Eric Gorrell Atoka, Tennessee 66 Plymouth Satellite

I'm 28, single and live in Atoka Tennessee...about 20 minutes north of Memphis Motorsports Park. I work for a high end specialty sub contractor of architectural glass and aluminum systems as a project manager/engineering director. Although I'm not personally driving (yet), my dad and I play around with his '66 Plymouth Satellite in NSS. Nothing exotic...no fiberglass, no lexan, no heater, 10.5:1 .030 over 440, Edelbrock heads, Edelbrock dual quad, 4.56 spooled Ford 9", stock 833 4-speed. Best run last year was a 11.32 at 118.9...that's with a belt driven water pump, power steering and the factory AM radio....all of which is in the process change. It started as a toy but is slowly turning into a real race car. This car started out about 8 years ago as a driver with a poly 318 and an automatic. We drove it over 9 hours from SW Missouri to the Mopar Nats in Columbus with the air on. Dad swore he'd never cut the car but I've been, in my opinion and probably his as well, a positive influence. It's a lot of fun and looks damn good, but I want to go faster. I've been working on my '67 Plymouth Belvedere for about 2 years now...you know how it is...two steps forward, one step back. I know there's some out there that think I'll never get this thing done...but I'm getting real close. I bought it in Raleigh NC...super straight body, no rust, all original small block car right down to the white wall tires and hub caps. 63,000 original miles....I could have drove this car back to Memphis. The AM radio even worked...hell I drove it back and forth to work for a couple of months. But I had bigger plans for it. The original plan was to run in A/FX with a 900+ hp hemi combined with a 4-speed. Then I decided to run a wedge because I ran across a sweet deal on some really good parts to put together a 512" stroker. Well I'm back to the Hemi now that I have the funds gathered to afford it. It WILL be on the track spring of 2005. You will all see it first in the factory oxidized red paint. The plan is to finish all of the mechanical, race it to get the bugs worked out and make sure I don't want to change anything, then tear it all back down and paint. Once complete it will be black on black, glass fenders, hood, bumpers and doors, Ray Barton Hemi, Jerico 4-speed, ladder bars, ford 9", a Texas Thunder chromoly 12-point, van buckets, Wilwoods all the way around, bla bla bla. Basically an RO23 clone on steroids. It will have all the GTX badging on the exterior with Belvedere interior. It will have some pretty cool engineering in it....god knows I've spent plenty of time thinking, looking and designing, plus a few naps on the creeper under it. I met the Texas Thunder bunch at the 2002 Pro race in Memphis. Mark said I shouldn't waste my money on a Ray Barton Hemi because they're too damn expensive. Well he's, right but I'm going to waste it anyway. I've always wanted a Hemi and in my opinion Barton is probably the best out there. Mark's probably one of those guys who thinks I'm blowing smoke and will never get get this damn car done. But I'm going to see if I can't give him a run for his money next year....it's gonna be a lot of fun! I can't thank Mark and Damon enough...they've both spent a lot of time helping my dad and I get his car tuned up...not to mention all of the things I've learned from Mark while bull shitting over the phone. What a great group of guys...I only wished they lived closer. Eric Gorrell egorrell@bigriver.net eric@bhncorp.com 901-830-0278

Tony Malone Aubrey, Tx 68 Cougar 306 cid engine C-4 Auto Trans

I have been racing for three years now. I actually got started racing buy doing some work on a buddies ‘95 Z28 and he wanted me to drive it down the drag strip. From that time forward I have been hooked! I had this old 70 F-100 sitting out in the shed and thought that would be a fun project to race. I then began working on that old truck with its 390 engine and managed to get it to run in the mid 8’s until it met its unfortunate demise in front of Texas Thunder Performance. I was ugly. So instead of trying to rebuild the old truck I decided to build the Cougar that I acquired in the process. I currently actively run in the NHRA Summit bracket series and I’m on my way to my 3rd Bracket Finals in as many years. I have plans on trying to field the car in NHRA Super Street in the future.

Dave Schultz Richmond, Tx 65 Dodge "TexasBlackMagic"

I was born a poor black boy to Mississippi sharecroppers in the 50s. I got into racing in the early 70s while in the military. After a long absence from racing, I decided that if I was to relive my childhood – that I’d better do it before I had to hang a handicapped tag from my racecar mirror. My son Dallas and I have been bit hard by the racing bug – and we average a trip to the track about 50 times a year. I am big into Mopars and administer the www.moparstyle.com Internet community. I currently race a black 65 Coronet (www.texasblackmagic.com) while Texas Thunder outfits my Red 65 Coronet (www.rudedodge.com) for NSS racing. In 2005, I hope to have the Texas Whale (www.texaswhale.com), a 60 Plymouth station wagon, ready for NSS. We reside about 40 miles west of Houston, Texas.