Chuck Demory was as proud of his son as a father could be. In incredibly terrible weather conditions, Chuck Demory Jr. ran a 7.38 and 7.39 with a naturally aspirated car during the NMCA/NMRA Super Bowl of Drag Racing at Route 66 Raceway located outside of Chicago, Ill.

Not a bad run when you consider the run was made in air the equivalent of 4,200 feet above sea level.

Chuck Demory was as proud of his son as a father could be. In incredibly terrible weather conditions, Chuck Demory Jr. ran a 7.38 and 7.39 with a naturally aspirated car during the NMCA/NMRA Super Bowl of Drag Racing at Route 66 Raceway located outside of Chicago, Ill.

Not a bad run when you consider the run was made in air the equivalent of 4,200 feet above sea level.

Race officials at the NMCA, as well as the competition, were so impressed with the performance that the second-generation driver was “rewarded” with added scrutiny, as well as a weight penalty, in time for this weekend’s joint NMCA/NMRA All-Star event in Concord, NC.

“There’s a question as to whether we have conventional or non-conventional heads,” said Chuck. “We took a 100 pound hit in time for this weekend.”

The Demory family run the Blue Thunder heads, a company they contend has made heads for Ford for a long time.

“We get a 100 pound weight break if we run O.E.M heads,” Chuck explained. “They have the same valve angles as the A head. That’s as conventional as you can get. It’s like a [Dart] Big Chief head right out of the box for the GM cars.”

Demory said he would run the Ford C Heads, with an 8-and-a-half degree angle, if Ford would give them a set. He could run these heads and get back the 100 pounds he lost headed into this weekend.   

“Once we get those we will bolt them right on,” Chuck confirmed.

The Demory family runs a 1968 Mustang mounted on a double-frame rail, Top Sportsman style chassis.

“It behaves just like a Pro Stock car because of the way we have it set up,” Chuck explained. “It carries the front tires with an automatic transmission. I raced twenty-five to thirty years in Pro Stock, I ought to know how to make one run.”

The experience of politics in racing since moving over to Nostalgia Pro Street with his son last year is not unchartered waters for the elder Demory, but the level of bickering from the street legal style racing far outweighs what he experienced in racing the IHRA’s mountain motor Pro Stock division.

“When we raced Pro Stock, we were given a set of rules at the beginning of the season and stuck to them until the end,” Chuck said. “I think where they mess up is to solicit rules in the middle of the season. Making performance changes in mid-season is tough on everyone, especially when they invest a lot of money at the beginning of the season.

“When they do these kinds of changes, it only makes you want to work even harder just to prove a point.”

Chuck Jr. believes it’s entertaining to see his father get fired up at their detractors.

“All we heard when we came into this class was all of this talk about Pro Stock,” Chuck Jr. said, referring to his father’s years of Pro Stock experience. “But this car we run was purpose built for this class and before we made the first run in competition, we had years to study and develop this combination we are running now.

“We are going to continue to build more power and go faster. So, we do have a box of tissue for those who are crying, if they need it.”