’ ve cherished an ongoing 35- year expedition that involves a certain stretch of mountainous backroads that takes me from my home in Granite Falls, North Carolina, to Tennessee’ s legendary Bristol Dragway. I first made that trip back in 1991, long before GPS suggested a more sensible and less scenic route, which I politely decline. For that inaugural trek, I was 18 years old and having the time of my life writing a weekly drag racing column for my hometown newspaper. I couldn’ t have been any more in love with drag racing( or curvy roads), although my travels and life experiences were just getting started.

Bristol represents my first-ever IHRA national event, and it came at a time when many believe was the heyday of the organization. That opinion certainly has merit when one considers the program being offered in the early 1990s.

When I first came on the scene to witness drag racing at this level, many of the well-known stars of NHRA Top Fuel often ran both circuits, and I distinctly remember seeing Kenny Bernstein, Eddie Hill, Tommy Johnson Jr., and Gene Snow competing at Bristol in 1991, along with many other stars of the in-house sanction, such as Jack Ostrander, John Carey, and Pat Dakin, to name a few. Alcohol Funny Car provided some great head-to-head action featuring Bunny Burkett, Mark Thomas, Terry Mullins, Larry Dobbs, Jimmy Rector, and many others. The Mountain Motor Pro Stock wars were insane with guys like Rickie Smith, Doug Kirk, Harold Denton, and Billy Ewing.

Also from that 1991 event, I remember watching in horror as John Montecalvo experienced a horrendous top-end crash during the Saturday night qualifying session. Amazing that Montecalvo came through that crash unscathed, and 35 years later, he’ s still mixing it up in the Mountain Motor Pro Stock ranks as one of the toughest competitors in class history.

The explosive Pro Modified class was only in its second year as a professional category, and it was as entertaining as it’ s ever been, at least through my eyes. Those early

stars like Scotty Cannon, Tim McAmis, Blake Wiggins, Ed Hoover, Bill Kuhlmann, and so many others were the talk of the town.

Pro Modified also gave me the opportunity to see Ronnie Sox lured out of retirement to wheel his beautiful Mercury Comet. Sox’ s iconic career began on airstrips in 1954, and he was hitting the local tracks here in North Carolina by 1957. Right about the time I was turning 3 years old in 1975, his top-tier racing in Pro Stock was coming to an end, so to experience his return in 1991, wheeling a nitrous Pro Mod, was pretty

electrifying.

The Hurst“ Hemi Under Glass” was another spectacular attraction that I completely missed during the first go-around, only to get another chance decades later at Bristol. The radical creation conceived by George Hurst and Ray Brock featured a 426 Chrysler Hemi-powered Barracuda, with the engine stuffed at the midway point where the back seat would have been, which was directly beneath the‘ Cuda’ s fastback rear window, hence the name“ Hemi Under Glass.”

Legend has it, Hurst and Brock

sketched the design on a restaurant napkin, believing the car would dominate the A / FX class, which of course, was the precursor to Funny Cars. Instead of being the world-beater they hoped, the engine placement caused outlandish wheelstands, so the car quickly became an exhibition wheelstander, and maybe the best-looking one ever!

Its original driver in 1965 was Billy Shrewsberry, who abandoned the program after the first year to build his own wheelstander. Bob Riggle flew the Hurst Hemi Under Glass banner from 1966-1975, when a crash sidelined Riggle’ s wheelstanding career, until he came out of retirement and built the replica‘ Cuda( pictured) in the early 1990s... just as I was coming to Bristol for the first time.

Well, that brings us to another favorite Bristol memory involving a photogenic and lovable race car that’ s been a fan favorite soon after it took its first tree. A fat-fendered, 1941-bodied Willys known as“ Barney” is a remarkable piece that rolled out of Tommy Mauney’ s South Carolina chassis shop in 1994, and by the time we gathered at the season opener in Darlington in 1995, it was raising some eyebrows.

At the Winter Nationals, the beast known as Barney, with Mauney at the controls, was ripping off quarter-mile elapsed times in the 6.50 range, at a time when many sleek and more aerodynamic Pro Mods were clocking a few tenths slower. This car had other-worldly balance, along with a Fulton-prepared nitrous powerplant that packed a wicked punch. By season’ s end, Mauney and the Willys managed to derail Scotty Cannon’ s four-year string of world championships.

I was fortunate enough to have a front row seat, and through the lens of a worn-out 35mm camera, I watched this epic film unfold in real time. Over three decades later, I still cross paths with Mauney, Cannon, Montecalvo, Rickie Smith, and a host of others who had a starring role in the amazing production that was 1990s drag racing! Those unforgettable memories always come rushing back, and it sure doesn’ t seem like it’ s been that long ago. DI