A dragster is a purpose-built drag racing car with a long, low, lightweight design optimized for straight-line acceleration. Compared with many other drag cars, dragsters are typically more minimal and focused on speed and traction.
A hot rod is a car that’s been modified to be faster and more exciting than stock. In drag racing, it usually means it’s been changed specifically to race.
The Pontiac Firebird is a muscle car made by Pontiac, designed for strong acceleration and track-style driving. The podcast mentions “Firebird Raceway,” which connects the car to a place where people raced.
“Stock eliminator” is a drag-racing category where the cars have to be more like the factory version than in the wild, fully modified classes. The host is saying it’s become harder to get into than people might assume.
“Super Pro” is a higher-level drag-racing class. It usually means faster, more competitive cars than the lower classes, and the speaker likes the idea of letting those cars run at more events so more people can experience it.
“Divisional type events” are races organized by region or division. The speaker’s point is that if top classes are allowed to compete there, more people get to see it and more racers get chances.
“Super Gas” is the name of a drag-racing class. It’s basically a rulebook category—cars have to fit within certain limits—so everyone is competing on a more even footing.
“Igniter” sounds like the name of a specific race event they went to first. In drag racing, the event name matters because it identifies which meet or series stop it was.
Term
Indie
“Indie” is probably shorthand for a particular big race location or event. The speaker is talking about whether the same car was used in a major final, but the exact event name isn’t fully clear here.
Term
All Star Final
“All Star Final” sounds like the last, most important race round in a special series. They’re trying to remember whether the video was from that top final or from another big final event.
Term
National Event Final
“National Event Final” is likely the biggest final race for a national event or series. The speaker is comparing it to another final format (“All Star Final”) to figure out which one the video shows.
Bracket racing is drag racing where you’re trying to hit a specific time you picked ahead of the run. Instead of only racing the other car, you’re also trying to be consistent and “dial in” your timing.
NHRA is a major organization that runs drag-racing events. The “circuit” is basically the schedule of races where drivers compete under the same rules.
Super Stock is a drag-racing class where the rules keep the cars closer to what you could buy, even if they’re race-prepped. It’s meant to be competitive without going fully unrestricted.
Wheelies are when the front wheels lift up during acceleration. It happens when the car hooks up hard and the power is strong enough to raise the nose.
Concept
evolution and the story and the history
They’re talking about how the race track changed over time. The idea is that the track became famous because it kept improving and hosting better events.
This means the track is officially recognized as historically important. Once a place gets that kind of status, there are usually extra rules about changes so it can be preserved.
The Chevy II is an older Chevrolet model that people often modify for racing. Here they’re pointing out that the lower side panel sits so close to the ground that it can scrape, so they had to change it.
“Door cars” are drag-racing cars that look more like normal cars with doors. Some racers like them more for the style, but they can be more work to maintain than a dragster.
An LS is a GM V8 engine family. “Carbureted” means it uses a carburetor to mix fuel and air, instead of modern fuel injection—so tuning and behavior can be different.
Valve covers are the top covers on the engine that protect the valve area. Taking them off lets you look inside to check how things are wearing or if anything is wrong.
Cylinder heads are the top parts of the engine where the valves and combustion chambers are. Taking them off is a big job because it changes how the engine breathes and how it compresses the fuel-air mixture.
Compression is how tightly the engine squeezes the air-fuel mixture before ignition. Higher compression can make more power, and in this story they changed it by modifying the cylinder heads and gasket thickness.
“Shaving” means removing a small amount of material from an engine part. People do it to change compression or fitment, but it has to be measured carefully so the engine doesn’t get damaged.
A gasket is a seal that helps keep fluids and gases from leaking. A thinner head gasket can increase compression, but it has to be set up correctly so the engine still seals and runs safely.
A “hydraulic roller” is a type of engine cam/lifter setup that automatically takes up small clearances. That usually means less maintenance than older “solid lifter” setups.
A “solid lifter” is a cam follower that doesn’t self-adjust. It generally needs regular checking/adjusting so the valves stay in the right clearance range.
A “cam grind” is the exact shape of the camshaft. It determines how the engine breathes, which changes where the power shows up and how it feels to drive.
“427” is shorthand for an engine displacement around 427 cubic inches. Bigger displacement like that is often used in racing because it can make strong torque.
“Bore size” means how wide each cylinder is. A larger bore can make the engine bigger, which can help it make more power if everything else is set up correctly.
Pistons are the parts that move up and down inside the engine cylinders. When an engine is rebuilt, pistons are often inspected or replaced if they’re worn or damaged.
Lifters are parts that help the cam open and close the engine’s valves. If they’re worn out, the engine can run poorly, so rebuilds often replace them.
A “64 Chevelle” is a 1964 Chevrolet muscle car. People race these in drag racing because they’re popular platforms for building fast engines and setting up the car for straight-line speed.
They stopped in Union Grove, Wisconsin to do last-minute prep before racing. Drag racers often do this because weather and track conditions can change how the car runs.
Oil pressure tells you whether the engine is getting enough oil to lubricate its moving parts. If it’s too low, the engine can overheat and get damaged fast.
In drag racing, “staged” means you roll up to the start line and set the car so the timing lights can start correctly. If you’re not staged right, you can get a red light and lose.
“Contingency” in racing is sponsor money paid based on results, such as finishing positions or using specific approved parts. It can be significant in bracket racing because it helps teams offset costs and keep entering events.
A “machine shop” is a specialized repair shop that can machine and measure engine parts. They help fix worn components so the engine can be rebuilt correctly.
Micrometers are very precise measuring tools. They’re used during engine rebuilding to make sure parts are the right size and fit with the correct clearances.
“Grind the crank” means reshaping the crankshaft’s contact surfaces. It helps the bearings fit correctly so the engine can run without excessive friction or damage.
The eighth mile is a shorter drag-racing distance. He’s saying the car would make it partway down the track, then stop.
Term
990
“990” is a timing number from the drag strip that reflects how quickly the car reacted when the lights signaled. He’s saying his reaction time was extremely good.
Term
belt buckle
“Belt buckle” is slang racers use to describe how well you staged and launched. He’s saying his launch was dialed in and didn’t cause a foul.
Term
double O on the tree
“Double O” is slang for a very fast reaction time when the starting lights come on. He’s saying he was able to time his launch perfectly.
In drag racing, the “tree” is the set of start lights. This host is saying you usually need to meet a certain requirement before the lights will activate for your run.
Term
pulled into the lanes
“Pulled into the lanes” describes moving the car into its assigned drag-strip lane for the run. It’s part of the pre-launch routine where the car is positioned for staging and timing.
Term
let go 40
This sounds like racing slang for how the driver launches and times the run. The exact number could be RPM or another target, but the host doesn’t spell it out here.
Term
put a five above for the W
Bracket racing often uses target times for each car. This phrase likely means they picked a time that was “five” higher to help them win, but the host doesn’t explain the exact rule in this snippet.
A Camaro is a popular American muscle car made by Chevrolet. Here, they’re talking about a white one that was part of their racing situation, but they don’t say exactly which Camaro it was.
In bracket racing, racers use target times and timing math to figure out who should win. The “split” is the key matchup timing difference shown on the track’s computer.
A line lock is a brake control that lets you lock the brakes for a burnout or staging. It helps you keep the car from rolling while you rev the engine.
A torque converter is what helps an automatic car launch. A “stall converter” is tuned to let the engine rev to a certain RPM before the car really grabs, which can make launches faster.
Term
power combination
“Power combination” means the whole recipe of parts that make the car go fast. If those parts aren’t matched well, the car can feel off even if each part is good.
RPM is how fast the engine is spinning. Higher RPM usually means the engine is working harder, and shifting at the right RPM helps the car accelerate better.
A GoPro is an action camera used here as a data-check tool to confirm the driver’s shift timing. In racing, verifying that you’re actually hitting the shifter (and at the intended RPM/speed) can explain why a pass isn’t performing as expected.
Shifting at 7,200 RPM means changing gears when the engine reaches that rev level. Racers pick a number like this so the engine stays in its strongest power range.
“Big block” means a larger, higher-displacement V8 engine. People bring it up because it tends to make lots of torque and feels different than smaller engines.
ABS is a safety system that stops your wheels from locking up when you brake hard. If the wheels lock, you can’t steer as well. The story is about turning ABS off so the brakes would behave differently.
They’re talking about how the car’s electrical systems were set up so that running one system (ABS) also made the air conditioning run. It’s not a normal relationship you’d expect on most cars.
The parking brake usually works on the rear wheels. If you pull it while driving—especially on a front-wheel-drive car—it can make the back wheels lose grip and slide, which can ruin the tires.
Front-wheel drive means the front wheels are the ones doing the work of moving the car. If the rear wheels suddenly lock up, the car can lose balance and start sliding.
Flat spotting means the tire got dragged while it was locked, so part of it got worn into a flat patch. That can make the car shake and feel unstable when you drive again.
“World championships” means a big multi-race competition where you earn points over the season. The host is saying they were thinking about the bigger season outcome.
Seattle is mentioned as the location where the host drove the 1955 Chevrolet at a 1995 National Event Super Street. The place matters because track conditions and local event venues can influence how a car performs and how teams tune for traction.
The Chevrolet Malibu is a regular passenger car (a midsize sedan). Here, it’s being used as a backup car because the race car has an issue.
Term
G body shuffle
“G body shuffle” basically means switching to a different GM G-body car for racing. It’s like using another similar platform when your main car isn’t ready.
“Seven 60s” means the car is expected to run around 7.60 seconds in the quarter-mile. It’s a way racers talk about how fast they’re going based on their timing.
Car
Oldsmobile Omega
The Oldsmobile Omega is an older GM car. Here it’s being used for drag racing, likely because it’s a workable platform for building a fast bracket car.
LIVE
Hey, we are back from a long break like we never live.
I needed that West Coast music. I've been out on the east side for a long time, man.
I needed that to get me grounded. I flew back in this morning, looked out the window of the plane,
and Mount Hood was filling up the whole thing, and it was like we're back on solid ground, so it was good.
