“NHRA is going to let me in their club for now, but I’m not sure they want me around as much as they think they do.” - JUSTIN “BIG CHIEF” SHEARER
MOVERS & SHAKERS
BEEN AROUND Amazing history surrounds this great looking 1996 Dodge
Avenger. This former Pro Stock Dodge was originally built by Jerry Haas for ironic
racer, Billy Stepp, who only briefly raced the car during a short stint in NHRA
Pro Stock competition in 1996, after which, the car went on display at a Chrysler
Garage before eventually being sold to a pawn shop in Massachusetts. Current
owner, Mark Claypoole, of Pennsylvania bought the car last year and turned it
into a competitive Top Sportsman entry, putting the Dodge in the winner’s circle
his first time out with the car at the 2016 IHRA Pro Am season opener in Immokalee, Florida.
SLIP SHOW
Jamie Chappell will no doubt
frame his first-ever three-second
time slip – a milestone he’s
waited many years to achieve.
Chappell, who rose to prominence in recent years competing
at Piedmont Dragway’s Renegade
division, recently added a multistage nitrous system to his 903ci
engine. As a result, Chappell
clocked his historic 3.96-second
lap on May 7th, 2016, during the
Battle of the Engine Builders at
North Carolina’s new Galot Motorsports Park, where he drove his
Fulton-powered, Mauney-built ’63
Corvette to career-best numbers.
WHEELIE COOL
Wheelstander veteran Danny O’Day
waits in the staging lanes at Texas
Motorplex in anticipation of another eight-second pass in his ATI
Racing-backed ’34 Ford roadster.
Ear
to Ear
Joe Fritz is all smiles after his big
win at the inaugural Kentucky
Big Bucks Bonanza, held at I-64
Motorplex on April 22-24. Fritz,
who resides in Sheffield Lake,
Ohio, hadn’t visited I-64 Motorplex in roughly 15 years, so his
return to the northeast Kentucky
facility was particularly sweet
after picking up the big win on
Sunday. Fritz has also collected
recent wins and made final
round appearances at Gateway
and Beech Bend, respectively.
50 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
FAMILY TRADITION Ed Pauley (right) stands with son, Dawson, at Shadyside Dragway
in Shelby, North Carolina, where Ed has raced for 30 years and counting. Ed is also a
well-traveled racer who’s a three-time winner of IHRA’s Division 9 in Top Dragster and
also won the IHRA Hot Rod World Champion in 2004. Among his best memories was
winning a NHRA national event in Atlanta, a victory he dedicated to his father, Larry,
who passed away shortly before the event. When not on tour, however, Ed and Dawson love returning to their local Shadyside Dragway for some bracket racing action.
Issue 110