Following on from part one, here is the conclusion to the latest PMR Floridian adventure.
Anyone who has never visited Orlando Speed World for the 14th Worlds Fastest Streetcar really has missed out. 2006 was according to a rather shellshocked Randy Weisinger, the owner Carl`s son, simply the biggest Fastest Streetcar Event that they had staged to date. Gary and Paul caught up Tuesday after at Robbies Speedshop Automotive One Performance Center T-407 422 6168 where they were meeting Randy to discuss other Drag Race related matters. With a car count reaching around 120 cars in the 10 1/5” tyre class all trying to make the 32 car field and nearly the same in the other three classes, you get the picture.
To say that the major growth area in Drag Racing is these kind of heads up classes is just the tip of the iceberg, it is huge over here and still growing. With the advent of TV shows like Pinks getting top ratings, its just adding fuel to the fire.
To miss the massive entry queues at Speedworld, Gary Springford, Tony Morris and Paul Marston arrived late. It was 2.00am that morning before we hit the sack, after checking out the Friday night Test & Tune at Moroso Motorsports Park. Rolling up at 1.00pm at Speedworld the huge car parks were already full as was the side of Highway 50. Luckily Tony Morris races there regularly so we found a spot near the exit. The track action was like a battlefield all day long, we soon hooked up with Steve Conner flying the Automotive One flag with his 71 big block Camaro. Teamed up with Mark from NoBullRacing.com who used to work for Robbie at Automotive One, now works at BLP. Mark had thrashed all night to get his beautiful 67 Nova`s gearbox repaired to make the show. Putting in some hardcore driving, wrestling the 1800 horses in the blown alcohol injected 3800lb monster to a best of 7.32 @ 189 mph is no mean feat. Mark actually made the show, no shit, this is a genuine street driven, takes the kids to school and does the shopping street car.
Leaving Speedworld at 8.30pm we had seen enough, its a great show, this is the only place on the planet where you can see this kind of racing, its an event not to miss. We stopped off at Chilli`s on the way home for dinner – Steak was the order of the day, then hit the sack, another early start tomorrow.
Sunday saw us on our usual early start, its a big country and as the saying goes, there is always a Drag Race somewhere in the Southern States. This time it was Georgia for the Nostalgia event at South Georgia Motorsports Park, Valdosta. It was laid back affair as is the custom with all Nostalgia events, but being an inaugural event Big Daddy Don Garlits was in attendance with a replica of Swamp Rat 1 which he actually drove and very very nearly destroyed it in the process. A very slick piece of driving from the 70+ year old saved the car and himself from injury, something everyone in attendance was heart in mouth over whilst they watched. South Georgia Motorsport Park is a brand new state of the art facility, opening its doors for the first time only two years ago. It incorporates all the latest spec, hosts pre season testing for all the NHRA professional classes and was the track that Santa Pods very own Two Seater Dragster was put thru its paces prior to being shipped over to Blighty so Paul Marston really enjoyed returning to the track.
As soon as we arrived we bumped into Joe Hollofeld who works at BLP, Joe is their fuel pump specialist and is restoring a Supercharged Dragster that he will be running next year at Nostalgia events with his son. Joe had to leave early as his son had been involved in a serious auto wreck the day previous and although he appeared to be okay Joe wanted to get back and insist that his son did go down to the hospital to get properly checked out. But waited for us to arrive and introduce us to some of the teams who were racing there. Particularly a couple of guys who were very knowledgeable with mechanical fuel injection, so as Gary could share some of their lifetime of experience in setting up his own injection back in England. Gary and Paul were very touched by Joe`s selfless act in making sure we got hooked up with his buddies, Joe obviously needed to be somewhere else but still made sure we were fixed up before he would go, Both Gary and Paul were humbled by such a selfless act and will not forget it.
I am happy to report that although badly bruised and battered, Joes son checked out fine at the hospital.
South Georgia Motorsports Park or Valdosta as it is known by the racers hosted Top Fuel Dragsters, Fuel Funnycars, Top Dragster and a full supporting cast, it really was a very pleasant way of spending a day, well worth the near 600 mile round trip.
The weather was beautiful Georgia sunshine, its a Dragstrip that both Gary and myself would like to return to and race at in the future. After Gary & Paul`s traditional visit to the souvenir shop we set off late afternoon, arriving back in Orlando around nine pm, had dinner in Denny`s and hit the sack again! The Chrysler 300C hire car had not missed a beat, it got our recommendation and alot of admiring glances and `cool car` comments from the racers and the locals.
Monday was a later start than usual (8.00am) as Valdosta was our second last Dragstrip to visit and we needed a lay in ! So did the Chrysler, with six miles on it when collected, it now had over three thousand, making the average daily mileage over two hundred and fifty.
After checking the e-mails, morning coffee and phone calls home, it was off to the shopping Malls, we had been asked to find a jacket by the wife of one of the Paul Marston Racing drivers, which was becoming particularly elusive to locate, its really amazing just how fast things can change over here, the year before it was no problem. Eventually with some good detective work and a little luck we did indeed find it, plus alot more that we were not looking for but were pleased we did.
The rest of the remaining days here were spent collating all the parts that we had ordered, as usual there were loads of them. This of course included Tony Morris and the guys at BLP working their magic on an old style Dominator that Paul had carried over from England to be converted to alcohol, Tony had recommended that it was worth getting an old style Dominator done if Paul had one. They are particularly suited to alcohol. This also gave Rob Beagle at BLP another opportunity to take Gary , Tony and Paul out for lunch again as a thank you for getting his girlfriends Vintage Rolls Royce repaired down at West Palm Beach last week, this time Paul chose Alien Planet as our lunchtime destination. Previously it had been ARTS just down OBT (Orange Blossom Trail) from BLP where they have the very best cheeseburgers in the whole of Orlando.
Our usual suitcase shuffle was compounded by the Airlines current trend to further restrict the weight that you are allowed to carry back in hold luggage. A phone call to the Airline confirmed Pauls suspicion that it had been reduced yet again, that`s twice in 12 months. This did present some last minute problems and yet again it resulted in another late nite dash to I-Drive to get another excess baggage bag. Other than that the time just flew by, with so many friends to see before Gary and Paul left, there just was not enough time to see them all – (apologies to Tim and April Hutcherson, dinner is on us next time). We did intend to go to the test and tune on Wednesday nite at Speedworld before leaving but the weather put paid to that one so a very pleasant night was spent with Tony and Lynn Morris. Gary and Paul would like to thank everyone in the Drag Racing community of Florida and the neighboring Southern States who were so kind and patient trying to understand us, assuming we were Australian, which is usual!
All the Guys and Girls at BLP Bo Laws Performance Inc who make simply the very best Gasoline and Alcohol Carbs in the World
Everyone at JW Performance especially new sales guy Eric Secaur who make the best Torque Converters money can buy.
Robbie at Automotive One (001 407 422 6168) your one stop speed shop in Orlando.
All the racers we know, Tony Morris, Larry Nadeau, Tim and April Hutcherson, Steve and Ro Deatherage, Vic Ferea, Mike Ruff, Edmond `The Man!` Richardson, Scott Lemar, Joe Hollerfeld, The Connor Family, Mark No Bull Racing, and everyone else we know.
Stay tuned for some big Paul Marston Racing news coming soon as a result of this latest trip.
