From The Director's Chair with Bill Holt, Southeast Division director

National Dragster, Sep 10, 2004 by Holt, Bill

With a few weeks off between events, I recently took a little vacation. My wife Betty and I jumped on my Harley-Davidson and went on an eight-day ride through Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho before winding up at the annual Harley rally in Sturgis, S.D. It was a wonderful experience, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone, especially if you've never been through that part of the United States. The scenery was truly breathtaking.

Now that I'm home, my batteries are recharged, and I'm ready for a busy end to our 2004 season. We have two Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series events left, at Silver Dollar Raceway Sept. 10-11 and Darlington Int'l Dragway Oct. 8-10. Then it will be time to crown our champions.

In regards to our LODRS events, our racers should be aware of a couple of changes. First, the Silver Dollar event will be a two-day race, with final eliminations being held Saturday, Sept. 11. We've tried this format at several other events, and it seems to work very well. We've received a lot of positive feedback from racers, so track operator Ed Swearingen and I have decided to use the Saturday format at Silver Dollar.

The Darlington event is one of the last races of the season on the East Coast, so I'm expecting a big turnout and a lot of intense racing in the battles for national and divisional championships. Also, former Pro Stock driver Johnny Dowey has taken over control of Darlington and named Cabin Parker the facility's operations manager.

On the subject of management changes, George Howard, who operates Huntsville Dragway and is the promoter of the Million Dollar Drag Race, has named Jerry Hallman as the manager of his other facility, New Bama Dragway in Cordova, Ala. The eighth-mile track is a popular local attraction and hosts a series of special events, which are expected to continue under the new management.

Once we finish our LODRS events, we move right into the Summit Racing Series Finals at Atlanta Dragway Oct. 14-16. As in years past, our four Summit Racing Series champions will be eligible to go to Pomona and compete at the National Championship, held during the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals.

One week after the Summit Racing Series race in Atlanta, we'll move south to U.S. 19 Dragway in Albany, Ga., for the ARC Southeast Division Jr. Dragster Championships. As I said, we're gearing up for a busy finish to the season.

Because we can race almost year-round, that's exactly what we're going to do. My planner for November is jam-packed; we have three NHRA National Open events scheduled. The first will be at Fayetteville Motorsports Park Nov. 6-7, followed by an event at Montgomery Motorsports Park Nov. 20-21 and the annual Citrus National Open at Moroso Motorsports Park Nov. 28-29.

In the last few weeks, I've received a number of calls and e-mails from people concerned about destruction caused by Hurricane Charley. Orlando Speed World Dragway sustained some damage from the high winds and rain and was closed for a couple of weeks. However, I'm happy to report that they are doing fine, and the track is open and running its normal schedule of events.

Finally, our team for the annual Jeg's Allstars competition in Chicago is complete. This year's representatives are Guy Kelly (Top Alcohol Dragster), Jay Payne (Top Alcohol Funny Car), Larry Pritchett (Comp), Joe LoCicero (Super Stock), Greg Rowe (Stock), Victor Fera (Super Comp), David Scott (Super Gas), Michael Ruff (Super Street) and our blockers, defending champs Peter Biondo (Super Stock) and Jim Perry (Super Comp). This is obviously a very talented group, but I'm not going to make any predictions. I'll just let these guys do all the talking on the racetrack.

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