HAVE GUNS, WILL TRAVEL

The diehards gather for the 3G Hemi race program at its stop in Rockingham as the 2022 season rushes forward.

Old meets new here. Young Austin Melton was wheeling the family Dart, a car that some readers may remember from the old King of the Street series days, when his father Lenny was kicking butt in it with a smallblock nitrous combo. Now running a 3G Hemi on NOS, Austin went to the runner-up spot in the Modified Class, which has a 10.50 index.

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HEY COMES FROM ALL OVER. We are talking about the

Tpeople who race in the late model Modern Street Hemi Shootout, or MSHS, series. From Texas to New York, Florida to right here in the North Carolina hills, they gather. Whether they are flat-out in the Outlaw class ripping the throats from their competitors or taking run-by-run consistency to win the 12.5 bracket, the guys (and many gals) show up for a weekend of Jessica and John Sipple’s transmission enjoyment and racing camaand car business were backers for the raderie, then let the machines MSHS event here at the Rock, and Jes- speak because the BS stops sica’s new tiger-stripe paint scheme when the lights drop! (so says was a big attention getter. You’ll see a feature on it on these pages next year. the series T-shirt).

Lorie, wife of continual victor Ron Polidora and his Hellcatpowered ’64 Dodge, was in her new SRT Hellcat Durango, which clocked several consistent runs. She went to round 4 of the bracket race before losing on an 11.55 breakout.

Kevin Helmick took home the Outlaw honors here Sunday afternoon, but on Saturday night, great track prep pushed the Grumpy Cat’s nose into the stratosphere. Our shot is from when he was about ½ up. He beat new track owner Dan VanHorn in Sunday’s final.

With MSHS founder Dan Van Horn and business partner Al Gennarelli recently buying Rockingham Dragway southeast of Charlotte, the event covered here would mark the 3rd of MSHS season’s 2022 6-race program. A number of rules changes have come into effect for this year, one being fluid retention devices on the faster cars after a couple of lengthy oildowns in ‘21. The Outlaw class is 1/8 mile, while the 8.50 bracket and Heavyweight divisions still take on the quarter. Heavyweight, like every heads-up mixed induction class in drag racing, now has a substantial group of weight-to-power-adder indexes as well.

One thing is certain. Racers already good at running bracket cars continue to regularly show the way to the final rounds. Indeed, one seasoned pilot, John Govenettio, was in Saturday’s bracket race and dialed a time just a tick below his competition. When he then played on/off/on throttle at the finish line to win the round, the other guy (newbie) was so mad it almost started a top-end fistfight! When the smoke had cleared, many usual suspects were in the winner’s circle.

By the time you read this, the grand finale at Maryland International Raceway will likely be the final event left for this year, with a non-points event in the mineshaft air of Cecil County Dragway slated for mid-November. Once again, we are wishing the entire MSHS crew and supporters a great 2023 when the next season kicks off. Go to hemirace.com for the latest updates.

Meanwhile, check out the pics and see what you missed!

A 12.50 entry, John Govenettio of New York is a consistent racer and good at winning brackets. He posted a runner-up in the 12.50 division and avoided fisticuffs with a sore loser earlier in the event.

Driver Chris Dufresne showed up with his freshly-built ’65 Coronet in primer for a series of Outlaw shakedown runs, and finished third after he got it settled down following this wheels-up pass. 8s are in the offing. A light top end rain event resulted in a dramatic two-car (no touch) spin on Saturday. Here, Jay Johnson points to the itsy-bitsy damage his Challenger’s spoiler suffered. Want to see it? Go to timestamp 1:32 on the full event video for Saturday at http://hemirace.com/standings/2022-rock-results/.

No, Amaris Daughaday is not hitching a ride. She’s telling her dad Rob, “Pop, keep ‘em spinning!” She drives as well…

With Dufresne in his new old-schooler, MSHS founder and new Rockingham Dragway co-owner Dan VanHorn is piloting his turbo Challenger now. He went to the runnerup spot in the Outlaw category. Gabe Marcum was on hand with his new Hellcat, which he is thoroughly enjoying. He would post the runner-up spot in the rookie class.

Zdung Ho of Texas made the long tow north with his hot red Charger and took the Heavyweight title by default when the other competitors sorted themselves into nearby categories. He is likely to be the champion for 2022 in the class and is putting in some real road time to do it. As Chris Fuller does his burnout in the 10.00 class, Charlotte resident Preston Patterson, the selected Chief Donut Maker for the Dodge brand, was on hand doing social media. The prize for being named “the man” was 150K and use of a Hellcat Chally.

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