Dirt
NITRO MADNESS
the water box firing cars and Billy Meyer walks up and taps me on the shoulder . I about had a heart attack . He was super stoked about what was going on there and what we were doing and just wanted to talk to me for an hour . I ’ m in the middle of a qualifying session trying to make sure we have things moving and he ’ s wanting to chit chat . From watching Billy Meyer on Decades of Thrills on TV when I was 5 years old to now he ’ s over my shoulder talking about how great Funny Car Chaos is . That ’ s a moment I ’ ll never forget .
Plus , it was super cool to have all my family and friends out there . We have longterm plans to keep doing this at the Motorplex . It ’ s very cool and it means a lot . It ’ s hard to believe , honestly .
The Funny Cars were obviously the stars of the show , but the Fuel Altered portion of the program really stood out too . How big of a deal was that Fuel Altered world record fest between Richard Hartman and Kebin Kinsley ?
That was huge . We didn ’ t really get confirmation from Hartman and Wilkerson until Monday of the race , but we had known about the “ War Wagon ” and the Farris family and Kebin Kinsley wanting to do this since December . That ’ s something they ’ ve wanted to do for over a decade .
Again , it was the perfect storm . They were ready , the track was ready , and we have good weather down here in March , so they made plans and we were able to promote that for a while . They definitely flexed their muscles . Having them
shatter both ends of the world record and race side by side , that was huge .
No one ’ s ever seen quarter-mile Fuel Altereds in Texas at all , to my knowledge . There ’ s been Fuel Altered racing here forever , but it ’ s all eighth mile . To bring those numbers to Texas was awesome .
Then we had 17 Fuel Altereds [ from the Outlaw Fuel Altered Association ] on top of that in their 25th anniversary season with the highest car count they ’ ve seen since 2010 .
There was definitely a Fuel Altered vibe going on , which is awesome because that ’ s hard to find these days outside of California or at the World Fuel Altered Nationals . Helping put the Fuel Altereds back on the map was awesome . There were over 90 3-second cars on the property just
in Fuel Altered and Funny Car .
What did you think of the A-field final round ? Was that kind of living proof that the Funny Car Chaos model works ?
It ’ s a prime example , and it continued this past weekend [ in Amarillo ]. In the D-field final round [ at Ennis ], Tom Furches won in the “ Made in America ” Funny Car out of Colorado . He won the C-field at Amarillo over the weekend . Now he ’ s our points leader , which validates [ the format ] even more . He ’ s won two of his classes so far and he hasn ’ t been an A-field competitor , but that doesn ’ t matter in Funny Car Chaos . It ’ s about giving all the racers equal opportunity to earn points .
So far , the Chaos formula is playing itself out perfectly . It ’ s exciting to see nitro cars and alcohol cars run against each other . It ’ s totally unpredictable , and that ’ s what makes Funny Car Chaos exciting .
How do you plan to make this huge race a tradition ?
In a perfect world , this will be our first race of the season for many years to come . That ’ s our plan and that ’ s the Motorplex plan . We don ’ t know if we ’ re going to repeat 64 cars or not , but that ’ s certainly a tradition we ’ d like to continue . I think the effort will be put forth between now and then to make that an event that becomes an annual 64-car Funny Car show . That ’ s what I ’ d like to do .
We definitely will be holding our season opener for the Funny Car Chaos and Outlaw Fuel Altereds at Ennis on the last weekend of March every year for sure . That ’ s going to happen . Our icing on the cake would be if we ’ re able to continue a 64-car show tradition . DI
28 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 167