EVENT COVERAGE
Southeastern Dragway’s 50th Anniversary Go
a Big Washout
By Dale Wilson; Photos by Dale Wilson
and Brian Wood
What was scheduled as one of the largest gatherings of classic Funny Cars in the Southeast was washed out over the July 9-10 weekend as racers and about 3,000 spectators felt the effects of Hurricane Dennis. It would have been a good show, with nearly a dozen antique, refurbished and rebuilt ‘70s-era Funny Cars showing up to do battle.
The Southeastern Dragway pits were awash even before the final time runs for Super Pro brackets were completed. The race has been rescheduled for August 6.
On
hand were the Funny Cars of Virgil Hartman of Williamston, South Carolina,
a ’71 Mustang that was to be driven by Hartman’s son Richard
and a '77 Pontiac Firebird, scheduled to be wheeled by Hartman’s
son-in-law John “Bodie” Smith.
Also in the pits was Rick Stambaugh’s flamed mid-era Corvette From Fredericksburg, Virginia; the Camaro of Steve Nichols from Newark, Delaware; race promoter and vintage Funny Car builder Donnie Reeves of Atlanta, who had his ’72 Mustang on the grounds; Mitch King’s Fuel Coupe from Galveston, Texas; and Rob Bruce’s ’69 "Zombie" Charger from Flint, Michigan.
Smith's wife Rhonda Hartman-Smith was also on hand to sign autographs along with her husband. In addition, there were two blown fuel altereds and even Charles Overfelt’s blown, alky-fired flathead-powered roadster from North Carolina. The master of ceremonies and announcer was none other than “Berserko” Bob Doerrer, who was scheduled to do the Funny Car announcing.
The
oldest car on the grounds was the ’69 Charger of Rob Bruce, while
the newest was the ’77 Firebird out of the Hartman stable and sriven
by Smith. The entire Hartman clan have taken an interest of late in racing
early Funny Cars.
Race promoter Donnie Reeves, who has so far built abut 20 Funny Car bodies, all vintage, said he spent the last six months putting the big event together. Reeves' first Funny Car was a replica of Hubert Platt’s stretched, injected Mustang. Platt was also at Southeastern over the weekend as a guest host.
The Hartman camp, which participates heavily in NHRA and IHRA nitro racing, had their two cars ready to go, the ’71 Mustang-bodied machine "Runnin' Wild IV" and the ’77 Firebird "Sasquatch." As mentioned, Richard Hartman was scheduled to race the Ford while Smith was to pilot the Poncho. Virgil himself was doing the tuning on both cars.
Also there at Southeastern was the jet Funny Car of Dick Rosberg of North Carolina.
“This
is truly a run-whatcha-brung-and-hope-you-brung-enough race,” promoter
Reeves said before the rains hit on Saturday. He now owns Southeastern
Motorsports, a company dedicated to building early Funny Car ‘glass
bodies, based out of White, Georgia.
The race was part of Southeastern’s 50th anniversary celebration. The eighth-mile “country” track, now flying the NHRA flag, was opened in 1955 by Marion “Red” Jones and was simply called “Red’s Drag Strip.” It became Southeastern International Dragway under the management of new car dealer Charles Hardy of Dallas, Georgia, and is now known as Southeastern Dragway. In the “golden” days of match racing, everybody who was anybody showed up at the track, including “Dyno Don” Nicholson, Richard Petty, Hubert Platt, the complete Ford racing teams of Dick Brannan and Phil Bonner, plus others, including the Coca Cola Calvacade racing circuit.
Lately, local alcohol Funny Cars and Pro Modifieds have brought in the crowds.
Rumors have been rife for a year or so that the track will be closed by this August, to make way for a shopping center or mega-store. Former track manager Mike Hardy would neither confirm nor deny the sale of the land abutting the track, saying only that both he and the racing community will know what’s what by August. “This may be THE last race,” Hardy said. “We just don’t know yet.”
Promoter
Reeves, whose own replica Mustang Funny Car has gone 6.50 at more than
230 mph on a “shot” of nitro, said this early Funny Car circuit,
reminiscent of the West Coast’s successful California Independent
Funny Car Association races, may be the wave of the match-race future.
“All the Pros are getting into this,” he said, mentioning
fuel Funny pilot Ron Capps as a recent example. “It’s easier
racing. They can run something like this and just have fun.”
Reeves is looking to expand this vintage Funny Car racing circuit to
tracks all over the Southeast in the near future.
