggling to get down the lanes. We fared better than most with 5.318 and 5.308 passes in the heat of the day. Going into the final nighttime session, we decided that we had nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking an aggressive shot at the pole position. After all, the ORSCA Championship point’s system rewards not only round wins, but also qualifying order…therefore it is imperative to make the most of every lap down the track.

Sitting in the staging lanes, I watched the last 2 cars right in front of me make nearly perfect passes. With the penultimate run of fellow Phoenix race tire competitor, Blaine Aldridge, resulting in a 5.302; it became apparent that if I was going to better my qualifying position, then it would have to be by 2 thousandths of a second (whatever that is). Lucky for me, I’m not in charge and the Man above is….as I pulled onto the track Blaine’s crew was still wildly celebrating their well deserved qualifying effort, while I started my burnout procedure and Steven staged the car. Nothing left to it but to do it…..as I passed through the finish line beams and looked at the scoreboard, I couldn’t believe what was staring back at me…5.300, with a .005 reaction time and #1 qualifier. ‘ole black was on kill. The only thing I regret is that I couldn’t be back on the starting line to celebrate with Steven, his wife Cynthia, and my girlfriend Amber. All of which made up our crew for the weekend. What an awesome experience!

Eric Gullett, In-car Qualifying Pass, ORSCA Steele, AL

Speaking of awesome experiences, Sunday mornings are unique at an ORSCA race. Larry Garner is our trackside minister (as well as official sponsor of the 5.30 class), and he offers a brief message in a down to earth manner that really seems to touch all of those in attendance. On this particular morning it had a profound impact on me. Larry talked about how we should make an effort to share our testimony, regardless of what we actually may think about it…that God will use it. I’d never really thought about it that way…I feel a conviction from time to time when I’m in these high stress race situations, that I don’t do a good enough job of relating to others who makes this all possible. However, the worst thing I could do…is nothing at all. God’s blessed me enough to be here with the people and resources to be competitive; therefore I should always try my best while showing my appreciation with my thoughts, words, and actions. He’ll take care of the rest of it…

Race time. With the hot late afternoon sun shining down, we found ourselves in the semi-finals again where we would face newcomer to the series, Steve Crawford.

Semi final matchup verses Steve Crawford

Steve had lane choice, and we were forced to deal with unfavorable lane conditions as we made our best effort and came up short. Just like Brian Farrar did after defeating us in the semi-final last month, Steve would go on to win the final in commanding fashion. On a positive note, I learned a lot about racing on a greasy, hot track at this level (something that I hadn’t previously seen before), and after 3 events, we’re currently sitting #2 in points!!

ORSCA 5.30 Index Class Points Standings0 Index
Pos Name Total
1 Brian Farrar 277
2 Eric Gullett 216
3 Blair Aldridge 167
4 Casey Prince 159
5 Steve Crawford 126
6 Ronnie Clayton 111
7 Dan Sullivan 90
8 Brad Lackey 84
9 Paul Baxter 84
10 Chris Krebs 76

I really believe that it’s just a matter of time before we have our day, but until then…I’ll just keep doing my best, knowing that He’ll take care of the rest.
Thanks for reading,

EG

PS – special thanks to Corky Coker and David Leach of Coker Tire, Jack McKinnis of DART, Chris Douglas of COMP Cams, Stanley Poff of TCI, Patrick Burris of Royal Purple, and Joe and Marlene at Holeshot Wheels.

The 5.30 class train kept on rolling with a stopover this past weekend in Commerce, GA. Since the Montgomery rain out, we’ve had the benefit of exactly 2 test passes at our local track, which didn’t tell us much of anything other than the fact that it’s dusty there…and that we had a vacuum pump pulley alignment issue. Not exactly the wealth of test data that we were looking for going into Atlanta.

Upon arrival at the ATL, and straight outta the trailer, our times were off significantly. However, persistence pays and we finally cashed ours in with a killer Farrow Motorsports tune-up getting the all steel hot-rod near the top of the field in qualifying. Eliminations on Sunday saw us make it all the way to the Semi-finals where our good fortune finally ran out against Brian Farrar, and his “Shim-a-ditty” ’57 Chevy. Although a tight race, Brian took the stripe by a few thousandths and would go on to easily win his final round match up against Blaine Aldridge.

EG & Waterhead, gettin’ ready to get down

It’s still very early in the season, but initial indications are that if everything keeps going our way, then we’ll be a serious contender for the title come the end of November.

Ever wonder what it’s like to ride shot-gun in a drag car? Click the video below to find out what it’s all about…

Next on the to-do list is a little road trip over to “The Rock” or Rockingham, NC for the IHRA Nitro Jam in a couple of weeks. My good buddy Army Armstrong is rolling out his brand new ’67 Nova Nitro Funny car in the Prostalgia class, and said that if I play my cards right as a crew member…then he’ll toss me the keys on Sunday for my first attempt at a licensed pass in AA/FC.

http://www.ihra.com/article/5968.html

Thanks again to Coker Tire, Dart, COMP Cams, TCI, ZEX, Royal Purple, and Holeshot for all the help this season…we couldn’t do it without you.

God bless,

EG

Final ORSCA Qualifying Pass, Montgomery, AL

Well, here we are…with a new race car, new race series, and new website (yes, we’re still working the bugs out of it too). I guess the only thing that isn’t new this year is the old adage that it takes hard work, and a little bit of luck to make it in the racing business. Having received the balance of the parts needed to start final assembly, fit/fabrication on March 5th….gave us no less than 14 days to get ready for ORSCA Montgomery on March19th. 14 days is a fairly significant amount of time…unless of course your build time is relegated to evenings and weekends. My buddy Steven and I both have full time day jobs, and found ourselves working way past mid-night most nights…including two 20 hour days in a row right before we went into qualifying.

Read the rest of this entry »

…would be an understatement. We’re knee deep in parts, and working hard to get this thing together. Steven Farrow has been instrumental in the thrash, working until 2am to finish the engine Saturday night and getting after it yet again on Sunday. Don’t have much time to type, so here’s what transpired this weekend–we WILL be in Montgomery this weekend.

Ross pistons and Eagle H-beam rods

This Comp Cams belt drive is an awesome piece!

Jesel shaft mounted rockers on Dart Pro2 380cc CNC heads.

565ci all aluminum big block, ready to slide into Project 5.30

Montgomery bound...