Dragster Dan

Readers of this blog will remember my drag racing friend, Dan Schrokosch, from Operation Corvette Rescue and removing the tank sticker from the one-owner 1967 427-435 Corvette.  

Operation Corvette Rescue

Tank Sticker: The Holy Grail of Corvette Restoration

Dan has been interested in drag racing since he was 10 years old, when he attended his first race at the Carlsbad Raceway in 1969.  By the time he was a teenager, Dan was racing instead of watching.  Dan has driven and owned more race cars than you can count.  For the past eighteen years Dan has been successfully campaigning a vintage, engine-in-the-front, driver-in-the-rear, classic dragster.  Anyone who can strap 1,000 horsepower between their legs and go racing is a hero to me! Dan’s house is filled with trophies, including many “Wallys”  (see below).

In an era of “celebrity” racing, including NASCAR, NHRA, IMSA, and Formula 1, Dan is an anomaly.  Racing on a modest budget, using his own tools and equipment, financed by loyal, local sponsors, doing virtually all the mechanical work himself, and relying on friends and family to do all the race prep and pit work, Dan’s success is a marvel.

This month Dan has something very special to celebrate – another victory in Nostalgia Eliminator 1 (“NE1”) this time at the  2018 Good Vibrations March Meet in Bakersfield, California, his 4th victory at this venue.  Here’s the story:

Last weekend was the 60^th March Meet – a West Coast drag racing event that draws a large number of competitors and spectators.  Until this past weekend,  Dan had won the March Meet event in NE1 three times, including being the defending Champion by virtue of his victory in 2017.  In NE1 the driver has a target time of 7.60 seconds, and getting your car to run as close to, but no faster than, that time is essential for victory.  Despite a rain-filled weekend Dan was able to qualify in the field of 31 NE1 cars in 3^rd place with an impressive 7.623 time.  As qualifying moved through the day other drivers did well and Dan ended up qualifying 6^th in the field.  Because it rained all day Saturday, eliminations couldn’t start until Sunday. 

Assisting Dan in the pits, and in prepping, towing, staging and retrieving the car were his long-time pit crew members Marcus Havens, and Dan’s wife, Kim.  With their help, on Sunday Dan was victorious over the #22 qualifier in round one.  The day grew dark and cold, but by Sunday night Dan was also victorious over the #10 qualifier in Round 2.  Unfortunately, Marcus needed to leave Sunday night to return to work, leaving Dan and Kim alone to continue the campaign. 

Kim is amazing!  She drives the truck, towing the dragster to the staging area, gets Dan settled in his racing suit and strapped into the car, starts the engine, gets Dan aligned at the starting line, watches him blast off, yells like a cheer-leader, jumps in the truck, races down the tract to retrieve Dan and the dragster, and tows him back to the pits.  Then she does it again in the next round!  Amazing!

The whole family is involved in the racing program.  Kim and Dan's son, Bohdi, age four, is already a drag race fan.  He has been joining Mom and Dad at the races since birth.  He now even has his own Junior Dragster. 

The weather on Monday returned to California beautiful and the continuation of eliminations.  Dan’s third round was about as perfect as is possible with a reaction time of .004 seconds on the starting tree and a run of 7.602 – you can’t get much closer than that.  Now the field was down to four cars and two rounds to go!

Round 4 proved to be Dan’s best run of the meet.  By this time Dan was matched against last years’ season-long NE1 champion.  With nerves of steel Dan beat his opponent by 2 one-hundredths of a second at the line, and ran a remarkable 7.600 dead on!  Damn, that’s good!

Continuing the extremely competitive racing of the weekend, the fifth and final round was another nail-biter.  Dan shaved his opponent at the light by one one-thousandth of a second, and his time through the course was three one thousandths of a second faster.  Victory is always sweet, but to finish a full weekend of racing with such tight competition and in near-perfect driving is surly as sweet as it comes!

Dan’s reward for this amazing, nearly perfect, performance?  In the photo above you can see the trophy.  It is called a “Wally” in recognition of the legendary Wally Parks, Founder of the National Hot Rod Association.  It is the most coveted trophy in Drag Racing.  Cast in Bronze, smiling, standing next to a huge racing slick, the figure of Wally Parks holding a classic helmet – what a perfect image to celebrate a racer like Dan – vintage, old-school, low-tech, filled with grit and determination, and hoping to race dragsters as long as he can hold a steering wheel.

The Wally Trophy 

Dan wanted me to be sure to thank his sponsors for their support this season and throughout his career (some of his sponsors have supported him for more than eighteen years).

Congratulations, Dan!  You are an inspiration to anyone who ever broke the beams at the starting line and blasted down the track!

Dan's Sponsors:

Mother Earth Brewery

Churchill's Pub and Grill

Curtis Drilling

Chapman's Automotive

Maxima Oil

Kevin Walsh

Helix Mechanical

Crest Water Treatment

Comp Cams

TCI Transmissions

Machine Tech Racing Engines

Cogswell Motorsports

Lyons Muffler

Seaside Rooter

Carb On Tech

RK Fence

Lenard Izbicki

Water Works

San Diego Gear and Axle

Joe the Door Guy

Jiffy Tite

#1 All-Time Corvette Passenger

I've owned six Corvettes over a period of 50+ years.  Of all the people that have shared a Corvette ride with me over all those years, who do you suppose is the person who has been a passenger in my Corvettes for more hours than any other?

