GeorgiaDragRacing.com - Information about Georgia drag racing history, personalities, activities and events.
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York US30 Musclecar Madness - July, 2003York US30 Musclecar Madness - July, 2003. by Ed Miles (See, also, York US30 Musclecar Madness photos. Sorry, photo album is no longer available.) Our trip got underway around 3am on Thursday, with Fred Simmons, Bob Beasley, myself, all guests of Georgia Drag Racing Legend, The Georgia Shaker himself, Mr. Hubert Platt. It was an honor and a special treat for all of us to be provided the opportunity to be included in the accommodations and activities arranged by Hubert through Darwin Doll and Bill Stiles. We all give special thanks to them for including us. The 12 hour trip up went well despite about a thirty minute diversion because the driver (me) missed peeling off on I-81 north and we went through the huge tunnel leading to Bluefield, W. Va., and after getting directions from a local we got to ride back through the mountain and were on the right path again. After checking in and a short break we were off again to the York Expo Center for a reception cookout for the attendees and their guests (Thanks again, Hubert). We met Tom Sneden and Dave Reitz of the famous Bob Banning Dodge Team. They raced many Dodges but the one they brought to the show was a 1964-1/2, one of only fifty built, completely restored, and ironically the only one of that era that they never actually campaigned. Other attendees I got to chat with were Linda Vaughn and Jack Duffy of Hurst Shifter Fame, Malcolm Durham and his lovely wife and Mr. Julio Marra, east coast drag racing promoter. Julio shared a story of an event he held on a Saturday night in 1968 at Capitol Raceway featuring a Miss America of Drag racing contest won by Linda Vaughn who had brought the other Hurst girls, a mini-skirt race of the women fans attending, racing with Della Woods and Paula Murphy and a late entry by a woman he got a call from that he didn't even know of at the time by the name of Shirley Muldowney. He agreed to let her come and she showed up with a twin engined dragster! Our York Expo reception event concluded with King and Marshall team firing up their Top Fuel dragster for all to enjoy. Since Friday's show did not open until 6pm, we used the free time during the day to hook up with Billy High Gear West, to travel through the beautiful southern Pennsylvania farmland northward to Carlisle, Pa. for the All Chrysler Nationals featuring not only antique and classic cars, the mighty MOPAR musclecars of the sixties and seventies, many restored police cruisers representing several states, thousand of car parts and collectibles and a look into the future with the Chrysler Concept Cars. Included were the Dodge Magnum, Super 8, and Kahuna, the Jeep Willys2, and although the Plymouth brand is no more, their sports car concept of the Pronto Spyder two seater convertible was included in the display. We had to cut it short to head back to York for the Friday evening event, where we found automobiles including Tony Nancy's 22 JR, Bruce Larson's USA-1 Camaro, two cars of Ronnie Sox, one of Grumpy Jenkins cars, "Joe Jacono"'s beautiful Rolling Stoned funny car, the Old Reliable 63-Z11, 68-Camaro, 62-Chevy, Bud Faubel's '64 Dodge S/S, Rod Saboury's '63 Pro Street Corvette, Malcolm Durham's '65 Chevelle Strip Blazer, Pittman and Edward's '41 Willys, Boss Hydro '33 Willys AA/GS, Hill Bros. Willys Gasser, the Pete's Patriot '69 AMX Factory S/S, Lou Sgro's '71 Challenger F/C, Scotto & Blevins '55 Chevy Nomad, the Daddy Warbucks Falcon and the list goes on and on. Signing autographs were Linda Vaughn, Ohio George George Montgomery, Dick Brannan, Hubert Platt, Jungle Pam and many others. After the show closed on Friday night, I was honored to be joined at dinner by Hurst's Linda Vaughn and Jack Duffy among others. What a way to cap of the first day of the show. Saturday was more of the same stunning stars and cars filled with autograph sessions and "Cacklefests" erupting from various cars throughout the exposition hall. Saturday evening event ended with a lively auction with Hubert Platt and Bob Beasley in the thick of things with their "money rolls" capturing several rare items. After the closing of the show the excitement continued at dinner with Bill Grumpy Jenkins who turned out to be anything but grumpy sharing stories from his first race in Manassas, VA with a '53 Chevrolet 6 cylinder, which he won of course, until he slammed the door for the last time in 1980. He now is premier engine builder and technical advisor and has no foreseeable plans to walk away from that. At various times through the weekend we ran across the charming and gracious Nancy Wilson of Henderson, N.C. who is quite a promoter herself and every time we saw Joe Jacono he made us feel like he was on the accommodation committee with the chamber of commerce as he was so friendly and informative. Thanks to him, Joel Naprstek and Bob Fermier (Fermier Bros), among many others for making this a very memorable visit.
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