Dirt
NMCA MEMPHIS HOMECOMING
Detroit Truetrac Nostalgia Muscle Car.
More and more drivers with 2005 and newer
Gen III-powered Challengers, Demons, Hell-
cats, Chargers, 300s and Jeeps are discovering
the Dodge // Mopar HEMI Shootout at NMCA
events this year, and Dodge // Mopar covers
the cost of the entry for the first 75 drivers who
register for the category. At this event, Herb
Yellowdy was the overall winner with an 11.14 av-
erage, while Lee Segars was the runner-up with
an 11.94 average. Jeff Smith was the 12-second
winner, Ken Mason was the 13-second winner,
Joe Giordano was the 14-second winner and
Jessica Rickey was the 15-second winner. Later,
the eight quickest drivers in the category came
together for the Arrington Performance HEMI
Quick 8 presented by Red Line Oil, and when
the dust settled, Yellowdy landed the win with
an 11.04 in his Challenger while Smith was 11.97
in his Challenger.
Street/strip cars had the stage in Gear Ven-
dors True Street, with Troy Eaton standing out
as the overall winner with an 8.57 average in a
Mustang and Randy Thomas standing out as
the runner-up with a 9.29 average in a Mustang.
Grady Alley ran to the 10-second win in a Sierra
and Beth McCool ran to the 11-second win in a
Corvette. Nathan Porter rounded things out with
the 12-second win in a Nova.
Because of rain on Saturday, two separate
bracket races that were to take place on Satur-
day and Sunday were combined for a single race
on Sunday. In Bracket 1, Cody Graham ran right
on his 6.70 dial to defeat Mark Enuchs, who was
5.46 on a 5.45, and in Bracket 2, David Bell ran
right on his 5.82 dial to defeat Greg Rushing, who
broke out with a 6.97 on a 6.98.
Next up on this year’s NMCA tour is the highly
anticipated 14th Annual Nitto NMRA/NMCA
Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing, July
25-28 at Route 66 Raceway in Illinois, where
NMCA drivers will mix it up with NMRA drivers.
For more information and Advance Ticket Sales,
visit www.NMCAdigital.com/IL.
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Twice
as Nice
Randi Lyn Shipp’s victory
at 50th Gatornationals was
something really special
By Kelly Wade
T
he 50th anniversary Amalie Oil
NHRA Gatornationals was a spectacu-
lar affair. The grandstands were packed,
Sportsman racers came out in droves,
drag racing legends were everywhere, and com-
memorative Wally trophies were presented to
the winners.
For Stock Eliminator victor Randi Lyn Shipp,
the celebration was extra-sweet because she
36 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
got to share it with longtime partner-in-crime
Bo Butner, the Pro Stock winner. The two have
been together for a decade and a half, and they’ve
raced at national events together many times, but
they’ve never before both hoisted trophies at the
conclusion of an event.
“I really feel like this all happened because of
something way bigger than we are,” says Shipp,
who got her start in the Summit Racing NHRA
Jr. Drag Racing League. “This decision was made
by someone way higher than us.”
Indeed, their respective paths were well
outside the norm. Shipp’s routine was a little
thrown coming into the event after her pris-
tine ‘67 Firebird suffered aesthetic damage the
weekend prior.
“The door got banged by a guy on a scooter,
and it left a huge dent,” she explains. “Everybody
thought I’d freak out because I’m very particular
about my car, but I didn’t because when some-
thing bad like that happens, usually something
really good happens, too.”
With so many racers on the property, many
classes to run, a plethora of special events
nested into the program, and the potential for
bad weather, NHRA scheduled the first round
of Stock on Thursday night – another break
from routine.
“I’m not really a big fan of Thursday night
eliminations because there are a lot of people
that don’t get to run all the national events like
I do,” explains Shipp. “I don’t like that a lot of
them are done before the Pros even hit the track.
Even though I don’t like it, I still know you have
to make the most out of it. It worked out that
night, and we just kept going.”
Shipp’s key race was against well-known pow-
erhouse Dan Fletcher in the second round. “He
kind of screwed up and gave me a gift, and that
doesn’t happen very often,” says Shipp. Fletcher
was .027 at the tree but ran 11.584 on his 11.50 dial
Issue 145
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