The end of summer. Kids getting ready to go back to school. Longer nights, shorter days, the drag racing scene winding down for the year....NOT. Because in the waning weeks of summer, drag racing really kicks it up a notch in the Northeast. In the next 5 weeks I will be on what promises to a wild time. Six races in Five Weeks! Challenging my driving and navigation skills, stretching my wallet and pushing my marriage to limits I never thought possible.

Starting with the NHRA Federal Mogul Points race at Cecil County Dragway in Maryland today and finishing in Budds Creek, Maryland, at the IHRA President's Cup in late September, I will have gone to six National or Divisional races in five states in the span of about five weeks. Sandwiched between these two races are: The US Nationals at Indy, the rain delayed Englishtown Federal Mogul Points race, The IHRA North American Nationals in New Hampshire, and The Keystone Nationals at Reading, Pennsylvania.

The photo diary will capture my day to travels and my thoughts on life, death, and Drag Racing. With the US Nationals (MAC Tools US Nationals for those who are politically correct) as a centerpiece of the journey, my life will be a continual trip to camera shops and drug stores for film and developing, cheap motels along the interstate and greasy fast food. My cholesterol will top 1000, my hair will turn even more gray and my ten year marriage will probably go down the tubes. I pray it will be worth it.

As a long time reader of Bob Wilson's website, I knew he had a large and loyal following and with my own website stillborn as of this writing, I wanted a way of showcasing my photos and thoughts to the masses (?) for the tour. Bob has graciously let me use his site for a soapbox and gallery. I will try to not let him down. In addition to sending Bob this material, I am also sending the same stuff to Bobby Bennett's Competition Plus web page just in case either one gets too bogged down and can't get it posted. So you are not losing your mind if you see this article on another site.

My name is Phil Hutchison and I am 48 years old and live in Newark, Delaware. I currently work with NHRA Division One photographer Dave Bishop from Competition Photo in Easton, Maryland. In addition to helping Dave, I write for a small paper out of Lancaster, New York called Drag Racing News. I take hundreds of pictures each year and only a handful ever gets to see the light of day.

Mostly our stuff gets sold directly to the racers or used by NHRA but the majority of it gets filed in a box in my basement. I, by no stretch, am a professional writer but with this in mind I hope to show you my view of the NHRA and IHRA racing world. Plus show off my photos. I have to do something with all these damm pictures!

In about three hours I will get off of work and drive the shortest distance I will have in the next five weeks. Since I live and work in Newark, Delaware and Cecil County Dragway is 15 miles from my house, Cecil County is what I would consider my home track. It was the first dragstrip I went to as a teenager and during the heyday of Match Racing in the 1960's the track was one of the best in the nation. The "Traction Capital of the East" is what the racers called it as many a National Record was set at Cecil in the 1960's.

Ah yes, it was in the summer of 1966 (uh oh, here comes one of those "My First Time" stories). I was at the impressionable age of 14. The Beatles, Stones and The Beach Boys were my favorite bands. My only contact with drag racing up to that time was either watching Wide World of Sports on ABC or reading magazines like Super Stock and Car Craft. I knew who the hitters were in the sport and although I had never heard the sound of a hemi on nitro or a screaming small block Chevrolet, I was already hooked for life.

I had nagged my dad for months to go to the drags. The radio ads for "Sunday, Sunday, Sunday at beautiful Cecil County Dragway" sent me into the stratosphere. Jesus, it's only a half-hour away Dad! Finally his will weakened and he said, "yes we'll go, just shut up about it already!" It was a warm July night. I had no idea who was running but in those days Cecil County had a booked-in Match Race every weekend. It could be anyone from Don Prudhomme against Big Daddy or Dandy Dick Landy versus Ronnie Sox. As we drove toward the track on Theodore Road, off Route 272, my heart was racing.

In the 60's and 70's the hot pits were next to the spectators entrance so I craned my neck to see who was racing that night as we got to the track. I saw a few gassers and altereds but not much else. That was until we got up to the ticket window. Parked right next to the fence was Don Nicholson's "Eliminator I" Mercury Comet Funny car. I just about filled my pants. Don Nicholson fer God's sake!