We want to hear a little bit about your travels in O'Hare Airport. Anything good happened this week?
Buddy, nothing good happens at O'Hare. It's been a long time since I've traveled through Chicago.
I've been lucky enough to either cut through Denver, which is always just a real pleasant
experience. It's a nice airport. It's easy. Or Minneapolis St. Paul, which as far as I'm concerned,
Minneapolis St. Paul is the finest airport in all of the land. But I had to go through Chicago both
ways, and we had issues both times, buddy. I mean, it was that place is an absolute mess.
One gate to the next is a 30-minute hike up and down and through tunnels underneath the ground.
It's a nightmare out there, and it adds to it though, right? In the moment, it's like,
man, this sucks. As I'm sitting here at home now in my own familiar surroundings,
it just adds a little spice to the story for the weekend, and so it's all good.
Yeah, absolutely. And you went out to the TB races. Remind us where that was at.
We're at what's now called Dorana Hebron, because they're all called Dorana.
Yeah, I was going to say, you're at Dorana. That's my bad.
Yeah, but National Trails, right? So we're at the track. The artist formerly known as
National Trails Raceway. And I got to say, man, they have been putting some time and some effort
into that facility. It's always been a nice place. It's one of the, I don't know if I'd say
original, but it's one of those facilities, especially if you just consider the tower
set up. It's a mega facility, right? And it's been around a long time. A lot of history,
a lot of stories come out of there. And working with Pete and his crew from the IHRA,
I got nothing but good things to say, man. They took really good care of us.
We had a great time. It was an inaugural event. So in a lot of ways, right? The first time TB had
been at that track, the first time TB had worked with IHRA on an event. And then that event itself,
the 75K, that was a new event for TB promotions. So you add all that up, plus the new people
that we brought in the team, including myself and quite a few others. None of us really knew
what to expect. We knew what we were going to try to do. We knew that the, we knew what the
expectations were of the racers and everybody else. And at the end of the day, I think everybody
delivered on all sides and the racing delivered, man. I mean, it was, and we've talked about this
before, when you put the best of the best on a race track for four days, by the time you get halfway
through the program, it's just filthy. Every lap is nasty. So we had some really electric finals.
We had some, one of the junior kids, Lucas Sowers went three for three. He was in all three finals
and he won them all. We had five door cars doubled in round five yesterday. And we had an
all door car final to close it out, which was really cool. Mikey Sturge will getting it done,
chopping it up with Caleb Ellison. They were both doubled at round five. They raised each other
and then had to come back and race each other. They beat each other once each. So as they come
into the final, you know, it's for the tiebreaker and Mikey Sturge will pushing through the finish
line and broke out just a little bit less than Caleb and parked it in the winner's circle for
25,000. Zach Smith won his third TB Promotions Dragster. Zach Folcher brought his brand new
Hot Rod out there, which he had just fired up for the first time like on Monday. Brand new
Dragster. He's won a bunch of TB events and went deep in a bunch of them. He had to rebuild that
thing two or three times in the pits and was able to get it done on Saturday night. So a lot of
fun, a lot of great action and we had a good time. I am crazy tired. It was a grind. I haven't been
this tired in a long time, but it was worth it. Yeah. If you didn't listen to
PJ and Tyler's podcast last week, they were talking about how there was a little bit of a
difficult transition moving to an IHR race with all the questions, but man, the TB guys have been
doing it long enough. The racers have been doing it long enough. It's just another race at another
race track. They're all 660 feet long. And if you had any doubt in those guys, it was quickly
put to bed when they started the event. It went well. From a distance looking over, I enjoyed
watching you on the mic. You did great. Along with all the staff, they do a great job out there.
They're going to do just as good, if not better, the next one as well.
Well, you heard them talking about that last week and it was like, we're bringing a team that's
prepared to take over if we need to. And in certain ways, we are going through no matter what because
they come in and they rent the track and we're running certain parts of this operation. And
that's agreed and understood from the start. But we didn't have to come in there and just do the
whole thing. IHRA had their team there. They had starting line guys. They had Medics. They had the
tire stores to fix tractor tires for us. Whatever we needed, they were helping us out. They were
getting it for us. And so while we were prepared to pick up any slack that there might have been,
we didn't have to do that. We just worked as a team with those guys and put on a really solid
event for everybody. And so it went great, man. And I don't think any of us have any reservations
whatsoever about going back there or to any other IHRA facility. We're going to do another
one here pretty soon. So very cool. More news, some actual West Coast racing going on down in
Fallon, Nevada at Top Gun Dragstrip. We had a national open down there and it was one of the
national open where they got two different races, Saturday's race, Sunday's race. So lots of racing
going down there in Nevada. Some shout outs to some of the winners. Les Figueroa. If you don't
know Les, he's the parts guy. He's got them all. He hasn't been doing a lot of racing lately, but
his glory days were early 2000s. But man, he can just jump in anything. And I was messaging him
earlier this week and I'm like, did you just have to get in it to show us all? It's not that hard
or what? He kind of laughed. But Les, getting it done in Super Street, Bo Winslow picks up his
first win in Stock Eliminator, bringing home that Diamond Wally. Congrats to Bo. I know he's been
working hard at this and it's cool to see him parking in the winner's circle. He got the win
over Jared Jordan and we'll talk about him on a little bit. Lonnie Grace, super pro winner, Frank
Barrett, pro winner. If you want to help me run through these, Allison Mazir. How about the Mazir
family? If we want to talk about the MVPs of this weekend, it's got to be the Mazir, don't you think?
I mean, there's no doubt about it. And anytime they're on property, you know that it's going to be
trouble. I mean, there was one point I think Zach Mazir in some of the ET competition went like,
I don't know, 37 rounds in a row or something crazy. I mean, it was wild, something like that.
It was like three events plus some more. I mean, something ridiculous. They can both wheel it.
I know Allie been taking a little bit of time off, not racing nearly as much as she used to back in
the day as they start to raise their young family. So good to see Allie back in the car and hasn't
missed a step. Yeah. So Allie gets the win in super comp on Saturday, I believe. And then Sunday,
Allie and Zach run each other in the final of super pro and Zach gets the win in super comp. So
they brought home 33 wallies, one almost everything they could down there in Fallon. But
yeah, greatest fall time of this week, definitely going to the whole entire Mazir family.
Yeah, well deserved. So Michael O'Neill and Gary Stoffer, I think they were in the final both days
in motorcycle. And I think Michael got them both. Yep, he did. Yeah. So, so nice job on the double
up for hand top comp, my favorite class in the house down at Top Gun. And we needed, we need to
have a tiebreaker now. Crew Castile and David Meyer locking horns both days. Crew gets the best of
one day. David gets the best of them. The other, that's a brand new hot rod for David Meyer. And
it's a beauty. So pretty cool. I know a lot of work, time, blood, sweat and tears went
into getting that car put together and ready. And pretty neat to see him, you know, able to have
some success in it so early. So shout out to my God, David Meyer. And then we did talk about Jared
Jordan. He was also in the final of both days in the stock super stock combo. He did get the win on
Sunday over Michael won. Kind of cool. They're both Steve won racing engines. I'm kind of partial
to Steve won, but also 426 max wedges. So like, not very often you get, you get those together and
the three semifinals were actually 426 max wedges. So pretty cool deal there.
Tell me about this junior dragster six to nine class.
Oof. On Sunday, my niece actually Alba Theobald. She got the runner up.
She's had a heck of a past couple of weeks down at the drag strip. She won her first
Wally a couple of weeks ago and then followed it up with the runner up. So I think the whole crew
is going to be headed to to Reading here in a couple of weeks. They're chasing that division
championship. Knox is also actually in the lead and Alba is also crushing it. So it's going to
come down to Reading to see who can another generation man. Like we're never not going to
have to mess around with you Theobalds man. You just keep bringing them up through the ranks.
I'm probably just going to have to retire and be the designated cook or something at the track
because they're going to be way better than I'll ever be. Brother, you're going to be like down
there team. You meet crew chief and seven cars. They're going to be they're going to call me a
has been here in a minute. I already know it. Hey, right now though, right now. Hey, nobody
calling you that because steel number one in the world right now. If the season ends today,
Parker Theobald is the world champ. My God, the season is far from over. We're not even close.
Hey, you're handling business though, brother.
Boise literally had their first divisionals.
Hey, that's out of your control, buddy. You're handling business where you need to
handle business when it's going down. So shout out to you.
Yeah, speaking of Boise, we got a couple Idahoans on the show tonight. We got Troy,
who's in Oregon from Idaho. And then we got Mr. Mark Kidd,
Future, if not already Hall of Famer in the Pacific Northwest,
West Coast in general. But what do you say we bring him on?
Well, let's do it. And let me tell you what that intro photo,
that I mean, a stone looking like a stone cold killer. If I'm sitting in the lanes and that
picture right there, if that's the guy that rolls around the corner looking like that with
that helmet and the, I mean, I'm just going to park it, brother. That is like, I'm broke.
Yeah, nope, shut down. You're on one right there. You got a single, I mean, look, an assassin,
look at him. Love it. Love it. Let's get him in here.
His boy's the baby face assassin, but he's just the assassin, huh?
Man. How's it going, Mark?
Hey guys, how we doing?
Good.
Thanks for taking some time. I know you're on vacation down there coming at us
from sunny, beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada.
That's right. And warm, which I love. So yeah.
Nice.
That picture that you had there, that helmet was, that's a throwback deal. I always was a
big Don Perdome fan when I was a kid. And he, I had Jeff Debbie paint that up because one of
his snake helmets was really similar to that.
I thought I recognized it.
Yeah. Yeah. It's not exactly right, but, you know, it had that same theme.
And so yeah, I always thought that was pretty cool.
So Parker sent me a bunch of pictures this morning or last night, whenever it was.
And that one, that one jumped out for sure, man. So thanks for coming on today.
Yeah. Well, I really appreciate you guys having me.
To be fair, I have only seen your show once I saw it with Christopher because I'm just
not techie enough to figure it out, but we're going to fix that.
And I'll go back and watch the other shows because I love these kinds of deals. So
Well, they're on the internet and the internet is forever.
