★ 13TH ANNUAL SPORTSMAN SPECIAL ISSUE ★
Today , the couple that married in 2022 continue to race together , and they don ’ t see that ending anytime soon . Drag IllustrateD tracked them down to tell their story , in their own words .
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Where did drag racing begin for each of you ?
BB : My story starts with a trade-in at our family dealership . It was a street car , 1971 Chevy Nova . I ’ d never been to a dragstrip in my life , but I took that trade-in and decided to go to Ohio Valley Dragway on a Wednesday night . I entered some type of gambler ’ s race , not knowing what to do whatsoever . I could do burnouts , and I loved that , but I go up there for the first run ever and the starter comes running over . He says , “ Hey , you can have your radio on – but you have to have your window up .” That was the start of my racing career . I somehow slipped through , and I think I won that having no idea what to do , just guessing .
RL : I always was a track rat , running around as a kid with no shoes , playing and getting dirty . I never really thought about it as a kid , but my dad got a Jr . Dragster and it sat in the garage until I was old enough . The first time I tried it , I was probably horrible , but I made a couple passes at Brown County Dragstrip , and like my third race at Indianapolis Raceway Park , I won . That was when I was like , “ Oh , I like this .” I liked that feeling of winning ; it planted the seed and changed everything .
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Randi Lyn , your 1967 Pontiac Firebird is well known in Stock . Was that your first car out of Jr .’ s ?
RL : I had a dragster when I turned 16 . I think when you start in a Jr . Dragster , it ’ s a natural thing to get a big dragster . But in reality , I always liked Stock . Even though I don ’ t like early mornings , I like watching Stock in the early morning and starting off the day . When I got with Bo , we started looking for a Stocker to put in his trailer . We went to Indy planning on buying one of the new Challengers when they did the first 50 . We had a check in hand and were ready to buy it , but the guy decided not to sell it . That ended up being great because we bought the Firebird from the DeFranks . It had a wild 1980s paint job on it , and at first I was like “ ehhhhh .” I kind of thought those were wannabe Camaros at the time . It took some convincing , but we got it , and then when Bo let me paint it and make it my own , that ’ s when it really turned around for me .
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Bo , you ’ re inching toward a milestone . You have wins in six different categories , and you ’ ve been steadily giving yourself a chance to make that seven by racing in categories in which you haven ’ t won yet . Is that an intentional goal ?
BB : I think that would be cool to win in seven different classes . You can ask any person who tries this – any win out here is an accomplishment . I ’ ve promoted races for big money to win , I
RANDI LYN ’ S HIGH-FLYING ’ 67 FIREBIRD IS A FAN-FAVORITE ENTRY IN THE MUSCLE CAR-LADEN STOCK ELIMINATOR RANKS , TAKING HER TO NUMEROUS NATIONAL EVENT WINS .
102 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 183