White Hall Drag-O-Way Reunion

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Well, it took a while to get things loaded and ready. We had ISP problems over the weekend making it difficult to upload these shots to Photobucket. Hopefully that's behind us for now.

Pretty good turnout this year considering we were up against Monster Mopar Weekend at Gateway. Too bad because I wanted to be there too. Until I figure out this cloning thing I guess I'll have to make choices.
Some surprises in the way of old faces we hadn't seen in years. David Graham and his one-owner '55 Convert were a team to be reckoned with in the '60s at most of the local tracks in our area. Dave just finished the revival of his car and this was their first time out. The car looks exactly like I remember it with the addition of the AC unit. Lots of memories here.





And another guy who was pretty much a regular at our early tracks, ALWAYS with a '57 Chevy. This is a fairly recent purchase and to my knowledge never ran at White Hall, but still pretty cool. Dual quad 283 with Stahl fenderwell headers.



And there were a few true race cars in attendance. This car belongs to the son of one of our original club members.



And a JR fueler......



And a door slammer.....

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Since the actual strip is now used for storing gravel and round hay bales, ( ) we hold this event at the local City Park. Here's some shots as I walked around to check what all was in attendance.























Sweet little '67. I think this car made some passes at SCR X.





And these two came in together.

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And then Annie showed up with her latest 'Body Guard'! That's my son in the Fred Gibb shirt. He and his friend with the '69 Road Runner brought their practice tree for everyone to hone their skills. Kinda fun to watch the smiles on the faces of some of the old racers when they took their turns.


And more cars......

















And I thought Mark Johnson might have made it afterall...........

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Something we started a couple of years ago was a Tribute to some of the racers who are no longer with us. One of our members, Louie DeShasier, passed away three years ago. He had been with the club almost since the inception and was quite a character and legend around our two little towns. Sometime in the mid '60s Louie was standing at the starting line one night when one of the cars launched a clutch disk out of it's preferred location. The disk bounced off the ground and hit Louie in the chest. Miraculously, it didn't hurt him badly and he stayed with us for many years afterward. To honor Louie and some of our fallen friends, we created the Louie DeShasier Memorial Award. This year we were proud to add Keith Bacon's name to this award, which is fittingly a vintage Scheifer Aluminum Flywheel. Some of you may recall when I posted the notice of Keith's passing. Keith held a number of NHRA and AHRA records a few years back and still had his '62 BelAir sedan that he faithfully brought to our events. Keith's family brought his car this year with no knowledge of what we had planned. It was a heartwarming sight to see his wife and family accept the award. Lots of damp eyes.



Some shots of Keith's '62 Bel Air.

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With the serious part of the program behind us, time for some more fun.
Another of the local gentlemen (and I mean that in the truest sense) has supported us for,......... well, for as long as I can remember. John Early never raced at our strips that I recall but he was always around and has attended all of our Reunions. He has a beautiful little 29 pickup that he enjoys every time he gets it out. One of John's favorite parts of our Reunion is the burn-out contest. Last year as he was leaving the park, we asked him if he would join in the contest this year. He replied that, it we could find him some slicks, he would indeed participate. Well, through the wonders of Photoshop, we had a nice shot of John and his truck the way he wanted it.



Speaking of burnout shots.........

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Oh, and just for all you Camaro purists.........

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Dennis,

Now that is a car show. Great coverage! Thanks.

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Pretty good turnout this year considering we were up against Monster Mopar Weekend at Gateway. Too bad because I wanted to be there too.

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So, you like them MoPars too eh?

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Now for my personal highlights (Yep, two of 'em) of the event.

FIRST; Most anyone with as much 'experience' as me (read that, age) who attended ANY of the dragstrips in our area would know the name Art Badgley. Art is something of a local legend in the Godfrey/Alton Il area, and one of the best engine builders of his era (or for that matter, this era). Art has attended the past three of our events, and this year came in style.



How 'bout this for some serious motivation!



And here's the man himself.



BTW, Art celebrated his 87th Birthday on Sunday, September 9th. What a guy!

During one of the many conversations on Saturday, I thought I heard Art tell someone he had attended ALL BUT TWO of the events held at Alton Dragway. Can you imagine????? If memory serves us correctly, Alton was in operation from around 1958 through 1972? If those numbers aren't correct, at least they're close. And Art only missed two races!!!

After I heard this, I asked him if he remembered a big guy from the Chicago area who used to run a '49 Cadillac at Alton. He looked at me for a second and said, "Yeah, a big guy. I think his name was Kenny. Maybe played football or something. I never believed that car was stock." Then I showed him a picture of our beloved Ken Barnhart. "Yep, that's the guy."

Legends...............

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And then Annie showed up with her latest 'Body Guard'!



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The way Darryl is looking at Hollywood I would say it is working.

Oh and Cumby, nice partial tailight shot..........

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And now,.................... again, if you're from our part of the midwest and you've been around as long as I have, you know the name Stan Lomelino. Stan is as much a down-to-earth, grass-roots racer as you'll ever meet. I mean that with all the respect I can muster. I remember as a kid in high school watching Stan pull into the old dirt strip just West of my hometown. Stan's tow rig was a '48 Merc four door and his trailer was a home built two wheeler. In the back of the Merc, where the seat should have been, was a built-in tool box and sometimes a couple of spare engines. (Did I mention Stan ran a flathead dragster............ an F/Fuel flathead dragster!)
We had invited Stan to all our previous Reunions but his health usually prevented him from attending. He has some breathing problems and the heat and humidity are a little too much to handle.
I was standing at the South part of the park and saw this pair of cars pull into the entrance. I noticed they were pretty neat, but relaly didn't give it much thought. One of our other members came running up to me and said I needed to get to the North end and get some pictures before they disconnected the pair. He said it was extra cool because the '40 Sedan towing the "Rat Rod" belonged to Danny Lomelino,................ and he had his Dad, Stan with him.
Well, we weren't quuite quick enough, but we did get around to a few shots of these two classic pieces of iron. Danny had flat-towed his latest creation with his Super '40 Ford Sedan. And with them was their good friend and former competitor, Joe Hendricks. Joe still has a flathead dragster but is better known at present for his Nostalgic AA/FD slingshot.
At this point I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Danny's tow vehicle.







And the CREATION! This was built using a ton of parts from Stan's actual race car.