So we can go watch them anytime. You know, we, we started, we took a week off last week,
but we were really hoping to connect with you. You and race kick things off at the igniter,
which, you know, as Parker mentioned, I grew up in Emmett, which is about eight miles to the north
of Firebird Raceway in the Payette River Valley there. And I remember growing up as a kid,
we were off the track almost every weekend. And if for some reason we couldn't be there,
we didn't have the cash to go there. We'd sit out in the back in barbecue. And when they were
running the big cars at races like the igniter, you could hear them in Emmett. You could hear the
echo. And I remember me and my dad would sit out there and try to talk about who we thought that
was or how fast they went or whatever. So that place always near and dear to my heart. I know
it is for you as well. Tell us a little about the igniter this year, how to go out there. I mean,
we know how the results went, but tell us a little bit about that event and what it means to you.
Well, it's a lot of history. That's what's neat, because I actually grew up in Southern
California. My parents moved back to Twin Falls in 1970. And my dad took me to Lyons Dragstrip
in, like, 1969, I think. And I got to see Domford Omron and, you know, some alters and some front
motor dragsters. And I don't know something about that just set the hook in me. And then we moved
to Idaho. First place he took me was at, because my dad had never raced, but he always kind of wanted
to. And, but he was into it a little bit. So he took me to Firebird to the points meet and like,
like that an NHRA division race in 73, I want to say, or 74. And we went up there and I just,
I still got pictures and an album from that. And so I'm just kind of a junkie for history.
So to be, you know, now that's my own track always has been since we started racing. And to have,
you know, like I mentioned in that interview we did there, I think 36 years ago, in 1990,
I won the igniter in Super Street. And then we've just been really blessed with success at that
race in particular over the years. But to have it happen with race and I, and just the way it all
played out, that was, that was pretty awesome. Being the 75th anniversary of NHRA and those
really cool wallies that I'd seen them, you know, in the National Dragster, but we rarely race at
races that you're going to get one. And lo and behold, you got one to win Super Pro, which,
you know, right wrong or indifferent. I got it. So I thought that was pretty neat. So
I think that's one of the coolest things we do in D six and D seven. I mean, it's
class racing has become a whole different animal than what I think it's original, the original
spirit of it was to be. And now, you know, stock eliminator is not an entry level class, you know,
and so nowadays, if you want to, and neither is super comp for that matter, you know,
none of these things are. And so if you want to race for a Wally, there's some barriers for you.
And the fact that they let pro and Super Pro run at the divisional type events out here on the west
coast, I think is, I think they should do that everywhere. I think it's an amazing opportunity
for folks to be able to get a taste of that and what that feels like that otherwise would never,
ever have the chance to do it. So you said right wrong or different. I think it's exactly the right
thing for them to do. Yeah. Yeah. Good exposure to, you know, to other styles of racing, maybe
than what they've seen at their local track. And, you know, who knows that that's what that's what
gets new people involved. So. Yeah, you talk about that first Super Street. Was that in the
old shoebox car? What were you driving when you got that win in Super Street? That was in, and
actually that type, I misspoke there. That 1990 was in Super Gas when I just first, me and a pile
of friends put, you know, built that over the winter. I bought it partially done from a guy in
Merced, California and brought it home. And then we just worked all winter and Bobby Barton's shop,
he let me use his shop because at the time I didn't have any, have anywhere to work on it.
And he was very gracious. And so anyway, we got it all done that winter with a bunch of friends.
Jeff, Debbie painted it, Bill Meraz was involved and a good friend of mine, Dan DeBoer and
oh man, the Mason brothers, anybody you want to talk about from around here, they all pitched in
and got it done. And the first race we ever went to was the Igniter. And after figuring out a couple
steering problems, here I'm holding the trophy on Sunday afternoon. It was crazy. Love it. I love it.
Crazy year. It was 36 years ago. That's nuts. That's a long time ago.
Is this the same car that you drove in the Indie? I don't know if it's the All Star Final or
the National Event Final itself. I seen a video of you in a final round in a Super Street or Super
Gas car and super nostalgic, pretty cool video. I'll have to find it and send it to you. But
was that the same car that we're talking about? Yep, that was it. It was like a paint job later,
but yeah, that was it for sure. Did you runner up that race? Is that correct?
I did, unfortunately. I mean, I shouldn't say unfortunately. It was just it was a gas to be
there and to be involved. And Saturday was super hot and humid and all the other days were kind
of semi-cool, which is weird for there. And I survived two races that I should not have won.
Giant errors by my opponents got me in the final. But to be able to do it and run it
made a decent lap, he just made a better one. You've done your fair share of
bracket racing lately and you've done your fair share of NHRA stuff in the past.
Is there a reason that you currently just do mostly bracket racing stuff or would you ever
consider getting back into the NHRA circuit? Yeah, I mean, the bracket racing is just attractive
because you get to race more. Now, what Division 6 has done has kind of, specifically Woodburn
and Firebird, they make it hard not to go, right? Because there's a bracket race Friday night,
there's one Saturday night, and then you've got Super Pro on Sunday. So that sort of fills the
criteria that we like to, I like to race each day. The idea of making time for us for two days
and race on Sunday, we did that for years and years and just doesn't appeal to me anymore.
But that being said, at some point in the future, you know, a fast super stock car that did wheelies
and, you know, I could maybe monkey around with the engine and try to be fast. That might be
something I'd consider. We'll see to see what time brings. So we like what we're doing for now.
We're going to need a West King, Bill kid or Mark kid collaboration.
Oh, that would that would be nasty. Yeah. You know, like you put the two of your
guys's heads together, man. And you boys have a lot of fun out there. You talk about the, you talk
about the, you know, the early years out there. You've been a stalwart at that track for a long
time. And in the West Coast scene, I was sharing pictures with Tim Wallace. From opening day, I
got pictures from in my dad's photo album from opening day at Firebird with the with the Hemi
Underglass and Dale Poldy's brand new 68 Camaro flopper that my dad took when he was, you know,
16 years old. And I've still got those pictures. And so you've been out there to see, you know,
most of the evolution and the story and the history of what is now just an iconic
racetrack. What's it been like to not only watch Firebird develop into what it is,
but to be, you're a big part of it, man. Yeah. I mean, I've come along about 10 years later,
I guess, I think 70, 78 or nine is the first year that I actually raced there. I think I ran
at a 56 Chevy in high school. I ran it up there at the night fire when you're just drove it up
and ran sportsmen didn't have a clue what I was doing, showed up late, you know, anyway,
but it was kind of fun. And just to say that we were there. And that was kind of my first,
you know, go racing at that track. But it has came so far. I mean, it was all dirt pits then.
You know, chain link fence and dirt on the hills. And to see it would be really interesting to see
some chronological photos because the new family has just been unbelievable.
I'll send you some of these pictures. I'm pretty sure the staging lanes look like a dirt road to
me. Oh yeah. Yeah, there's no asphalt on them. Yep. Yep. Crazy. The tower looked like kind of an
overgrown outhouse at the time, you know, but, but hey, it got the job done. And, you know,
Bill was a visionary. He really, he saw some great things for that place. And even his boys have,
you know, up until his passing, obviously the boys have taken over now. They've really done
a great job. I don't know if you know or not, but it's on the National Historic Registry.
Yep. I was just going to say, like, I'm so glad that they had the foresight to think about that.
And it had to be a tough decision because there's a lot of rules that come into play once you get
that designation on what you can and can't do. But when you think about being able to preserve
the longevity of that facility, just a master move, genius move by them. And I feel so lucky that
they've, they've been such good friends with debaters over the years, right? The, the, the
debaters are at the top of the heap when it comes to, to putting on a show and putting on programs
and building events that, that are attractive to the racers, that bring in the fans and, and,
and bring that momentum. And, and like we've benefited from that so much out here on the
West Coast with that friendship in the news. Yeah. And reinvesting, you know, these, you know,
you hear complaints just like every place, you know, oh, this is too expensive. That's too
expensive. I don't like how they do this or that. And, you know, I've probably said a few things
myself over the years, but, but bottom line is they just, there's no way that you can throw rocks
at what they're doing because like some little details or you don't, I mean, to look at what
they've done with the facility. I mean, yeah, it rivals Bader's place. In my opinion, just
obviously not as big because we don't have that kind of a, a population base here.
So I was talking to PJ North this weekend. Sorry, Parker. I was talking to PJ this weekend
and he came out for the night fire. I think it was last year and he's been to Bader tracks,
right? He's been to those events and, and he, the way he talks about it, right? So it's like,
not just us, right? We have our bias or whatever and we love it, but the people that make the
trip out there. I mean, he's a year removed from, from that experience and he's telling the stories
to us in the tower this weekend. And it's, he's telling them as if he was just there yesterday,
right? The excitement and, and so you just know they're doing it right out there at Firebird.
Yep. Yep. Yeah. It's really grown and yeah, they do good. I think it's kind of where they want it to
be. You know, we've had a few little talks, Brad and I, about, you know, potentially making Super
Pro bigger and getting the number bigger. But honestly, I think they just, they really kind of
nailed the sweet spot there for the amount of time they have a day and to be able to put on the
whole show, it works very well. So yeah. Yeah. There's a, there's a common denominator in this
latest conversation, the new family and the Bader family. You do a lot of racing with your son
and your daughter in the past, but is, is that one of the reasons that keeps you going to the
racetrack? Do you think that's played a big part of how close you and race are?
Oh, undoubtedly. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's been such a blessing. I mean, we didn't, we didn't
like push, you know, I love that picture there. That's awesome. That was in Indy in 97 as a matter
of fact. So yeah, they've been there since the first, I think Marissa was 30 days old and we went
to the Halloween Classic one year. So we broke them in right, I guess. But yeah, it's, it's, I
probably, I mean, I'd be involved, but not to the level that I am if it wasn't for race.
