Drag Illustrated Issue 148, September 2019 | Page 54
D.I. COLUMNIST
On the Road
with Van Abernethy
T
he fact that Byron Drag-
way is 12.5 hours from my
home in North Carolina
probably explains why I haven’t
been there since 2015 – that is, until
a few months ago when I returned
on the exact same weekend as I had
four years earlier. Byron Dragway
honors America’s independence by
throwing a spectacular gathering
known as the Firecracker Bracket
Nationals, paying $100,000 to win
in recent years.
Several memories stick in my
head from my first visit in 2015, not
the least of which was meeting long-
time track owner and announcer
Ron Leek, who had just been in-
ducted into the
NHRA Hall of
Fame that same
year. Ron was
very much vibrant
and engaging in
2015, although
the ensuing years
would take its toll
on his health. By
the time I made
it back to Byron
a few months ago,
Ron was no lon-
ger on the micro-
phone in the tower
and had sold his
ownership inter-
est in the track.
Even though he
was on oxygen,
he dropped by
on Saturday to
visit the folks who
meant so much
to him. Only a
week later news
reached me that
he had died on
July 10. Ron was
a dynamic figure
in drag racing and
will be missed by
so many.
Another memory from my 2015
trip was a number of radical displays
of sportsman race cars. I had never
seen a big-motored American Mo-
tors AMX with a manually shifted
Lenco, but leave it to Byron Drag-
way to produce such a car! I looked
intently for it upon my return with
no luck.
Another racer, Bill Bu-
tusov, has this gorgeous
Opel, and it was great to
see him still out racing
it. Walking through the
staging lanes at Byron of-
ten resembles a car show,
but when these guys roll
to the line and take a tree
they let it all hang out!
My single most vivid memory
from Byron 2015 was meeting Rick
Karker, who owns the most beauti-
ful example of a 1963 Ford Falcon
convertible I’ve ever seen. The car is
deep red in color – “House of Kolor
Candy” to be precise. He’s owned
the car since he was 14 years old! through the convertible
top. “I had to cut the tree
down before I could even
move the car!” laughs
Rick. Karker grew up
to become a paint and
body man, with his Fal-
con serving as the very
first car he ever painted
40 years ago, after much practice
painting the bicycles of the neigh-
borhood children.
I spent hours with the Karker
family at Byron during that first visit
and struck up a bonafide friendship.
Sure, our homes are over 16 hours
apart, with the Karkers residing in
northwest Wisconsin, but through
Rick’s brother gave the Falcon to
him in exchange for merely scrap-
ing and painting the windows of his
house! The Falcon wasn’t exactly a
show piece back then and in fact,
it was sitting in the woods behind
his brother’s house. A tree had even
found its way through the floor
pan and eventually poked its way the marvel of the internet, particu-
larly Facebook, we’re able to keep
in touch. When I met the Karkers
in 2015, Rick and his wife, Denise,
were expecting their first grandchild.
Upon my return in 2019, they now
have a pair of grandkids. Rick has
his whole life in picture stored on
his iPhone and he had lots to show
me from the four years since we’d
seen each other.
On Saturday evening they grilled
steaks and Rick introduced me to
his favorite cut. “It’s called a chuck
eye,” he says. “Cheaper than a rib-
eye and tastes better!” he insists. I
don’t know if he’s right or if Rick
just knows how to grill ‘em, but they
have my vote for steak of the year!
Rick also fried up some potatoes,
and we all fought over the burnt
ones that were stuck to the bottom
of the pan.
The racers next door were also
cooking out and brought a sam-
pling to us. Someone brought over
a cake and we also gorged on Fourth
of July cupcakes.
Rick’s friend, Mel
Knott, came over
for the cookout
and afterwards
smoked a fat ci-
gar and told rac-
ing stories, while
I sipped black cof-
fee, my drink of
choice any time of
day. We laughed,
we ate, we looked
at more pictures.
Rick talked about
the cold Wiscon-
sin winters and
I reminded him
of the long sum-
mers and 18 drag
strips we have in
North Carolina.
“You should move
there!” I insisted.
I’m forever invit-
ing someone to
relocate to the Tar
Heel state.
After consum-
ing every morsel
of food in sight the
party disbanded.
Another beautiful
day of racing en-
sued at sunrise. Moments before we
all went our separate ways, some-
one snapped a pic of me and Rick
standing beside his Falcon. Drag
racing is responsible for cultivating
friendships both near and far, and
I’ll always appreciate its unparal-
leled impact toward bringing people
together.
DI DI DI
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54 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
DI DI DI
Issue 148