T-N-T sessions are also contested on the full
quarter-mile. Muncie’s shutdown is famously
long, with a half mile of stopping distance past
the quarter-mile mark.
On Friday nights, they present their Street
Car Mayhem, which features eight classes spread
across index and heads-up categories. Each Sat-
urday, Muncie holds its weekly bracket program,
featuring Top, Modified, Street and two categories
of Jr. Dragster. A pair of big-buck bracket races
are held yearly, once in the spring with the Ohio
Crankshaft Twin $2,500s, followed by the Moser
Engineering 5-grander in late summer.
Muncie is also acclaimed for its Night of Fire
event. Held the first week of August, it features
Bob Motz’s jet semi, Pro Mods, jet cars, fireworks
and lots of great sportsman racing. “It’s our one
big event of the year,” Daniels adds. “It happens
on a single Saturday, so we open early at 8:00
a.m. and race until midnight or 1:00 a.m. We’re
the only track in Indiana that has a Night of Fire
event, so the place is usually filled to capacity.”
For 2018, the track will focus on ramping up
its street and small-tire events on Friday night.
“Other than that,” Daniels concludes, “we’re not
going to change a whole lot in 2018. We’ve pretty
much found our formula and it works well.”
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Accelerated Learning
Jr. Dragster standout Maddie Malone charges ahead
By Van Abernethy
M
ost people would agree that
their 16th birthday is a memorable
milestone. Maddie Malone is cer-
tainly no different, although the icing on her
cake was spread pretty thick when you con-
sider the righteous gifts she collected!
Not only did Malone receive a 1966 Chevy
II from her parents, she also received gainful
employment as a birthday present from Kenny
Ford, who owns Performance Torque Convert-
ers. She had hinted to Ford that she wanted a
job, so for her 16th birthday Ford surprised her
with a secretary position at his Muscle Shoals,
Alabama-based headquarters, located near
Maddie’s hometown of Tuscumbia. “A job at
PTC was definitely one of my favorite gifts on
my 16th birthday, although the Chevy II was
pretty sweet, too!” she laughs.
A few years earlier when Malone was just 13
years old, her racing career got off to a rous-
ing start after she won her debut race, a Jr.
Dragster race she entered late in the season
at Tennessee’s U.S. 43 Dragway. “I had a panic
attack the first time I ever went down the track
– I had no clue what I was doing,” she laugh-
ingly recalls.
Malone obviously learned what to do fairly
quickly since she ended up winning the event!
Amazingly, Maddie placed runner-up at the
following race at U.S. 43 Dragway, which was
the last of the only two races she entered in
2013. “I had way too much confidence after my
first two races,” Malone admits. “Then, after
I got beat a couple times I said, ‘This sucks...I
had better get my butt in gear!’”
And that’s precisely what Malone did after
winning the U.S. 43 Dragway track champi-
onship in 2014 and 2015. Another amazing
accomplishment took place in 2015 when she
won a Wally event at Huntsville Dragway while
her dad was out of town.
“Me and mom hauled off to Huntsville to-
gether and I ended up winning a Wally that
night,” Malone remembers. “The first couple
rounds were tough because it was mine and
Mom’s first time racing together when it was
just the two of us, so I’d have to say that win-
ning that race is definitely the highlight of my
career so far!”
Her race car famously dons the catchy
phrase, “Haters Make Me Famous,” which is
a reflection of her sponsor, DC Motorsports, a
race car shop located in Tuscumbia, Alabama.
“That’s my sponsor’s saying, and I love the way
it looks on my car. It has brought me so many
compliments...as well as so many haters!” she
giggles.
Maddie is now a senior at Deshler High
School, and as her high school years wind
down, so too does her time in the Jr. Drag-
ster ranks. The 2017 season was her last in
the half-scale cars, as she’s transitioning to
a full-size car – more specifically, her 1966
Chevy II – for the 2018 season.
“My first race in the Chevy II will be at the
Mini-Million in Las Vegas,” Malone says, “so
I hope beginner’s luck will once again be on
my side!”
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DragIllustrated.com
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