Drag Illustrated Issue 118, February 2017 | Page 54

D.I. COLUMNIST
On the Road
with Van Abernethy
I
t's hard to believe it's al-
ready mid-February as I sit here
typing the first few sentences of
this column moments after checking
into a hotel in South Georgia. The
only thing more amazing than how
fast this year is flying by is to realize
that I've already been to seven drag
strips thus far into the brand-new
year.
It's understood that there's hardly
any offseason anymore, and this
year was no exception as my 2017
racing adventures got kicked off in
my home state of North Carolina
with a visit to Kinston Drag Strip
on January 28-29 for the milestone
30th running of Winterfest, a two-
day bracket race that often serves
as the beginning of many drivers’
racing season. Racers from as far
away as upstate New York and even
Canada make the trip to
Kinston each year to kick
off their Southland racing
adventures.
After Winterfest I con-
tinued southward, cross-
ing into Florida on Sunday
night, where I decided to
camp out in the DI Sprint-
er van for a few hours while
parked in a Flying J truck
stop. Sometimes after driv-
ing well into the night, it's
pretty easy to convince
myself that I'm too tired
to even carry luggage into
a motel, so I sometimes
just park in a truck stop
and roll out a sleeping
bag and crash into a deep
sleep. Many Flying J's have
a Denny's on the same property so
it's usually a short walk to breakfast
the next morning as I try to remem-
ber which state I'm in! After the first
sip of coffee I begin to piece together
where I've been and where I'm going.
On Monday and Tuesday follow-
ing Kinston, I knocked around Flor-
ida for a couple days and enjoyed
the sun on my shoulders for a little
while. I took a stroll on the beach,
watched some Greyhounds race and
then splurged for some great sea-
food. On Wednesday I drove over
to Orlando Speedworld Dragway
for a night of test and tune action,
as it had been far too long since I
dropped in on Wade Rich and the
crew at Orlando. I have
some fond memories from
here, beginning with the
World Street Nationals,
followed by many other
great events that range
from divisional meets to
grudge races. From Or-
lando I continued south
to Bradenton Motorsports Park for
yet another test and tune session on
Thursday night. Watching fast street
cars midweek in 75-degree weather
in February is hard to beat.
From Bradenton, I continued
south once more until I arrived in
the curious little town of Immokalee,
Florida, site of the IHRA Summit
Sportsman National Champion-
ship season opener. I've been here
three times in my life, and each visit
is more memorable than the last. to the Sprinter whenever
my cart would quit on me.
Visiting Immokalee never
ceases to be an adventure
for whatever reason.
I'll tell you someone
who wasn't experiencing
mechanical problems,
though, and that was fel-
low North Carolinian Chad Duke.
That's his great-running dragster
pictured in this month's column
after he won Quick Rod on Saturday.
Per usual at this race I also met
up with legendary drag racing pho-
tographer Bryan Epps and his wife,
Audra, on Saturday night and we
went out to eat Mexican. Amazingly,
Bryan had purposely avoided Mexi-
can food for his entire life until I
talked him into trying it a couple
years ago in Roxboro, North Caro-
Track owner Ralph Hester is a no-
toriously hospitable soul, and he's
been known to throw large feasts
for his racing guests. Other gifts he's
been known to occasionally bestow
have ranged from bags of oranges to
casino vouchers! I recently discov-
ered that he's also completely willing
to tear down your golf cart motor to
try and find out why a cart that looks
so good runs so poorly! The DI golf
cart was seemingly on its last legs
by the time I arrived in Immokalee,
and it even laid down on me several
times in the pits. Ralph and his star
track official, Bobby Carpe nter, (who
also participated in the motor disas-
sembly) took turns towing me back lina. He's been hooked ever since,
although it hasn't made him any
less grumpy. Just kidding, pal, you
know I've got nothing but love for
ya! Epps and I always laugh about
how we usually only cross paths
for a couple races in January and
February, then we go our separate
ways...I don't know where on earth
he goes for the next 10 months, but
we almost never meet up again until
our travels take us back to Florida
in the wintertime. It's there we eat
a meal, talk about the old days and
then bid farewell until our racing
travels bring us together again
nearly a year later.
After Immokalee, I came home
briefly since the golf cart needed
further maintenance, and I for
certain needed a couple days’ break
as well. After restocking the DI
Sprinter with goods and services,
I climbed behind the wheel on a
Saturday morning, picked up the
golf cart from the repair shop on
my way out of town and headed to
Darlington Dragway in South Car-
olina for a fantastic day of racing
at this fabled quarter-mile facility.
"Daddy Dave" Comstock of Street
Outlaws fame was in the house, as
well as a huge field of cars for the
gambler's race and open test and
tune session. From Darlington, I
pulled another half-night driv-
ing session and crossed back into
Florida yet again in the middle of
the night. On Sunday afternoon, I
visited Green Cove Dragway, located
in the beautiful town of
Green Cove Springs. This
eighth-miler was once an
air strip way back when be-
fore being converted into a
neat little drag strip. I first
visited this track about four
years ago right after it was
opened.
As the sun was setting
on Green Cove Springs, I
drove off into the night
once more, this time head-
ing north to South Georgia
Motorsports Park for the
insanely popular Lights
Out 8 drag radial event.
When I was here for the
2016 running, the specta-
tor traffic famously shut
down three exits of Inter-
state 75, and they finally had to lock
the gates of the track because they
simply couldn't squeeze another
paying customer into the place! It
was beyond belief, really.
So, here I am once more, check-
ing into the aforementioned hotel in
South Georgia on a Monday night
in February. Tomorrow, I will drive
over to the track and watch the pits
begin to fill up...on a Tuesday no
less! One week from today I will
go home and rest for a little while,
and amazingly it will still only be
mid-February. It seems as though
I've already been around the world
and back, and the year has only just
begun!
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Issue 118