Well it finally stopped snowing and the sun came out, but it was still plenty cold, and by that time I had enough momentum going that I wasn’t going to stop, so I launched right into the next round of muscle car racing last Sunday. The next pack of 32 cars lined up for the event, a group that is heavy with Chevrolets and other GM makes, but even with that, the winner’s circle came as a surprise with 1 newcomer and 1 seasoned pro winning their first trophies, while one of the track’s oldest veterans came back to the winner’s circle for the first time in a long while!
The crew at Drag City held a special “Going Away Party” for the retirement of Jeff Ramsey. Though still a young man, Ramsey has recently become a father the second time over, and his wife was never keen on his racing activities due to the inherent danger. The offer of a new job in Phoenix convinced him, so he’s Arizona-bound and taking his family and his beautiful Mustang fastback “Tropical Twist” with him. He’s owned the car since the age of 17, and as he retires from racing the car will retire with him, to be returned to road use and likely a future inheritance for his newly born son. “Road Runner” Ramsey and his car were always well-liked amongst the other drivers and pit staff @ DCR, so the Group B Muscle Car Rumble was turned into a tribute for him and the other racers went all-out to put on a show!
Several drivers put in remarkably strong showings; this was the first race for Arizonan Hank “Roadhog” Raney, who’s 390-powered fluorescent lime ’68 AMX “Hellfire” showed very well in Heat 1, making it to the 1st elimination round, where he lost to the driver who took 2nd place overall; also doing well in this race: a veteran driver with a new car, Hector “Holeshot” Hernandez, who’s newly acquired and race-prepped 383-powered ’68 Dodge Charger “Fortunate Son” surprised everyone with its performance, just as he promised it would! He made it all the way to the final elimination round before being shut out by Travis Tucker’s ’70 Buick GS-X, the car that took 2nd place overall. Tucker is now a seasoned racer, but his ferociously powerful 455 torque monster couldn’t hold off a challenge from the small-block equipped overall winner, newcomer William Westcott of Huntington Beach, who’s full-race 350-powered ’68 Camaro “Maximilian” won on power-to-weight ratio!
As an interesting post-script, this win almost didn’t happen for Westcott; some readers may remember his car being entered into the fray painted a dark metallic blue, a non-original color which a previous owner had done during a partial restoration, yet roughly a year ago the car was stolen and believed lost. It was miraculously recovered a month later, though it had clearly suffered some undisclosed degree of damage, because it went into a full restoration almost immediately thereafter, and returned to the track last summer wearing its factory original “Ash Gold” with a black vinyl top and struck with black SS-style racing stripes. They say paint doesn’t make the car faster, but Westcott has never performed like this! Both “Wizzard” Westcott and “Tank” Tucker take home their first-ever tournament trophies, but the same cannot be said of the 3rd place finisher, Arkansan Delmont “Digger” Darrow; a veteran since the earliest days of the Mark II iteration of Drag City, his rough and rusty 350-powered ’41 Willys coupe “Never Been Caught” is a an old fan favorite for disguising it’s fierce performance under a “barn find” patina, the very definition of a “sleeper.” Darrow is consistently one of the fastest of the fast and finds himself in the winner’s circle often, but it’s been a while since he’s been as fast as was in this race!
What a party it was! “Road Runner” Ramsey and his family can retire in peace now, knowing his career was dutifully honored by the other drivers, and there’s more to come for the next party when the Group C muscle car team comes out to play, so stay tuned, race fans; more ground-pounding action is on the way at DRAG CITY!
The retirement party race was a great tribute! It’s awesome how there are always surprises in the winner circle. You just never know what is going to happen once that rubber starts burning!