Ray's Notes

We had 62 cars at our 2nd race of the year, sponsored by King’s Hawaiian.  King’s Hawaiian has been a longtime sponsor of Pro Gas and we really appreciate all they do for us. So don’t forget to look for King’s Hawaiian products at your local grocery store and if they don’t have it ask them to get it.  Thanks again to Mike & Robin Boner for sponsoring the great looking trophy again this year.  Also, thanks for waiting to give the trophy out, I know it was a long wait.

As most of you know our good friend Rich Okerman was in a terrible crash at Las Vegas and suffered some serious burns.  He was finally able to go home Monday.  We are all relieved that Rich is well enough to go home, not as much as Nancy, who was by his side through it all.  Thanks to all the Pro Gas members we were able to donate $1500.00 to “Okie’s Recovery Fund”.  Thanks to Greg Bonds and his wife Joyce for donating the TV that was raffled off for the recovery fund.  It was great to see Greg back out racing with us, his new car turned out beautiful, sorry for the mishap with the wall but glad it wasn’t worse.

Larry Bradshaw also suffered a crash in Las Vegas.  He was in the same lane as Rich, but the night before, we are happy to say that Larry was not hurt even though the car sustained major damage.

As many of you know, Larry Scarth went though prostate surgery and we are happy to say it was a success.  We all wish him a speedy recovery.  Also, Jim Shenberg is recovering from a back problem; hope to see him back soon.

Congratulations to Chris “America’s Heartthrob” Newman for winning the race.  We all better watch out for this guy, it looks like he’s on a roll again after being runner-up in Vegas.  Also, congrats to our good friend Jim Sowards for his runner-up finish, great job by both drivers.  Our #1 qualifier was none other than Mo’s driver, Glen Smith, with his beautiful Henry J; of course Mo was probably the one to set the car up.  Glen along with Woody Tryon, Doug Crumlich, Randy Fabbro, who received the extra perks and Jim Barnes (the owner of my old roadster), graciously donated their monies to Okie’s Fund.

Because of the rain we were only able to complete one round of eliminations on Saturday.  Thanks to S\St, Bernie, Marie and all the racers co-operation we were able to finish our race on Sunday.  I would also like to thank the Pro Gas gals, Sharon, Mo, Robin, Kitty and Kari, also Dave Fargo for all they do.

Our next race will be May 16th at Bakersfield.  The gates will open at 7:00 am Saturday and Sunday, with the 1st time trial starting at 9:00 am on Saturday and 8:00 am on Sunday.  Gate fees are $30.00 for and driver, $10.00 for crew members per day.  We are working on getting a test & tune also early parking on Friday, but nothing is confirmed yet.  I will post it on our website once it is confirmed.  Some of you have expressed a concern about the DRR race scheduled for the same weekend; Blake at Famosa Raceway has assured me that the DRR race will not start until the Super categories are well through their rounds of eliminations.  It also makes good sense for DRR to wait until we are almost finished so more cars will be able to run their race too.

It has been brought to our attention that a few racers in the staging lanes have been building heat in their converters by applying the trans brake in low gear and raising the RPM.  This is strictly prohibited by NHRA and Pro Gas.  Please wait until just before entering the water box or staging.  We are all talking safety and Dave Coapstick has offered to show anyone who is interested, how to properly pack a parachute.  If it has been a long time since you have pulled your chute or if you have never pulled it, it wouldn’t hurt to make sure it works.  Contact Dave if you are interested.

Race Safe…
Ray