Marissa too, she's taken a couple, three years off for, for kids. But she's, I would, I would
imagine next year we're going to see her on a limited basis. And then her husband Drew has
actually been running my little Chevy too, on and off. But this year he's busy growing his
business. So he hasn't had the opportunity. But yeah, it's just, it's been such a special thing
that, I mean, how many guys in their sixties got two 30 year old kids that are hanging out with
them on the weekends, you know, and then with the grandkids, which are just the, you know,
neatest thing in the entire world, they get to come a lot. And so yeah, I just, that is a big
part of why I'm still doing it and what keeps us doing it and keeps kind of the passion alive.
So for what to happen in Boise to happen is like, you know, you just, you can't, you can't even
hardly wish for stuff like that, but it's sure neat when it does. I've, I've got to experience this
a little bit helping my wife race and seeing some on track success for her. But I feel like I almost
get more excited watching her race in and at watching her succeed. You get that same, same
feeling when you watch your kids race and succeed. Yep. Hands down. I was just telling my wife a
little bit ago and we were talking about a few things that I wanted to come up. So I'm glad you
mentioned that we, the overgooding, I know they have a little facility or they did. And we got a
little junior dragster from Ken Nelson and I made it to where I could move the pedals. And I think
race was 10 and Marissa was 12 and we decided we were going to get them started. So we went over
there and I was, let me know, to be, to race and to race competitively, you're selfish to some degree,
right? Because the amount of work and time that it takes to do it and hold down a job and provide
for everybody and make that happen without, you know, still trying to be a dad, the husband and,
you know, it's a lot and for them to sacrifice. And I always wondered, would I be able
to, you know, step aside if necessary? Now, fortunately we've been very blessed and I haven't
had to, but I just, I almost didn't think I could, you know, I was like, no, there's no way I could
just not race. But literally, as soon as those, that started and they started making runs, I
looked right at her and said, you know what, I could sell everything this moment and do nothing
but watch them race. I mean, it's, it's an amazing thing. And to this day, you know, I'm way more
beat up when, when a race or she loses than I am when I lose. So we were, we were talking about
that this weekend too, about they were asking, the guys out there were asking if I was going to get
my daughters involved. And I'm like, I don't know that they're, that they're into that right now.
There was a moment, there was a brief moment where, where my middle daughter Florence,
we, we went to the pro shop and got some money out for like, so we get ice cream and hot dogs.
I took out 40 bucks from the ATM at the pro shop and we're walking back through the pits and,
and Ben Bryson's got one of his cars for sale sitting there in the pit, one of his juniors for
sale and she, she, I don't know, she's six at the time and she points it and she goes, daddy,
it's for sale. I said, yeah, it is. And she goes, do you still got that money? And I had 40 bucks,
it only took out 40 bucks, you know, but she was young enough at the time. She didn't have a concept.
I was like, honey, I think it's going to cost a little bit more than that. But in that moment,
she had that little glimmer in her eye and, and if, and if that's what it would have took,
I would have sold my car, my truck, the motor home, whatever it would have took to put her in
a car and have her race. So I know that when, you know, when you talk about that feeling,
what you do to make sure that they could, that they could do it, man, I felt that before. And
she, the moment quickly passed. And so I've still got my truck and my motor home in the race car,
but, you know, I would definitely, if that's what it took to facilitate that for sure.
Yeah. And it's a great, I mean, just from my perspective, we always use it as a,
as a carrot for lack of a better word, you know, it's a great motivator, you know,
if they're acting up or the grades aren't right, or they wouldn't work on the cars and fuel them.
I, they'll both probably hate me for saying this, but I, I let them both run out of fuel one time
because my rule was that, you know, when we get to the racetrack, right, you're there, you're young,
this isn't, everything isn't about racing and winning, right? It's a, it's a social thing,
as we all know. But, you know, once you make a run, you come back, you fill your fuel tank,
you put the flag in, make sure all your gear's ready to go and then go do what you want to do.
Well, they forget to put fuel in it. And I reminded them a few times and I thought, well,
this isn't working. So I just kept my mouth shut. And I had a couple of my friends, you know, like,
hey, you're not going to let them run out of fuel, are you? And I said, yes, I am.
And I think, I think Marissa had it happen on a time run race, actually lost a race,
if I'm not mistaken. So I guess either way, it was, it was an important lesson. I never had to
say one more word. Yep. Yep. They're always gassed up after that. Because I want to be
in it and understand that it's, you know, it is an opportunity, right? And they're spoiled to some
question. But if you use it as a tool to grow them and, you know, make them learn
responsibility, it's a great thing. Because the worst thing you can have as a teenager that
doesn't do anything, right? Because you literally have no, no way to reach them if they start going
off the rails. So it's been a great thing for us. Mark, you brought up that Chevy too. Is it,
is the orange Chevy to the same car that was in that picture we just looked at or two different
cars? Yeah, two different cars. I, excuse me. I sold that in, I think, 1993 to Donna, Diana,
Anderson. That was the car that she had. And of course, they changed it and modified it and did
some things because I was, I bought, it was in 93 and I was later, 96 or 97. It was when I bought
the business for my dad. The business he'd always had was Valley Engine Service. It's the only job
I've ever had, you know, grew up helping him build engines there and just kind of worked into it.
And then we actually traded places, if you will, in the 97 or 98. So I sold pretty much everything
to be able to afford to do that and buy some equipment that I've thought we needed and,
you know, took a few years to kind of get things going and get back to racing. But that's where
that car went. And there's a guy in Canada that has it and I can't bring his name to mind right
now, but he just sent me pictures. He's been rebuilding it for the last several years and
it's gorgeous. He's, it's like a new car now, you know. I've probably got, I've probably got old
pictures of that thing and like that, that's how a race car is supposed to look, man. I mean,
there's not a lot of things I wouldn't give to have that hot rod. Yeah, I was kind of weird
about it. I mean, we literally, one thing I've never liked about the Chevy 2 is when you get
them sitting right, the rocker panel is so low, you know, you literally have to have a
scrape in the ground. So we snapped the line and sawed that dude off and right below the doors
and then I thought it looked right. So this is kind of a common question that we have on the show
with people who race both dragsters and door cars. Which do you prefer and which do you think is a
better tool? You know, in the right hands, either are plenty effective as we all know.
Dragsters, I mean, I don't know how you can argue the fact that it's easier to race, you know, you
can see out of them, you can work on them easier, you can fit lots of them in a trailer. So they
have all those pluses, but at the end of the day, it's a dragster, right? It's an engine stand with
paint on it. So personality wise, you know, I'm a door car guy through and through always have been,
but I realized that, you know, to do what we wanted to do and the amount of people that were
racing and stuff, that that was going to be the only way we could make it happen. And so that's
kind of what pushed me that direction. And I think I heard a story. I got a story too that I'll get
to in a minute, but I heard this one, I believe on the same day. You got a carbureted LS in the
orange car, correct? Yes, sir. Yep. Did I hear you correctly say one time you went like 500 runs
before you pulled the valve covers on that thing? It's like 400 and something. Yeah, almost 500 runs.
Yeah, I pulled them up. Everything was still in there because my goal when I put it together was
to not work on it for a thousand runs, just to see if it would do that. Now, I did take the cylinder
heads off in about 500, 600 runs because I wanted to put some more compression in it. And so we did
that, but we didn't replace anything or make anything better. We just basically shaved it,
has a little bit, put a thinner gasket in and throw it back together. And so far it's over 900.
By the end of the year, it should be to a thousand. We can take it apart and see what's left in there.
I tell that story to people all the time. Like when we get to talking about big block or small
block or LS and I'm like, man, I talked to Mark Kidd one time. Because it's what makes me think,
man, maybe there's something to this LS business. I don't like the way those valve covers look.
That's the thing that keeps me from even being interested in them because I like the old school
look of the small block and big blocks, but 600 runs without having to pull the valve covers.
That's pretty impressive. Yeah, it's hydraulic roller because obviously,
you know, in the business I'm in, I, you know, it's be wildly, whatever the word is,
they're dangerous to not look at a solid lifter one. Even if you're not adjusting them, you need
to look, right? But yeah, it's been, it's just a little 640 lift hydraulic roller, 140 pounds on
the seat, 400 open, just super mild. Dustin Lee actually come up with the cam grind for me. And
it was kind of a collaboration between myself and him. And it, and my son-in-law Drew,
he's kind of an LS guy. And yeah, it's been pretty darn successful. I'm happy. That's cool, man.
That being said, Andy Schmoll, you know, he doesn't go real fast with his stuff, but the 427s,
and then like the last engine, I finally convinced him to put a little bit more bore size in it.
He puts a thousand runs on those. And the last one, he, this 427 had a thousand or maybe a tick
over. And we took it apart and owned the cylinders and zygled the pistons and put lifters in it and
put it back together. Wow, impressive. Well, any more, you're trying not to work on stuff. It
sounds like that's the smart way to go. But race was telling me, you did a bottom in rebuild in
the Jags parking lot. Can you tell us a little bit about that story? Oh yeah, that was, that was
when I had the energy. We were going to the Jags, not Jags at the time, the TRW All Stars in 1993,
I think it was. And it kind of even has a little backstory. We were racing the Fox on it, Boise,
and the engine blew up in the semis, I think, I was doing really well. And we're literally going
to leave the following Tuesday. And so Johnny Gross, who's been a friend of mine since, oh heck,
the late 80s, I met him in Yakima. And he's a character all on his own. We could talk for
a couple hours about him, you know, but just a super dedicated guy and, you know, just a lifelong
friend. He's like a sort of a dad a little bit in some, some respects, even though he's not that
much older. But just a great guy, always been a good supporter. Well, he says, hey, if we're going
to go back there, you need to race two cars. So I'm going to run this, this my car in super gas,
and then run this 64 Chevelle he had in Super Street, because he'd done fairly well with that.
So we load everything up and my wife and myself and then her little brother, Mark, who went,
there were a lot of races with us back in the day, we had back there and we go to Union Grove,
Wisconsin, to kind of get a tune up because it's on the way and it was going to be humid and figure
out how to do it. We ended up getting to the quarter finals, I think, and the thing that didn't
have any oil pressure, because at Fox out, we blew it up. And so Johnny had a spare engine,
I got off track there. So I threw his spare in and then we took off and then we burned it up
and we got to, I think it was at eight cars. And so I thought, well, heck, we needed the money.
