Leesburg, Georgia resident Wheeler Davis found his love for the sport of drag racing in 1994 when he started taking his street car, a 1971 Nova, to the local track.

It didn’t take long before Davis became a serious bracket racer. “I’ve tried a lot of other things in life, but once I got started, I found out that drag racing is for me.”

In 2006, Davis “begged and borrowed” from his wife to purchase the car he still races today, a 1973 tube chassis Nova, with a 406 small block Chevy.

Leesburg, Georgia resident Wheeler Davis found his love for the sport of drag racing in 1994 when he started taking his street car, a 1971 Nova, to the local track.

It didn’t take long before Davis became a serious bracket racer. “I’ve tried a lot of other things in life, but once I got started, I found out that drag racing is for me.”

In 2006, Davis “begged and borrowed” from his wife to purchase the car he still races today, a 1973 tube chassis Nova, with a 406 small block Chevy.

Davis currently competes in the bracket programs at several local NHRA tracks, including South Georgia Motorsports Park (SGMP). While a win at SGMP eluded Davis until his third season racing there, once he did win in 2009, it turned into an even bigger windfall later in the year.

 The NHRA “Be a Member, Be a Winner” program rewards NHRA members who win a regular season bracket race at an NHRA member track with prizes from sponsors. Thanks to that win at SGMP, Wheeler Davis was now in for the 2009 Grand Prize, a Super Class at Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School.

“We were proud to provide a Super class as the 2009 NHRA Be a Winner, Be a Member Grand Prize,” said Hawley. “It is the most popular course we offer, and it’s perfect for those who are just beginning in drag racing and for those with more experience looking to improve their skills.”

“Winning the Grand Prize in the NHRA contest to attend Frank Hawley’s school was, to date, one of the highlights of my racing career,” noted Davis. “Me being the gear head that I am, I thought I would go to Frank’s school and we would just talk about drag racing the whole time and that wasn’t the case.”

“I had read a lot online about what others had to say about Frank and his school. Both what the professional racers and other folks who had taken the class thought. Many of them talked a lot about what they learned from Frank in the classroom and that it was amazing,” he continued. “Now that I have had the experience and understand what the other students were saying, I agree with all of them one-hundred percent.”

Since Davis was already licensed for his door car, when he attended Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School on January eleventh and twelfth, he decided to give the dragster a try.

“The classroom was great and more than I ever thought it would be. I do have to say that driving the dragster, which was my first time, was quite enlightening, especially the first time I went to a thousand foot mark,” Davis exclaimed. “The entire experience at Frank Hawley’s school was fantastic. Kudos to Frank and his entire staff.”

“I know Warren Johnson is known as the “Professor”, but after my experience with Frank Hawley and all that he taught me, Frank is the “Professor” to me,” he smiled. “He is in the sense of the mental side of drag racing and how he teaches us to understand what we need to do as racers to prepare ourselves and not just our cars for competition and for matters of everyday life.”

Thanks to winning the NHRA contest and attending Hawley’s school, Davis is now licensed to drive a dragster although his current plans will keep him in his Nova.

“My son wanted to come with me to the class real bad, but had just had some surgery and had to stay home to heal up. He wants to drive a dragster now. I told him that if he does well in school, Frank’s class would make a real nice graduation present for him,” Davis said.

“We certainly enjoyed having Wheeler in class and helping to support NHRA bracket racers by contributing to the “Be a Member, Be a Winner” program,” said Hawley. “It’s a great reward program for all the drivers competing on a weekly basis at local tracks around the country.”

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