There will be four Classic Nitro Funny Cars making exhibition runs at the IHRA national event in Rockingham NC on October 19th and 20th. They will make one run each on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Richard Hartman will be driving his 55 Chevy "Carolina Cruiser", his sister Rhonda Hartman-Smith will be in her 71 Dodge Charger "Miss Scarlet", her husband John Smith will be handling "Sasquatch", a 77 Trans Am, and Ray Murphy will be guiding his candy apple red 77 Trans Am "Slab Town Hustler".

Our friend and one of our sponsors, Glen Hardy of the Ole Country Smokehouse will be in our pit compound roasting a pig and other BarBQue favorites.

If you attend the event, stop by our pit and say Hi and enjoy some friendly conversation and partake of some good food. The drivers won't be around much because they are all involved with IHRA Top Fuel and Nitro Funny Cars.

Very Cool.. looking forward to seeing them run... Next week is going to be a blast....

Billy

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I am looking forward to good weather, great performances, and a great year ending event for the IHRA competitors, which should all add up to everyone enjoying themselves in Rockingham.

Good luck and safe racing this weekend Virgil and hope to hear about the results...

Very COOL!! Sounds like a great time and good BBQ on top of it!

Best of luck Virgil and gang.

Rapid

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Driver of the Nanook AA/FA

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Hey, it's GREAT to see the Hartman Clan is having a Family Outing!!

What we were hoping to be a leisurely weekend at Rockingham turned out to be a weekend from H*ll. I will tell a little of what took place behind the scenes just for informational purposes. No excuses, we didn't get the job done at the level we expect of ourselves, but it wasn't for lack of effort.

First off we were there just to make exhibition runs, not qualify, not run eliminations or any thing like that. Our first inkling of what was going to take place was when we started Richard's 55 on gas and it went from running to backfiring out the blower. Luckily, we hadn't gone to nitro yet. Turned out his 3 run old off set mag drive was eating itself up inside and changing the timing. Then Rhonda got stuck in traffic and arrived at the track just 45 minutes prior to the first run.

First run, John vs Rhonda, both do burnouts and Rhonda's blower case splits and slings out the oil from the front gear area. The track was still ok to run on, so she moves forward, stops, hits the throttle for a dry hop and the slider gear in the reverser splits and the car bounces a little backwards. We shut her down and John proceeds to run a 5.96 at 216, shutting off earlier than we had planned.

Ray and Richard are next. One of the flathead bolts that holds the candlestick in Ray's clutch can came out on the burnout with a few sparks. Then when he did a dry hop, fuel splashed from the overflow and the track official shut him off thinking it was a fuel line leak. Richard staged and at about half track it started driving through the clutch and he shut if off to a 7.38.

Back to our pits where Glen has the steaks, baked potatoes, salad and french bread ready. We bench race with a double pit full of friends while we eat until about one am.

Fix everything in the morning and we are ready to go again. First up is Ray and Rhonda. Strong burnouts, but no dryhops for either. Both thier launchs were too agresive, 60 foot times were Ray .960 and Rhonda .972. Ray had to let off to adjust his head position and ran a 7.005. Rhonda's car made a move to the guardrail, she pedaled it but it spun, and she shut down. Aaron has told us a few times that this is exhibition, do not keep pedalling and end up in the wall and stop the show.

Next, John and Richard. I started Richard's car and he was doing his burnout when I looked over and Sasquatch was not running. I went over and the starter had died, and the spare was in a tow vehicle that had just left. Ben grabbed Richards (which didn't fit) and the two of us just held it there and got the car started. I put the body down and look around and the starting line crew is telling Richard to stage, I run up there but they won't let me back him up and he makes a single at 6.17 and 225. Spook the starter tells John to shut it off. I inform Spook that Richard is off the track and ask if we can run. He calls the top end and it is clear and says OK. I go to the car and someone else is telling John to shut it off. I inform him that Spook says we can run, he finally looks around and sees that is true and says Ok also. John runs a 5.95 at 252.

Saturday night was roasted pig, BBQ chickens, slaw and corn on the cob. We ate and visited with many friends again, listened to the music from Gilbertson's pit, and finally hit the sack at 2 am. So many people came by to eat that we consumed the whole 150 lb pig and 25 chickens.

The weekend ended on a high note when Bruce Litton won the top fuel championship with Richard as his crewchief.

Virgil,

Thanks for the update. Even though things didn't go as planned, you were there and made a few hits and had fun. Heck running one of these things is tough enough, let alone trying to get 4 ready to make the call.

Good Job,

Rapid

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Driver of the Nanook AA/FA

http://WWW.RAPIDRANDY.COM

Dang, if it were a F/A meet, I'd say everything went as anticipated!

IHRA put on a fantastic event and their hospitality to us made the weekend great. Visiting with hundreds of race friends that I hadn't seen in a while was wonderful. The cars kicked my *ss both physically and mentally, but there were a lot of positives that came from the weekend.

Track operators and IHRA officials got to see the crowd's response to the cars in the pits and on the track, and it was very positive. Everyone got to see Sasquatch run 5.96 and 5.95 at 252 mph. Richard's 55 went 7.38 and 6.17 at 225. For those that feel high 6's are ok for this type of car, you see the written disappointment over Ray's 7.005 et.

I discussed with IHRA on Sunday the program, what the problems were and how they can be cured. We did this event for the benefit of everyone. We have cracked open the door, teams that feel they are up to the challenge can help open it all the way. For the rest, you can continue to criticise and condem us for trying.

Please let me say that you've done more for this sporton nearly any given week end than most have done, EVER. If anyone has a problem, it's their problem, not yours. Dang, you must have spent more $'s in diesel, toting your rigs around all those years than a lot of us earn.
I, for one say, thank you.

(My above post was to Randy about a report he made about one his more "Eventful" F/A outings, and was in no way meant to be negative.)

Mike,

At KCIR a couple weeks ago, we kicked the rods out on the burnout,,,never even made a pass.

Still had fun as I am sure Virgil did. Nobody works harder than him. I know that for sure as I have had to try to keep up with him numerous times when driving his cars or working on the top fuel car!

Rapid

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Driver of the Nanook AA/FA

http://WWW.RAPIDRANDY.COM

Virgil.. as one of the fans there.. i wasn't disapointed in seeing the cars.. at any speed... it was great to see the cars go down the strip...reminded me of my first visits to the strip in the 70's...

Now if we can get Earwood to put on a big race with them one weekend.....

thanks again....

Billy

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.I also was there and enjoyed the cars. They all were beautiful. And Johns was a bad a$$ hot rod. That sucker was quick. Virgil I like your rules better. I know with more help all the problems would have been averted. It’s not like you have a full time crew for the cars. I know Rich and Ray were busy with there work. Great job Richie on that well deserved CHAPIONSHIP.Great show and a great weekend. You all that were not there missed a great weekend

Mageau and Capp ran NFC at the IHRA national event in Edmonton in July