You know, it was just everything we could do to keep going back in them days. And so I staged at
eight cars and the guy goes red. I staged at four cars and the guy went red. I kid you not.
So we ended up getting runner up money with contingency back then was pretty significant.
And I had Jack Coughlin Jr. in it in that year and he was, he didn't fall for it. So
and then we went, they came over and said, Hey, you can come behind our building. There's a machine
shop there down the street. We'll hook you up with everything you need. And they did. They got me a
ring filer and some micrometers. And we took that thing apart and got the heads fixed up and got
bearings and had a guy grind the crank and threw everything in the trailer and then went to, I
guess some kind of a grocery chain that had lights back there, Piggly Wiggly or something like that.
And Johnny's cooking steaks and at like 435 o'clock in the afternoon, we start putting the
engine together. And I mean, like putting the crank in it, filed the rings, threw it all back
together. And at midnight, we drove the car in the trailer. So that was, that was pretty epic.
And that's the same year you went to the final or no? No, no, that was it. That was at Columbus.
You guys were talking about Derana Speedway. That was when it was at Columbus.
The TRW All-Star race was. Is there a race that you look back on and that you're just most proud
of? It doesn't even have to be you personally, but is there a race that you look back and think,
man, that I've made it? Yeah, I mean, probably when I won Super Gas in 1996, I guess,
I won the national advantage at Phoenix and we had nothing but problems. We had three time runs
and I never made it. I either got the back half of the run right and it wouldn't leave the starting
line. It was having a fuel system problem or it would go to eighth mile and then quit. And so I
spent several hours once we found the problem, we got it fixed, kind of morphine runs together,
trying to figure it out. And I survived first round. And then by the time we got to Sunday,
I just, I've never, you know, I tell people, you'll have days where you just can't miss the tree
and you'll have days that the car won't miss. But rarely those days come on the same day, right?
And this was one of those days. I couldn't believe it. I mean, I literally, I got a 990 with a zero
belt buckle in the semis or in the quarters. I literally felt like I was dialing it to the
thousands and I could be nothing but double O on the tree. And yeah, that was as far as a memorable
deal where, you know, started with nothing and ended up with a trophy in my hand. That was crazy.
So still to this day, the only day I ever remember that I had both ends of the race track,
100% covered with 100% confidence. It's just crazy. It's hard to describe.
That's awesome. Justin Hoff, tuning in, talking about how you're one of those guys that we look
up to. You know, anybody who's got into it after you were already there looks up to you. And I
can certainly attest to that. I remember growing up talking to my dad. He had a heavy duty mechanic
shop out by the airport. And when we talk about engines, it was either take it to woods,
woods rebabbing or take it to Mark Kidd or take it to Larry Decker. Yeah. And it was like those
were and Larry's up in your, you know, I don't think Larry, I don't know if Larry's still with
us anymore, but yeah, yeah, who are great friends. Yeah, up in your neck of the woods out of Jerome,
my mom and stepdad live up in Wendell. But you know, so always wanted to, you were the one that
was closest to me, you know, in Emmett. And so I've always wanted a kid powered machine and someday
I'll have me one. But who were those people for you as you came up through it through the sport,
learned the ropes? Who were the folks that, you know, either took you under their wing or, you
know, that you wanted to emulate or learn from? Who are the ones that inspired you on the way?
Well, early on, I would say Dom Pardome, right? That's for whatever reason, just the way he
carried himself. And, you know, this the cool factor, which the dude still has, you know,
I always thought that was neat. And, you know, he dominated. I like that idea when someone just
can't be beat that that's that's always fun. And then, but probably after that, my dad,
of course, you know, even though he didn't race, he made a couple of runs here and there.
He just, you know, he really was helpful and facilitating, you know, he didn't have a problem
on either. But, you know, he really let me use the shop and do side jobs and do what I had to
do to try to get this whole thing going. And so he was always my one of my biggest supporters.
And then, I don't know, the early 80s, when I was really starting to get swinging in and I met
Jeff Debbie moved to Twin Falls, Iowa, where we're from, of course, and he, we got to be friends
right off the bat. And he'd come from the Bay Area and had big aspirations for racing, which,
you know, of course, everybody knows him now, you know, more for his sign painting, you know,
he's like the world renowned lettering guy and helmet painter and car, you can do anything,
right? He's unbelievably talented. Only guy that's ever touched any of my cars as far as
lettering, airbrushing anything, he's done it all. And so, yeah, we got together and I don't,
in some ways, grew up together in it, learning stuff. And I fed off him, he fed off of me.
And then, after that, probably Lee Shepard, right, just because he was like the ultimate door car guy
and in my opinion, you know, understood engines and cylinder heads like, you know, very, very few
people do. So that was kind of the, you know, probably the group that influenced me the most.
That's pretty awesome, man. Those are some names that, it's funny, you talk about Jeff and
it's funny how the good, the good ones find a way to each other, right? You and Jeff became
good buddies. I know Jeff and Justin are good buddies and, you know, you put the three of you,
you know, in the staging lanes and it's like, I'm not even, I'm not even leaving the trailer.
I'm just going to stay, cook me a hot dog, you know, go back to bed or something.
That's a nice compliment, but I've always said, it doesn't matter who you race, it's when you
race them, right? Because, you know, starting with Luke Bugacki and right on down to somebody
you've never heard of, they can throw some trash up there and, you know, they can put
some stuff up that's just unbeatable. I guess the guy used to do it in a higher percentage
of the time than the one you want to avoid. Yeah, it was, it was funny this weekend, man.
I mean, it, you know, 98% of the time you probably needed to be 18 total or better to
turn on the windlight in Columbus this last weekend, but crazy stuff. I saw the old 96 pack
got it done multiple times though, you know, and it's just like pulled into the lanes just right,
you know, let go 40, you know, and put a five above for the W. And it was like, man,
if I could get those every time, I could, you know, I'd be in business, but.
We were at the million, it's funny that one of the six out of my mind for a deal like that was
that Kenny Underwood wanted a motor home, he told us that whatever. I think I was, I didn't make
the split, but the round before there was a lot of talk and about when it was going to happen.
And he's like, well, you guys do what you want, but I'm not splitting. I need to buy a motor home.
This was in, this is when it was at Memphis, I think pretty, maybe it was Montgomery. I don't
know. Either way, it was the first time he wanted, I believe in that white Camaro, the early one.
And after the Anthony's car, I think we're toesies car, but he did, he just would not split,
would not split. Well, he didn't get to buy it three and had to raise somebody wouldn't split.
And he's 91 on the tree and makes it work. I was like, man, that dude, you talk about being
confident and have it going on and ends up winning the race. So it's funny how some of those folks
can, you know, you see, you see the split come up on the computer and nine times out of 10,
you look at it and you're like, that's not going to work. But sometimes there's someone like
skinny, skinny sitting in the seat and you're like, you don't call it. Yeah. You're like,
he might figure this out. Right. And they do sometimes it's like, how, I don't know how you
left that far behind and figured it out down there, but they do it, man. It's like, I was equated to
playing 21, right? You can win with a pair of twos if you do it, right? And the other cooperate.
So he got a pair of twos. I mentioned, oh, go ahead, Parker, go ahead. I was going to say now,
now Mark's going to take all their money, just like he does at the racetrack down in Vegas.
Well, we all know it doesn't work that way, but we're having fun losing it.
They don't, they don't build hotels that nice by losing money.
Nope. No, I'd get a free room and some food. I'm golden. That's good enough for me.
I mentioned a little bit earlier, a story that to me now, just looking back is funny.
Someday I'll put it in the winter circle with a kid powered hot rod, but, but no matter whether
that ever happens or not, you are actually a part of whatever my drag racing story ends up being.
You were there on the first day and I showed up to Woodburn for this is bracket racing elite,
elite fest. Oh, is that right? Yeah. And you were there and I may jog your memory, but
I'd never driven a race car really in my life. I'd made it pass and well,
quite a few passes in one of Frank Holly's dragsters that he came up to Woodburn
a couple years before while I was starting to put my car together and I was hooked.
And, and so I'm building my car. I have to leave the classroom portion of the, of the program
early because my car's not running. It's not, I'm not, it's not wired. The, the transmission is
not in it. And that next day, don't car deal. So yeah. And that next day we're on track. And so
I tell Luke, I'm like, sorry, but I got to skip out. I got to get this, I got to get this car ready.
I get to the hotel back in Woodburn about 430 in the morning and we got it done. We got her
put together, did a burnout out in the parking lot of the shop. I was putting it together in
and it held together. So we put her on the trailer and brought her up and
and so I go to do my first burnout and Justin comes over and goes, buddy,
you got to do a burnout, like a real one. And so I learned how to do a proper burnout in a
door car without a line lock. And I mean, not, you know, I've done street burnouts, power breaks,
but like I had to do me a real burnout, get her up there. And, and I had a, what I thought
should have been about a 6000 stall converter. Turns out maybe it wasn't quite there with my
power combination, but I remember I'm, I'm making laps. And after about my third one, you come over
to me, you go, are you leaving in high gear? I was like, I'm not. And he goes, are you shifting?
I was like, I am, I promise I am. And, and you didn't believe me. Like you didn't trust me because
you couldn't hear it because I wasn't taking her up. I wasn't taking the RPMs up high enough.
And I make another pass. He goes, I don't think you're shifting it, man. Like,
so we had to put a GoPro in the car. Koop Chun goes, has to go grab the GoPro and him and Jordan
Pratt had to wire up a GoPro in there to make sure that I was hitting the shifter.
And once we verified that I was hitting the shifter, Koop and Jordan are like, he's shifting.
And, and you said, right, then you go, where are you shifting? I said, 6000. He goes,
wait till you get to 72. And I've been shifting at 7,200 ever since.
There's an ancient builder for you trying to garner up some business.
Well, and it's funny because growing up, my dad, he's a big block guy. He always used to joke.
You say, if you want to go fast, you get a small buck. If you want to go real fast,
you get a big block. So we had big block stuff and all of our stuff, but it was all stock.
And so when I drive around, he said, you ever take this over 5,200 RPM, I will have your ass.
