Drag Illustrated Issue 140, January 2019 | Page 22
Dirt
Don Carlton Memorial Race
D
espite a hurricane changing
the original date and causing three
rain delays, the
third annual
Don Carlton Memorial Race
was a success. The South
Carolina Motorplex in Or-
angeburg was the backdrop
for this year’s race, and what a
race it was. Members from the
Southeast Outlaw Nostalgia
Pro Stock and the Midwest
Nostalgia Pro Stock Asso-
ciation came together again
to pay tribute to the late
Don Carlton.
Carlton was a legend in Pro
Stock. He was an innovator,
craftsman and a phenomenal
driver. He started his drag
racing career around 1965
and in the early 1970s, Carl-
ton made the transition from
Super Stock to the new class, Pro Stock, where he
had early success driving for Sox and Martin and
The Rod Shop. However, he was most success-
ful and remembered for his years with Chrysler
and The Motown Missile. Carlton was killed in
a testing accident in Milan, Michigan, on July 5,
1977. He was a very likable, kind and humble man,
never forgetting where he came from, Lenoir, a
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I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
little town in the foothills of North Carolina.
The Don Carlton Memorial Race was the
brainchild of Southeast Outlaw Nostalgia Pro
Stock co-founders Jeff Rudisill, also of Lenoir,
and Tyrone Graham, of Sherrills Ford, North
Carolina. The idea came from years of stories
from one of Carlton’s best friends, Charlie Wood-
ard. Rudisill and Graham had
talked about putting together
a memorial race for years, but
the idea didn’t set into mo-
tion until a long drive home
from the 2015 World Series
of Drag Racing in Cordova,
Illinois. in August 2015. The
momentum of winning the Nostalgia Pro Stock
class prompted Rudisill, Graham and longtime
crew member Lee Laney to organize a southern
Nostalgia Pro Stock group and have a Don Carl-
ton Memorial Race in their schedule.
The highlight of this year’s race was the unveil-
ing of the most anticipated Nostalgia Pro Stock
car yet, the “Party Time” Trans Am. Jim Ruth, of
Antioch, Illinois, and his brother Mike, of Wiscon-
sin, debuted their tribute car to the late Jim Ruth
of Moorehead, Kentucky, and Harold Denton,
of Middlesex, North Carolina. The “Party Time”
dynasty started in 1981 and continued through
1998. The look and graphics of the car changed
slightly through those years. This car is the 1985
Nostalgia Pro Stock racers pay
tribute to late Pro Stock legend
By Gena Hodges
Issue 140