Mac Tools Thunder Valley Nationals: Featured flyers

National Dragster, May 23, 2003

The car has a full-tube chassis that was built in 1990 and a four-link suspension with coil-overs. Aside from a fiberglass front end, the rest of the body is made of metal.

"The chassis was state of the art in 1990, but it's kind of old now," Brooks said. "The wheelbase is only 90 inches, so it definitely gets your attention. I never wrecked it until 2000, then I finally turned it over. The damage was mostly cosmetic, but it cost me $5,000 or $6,000 to get it back on the track."

Instead of bracket racing during off weekends, Brooks competes only in Super Gas. "I never was as good as these new guys," he said. "I don't enjoy the buybacks and crossing over."

Brooks participated in the first Division 2 Super Gas race ever organized, under the original 10.10 index. He is now 62, and he retired last year after 27 years as a school-district maintenance supervisor.

"I always wanted to retire and race a lot, and now I'm getting that chance," said Brooks, who has always had the support of his wife of 40 years, Angie.

Brooks, winner of multiple divisional events over the last 20 years and the (1993 Division 2 championship, builds his engines, as he always has. The current powerplant that he runs is a 406-cid model, which he calls a "basic small-block" and features Brodix heads and manifold, Lunati camshaft, 1050 Holley Dominator carburetor, Manley steel rods, Callies 4340 crankshaft, MSD ignition, Wiseco pistons, Moroso seven-quart oil pan filled with Valvoline and Pyroil, Dedenbear throttle stop, and Hooker headers. Behind the motor plate is a Richard Godley transmission, Trans Specialty torque converter, and a hard-to-find Pontiac rear end with Strange axles and a 4.56 ratio that spins Hoosier tires and Weld wheels.

"My car doesn't like a lot of power because it's short [wheelbase], narrow, and tall, and I suppose it's sort of crude by today's standards," Brooks said. "I'm kind of conservative with it - 134 or 135 mph - and I just hope for a 9.90. Everybody else runs high mph and tries to scare me, but if somebody's coming up on me at g 183 mph, I can't judge them anyway, so I don't look. I just do the best I can with what I have."

In Atlanta, his best wasn't too bad; he went three rounds before losing to Tommy Turner's perfect 9.900. "A 9.90 with a 0 - that's sort of hard to beat," Brooks said.