And he passed away before I was able to ever run the car. But I got a picture of him looking
through a Hoosier tire. He never missed an opportunity to say Hoosier daddy.
And, and I got it on the thing. And still every time I make a pass, when that shift light comes
on and that she's tickling 7,200, I just think about him all the time. And there's been a few
times I said, Mark told me to do it. And he knew who you were and what you know. And so
that's my excuse when, when I'm shifting to my pops, because if he knew I was shifting a
big box Chevy at 7,200, he'd kill me. Yeah. Yeah. Now that you mentioned all that,
that's coming back to me. Yeah. That was really a fun experience. I felt like I probably learned
as much as anybody, you know, getting to, you know, just hang around and, you know,
everybody feeds off everybody. And that was, that was a fun weekend. I love to do that again
at some point. So it was a good time. We have some folks out in the chat bleachers. David Deming
says to ask you about the rental car with Dan Lafferty. Oh boy.
Anything with Dan Lafferty is going to be a good story. Oh yeah. Yeah, it was actually,
and I mean, to be fair, this happened a multiple times. I'm not so proud of it at this point in
my life, but it's there. I'm just, I'm just so thankful that we didn't have cell phones.
Yeah. I remember which time was the most entertaining, but
one year at the million, Stephen Hughes had won the million the year prior. And so we went out and
Ken Nelson had a couple of guys working for him and Mark Boss and then his brother,
dang it, I can't think of his name. Anyway, we, Dan and I and Scott Lemon
and Ken put all four of our cars in that big rig he had. And those guys drove it out and we all
flew out. And it was when the million was at, at Memphis, I'm 90% sure. And so of course we got a
rental car. And we, one of the things that we thought would be funny is, you know, go out to
parking lot and we bet on which stall it was going to stop in on the lines, get going about
15 miles an hour and throw it in park, you know, and just let the haul just quickly, quickly, quickly,
quickly until you found, you know, wherever it stopped. And then there's a cigar store there.
So we're all like, Oh yeah, let's do, let's do the teach and chong thing. Well, I'm telling you
right here, you can't do that. So long before we got the cigar smoke enough to make it look like
that movie, you couldn't breathe. And we were doing secret service turnarounds in the parking lot
and, you know, throwing it in reverse at 80 going down the freeway and all that.
Brutal. Yeah, it wasn't very good. But, but one of the reasons I mentioned Stephen is that we've
been riding around and I couldn't make it lock the brakes up. And he says, Oh, you got to pull
the fuse for the ABS. And so, you know, it's hot and sweaty back there. Well, they knew apparently
those guys had abused cars too. So that that that ran the ABS also ran the air conditioning.
We had to roll the windows down because the locking up the brakes and sliding was way more
important. So then I had another deal that wasn't really me, but it was one of my cohorts. Lafferty
was in the car and one other guy named Dan, but I'll let it, I won't let it go any further than
that for his protection. He told us one night after dinner, he says, Hey, he says, this is why
you don't put a rear wheel emergency brake in a front wheel drive car. This is like a near new
Pontiac, something or other late nineties in the Brainerd, Minnesota. And he floors it and
pulls the emergency brake. And we drag those rear tires for better part of a block. And so when he
lets off, of course, they're flat spotted to the cords. And it's just then you turn the corner
and they're out of say again. We put up with that for two days and then had to take the car back
to the airport and watch the guy drive it away, hoping he wouldn't stop and say, Hey, hold it.
Whoa. Never heard a thing from himself. That we're just talking today. It's like the, the,
the stuff that you can get away with when it wasn't all on video, right? It's stuff that if
there is a video of it, people really give you hell for it. But when it's just a story, that's
all good. It's nothing to be proud of it. Nobody got killed. So
well, I didn't really mean to throw you under the bus right there. But I got some,
I got some more fun stories that I want to hear about before we wrap this thing up. But
did Aaron Markham tried to order McDonald's from Jim Yates? Is this a true story?
Oh, that's a true story. Yeah. Yeah. He's, he'd won. He'd went on before we get done. I definitely
want to go over that whole thing with Delver Markham because that was a, that was a big part of,
you know, people helping me and, you know, making my path go the right direction. But
anyway, yeah, he'd won the national event in 97 in the little Brogy Roadster that I was kind of
tuning in and he was driving it. We had a whole thing going with Delver. We had like six cars
and two trailers and, and I was sort of heading it up, if you will. And then we had a couple of
guys helping us and Aaron was driving and Dan Lafferney was driving and I was driving two cars
each. So anyway, he won. And you know, that was just awesome. We were doing pretty good. You know,
he'd done okay earlier. And so we were, you know, liking our chances of going forward for the,
at least the world championships, what we were thinking about. Anyway, we get all done. And
that's when Jim Yates and Dick Masken had their big fallen out, you know, I guess after each race,
Jim's supposed to create up all the engines and ship them back to Masken's and then they deal
with them and then, you know, ship them to the next race. He wasn't supposed to look at them or
get inside of them. You know, that was what my understanding was. Well, they, everybody went
to dinner and apparently Yates stole the engines or wouldn't ship them or they disappeared. I don't
know the whole story. So we're trying to leave the racetrack and they're having a fairly heated
to do out here and they've got the exit block. They're all in rental cars or something, maybe one
guy to pick up, I don't know. And Aaron's, you know, had a few libations because he's pretty excited
about winning. And me and my buddy, Johnny Grocer, in the front seat, he's hanging out the back
window and yeah, he's yelling at Jim Yates. He says, I want a cheeseburger with fries and a Dr.
Pepper. We're jamming him back in there saying, dude, this is kind of a big thing here. We're
going to get shot or something. Yeah, that's, that's a true story for sure.
Never, never a dull moment with them boys. Oh my. Yeah, that was such a neat deal because
I'd made a few notes here. I was kind of trying to make sure let me take a quick peek here.
I didn't want to miss some stuff, mostly about the people involved because for me,
that's just where it's all at. You know, we, you know, like I said, Johnny Gross was a really big
part of a lot of the stuff I had to do or got to do early on after I met him. So he, I was driving
his 55 Chevy at Seattle in 1995 at the National Event Super Street. And Chris Martin was making
all the calls on the throttle stop because I had some experience, you know, and we'd done it, but
that car was just a little bit different. And, and it got delayed two days because of rain and I
ended up winning my first National Event on that Tuesday, I think it was. And so that was, you know,
I could never thank Chris and Johnny for the opportunity. And Dan Lafferty was there with
me of course. And, you know, he had to, he had to get his guys going while we were gone. And
that was, you know, the whole thing was a big mess. And then him and I kind of put a deal together,
Dan and I, to go racing early on, because when he first got started, you know, he had never
raced before. And, but I'd done a few things for a truck he had. And so he said, well, I want to
race, what do we got to do here? And so he started coming with us in the early 90s. And boy didn't
take long for him to, you know, escalate the program and to what it is today. His business grew
like crazy, you know, 100% because of him, he's the hardest working dude you'll probably ever
meet in your life. And anyway, so he enabled me to go racing financially. And then, you know,
I got him started in the whole thing, showing the ropes to sat in the other, we had a pretty
good thing going. And then Delbert Markham kind of came along. That's Aaron's grandpa.
And when he gets into something, he gets in with both feet. And he wanted to go drag racing big
time. And so he threw another lifelong friend, Gary Alverson, he had known him forever. You know,
Delbert's like, who do we need to fight? I got to get somebody on board here that knows what
they're doing. And because he had a couple of guys local there that, you know, great guys,
good hearts, you know, trying to do it right, but just weren't having any success. And he's
one of the guys that wants to see results, you know. Anyway, long story short, he got Dan and I
in a meeting up there and we put this whole thing together, end of 95. And so for 96 and 97,
we got to go, it was cool, we got to go to like 10 national events each year and went to a sluice
division races. And we had, you know, a couple of dragsters and then a door car and two roadsters
and my Chevy too, packed in these two trailers. He held four of them, I think, and I had two of
mine. And we went all over the country and just had a blast. And Aaron ended up finishing fourth,
I think, in Super Gas in 97. And I didn't do all that well other than getting in the final in 97.
I just, I felt like I owed it more to those guys to have their stuff be better.
And so my program suffered a little bit, but that's a little bit of an excuse because I just,
you know, wasn't driving as good as I needed to. But those guys were just, that was such a cool
time. And the kids were not in school yet. And so we modified this little Gooseneck trailer to
have a living area in it and just took them all over race and Missy all over the country,
in the back of this top kick truck and lived out of that little thing and just some pretty,
pretty treasured times in our life, for sure. So
Mark, you, you often, even when it's clear that the performance on track was, was because you
were race or in this case, a couple of weeks ago, both of you are driving super killer.
You, you always seem to have like a difference in a humility and you talk about
just feeling blessed all the time. Give us a little insight on that and where that comes from.
Well, I mean, it comes from Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. You know, that's where it all
starts. He, you know, if it wasn't for him, we'd all be doomed, right? Yeah. Oh, it just, it just
sort of flows from there, you know, when we got to, you know, you spend a lot of time racing,
takes a lot from your family, like I mentioned before, and it's really easy for it to, to turn
into something that, that would run counter to, to what you're trying to accomplish in, in your,
in your faith. And so we've always tried to embody the principles that, that come with
being a Christian in the racing, you know, through the racers for Christ. I had a,
you know, that's, that's a great deal that they do. We try to support that work and I had a really
good friend, Larry Fredrickson, who was a, like an associate pastor that I got to know.
He was from Twin for a while and he's passed away, unfortunately. And he actually got,
him and I got a little Bible study put together that we do every other Monday night to this day
at our shop just for kind of gear heads or people that don't go to church too much. And so anyway,
it's just a matter of that. We try to use this as a platform to, you know, what would Jesus do,
you know, be there for people when they need it and try to, try to live,
live, you know, talk the talk and walk the walk, if you will. And it just puts it in
perspective, right? It's like everything we have is a gift. And so when you do well, that's a gift.
And if you can learn to find joy and all the things, the good and the bad, then, you know,
it helps further his cause and maybe helps some people through some tough spots. And
yeah, so that's kind of where all that comes from. And then my son race is, is taking that
to next level. I just couldn't be more proud of him. And so very, been very fulfilling. Yep.