Nicholson in the summer of 1966 was awesome. Don and Mercury were the ones that started the whole flip top funny car thing that we all take for granted. He had a win/loss record that has never been equaled. Don won over 90% of all his match races that year and the only time he ever seemed to lose was to his Mercury racing teammates "Fast" Eddie Schartman and Jack Chrisman. The heavier and less sophisticated Mopars and Chevys for the most part didn't have a chance. Mercury had their act together in the early years of funny car. It took Mopar and the GM boys nearly a year to catch up.

Well, on this eventful July night Nicholson was booked in against Don Gay's supercharged "Infinity" Pontiac GTO. Gay had some limited success with the blown 421 Poncho, but his heavy steel and fiberglass piece was at a severe disadvantage against the lighter all fiberglass, tube chassis, flip top Comet. Gay's GTO was basically a warmed over sticker, where the Comet was pure race car.

Nicholson had been running 8.60's earlier in the year, but by July he was dipping into the mid to low 8's and later in the season, he was the first unblown Funny Car in the sevens. Slow by today's standards, but in comparison it would be like running a 4.60 in Funny Car when the rest of the field is running 4.90's.

Both cars were running what I would guess a light load of nitro, probably around 50-70%. I could be wrong but I don't think they tipped the can the way the fuelers did in the 60's. Nicholson was running the SOHC motor with Hilborn injection and Gay had the GMC huffer on top of his Pontiac. After they fired up the cars and came up to the line to do their burnouts it was all I could do to contain my enthusiasm. The noise, the sound, the smokey burnouts, too much!! That night Nicholson's Comet took three straight from Gay's GTO, running 8.30's with ease. Gay ran OK but his high eight second passes could not match the flying Comet.

And as if that was not enough, also on hand were Bill Jenkins and another racer by the name of Jere Stahl. Now most of you know who the "Grump" is but Stahl at the time had the country's fastest A/S. His 1966 Hemi Plymouth Belvedere was just flat fast. And the rivalry between Jenkins and Stahl was legendary.

Jenkin's usual ride, a high revving 1966 Chevy II small block, traded wins in A/S with the Hemi all season long. I don't know if they were really booked in, but I didn't care. The 327 Chevy II A/S was back in Pennsylvania that night and Bill was doing some shake down runs in a big block 1966 Chevelle for an engine customer.

The big block Chevelle Jenkins drove would have been in the B/S or C/S class and really did not have a chance against the faster A/S Hemi. Bill gave it his best shot but still lost two out of three races that night to Stahl. Jere would go on to win the Nationals and World Finals with the Hemi in 1966.

This of course was also my first encounter with the Stockers from a live standpoint. The A/S class at the time had some of the fastest door slammer action in the nation. This was before Super Stock Eliminator as we know it and four years before the first Pro Stocker would hit the track. But at the time Top Stock action was big news.

Most of the monthly Drag Racing magazines like Super Stock and Drag Illustrated along with the weekly drag papers covered the Stock Eliminator action in the mid 60's. Not like today where the Stock Eliminator is shoved back around the Super Gas/Heavy ET results. Unless you were around in the 60's it's hard to understand what the big deal was. But it was a much different time. A purer time in the evolution of Drag Racing. Big business such as Winston and Budweiser was not a factor yet. The new IHRA Top Stock Eliminator is an attempt to recall the salad days of Stock Eliminator but once these things are gone, they're gone for good.

But now it's back to the future. I must get my butt in gear and head on out to the track.

Strange, even now I still get the same feeling of anticipation I got during my first trip to Cecil County Dragway over 35 years ago. It's sort of like driving by your first girlfriend's house 35 years later. Maybe I'm crazy... Who knows..... But some things never change.

Please stay tuned for the next installment. Federal Mogul Drag Racing Series at Cecil County Dragway. Film at 11...

Any questions, complaints or gripes, please e-mail me at Philip_R._Hutchison@dadebehring.com