PHOTO: VAN ABERNETHY |
Porky Sellers crowned king of Rico Dragway
By Van Abernethy
Clarkton, North Carolina’ s Rico Dragway held its annual King of Rico event on Sunday, April 2, under perfect weather conditions, and with grandstands packed with fans who turned out heavily for this yearly showdown contested at the unsanctioned eighth-miler located in the eastern region of the Tar Heel state. The King of Rico event is comprised largely of local grudge cars that compete on a regular basis at Rico, except this special event honors the winner with not only $ 2,000 in prize money; it’ s also good for a free gate pass for the upcoming season, VIP parking for all special events throughout the entire year, and yes, to the victor belongs the spoils in the form of a season-long supply of Rico’ s famous fried chicken, which has been a well-known drag |
strip delicacy for several decades around these parts!
Buddy Blow, who took over managing the track last year was more than pleased with the success of the most recent running of King of Rico.“ We normally hold this race late in the year around Labor Day weekend, but we had some bad weather towards the end of 2016 and so we rescheduled it for April 2017,” explained Blow, who’ s also a seasoned grudge racer himself, as well as the track co-announcer alongside facility owner Lonzell McKenzie.“ We’ ve never held this event in April before, but the turnout was outstanding!” beamed Blow.
King of Rico is contested in a heads-up, notime fashion that has zero performance or tire size restrictions. In fact, you may enter the contest with a purpose-built Pro Mod car if you please, although it doesn’ t necessarily mean you’ re going to get down the track with it, nor should you expect to have room to get stopped if you happen to click off a career best lap! Rico is a grassroots country track with a short shutdown. Contestants
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who compete for King of Rico bragging rights are familiar with the facility, and they usually do just enough to win, but generally don’ t push their performance limits beyond the win light.
The fans love the unpredictable nature of notime, heads-up racing among 4-second-caliber cars, with drivers trying to white-knuckle their way to the finish line. This event often produces a first-time winner, and the most recent running was no exception when Porky Sellers drove his stock-appearing 1979 Chevy LUV truck to the win. Sellers, who’ s a professional chassis builder for customers ranging from drag racers to mud truck enthusiasts, is a regular here on Rico’ s grudge racing scene with his familiar truck he named“ Strictly Business.” His pint-sized, steel-bodied LUV truck has been back-halved with a 4-link suspension and is motivated by a beefy 601-cubicinch big block Chevy from Jacksonville, North Carolina’ s P & M Performance.
While Sellers politely declines to disclose the actual elapsed times this truck has clocked at Rico, it’ s widely believed that it covers the eighth mile
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April 2017 |
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