PHOTOGRAPHS BY VAN ABERNETHY |
It ’ s not often that someone can come up with a dragstrip that Josh Peake has never even heard of , but to his amazement that ’ s exactly what happened when Kevin and Cody McDaniel telephoned Peake and told him they ’ d just purchased the old Powerhouse Dragway in Florida . Amazingly , Peake drew a complete blank , and wasn ’ t really even familiar with any of the many names the track had been called over the years . Neither did its location of Fountain , Florida , help in any discernible way . “ I finally asked them to
|
throw me a landmark , and when they told me the track was located north of Panama City , I at least had a general location ,” laughs Peake .
With a multi-decade career in drag racing , most notably as IHRA ’ s longtime Southeast director , Peake had finally encountered a dragstrip that had completely flown under his radar , and as fate would have it , he began 2023 as the track ’ s brand-new general manager . This new endeavor all happened pretty fast and seemed to fall perfectly into place , and it initially began when the McDaniel brothers wanted Peake to come take a
|
look at the track and discuss getting the facility sanctioned .
The three men hit it off and became fast friends , and the brothers began leaning on Peake more and more for general advice regarding racing operations , and also started inviting Peake to travel from his native Columbia , South Carolina , on a regular basis to assist them with all their big events . It didn ’ t take long before the McDaniel brothers realized that Peake could fill a need at their track full time , if only they could convince him to leave his lifelong roots in South Carolina
|
July / August 2023 |
DragIllustrated . com | Drag Illustrated | 81 |