Congratulations to Ryan Covalt as our 2018 National Champion!! This was Ryan’s first year back with his baby blue ’62 Valiant and what a year it was! Ryan started re-setting each of the car’s A/Gas records right out of the box. I lost count of how many times he re-set his own records this year. There are some he hasn’t even submitted to Seymour yet. Ryan was deadly on the tree as well and kept running his number, ending the season with an impressive 0.5000 Performance Index. The car earned the name “Hoppy” for its unique starting line dance where it bounced for the first 60 feet each time. Ryan had made several changes throughout the season trying to get it sorted out. He had made some significant changes to the rear suspension and was ready to try them out at Knoxville.
The final race of the season at Knoxville, TN was rained out, so we didn’t have that dramatic finish we were all hoping for. A handful of people stopped by the track to get their attendance points.
Steve Adams made the long tow up from Florida hoping to finish the last three rounds of the aborted Racer’s Reunion Race from Clay City. Steve headed back early Saturday morning.
We also had another Return Racer come to hang out and bench race. Joe Nelson drove his 65 Valiant 4 door with a 170 from Tompkinsville, KY. Joe hasn’t raced with us since 2008, so it was nice to see him driving that beautiful car again. He has it up for sale, but said he wanted to get a timeslip with it before it goes. He also posted that the car got 28 MPG on the drive home! You can PM Joe (sixinthehead) for more details about the car.
“The Jacks Everhardt” we there ready to make that final push for the Championship. They had both added nitrous to their vehicles aiming to set records for the 20 bonus points. It wasn’t to be, so they stopped by the track and took some selfies instead. They ended the season 3rd and 4th with Jack III edging out his Dad by 20 points.
Rick Covalt came down for that final push and to watch his son, Ryan, win the Championship. He went by the track Friday and Saturday to earn his attendance points. That tied him in points with Jack Everhardt Jr. with 160, but Jack just edged him out with a slightly better Performance Index (Jack’s 0.2941 to Rick’s 0.2895).
The Poser from Kentucky showed up as well, ready to squirt some Go Go Juice in hopes of a record and a couple round wins. He had his Crew Chief Big Mike with him this time, so it was gonna be an easy sweep if the race had happened. He wound up 2nd with 200 points. The Rookie of the Year Runner Up was also with him. Angie Simmons had tried her hand at Slant 6 drag racing at Mason-Dixon, borrowing Rick Covalt’s race truck. She is coming down with a case of Slant Sickness, so watch for her to make a hard push next year.
Speaking of Rookie of the Year, David Shank borrowed that same race truck at Mason-Dixon for day two of racing and won two rounds to earn the title. Congratulations David! We had a total of nine Rookies join us in 2018. Thanks Rick Covalt for being a gracious host and allowing others to come out and “Run with the Slants!”
It was a great year of Slant 6 Drag Racing with some new faces along with several racers returning to the sport after being gone a long time. We also had our biggest event ever at the 20 year Racer’s Reunion at Clay City, KY with 37 racers and two Slant 6 tow vehicles. That’s 39 Slant 6 vehicles all pushing hard and having fun! We had a total of 59 racers for 2018.
So lucky for me I got rained out into a championship.