And knowing you, you know, a little bit, I can't say I know you're great, but, but knowing you a
little bit, you know, I knew that and, but wanted to just talk about a little bit because I think
it's an interesting, an interesting thing when you're talking about sports and athletics, racing,
whatever it might be, you've got some folks who just aren't into that at all. And they still can
perform at a high level. You got some folks that are into it, but they keep it really separate.
What I've thought is always interesting is the folks that incorporate
their faith and all of that into what they're doing. It's a, it just creates an interesting
dynamic. And it's something you can see and you can feel tell, you know, and you can
spot it from a mile away, the folks that are carrying that with them. And I always have a lot
of respect for that. It's not something I've done a good job at over the years. If I'm, you know,
super honest with myself and the, and the whole world watching, but I always have a lot of admiration
for folks that, you know, can be so focused on these things that take so much focus, they take
so much energy, like you say, and still be able to incorporate that to be able to, to live up to,
you know, the expectations that, that you set for yourself that are,
that are on a whole different level, on a whole different plane than what you're trying to live
up to on the racetrack. And so, and we fall short on a consistent basis. That's when the
point needs to be driven home, you know, we, none of us get it right. One guy was perfect.
The rest of us are going to go to our grave just trying hard, but, but failing miserably,
but because of him, it's okay. So that's all we can do is just try to carry that light and be
the light. So I love that positivity from you, man. We're getting just a little past the,
the hour mark. Is there any names or stories that we miss? You want to make sure we put on the record
mark? Yeah, it was a couple of things with the juniors. You know, this will be my,
this will be my proud dad moment here, I guess. When, when Ray started, you know, in juniors,
he, I think he won a championship the second year in or something, because I was pretty adamant about
I wasn't going to try to learn how to dial them because I'd been around them with some friends
of mine. Carl Morris, a high school friend of mine had been very involved with his son,
and they've done quite well in it. And, and so he's telling me all these things I needed to do,
and he was not wrong. You know, I, I, you know, felt maintenance and this, that, and the other,
and I was just, I was like, you know, they're inherently inconsistent. I'm not going to get
into that. So bottom line is we just, I taught him how to stage properly and we held in the
line. So the whole junior career was basically how to drive the finish line and how to stage the
car. And anyway, Ray took to it immediately. He just sort of picked it up, you know, he's,
he's better than I ever thought I was. It's just crazy. And so that was, you know, that was
the probably one of the cooler parts of all this is, you know, him develop and then see
in my daughter, she never probably took it. I mean, she took it seriously, but it wasn't her
whole life, right? And that's, that's not to take anything away from her. But, you know, and, and
she maybe, you know, the numbers didn't come to her as easily because she just wasn't as math
friendly, you know, but bottom line is she has, she's a fierce competitor and she wants to win
and she, she tries as hard as anything. And we had 11 weekend, it was a kind of our crown
jewel. I think I won super pro at the Fox hunt at Boise and then race and risk had actually
raced in the final. And so I've got a picture of that. It's one of my favorite pictures of all
time. It's really cool. So a ton of our friends in the picture when the lemon still lived in Idaho,
Scott. Oh no. You're muted, Parker. I think he's getting a phone call is the issue.
But we will carry on a little bit. We'll see if we can get Mark back in.
I'm going to kick him out for a second. We'll see if we can get him back.
Anyways, one of the night down to the home stretch there, man, and someone had to,
someone had to call. That's okay. And man, what a just like, that's a guy you could just hang
around on the porch, you know, and just chat with like for days. Absolutely. I was going to ask him
what one of his proudest moments were, but I think with all the on track success he's had,
that's nothing compared to how good of kids he's, he's raised. It's just a phenomenal family. And
I aspire to be like them when I, when I grow up, quote unquote, grow up. But I think that if
everybody is like Mark kid, everybody's it will be a good society. That's for sure.
Yeah, man, we, we talked, oh, I don't know, it's been 56 months ago on the phone when I was
doing some of the early planning for the showdown. And it was meant to be a quick call and we, we
got on, we got on some thread, right? We pulled a common thread and we were, we ended up being on
the phone for hours. And we were just talking about racing and he was talking to me about what I
want to do. And, and like, I want to win so bad, right? And I want, and not just once, but like,
I want to like, I think I can be good at this thing. The thing that holds me back is that I got a
lot of obligations, you know, and, and that are, that are certainly way more important. And I don't
view them as holding me back, like in the traditional sense of how a lot of people might say that,
it's just that I got so much time in the day, right? And I got so many weekends in the year.
And I got three beautiful daughters and a beautiful wife and, and we have other things
we like to do. And, and, and he just reminded me like how long I have and that, you know, racing
won't go anywhere. But my kids are only my kids for so long at, you know, at the ages that they're
at and those moments that you share with them, you only get to do that for so long. And so
it was just, it was a time where I was like feeling really antsy about like wanting to get
things going with the race and stuff. And he just kind of was like, Hey, man, pump the brakes,
do the dad thing as best as you can and race when you get a chance. And, you know, and so it was a
good, it was a good little course correction, you know. Absolutely. Well, I don't know if we're
going to get him back on. We're trying, but if that's the way the show ends, that's the way it
ends. But, uh, oh, he's back. Did we get him? I'm back. I think you're back. Sorry about that. We
got like an amber. I don't know if that kicked us off or what. Yeah. Phone calls and amber alerts.
That'll do it. So what, uh, where did I stop off? You were just in the middle of the, of a junior
story. Um, and then, yeah, you were, I think you were kind of in the middle of a transition. And
then you just, it just went black. Just like dark. Yeah. Well, oh yeah. And then Marissa, you know,
she, she had, uh, I think she won a couple of races and always did well, but you know, almost
kind of felt like it was a little second fiddled of race. And so we felt a little bad about that,
but they worked it out. And now they're their biggest supporters, each other, you know, and
which I love as a parent, but she actually her, her crown jewel moment that I just couldn't be
more proud of is she won two nights of that fire in 26, which is, that's a really short list of
people I've done at once. Uh, we can't think of the other names. They won't come to me right now,
but anyway, that, that's pretty cool stuff. So proud of them both, love them both. And
our little grandkids are just like the, the biggest blessing that we'll ever have.
Daisy is my, is my buddy. And, uh, I just, I love her to death. Yep. That's her right there.
So I think that's her. Or is that Lukum? I can't tell. Race has been on Lukum. And then, uh,
my daughter Marissa and her husband, Drew has, uh, uh, she's not getting said, uh, Daisy. And
then race's wife, Kenna, who by the way is going to debut this Saturday at Boise. That's the reason
we can't come. Oh, nice. He's finishing up a little 70 and over for it this week. Uh, and he's
going to, she's going to learn to get her first laps in a real race car. So we're really excited
about that. So that's where you need to be. I certainly won't hold it against you. Um, we'll
get you out here at some point. I was just telling Parker about how I was talking to you
four or five months ago when I was still trying to put together a live stream for this year.
You helped us as one of the presenting sponsors for it last year. And, and, uh, you know, I got
to talking about being motivated to win and do more in this race and, and, and then we got to
talking about family and kids. And you just gave me a really solid reminder and a, and a course
correction about what was really important here. And, and the difference in the racing that'll be
there just like it is forever and ever versus, versus my kids who are only who they are right
now for a very short time. And I think about it quite a bit and it's something I really appreciate
it in the moment. Yeah. Yeah. You'll blink twice and they're going to want the car keys. Yeah, man.
I will too, but boy, you just don't want to miss these moments. And then you turn around twice
and got grandkids going through the same stuff, which is that, you know, I'm, I'm sure, I'm sure
your dad and, uh, you know, your parents are, or the ones that are left are probably really,
really digging it. So yeah, it's, um, yeah, my oldest is, uh, she'll be a freshman, uh, this coming,
you know, this year. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. And I look at pictures of when she was one and,
and those memories are so vivid, right? It's like, it's like, we just did that yesterday.
I remember the exact moment. I remember little, little things that happened, like a fork that
fell off the table. I mean, like, you remember these, these times and it's like, that was 15 years
ago, you know, um, I was a totally different person, you know, a totally different person back
then and, and it just happened so quick. So, um, appreciate that perspective. I just want to take
one second just to thank just everybody in general. I know I forgot some people here that were wildly
important, but P is your family, you know, the people around you, my kids at this point, my
very bless. We have all of our parents. Uh, her dad is 92. My dad's 90 and both of our moms are
in their mid 80s and everybody's still going as good as you could expect for that age. They're
mobile and doing things and, uh, her parents specifically and my mom, they'll get in the
car and come to a race with us still. Uh, it's the craziest thing. Uh, and then my wife, of course,
she has just been, you know, we got married at 19 of all crazy things, you know, everybody said,
don't marry your high school sweetheart, marry anybody but that. But, uh, you know, through our,
through our faith and, and, uh, God's blessings and, you know, just understanding that it's not
always easy. We've made it work, but she's made an awful lot of sacrifices for me to live out my
dream the way that we have. So I'm, I just couldn't be more thankful that, uh, that God put her in my
path because that's, that was the theme of this, you know, people, God just puts people in your
path when you need them. And, uh, he's, he's just been, it's been so amazing for me.
So. Well, he puts you in ours tonight, man, and, and we couldn't be more thankful for the opportunity
to chat with you, right? I mean, it's, it's, you're somebody that, that we know and, and love and
respect and, and, uh, in this sport for what you do, uh, for the sport, you're somebody who, you know,
we all just, you know, mark kid performance, man. I mean, it's a big thing, right? And, and of all
those other things that, that you're known for, um, it's just clear that you're just a top notch
human being before all of that and, uh, appreciate you. The world needs a lot more mark kids in it
and, uh, be a whole lot better place. Well, I really appreciate those. That's very humbling, but I,
yeah, I appreciate it. It was just a blast to be on here. And yeah, we could go on,
we could go on all night here, but we'll have to start staggering you and Cal method and eventually
we'll get all the way caught up to the current day. Mark, I just want to say, uh, full time heroes,
for sure. So yeah, Cal, Cal the legend. Oh boy. Yep. I just wanted to say thank you again for
joining us, but I also wanted to say thank you, um, for your continued support of our West Coast
bracket racing. Uh, you, you sponsor a lot of the events out here and, uh, you're one of the
main reasons that we, we get to do what we get to do weekend and week out, um, on a, on a bigger
stage. So, uh, thank you for, for your continued support, um, on the West Coast, especially.