Answer:  My Mom!

Born and raised in Union South Carolina, Helen Ruth Brakefield moved to the Washington DC area right after high school graduation during World War II.  She worked in an aircraft factory (Rosie the Riveter style) making machine gun turrets for bombers.  One of her factory friends, Marguerite Thomas talked about her brother who was a Marine serving in the Pacific.  

After the war Marguerite made the introduction and before long Helen married Clinton "Tommy" Thomas and settled into the Suburban Washington area.  They would remain husband and wife their entire lives.

Four kids later, we were living on Yucca Street in Beltsville, home of the best Shell Station ever. 

By the time all the kids were in school, Mom got a job in the new industry of computers as a keypunch operator at The American Research Bureau, where she worked with Johnny Bradley's Mom and (my future friend) Sharon Cox.

It was through Mom's friendship with Sharon that I got introduced to Corvettes when Sharon,who owned a blue Corvair, came to our house with her boyfriend, Jim McEvoy, in his Honduras Maroon 1962 Fuelie Corvette.  My first Corvette ride left a lasting impression.

Before long Mom got a big promotion by taking a job at the University of Maryland in the Key Punch Department.  She worked hard and was promoted to the Accounts Payable Department, and eventually was promoted to manager.  A few years later I enrolled as a freshman at Maryland and bought my first Corvette, a 1959 beauty.

Mom and I worked out a deal.  I would drive us to Campus and she would let me park in her primo Faculty/Staff parking space in the parking lot next to Turner Hall.  Everyone in College Park knows Turner Hall as the place on Route 1 where you went for yummy ice cream produced by the University of Maryland Dairy.  Parking the Corvette there was way safer than in the student commuter lots, and the walk to Mom's office in the Main Administration Building and to my classes was much closer than the massive, sprawling parking lots.

Sometimes we would get an ice cream cone before starting our ride back to Beltsville.

We commuted back and forth every day for about four years.  Mom's computer experience rubbed off on me and launched my career.  Mom never complained about the Corvette, its loud exhausts, the stiff ride, or the lack of air conditioning in the Summer.  I can't count up all the hours that we spent together in the little Corvette, but it was a bunch.

After graduation I moved out of the house and our commuting routine was over.  Six years later I moved to California.  By then Mom had gotten her driver's license and bought her own car so she didn't need Corvette commuting services anymore.

Mom has been in declining health for the past few years, so I made it a priority to go see her whenever I was in the DC area.  Nan, my sister Barbara, and my brother Pat would join us.

One of our favorite things to do was to get an ice cream cone.

Mom passed away tonight.  I'm sure they have ice cream cones in Heaven.

Love you Mom!  Thanks for sharing all those rides in the Corvette with me!

Tony's 1961 VW Bug

We have some pretty cool cars in the Seaview Way cul-de-sac.  My neighbor, Tony, purchased a 1961 VW in 1993 while still in the Navy and had it restored that same year.  

In the 25 intervening years he has only put 20 miles on the car.  Tony has decided to start enjoying the car and asked me if I would help him install a restored gas tank.  Tony knows all about Beltsville Shell and our training in working on old cars. 

Here is the restored gas tank installed and ready for a drive.

A few adjustments to the carburetor were needed.

Next we were off to the gas station for a fill up!  After getting a fresh load of fuel we are ready for some Crusin'!

Tony's VW perfectly fits the description, "Showroom Stock!"  Every inch is spotless.

At the end of the day, Tony presented me with a new wall decoration for my garage.  Just like his VW, it is perfect!

Thanks, Tony! Let's put some miles on the old Corvettes and your VW!

Grand National Roadster Show 2018

(Updated, Monday, January 29, 2018)

Mike Reeves hosted me again at the 2018 Grand National Roadster Show, continuing an annual  tradition of making the journey from San Diego to Pomona in his 1932 Ford Roadster.  Mike enters his car for display, making the drive up in the early morning hours (still dark outside) arriving at the Pomona Fairplex at 6:30 AM.

This year I decided to wear my matching shirt!

We spent the day looking at amazing cars.  Every year I come home reminding myself that some day I need to get a 1933/34 Ford like this one.  Herman and Darryl, what do you think???

Every year I also challenge myself by asking, "Is there a car here that I would rather have than my 62 Corvette?"  This year I found one!

The most amazing part of the GNRS is the competition for "America's Most Beautiful Roadster" or AMBR.  Each year about a dozen cars are entered for the judging, the $25,000 prize, a huge trophy, and bragging rights for the shop that builds the car and the car's owner.  This year there was a record number of entries -- 15.  

Each year Mike and I pretend we are judges and try to guess which car will win.  This year our favorite was the "striped car", a 1931 Ford.  Some of the entries have drifted a bit too far off from a traditional "Hot Rod" for our tastes, but this car held true to what a "real" Hot Rod should look like (in our opinion, anyway).  Here is the photo from my phone:

For the second time in three tries, Mike and I guessed the winning entry (maybe we should be judges?)!

America's Most Beautiful Roadster 2018



The best part of the day is the drive back home.

 It's a great feeling riding in the Roadster with the barest essentials of Crusin'!

Heaters are for Sissies!

Thanks, Mike, for another fantastic day at GNRS!  I'm looking forward to our next trip together.