Sunday, June 21, 2009 10:23 PM CDT
3 racers take different journeys to Thunder on the Prairie at Coles County Dragway
By RICK DAWSON, Staff Writer
rdawson@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — Jay Billingsley’s 2000 red Camaro made its debut at Coles County Dragway last fall. Most of the time, the multi-class performer has been good at tuning setups for other drivers.
Father David Billingsley is a former U.S. Nationals champion. Uncle Gary Morse is a recent Super Pro champion at Charleston. Brother-in-law Chad Voges has won multiple NHRA events in the Super Stock and Competition Eliminator series using Jay’s combinations.
The son, who entered the weekend in the top five in both the Super Pro and Pro point standings, didn’t make it to the quarterfinals at Saturday’s Thunder on the Prairie, but one off night is hardly a drawback. Currently, he’s averaging about 15 passes every time he competes.
“We built it with the intention of trying to build a rock solid, very low maintenance bracket race car with the intention of racing here every week in multiple classes,” Billingsley said. “We primarily built it just to bring here and have fun. Everything about it is engineered to go back-to-back, the cooling system and everything.”
Jason McConnell snatched his second straight win after making the finals for the third time in four weeks in Super Pro. McConnell defeated Litchfield’s Brian Pigg. In the Pro division, James Taylor’s 1964 Pontiac Tempest defeated Larry Lyons’ 1964 Ford Falcon.
With wife Amber, Billingsley is also sponsoring a BP bounty on two previous winners every week. The first driver to beat the defending champion in that class, which rotates throughout the season, gets a free entry to the next round.
“We’re a team, her and I,” Billingsley said. “Together, we purchased a BP service station from my dad in Decatur here this last winter. We grew up at this track and we’re trying to take the opportunity to give as much back as we can. We look back and have a lot of fond memories of growing up here and racing and we just want to make sure that will be able to continue for everybody.
“We didn’t want to just give money. We wanted to do something to promote people coming back and to keep racing.”
Other winners on Saturday were Jesse Brant (Sportsman), Chad Beery (Motorcycle) and Scott Pickens (Novice).
One long-time driver who is just getting his feet wet again is Shelbyville’s Dale Short. Short stepped away for 14 years before purchasing a small Chevy Vega that he uses in the Super Pro class.
In just his third night back, the Shelbyville racer got through his first four rounds unscathed.
“I’ve tried golf, I’ve tried fishing,” Short said. “They’re all OK but this is always been my first love. I even tried showing street rods. I didn’t really care for that. There wasn’t no action.”
Short competed in Super Pro for 10 years at both Assumption and Charleston then left the sport behind when two of his sons went to college, selling his car instead of rebuilding the engine for a third time. The Vega made its way through three owners in Indiana before it was sold to Short.
The biggest challenge has been getting the hang of the crossover delay box.
“Of course, now with the economy the way that it is, it’s a good time to buy race cars,” he said.
“The car’s only got 60 runs on it. Last weekend was horrible but I think a lot of that was I didn’t know what I was doing with the box. And of course I had to get used to the car.”
Charleston’s Terry and Rosalee Noble were at the Dragway for just the second time on Saturday. The husband and wife duo has good reason to be gone.
Rosalee is the former president of DRAW (The Drag Racing Association for Women), an organization that tracks down injured racers or crew members, both male and female, and offers them financial assistance after race-related accidents. It is entirely nonprofit, assembled from donations across the country, and the pair attends 21 of the 24 national events.
That means they start out in Pomona, Calif., and work their way through Phoenix, Gainesville (Fla.), Norwalk (Ohio), Denver, Seattle, Sonoma (Calif.), Brainerd (Minn.), Indianapolis, Charlotte, Dallas, Memphis and Las Vegas before making their way back to Pomona at the end of the year – 40,000 miles in all.
“That’s not counting the five races we fly to,” Rosalee said.
The goal is promotional. They set up a booth that offers literature, sell merchandise and cookbooks (including the favorite recipes of drag racers) and even automotive jewelry. Terry also sells ladder sheets to spectators to better follow events.
Thus far, DRAW has served 674 injured racers over the past 23-and-a-half years. The first was Shirley Muldowney in 1985. Several drivers from Coles County have received aid, including the late Ray Evans and Vic Denning.
“At first it was maybe a few a year,” Rosalee said. “Now maybe we average 20 to 30 a year. We average maybe $200,000 in aid per year, probably for the past five or six years.
“We’ve had five injuries this year. They’re eligible to receive aid up to a year from the time they were injured. We carried over 14 at the beginning of the year. Like so many other things, the car count’s down, so you’re going to assume there are a lot less injuries.”
DRAW is well known on the national circuit but not so much locally. In fact, it’s not unusual for a driver to be contacted then express surprise. One who was injured recently was touched enough to ask for more information.
“He asked, ‘Where do you get your money?” said Rosalee, now a member of the Board of Trustees and the fundraising chairperson. “I said, ‘It’s strictly donations.’ He said I just wanted to make sure because I’m going to donate back.”
For more information visit www.drawfasthelp.org.
Contact Rick Dawson at rdawson@jg-tc.com or 238-6855.
Saturday’s results
SUPER PRO
Winner: Jason McConnell
Humboldt, ’05 Spitzer, .5078 reaction time, 5.41 dial-in, 5.4243 elapsed time, 126.39 miles per hour
Runnerup: Brian Pigg, Litchfield, ‘05 Dragster, .5220 rt, 4.58 d-i, 4.6331 et, 149.41 mph
Semifinalist: Andy Romine, Tuscola, ‘09 Dragster
Quarterfinalists: Roger Reed, Mattoon, ‘77 Vega; Scott Gordon, Mattoon, ‘92 Camaro; Eric Rayburn, Fisher, ‘69 Cutlass
PRO
Winner: James Taylor, Cerro Gordo, ‘64 Tempest, .5029 rt, 7.24 d-i, 7.2431 et, 90.91 mph
Runnerup: Larry Lyons, Onarga, ‘64 Falcon, .5949 rt, 8.60 d-i, 8.5529 et, 78.29 mph
Semifinalist: Russ Jeppson, Decatur, ‘83 S-10
Quarterfinalists: Corey Wood, Litchfield, ‘92 Mustang; Alex Winkler, Charleston, Camaro
SPORTSMAN
Winner: Jesse Brant, Mattoon, ‘89 Monte, .5251 rt, 10.04 d-i, 10.0208 et, 70.10 mph
Runnerup: Robby Easton, Dalton City, Mustang GT, .5320 rt, 9.74 d-i, 9.7010 et, 70.52 mph
Semifinalists: Chris Little, Mahomet, Mustang; Paul Gilbert, Sr., Paris, ‘68 Mustang
Quarterfinalists: Ellis V. Buth, Warrensburg, ‘96 F-150; Katie Beason, Mattoon, ‘04 Alero; Rob Fisher, Humboldt, ‘83 Malibu
MOTORCYCLE
Winner: Chad Beery, Decatur, ‘78 Kawasaki, .5321 rt, 5.82 d-i, 5.8969 et, 110 mph
Runnerup: Joe Kortte, Sigel, ‘92 Suzuki, .5920 rt, 6.11 d-i, 6.1790 et, 109.99 mph
Semifinalists: Brian Davis, Whiteheath, ‘02 Haybusa
NOVICE
Winner: Scott Pickens, Marshall, ‘66 Chevy, .5292, rt, 8.04 d-i, 8.3488 et, 74.02 mph
Runnerup: Lonnie Sinclair, Pleasant Plains, ‘98 Pontiac, .8442 rt, 8.92 d-i, 8.9608 et, 80.49 mph
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