Bowling Green, The Journey Begins
Part One of Three
Posted: August 8, 06

What happened - Did you fall off the earth ?

NO race fans, I was in Kentucky. That still is considered earth, last time I checked. Why you ask ? I had an opportunity to attend the NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion at Bowling Green, Kentucky June 16 - 18 helping to field the NHRA Motorsports Museum's cars. I am always up for an adventure and when I can combine it with racing, it's almost a guarantee that I'm in !

The journey began on Monday June 12 EARLY. The GMC Topkick and 35 ft trailer pulled out of the Pomona Fairgrounds, where the NHRA Motorsports Museum is, headed for points east. On board were myself and the ringleader of this adventure, Dusty McWilliams - aka the driver. In the trailer were the Howard Cams "Rattler" dragster, Kenny Safford's Sour Sisters dragster and the "Pure Heaven" fuel altered. The plan was to run across the country on I-40 and make it to Bowling Green, KY (2100 miles) by Thursday, June 16th. We didn't make it out of California before the adventure began.

The Topkick started sputtering about 30 miles before the Calif/Ariz. Border and died. We quickly discovered that the fuel was only pumping from one gas tank, which had run dry. After siphoning some fuel off the other tank and getting back on the road, we now realized we had a range of about 200 miles for fuel stops. Long story short, it was a bad fuel pump, which we had changed out by the incredibly accommodating and friendly mechanics at Cake Chevrolet in Winslow, AZ. The race trailer parked in front of the dealership proved to be quite a draw for the locals, a majority of whom were racers themselves. I myself had a fascinating conversation with a gentleman who was a railroad engineer (yea, he drives trains !). Did you know that no matter how many engines are on a train there only needs to be one engineer and he can run them all with computers and radio telemetry ? It was Tuesday and we were now almost 500 miles behind schedule.

Waking up in Amarillo, Texas on Wednesday morning brought another episode in this misadventure. One of the tires on the trailer was flat. It had looked low the night before, so we put air in it, but by morning it was obvious that the tire had a problem. So over to the Speedco at the truck stop we went to see if they could help us out. They were more than happy and willing to help. However, all their tools were for BIG trucks and nothing they had fit the trailer's wheels. So we broke open the trailer and hauled out the tools we had and in a matter of an hour (give or take) we were back on the road again. They found a nail in the tire and the tire was repaired. Of course, everyone wanted to see what was in the trailer and wanted to know where we were taking it.

Back on the road and making tracks, we made our goal of Memphis, Tennessee just after midnight. What amazed me was that as we drew closer to our destination, I still did not see any race cars, show cars or trailers. My doubts were premature because as soon as we pulled off the highway and into Bowling Green, KY the streets were full of hot rods ! The Beech Bend Raceway track was nestled back in the hills out of town and looks every bit the part of what I am told the drag strips were 'back in the day.' The west coast participants were immediately identifiable by their flushed, sweaty demeanor as we all attempted to adapt to the Mid West humidity.

Check back next week for installment #2 - Bowling Green - The Event.