Well, here we are on the 3rd Saturday in a row with snow! It’s not as much or as cold as the previous 2 Saturdays, but its’ still far too inhospitable to think of doing anything outside or venturing farther from home than to fulfill needs that can be met by the local market. Sounds like yet another weekend in the basement, and since I’ve spent the last several months working on the old Aurora cars in The Road Crew and racing around the Model Motoring track, I thought it was time to pull out the big Ultra G muscle car fleet and head to the big track for a full tournament! Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines!
The first muscle car race of the 1986 season got off to a bang-up start with the 32 cars composing “Group A,” and there were no “freak boats” or “gook wagons” here; every car and every driver was in top form! Some did better than others, of course, and the race results made the “Mopar or no car” crowd very happy as the winner’s circle was a trio of Chrysler products, but it was no cake walk for them to get there! Right out of the gate the action was intense with the very first race of the day pitting “Aztec,” the Camaro 396 RS against “Bulldozer,” the 390 Ford Torino GT, and from there the action got crazier and crazier!
There were mercifully few crashes but many deslots and plenty of “stunt driving” as the competitors showed no mercy in trying to outdo one another! There were good showings from some of the track’s “younger” blood as well as some good tenacious hold-ons from old favorites. There were a lot of sudden pit stops too, including Angus “Meteor” McKay attempting what seemed like a full rebuild to his ’67 Malibu “Highlander;” he came back strong after an initially poor showing, and veteran Tommy “Poltergeist” Pritchard, one of DCR’s longest-running contenders, had major problems with his 440-powered ’68 Charger “Adrenochrome,” showing that after years of hard racing he’s about due for a complete overhaul.
Darian “The Barbarian” Sloane got his purple ’69 AMX 390 “Short Timer” all the way up to the final elimination round, where he was vanquished by Connor “Hellraiser” Hailey’s black ’68 Hemi Charger “Ace Of Spades” by less than a second, giving Hailey the 3rd place position on the podium.
One veteran driver wound up in the winner’s circle: none only than one of only two of the Muscle Car fleet’s female drivers! Lila “Little Lady” Luciano’s “moulin rouge” ’70 ‘Cuda 340 is a familiar sight in the Drag City winner’s circle, and here she was again showing the boys how it’s done as she took second place.
The overall winner was a relative newcomer to the track, and one that every judge and fan expected greatness of: former career military man Desmond “Dagger” Descoine’s silver ’68 Hemi Charger “Elegy In Steel” proved to be just as fast as it is beautiful, and though he fought hard all the way through the tournament, he made the whole thing look easy! His skills with this dangerous car were a joy to watch and his first tournament trophy was a well-deserved prize!
Well, since its only Saturday night as of this writing and the weather shows little signs of improvement, I suspect that Sunday will be another wild day of racing, so stay tuned and saddle-up, race fans; the 1986 season is only just beginning at DRAG CITY!
“Mopar or no car” I like that! The final battle photo is awesome in so many ways! Another exciting race post!