Drag Illustrated Issue 147, August 2019 | Page 22

Dirt
is nice to win that big trophy! It’s going in the
center in my display case at home.”
The win earned Andrew a nice $5,000 payday.
That money is already spent, however, as Char-
calla had motor troubles just weeks before the
race and scrounged together his winning combi-
nation. “This was my small motor – it’s just a 408
(cid) since we broke the big one back home – and
this was a thrash just to make the race.”
Soltes had a long day unexpectedly turn around
for himself, as he kept turning on win light after
win light, round after round. “We had some dif-
ficulty with tire spin, and fought it early in the
day,” he said.
Soltes’ day almost ended before it began once
he dropped the trailer door. “First thing, the bat-
tery was dead. So we borrowed a battery from
Mark Charcalla, and ran the rest of the day with
it. Eventually, we were able to turn it around and
turned on few win lights.”
As Soltes tells his story, he related, “During one
of the later rounds, Dan Hoyler, one of the previ-
ous Pro Stick champs, was helping me, and you
can hear him say in the video, ‘Oh boy, that was
a bad light.’” But it turned out just fine, as Soltes
won that round under the lights, and several more
until meeting up with Charcalla in the final.
The semifinalist was Dean Canady from Vir-
ginia in his 1967 Camaro.
After the second round was completed, the
announcement was made for second-chance
racers to head to the lanes. With 75 percent of
the field eliminated, competitors that wanted
to make another round of racing headed back
to the lanes. Nearly every racer on the grounds
that was eliminated to that point made their way
back to the lanes for another try at glory. In the
end, Pete Wright, another Virginia racer, parked
his 1980 Chevy Luv in the winner’s circle, while
Rodney Price took the runner-up money. Wright
scored the victory in the opening race the Classic
Gear Jammers group had in 2019. Despite some
recent health concerns, Wright seems to be back
and on a hot streak following his second-chance
race victory at “The Farm.”
Semifinalists were Ric Nicolau from West Vir-
ginia in his 1965 Chevy Nova, and Mark Charcalla
in his father’s 1963 Ford Falcon. Mark’s Mustang
was trailered Friday evening after shavings in the
oil filter were found, and rather than risk a mal-
function, he borrowed dad’s yellow classic. Mark
is the nephew of main event champion Andrew.
The boys from North Bend, Pennsylvania, took
home a pile of loot.
Event organizer Ken Regenthal has been run-
ning the Stick Shift Nationals, by his recollection,
for seven or eight of the nine meets. Ken and his
wife, Lisa, are the driving force behind the event,
but by no means are they alone in running the race.
“It’s a cooperative effort of many people be-
hind the scenes, from Farmington Dragway track
manager Sandy Collins to race director Sherry
Gerringer,” Regenthal said. “Sherry kept things
running smoothly in the lanes. Sherry does a
great job as race director. She’s invaluable to our
success. The Classic Gear Jammers, that entire
group plays a crucial role in the success of the
event, and Eric Kitchen from Pro Stick Racing
set his schedule around this race.”
Kitchen’s move to free up his racers for the
weekend paid off, as 18 cars from the Pro Stick
group attended. There were also many drivers
from UMTR group of Ohio and western Penn-
sylvania who made the journey. “Thanks to all
that attended,” Regenthal said.
Regenthal went on to list a slew of individuals
and companies that helped in any way this year
or in years past, offering his deepest thanks and
gratitude.
“Without the help of sponsors like Clemmons
Concrete, Liberty, G-Force, Jerico, Jeffco, Doug
Nash – all of them – this event wouldn’t grow,”
Regenthal said. “All our sponsors are very valuable
to drawing the racers and cars, so I want to thank
them all. Even the fans. It all works together, and
the track was very happy with racer and spectator
attendance. We hope to break our record again
next year. Who knows, maybe we’ll see 200 stick
cars compete next year!”
DI DI DI
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STEVE MATUSEK NHRA PRO MOD
GARRETT® GTX SERIES TURBOCHARGERS
GTX5533R GEN II Turbochargers
88mm SFI GTX5533R Gen II
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Issue 147
STICK SHIFT NATIONALS