DIALED IN
LARRY GEDDES
The car came from the factory with a 5-speed
transmission, which is just fine by Geddes, and
he wouldn’t think of transitioning the car to an
automatic. Heck, he even removed the fuel in-
jection and put a carburetor on it! “I’m from the
old school,” he laughs. For certain, Geddes expe-
rienced some transmission and clutch carnage
with the factory pieces, so he eventually outfitted
the car with a Leonard Long G-Force clutchless
5-speed with ACT clutch.
In the early 2000s after the inception of NMRA
and NMCA, Geddes immediately began tour-
ing and experienced early success, scoring many
event wins and also clinching the championship
in Open Comp in 2003 and 2004, while later
scoring runner-up finishes in the championship
points chase in 2006 and 2011.
“The Open Comp category is something of a
‘create your own index’ type of racing with a .500
Pro Tree,” Geddes explains. Participants make
three qualifying runs throughout the weekend
and the quickest run becomes the driver’s index,
minus a tenth, and it can’t be changed when
eliminations start. “As weather and other factors
change, it makes for some real exciting racing!”
Geddes says.
As you may have guessed, straight-drive cars
are exceedingly rare in Open Comp and other
than Geddes, his good friend Dennis Corn (who
races a Thunderbird) is among the only drivers
in the class who utilize this type of combination.
Geddes has been running the full NMRA/NMCA
circuit in recent years and won three events in
2011. He’s also scored wins at other venues, in-
cluding Kenny Holcomb’s Civil Wars event in
Rockingham, North Carolina, and the inaugural
World Ford Challenge in Bowling Green, Ken-
tucky. Most recently, Geddes came out of the gate
swinging in 2019, winning the season-opening
NMRA event at Bradenton, Florida, just days
before his 68th birthday.
His Mustang also has a distinct new look this
season, compliments of Race Star Wheels. “These
are the brand-new Pro Forged line that Greg
Anderson and Jason Line recently debuted,” says
Geddes, as his was the first sportsman car to
feature the new wheels.
Geddes may be old school, but he still can’t help
but embellish the latest flashy pieces of hardware
from time to time, and he affectionately refers to
his racing exploits as “the addiction.” “My wife of
40 years has been real understanding, but she still
reminds me of how I proclaimed the Mustang
would be a garage car,” he laughs.
To this day his Mustang only shows 17k miles
on the odometer, most of which were accumulat-
ed from driving the car to and from the drag strip
before it became a trailered race car a while ago.
“I’ve really been fortunate through the years to
get a lot of sponsor support,” Geddes adds, “and
I want to thank Race Star Wheels, Advanced
Clutch Technology, BuyFord.Racing, Flex-a-lite,
Mahle Motorsport, Mickey Thompson, Mr. Gas-
ket, National Parts Depot, Quicktime Bellhousing,
Richmond and VP Racing Fuel.”
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I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 145