You bet. Yeah. I, I love doing it. It's just like, uh, at this point, I'm kind of trying to slow down
a little bit. So it's not as much about advertising as just, you know, being there for the sport
that's been there for me and a lot of customers been there for me when it, when it really mattered.
So yeah, I'm just, I'm honored to be able to be part of it all. So thank you guys for supporting
it. So yeah, man, we all appreciate you so much. Uh, have a good time and start enjoying your vacation.
Yep. Yeah. Have a good time down there and then good luck. Good luck next weekend at Firebird.
I hope that whole deal goes great. And, uh, another, right, another one of those moments
you get to sit back and soak in and, and remember for a long time. Yeah. Yeah. Couldn't be more
excited for it for sure. So right on. Thanks, Mark. Appreciate you, buddy. Yep. Take care.
Mr. Mark. Hey, man, I can't believe, uh, I, I insult them. The kids that I got to thinking
about Bill kid and I called him Bill for a second because I was thinking about Bill down in Arizona.
And we talked a lot about him, uh, in the tower as Greg Horne came out and helped us, uh, on the
computers and stuff this weekend and him and Bill are tight. So Bill kids been in my mind all weekend
long as I'm also have Mark in there getting ready for the show. And, uh, what? Yeah, I was a mark.
I was, I was going to call you out because you called me out on Maddie and Macy Gordon. So yeah,
well, and, you know, I mean, Bill kid, when, when you call, when you call Mark build and
Bill, you know, Bill's never looked so good when, when you can choose him in that direction. So
shout out to Bill kid. But no, man, what a, what a great, um, just what a great guy, right? It's
like, I, I was wanting to talk about engines and racing and all that. And we did a little bit of
that. But, um, the part I think that's the coolest is like just getting to know Mark kid, the, the
human, right? Mark kid, the man. And, and, um, certainly a guy that, uh, you know, you might
want to emulate for a lot of different reasons, um, for how he handles himself on the racetrack as a,
as a father, as a grandfather and, and as a, um, you know, as an ambassador for this sport. So,
um, yeah, just loved it, man. This is, this is why we want to do it. We want to dig in. We want
to talk to the people, uh, that are out there that have meant so much to so many. And, um, he's
definitely one of them. So absolutely. Love it. Have it working on. Um, we are not done with the
show. However, um, you want to update us a little bit on the summer showdown this week?
Got any news updates? What you got? I can do that, man. Right now, I'm just super excited,
right? Um, we've been putting a lot of work into this event and, um, and we're really excited for
this year. Uh, the weather's showing us a little bit of funny stuff on Saturday. Um, it doesn't
look catastrophic or anything, but, um, but I'm watching it like a hawk. Uh, and, and right now
it's, it's not to the point where I'm, I'm overly concerned and it's stopping the show or anything
like that. Um, you know, I'm looking at the NOAA forecast, uh, which is the only forecast I look
at. I don't know what nobody's saying to me, no weather bug or some whatever, right? I'm using
the NASA forecast, uh, the real stuff. And so, um, it doesn't even go through Sunday yet. Their
extended forecast doesn't even capture the full weekend at this point. So it's like, unless I can
look at a, at a full forecast, um, I'm not going to be getting too worked up about it. That will
come into view tomorrow and I'll be able to see through the whole weekend. Friday looks good.
Sunday looks great at this point. Saturday, it looks like some, uh, you know, some potential
sprinkles here and there. Again, doesn't look like anything that would shut the weekend down or
anything like that. You know, we might have to park them for a few minutes and get the, get the
tractor out or whatever, but, um, super stoked opportunity to get those biscuits and gravy at
the snack shed. Well, yeah, man. And it's going to be fast. Like it's funny. This time last year,
the forecast said 72 and like partly cloudy for the whole weekend on, on Monday of that week,
when we got to Friday, it was 101. So the forecast changed 30 degrees from Monday to Friday last,
last year. So I'm not, I'm not, um, concerned at this point. Um, I'm just excited, right?
Trying to, trying to flip the switch, right? I was in Columbus being committed,
staying focused on what the, what was at hand there. And now it's like,
get home, get settled in and flip the switch and get ready for the summer showdown.
We got a bunch of partners on board once again, um, a bunch of new ones, right? So, um, if anybody
really likes to pick a part of flyer, um, this race, like most big moneyback races, they're a
little top heavy. Um, and one of the things I wanted to do as we continue to build the event is to
put more money below the top line. This year we added $6,000 to the purse all below the top line,
and we didn't touch the entry fee. The only way I was able to do that is because of new partners
jumping on board, like Tabor's machine and S and J automotive, uh, partners like Barcelona's
truck town, Don and Dave. Just you talk about Mark Kidd on every flyer, right? Truck town on
every flyer, like the folks that, that step up day in and day out, the Northwest drag racing
association on board, um, and a whole bunch of others, man. And so like just, um, I've mentioned
it before, the thing that excites me the most about the summer showdown is that we talk about a
lot of things. We say buy racers, you know, for racers, buy racers. This is another one of those
things, man. This isn't my event. Um, this isn't the tracks event. I mean, it is right, but it's
not like we're just putting something on and saying, Hey, come here. We're building this together as a
team, um, people from all over the country pitching in, uh, to make this thing happen.
And I think that's what makes it special. Um, that's what brings the energy and, um, and that's
what is starting to bring some prestige. You know, the first year it was a concept. It was a concept
of a plan. And then last year we really just put the pedal to the metal and, and put the thing on
the map and we put big money bracket racing back on the map up here in the Pacific Northwest.
And we're going to do it again this weekend. It's going to be fast. Like if the forecast holds,
we're going to be like mid sixties and mid sixties at Woodburn. That's my kind of race right there.
She's going to be fast. So it might not feel like the summer showdown. It might feel like the late
spring, uh, showdown, but, uh, it's going to be a good time. We're looking forward to it. And like
I said, I'm not going to leave anybody hanging. So if things get crazy with the forecast, um,
we'll make sure we let everybody know what's going on and, and, um, you know,
come up with a plan so that people can make informed decisions about what they want to do.
But we're going to be racing this weekend. So whether, uh, whether Troy's going to have the
energy to do it or not is the question for next Monday, but, uh, we will be back and hopefully
we'll have a winner on to talk about the summer showdown, recap it and, uh, talk all things drag
racing. I need you to get your, I need you to get your like six eighties hat on to right now. I've
caught wind that the dragster might be under the knife. So I, uh, yeah. Cooper called me today
with some unfortunate news that, uh, I ride that had an unfortunate issue with the engine. Um,
and then Ashley Thompson was kind enough to, to lend me her, her Malibu and, uh, I'm going to be
running the boo thing doing the G body shuffle, baby. Yeah. I, I don't know if I could put my
six 80 cap on, uh, but I might be able to put my like seven 60 cap on. Is that what it runs? Seven
60s? I think so, but, uh, I think I'm going to be leaving off the top and, and letting them run me
down, baby. Brother CJ Yeager this weekend in a four door Oldsmobile Omega, uh, out there,
leaving off the top and off the bottom, absolutely wreck and shopped out seven 12 against 450
jagsters. Like it was, it was a thing of beauty. So I got faith in you, man. I know you can hit
the tree and I know you can drive a stripe. So, um, I think I'm going to have a whole lot more fun
watching you drive a seven second door car than I ever would watching you drive a four
80s dragster. So I'm looking forward to it. Not, not going to lie. Don't get me wrong. And I'm
super grateful for the opportunity that I had to, to race a dragster, but I'm super excited to race
a door car. Yeah. Cool. Man. I'm looking forward to you being up here. We'll see you on Thursday
night. I'll have a base camp all set up and ready to go. And, uh, we're going to have us a good time
and we'll come back live next week, talk all about it. We'll preview the sports gnats, the first
sports nationals, uh, ever at mission raceway. We got a divisional that follows that right up on
the same weekend. Um, a lot of big things happen and then I'm back in a jet and I'm headed to VMP
for the triple fifties. Um, so, you know, a lot of, a lot of things going on. I think I come back,
I get a week off and then immediately turn right back around and I'll be at beach bend for, for
the hundred K, uh, for five days over the fourth of July. So we're in the meat of it. Boy, we're in
the meat of it right here, buddy. This is when it really starts to get wild. So, um, I'm going to be,
you know, a tired boy when it comes to the second week of July, but I'm here for it. It's going to
be a good time. And, uh, this is what, this is what I love these days. And I feel, you know,
as Mark said, um, fortunate, extremely blessed and grateful, humbled to have the opportunities
I've had, um, so early in my journey here. And, uh, so it's going to be a good time,
brother. Uh, I can't wait to see it. I hope you travel safe. If you need anything in between now
and then holler at me. Yep. Just don't have to go through Chicago. So I should be good, brother.
Stay away from that place, man. Dallas, Fort Worth and, and O'Hare, they ought to just turn
them into big parking lots. Uh, cause they didn't worth nothing. So yeah, stay away. But
we'll see how that goes. I'll talk to you soon.
About this episode
Travel and track history set the stage before the show dives into IHRA-supported bracket racing, 660-foot formats, and multi-day finals where racers win repeatedly. West Coast results from Top Gun Dragstrip in Fallon, Nevada, roll into class-by-class recaps and engine details like 426 max wedges. The conversation then spotlights Mark Kidd—his throwback helmet, Firebird’s evolution and historic status, and how bracket racing fits his family life. The episode closes with racing logistics, mentorship, and weather/purse planning for upcoming events.
The Bracket Breakdown Welcomes Special Guest Mark Kidd! As an accomplished racecar driver, engine builder and proud grandfather, we are excited to hear Mark's thoughts this evening.
