There were 37 Racers at the big Racer’s Reunion in Clay City, KY this weekend! People towed in from 14 different states and from as far away as Florida, Missouri, Minnesota and Iowa!
In an effort to re-live that “Magic Moment” from Clay City 20 years ago there were three racers from that event that brought back the cars that were there.
Team Green is back in full force and had 5 cars there all the way from Carthage, MO. Back in the day Team Green was known for their matching Lime Green 61 Lancer and 62 Valiant pushing the envelope and using innovative ideas.
The Lancer has been back now for a few years setting records with Rusty Heisten at the wheel. Over the last year or so Mark Goodman has been quietly working on the Valiant for Wes Alumbaugh so they could bring back the Team for this event. A cool added twist is that they found the supercharged engine out of the late Dale Rose’s Plymouth Arrow to power the Valiant. Wes hasn’t raced with us since 2001!
Mark and his wife Dixie drove their 66 Dart wagon all the way from Carthage and James Soard brought his 64 Valiant wagon. Both cars came from the estate of the late Bob Stepp who was a major part of supporting this racing series for many years.
Laney Heisten was the fifth car in the Team Green contingent with her 63 Dart running mid 14s Friday night at test & tune. Laney was set to take the lead for Rookie of the Year until she blew a head gasket. Rusty and team crew chief Jeff Strahl started to replace it with a gasket from Rick Covalt, but they couldn’t determine the exact cause of the failure. They decided to err on the side of caution to prevent any further engine damage and called it in.
Another car that was there in 1998 and was the low qualifier was the 68 Valiant “Buzzin’ Half Duzzin’” driven by Mike Jeffrey. Mike mothballed the Valiant several years ago to focus on racing a Mirada in Stock Eliminator. When he decided to retire from all racing a couple years ago his long-time friend Dennis Schumers bought the Valiant and thrashed over the last several months to be able to bring the car to the reunion. Dennis even found a striped shirt just like Mike and partner Blaine Mueller used to wear. Dennis hasn’t raced with us since 2011, so it was great to see him wheeling such an iconic Slant 6 car!
The third blast from the past and an awesome surprise for everyone was Barry Harrison and his 66 Valiant “Six Pak”. Barry hasn’t raced with us since 2008 and wasn’t expected to be at Clay City. The car needed new lexan and Barry was reported as wanting to sell it, so it was really cool to see him pull through the gate ready to race! He had a nitrous bottle hooked up and was ready to show Howard Davis how that “baby bottle” could put his front tires in the air and take him to the winner’s circle again. Barry said it was good to be back and we could look forward to seeing him and the “Six Pak” at future races running the number. Are you reading this, Howard? Clay City 2019…
There were three first time Slant 6 racers added to the Rookie roster at Clay City. Two that were brand new to drag racing and one very familiar with the quarter mile.
Frank Femling (moparfrank) joined us from Hastings, MN with his 54 Plymouth 2 door custom wagon. He also brought his big block powered Nostalgia Super Stock 66 Dart wagon to run in the Box class.
Dennis Morris drove his 64 Valiant convertible from Strongsville, OH to bang gears with his three on the tree!
Liz Mader had never drag raced before and was a little nervous before her first round of test & tune Friday night, but as soon as she was past her first time jitters she was seen making round after round in her 65 Valiant. She even donned a cool retro American flag helmet for the race Saturday.
The Race for the Championship had Jackie Everhardt III winning three rounds to take the third spot from his dad and threaten the Poser from Kentucky for second. The top two spots stayed the same with both Ryan and Rob winning one round.
At Pizza Hut after the race Jackie and Rob were seen scheming in the corner about setting nitrous records for those 20 bonus points to try and catch Ryan. Meanwhile, Ryan was casually enjoying his pizza nearby with Whitney and their super cute daughters. It’s a good thing those bonus points are capped at once per season, because Ryan re-set another one this weekend!
Register
Login
FAQ
Search
I was just about to sell my 4 slant 6 vehicles and start racing a ford mustang. 
But then Dad thought he'd red light for me, so I could win a round.... and Rob let everyone else win out of the goodness of his heart, and now I feel so much better and look how happy Mark is now. 
