November 8, 2025, Graphing Recap of IHRA at Darana Motorsports Park

The racing organization that my dad used to race with has staged a dramatic comeback this season, with the final race of their six-race season coming this past weekend.  The race was held at Darana Motorsports Park in Dunn, NC.  The track was formerly known as Dunn-Benson Drageay and also Galot Motorsports Park.  I had heard about the race when it was announced a few months ago, and planned to attend to show ky support.  I have fond memories of Dad going to IHRA races back in the 80s and 90s, so I would like to see this new iteration be successful. 

It was really cool that they had Big Daddy Don Garlits there signing autographs. Garlits is 93 years old, but is still up and about. I paid $20 for the above poster, which he signed in copper Sharpie. He told me while the picture was being taken that he had originally built that car for "Jungle" Jim Lieberman.  Lieberman decided against running a dragster, so Garlits kept the car for himself; he also told me "see, I would build them just as good for my customers as I would for myself!"

Of course, I had to go by and see Shirley Muldowney since she was set up at the track selling signed posters for her "Shirley's Kids" charity.  She signed two cards for me and also the above poster.  The poster and autograph were $20, and I gave her another $20 as a donation for signing my cards.  She was really funny when Chris and I walked up; complaining about eyedrops she needed to take.  She also was fretting over not being able to find her special pens she had bought for signing. I've loved Shirley since I was 3, and she has always been awesome every time I've met her.

While I was waiting for Shirley to sign my poster, Don Garlits walked over to her, hugged her and said some great things about her.  It was so cool to see these two former bitter rivals get together.  I'm glad I was able to get my phone out and take a picture of the moment.

I had to get some graphing in while I was there, so I raided my old 1990 IHRA set and also an album of drag racing cards that Mom found for me.

Del Worsham was really cool.  He had a conversation with a couple guys while he was grinding some clutch plates; doing his own work on his funny car.  He ended up winning the race, which was cool to see.  He commented on how young he was in the cards, then joked about how young Rickie Smith was on his card.

Also above, you can see that Shirley ended up finding her pen that she was looking for when she signed one of her cards in white.

I had an amazing time with Chris at the race. I was pleasantly surprised when I was recognized by several people who knew me, or my parents.  I also surprised a friend who used to race against Dad that hadn't seen me in about 18 years or so.  He and his wife were thrilled that I came out to the race.

The quality of the race was top-notch.  Chris and I picked out a spot in the stands, then barely moved for hours.  He walked to the car a couple times to drop some stuff off and get drinks from the cooler.  He shot a bunch of pictures and videos on his phone also, so i know he was enjoying himself.  He even bought me a shirt.

I posted some videos, but they didn't work.

I almost forgot, in all, I got the following autographs: Don Garlits x 1, Shirley Muldowney x 3, Chris Cline x 2, Camrie Caruso x 2, Larry McBride x 3, Keith Jackson x 1, Tommy Mauney x 5, Rickie Smith x 2 and Del Worsham x 3 (22 total autographs).

Graphing the 2023 North Carolina Drag Racing Hall of Fame Induction

This weekend, I had the pleasure of going back to the North Carolina Drag Racing Hall of Fame induction during the Shriner's Expo in Greensboro.  This year, my childhood hero, Shirley Muldowney, was being inducted into the Hall, and I wanted to make sure I would be there.  My dad is Hall of Fame Class of 2018 for this group, and it is really cool to me to be able to say he is enshrined along Shirley, a drag racing legend.  There was some discussion as to why Shirley (who generally raced with the NHRA out in California, etc) would be inducted into the North Carolina Hall.  While she is famous for being the first woman to be licensed to drive a Top Fuel dragster; first woman to win a Top Fuel national event; first woman to win a Top Fuel World Championship, and the first driver of an gender to win multiple Top Fuel Championships, she is also the first woman to win a funny car national event.  She did this in 1974 at Rockingham Dragway in Rockingham, North Carolina.  So, there's the connection to North Carolina.

I was able to get several cards signed by Shirley, along with several posters (a couple were for my mom) and a couple of the brochures for the ceremony.  Shirley was gracious as always, and I was very happy to be able to talk with here briefly.  I was also able to give her a good recommendation for some Chinese food close to where she is now living.

One of the folks in the autograph line (along with Shirley, my dad, and others) was Buddy Martin.  Martin was the other half of the famous Sox and Martin team that dominated the early days of Pro Stock.  Ronnie Sox is no longer with us, so I got Buddy to sign my two Sox cards from my 1990 IHRA set.  Buddy Martin wasn't really associated with this car, but I thought it was a good idea to go ahead and get him to sign the cards in recognition of how powerful that duo was in the history of drag racing.

Finally, I had undertaken a little project that began with an idea my coworker, Lisa, set me toward.  Last year, the son of a friend of mine that I have known for years followed me around the event.  He's a cool little dude, who is a talented racer in his own right.  Cameron Moore recently won a track championship locally, and is a big fan of cards (mostly Pokemon cards).  Lisa gave me the idea to make some custom cards on Topps's website and give them to Cam while I was at the event.  I did, but the condition with Cam was that he would have to sign one of the cards for me.  I got a big hug from Cam and a hand shake from his dad.  I think he is super happy about the cards (well, I know he is, because he thanked me about 6 or 7 times, and gave me 3 or 4 hugs).  I just thought it was really cool to give him something that he could hand out to his friends and family as he starts along his racing journey.  From everything that I've seen, he is very talented.

I had a great time at the Hall of Fame induction, and got to spend time with my Mom while Dad was signing.  I also went through the line a couple times and stopped to talk to Dad as he sat there.  It was kind of funny, but he seemed to enjoy the attention.  As long as I am able, I plan to attend the ceremonies as they happen annually.  I wonder who they will induct next year.

What I Did For My Birthday

I'm sure you all have noticed that I have been absent from this blog over the last few days.  The reason was because I went out of town for my birthday, which was Saturday.  My wife, son and I went to ZMax Dragway in Charlotte for the NHRA Carolina Nationals.  I had been to ZMax one time before, back in April 2012 for the 4-WIde Nationals.

This time around, it was only 2-wide and the race was part of the NHRA's 'playoffs' or 'Countdown to the Championship.  This added a bit of drama to the event.  I'm not the biggest fan of this setup, as I was brought up in the era of "He who wins the most races is the Champion", but it makes it so that no one racer is dominating the class, so I guess that's ok.

As with any sporting event, I went with a goal in mind.  This time, it was to meet, again, my childhood idol, Shirley Muldowney, the First Lady of drag racing.  I had met her before in 1995 at Bristol, but was too nervous to pose for a picture with her, even though she offered.  I felt terrible about that, and wanted to redeem myself before it was too late.  Well, after about 15 minutes on-site...

We spotted Shirley in front of the Don Schumacher hospitality area recruiting fans to attend the benefit breakfast for B. R. A. K. E. S. (Be Responsible and Keep Everyone Safe) teen driving initiative, which was founded by fellow Top Fuel racer, Doug Herbert.  This is a good program which teaches teen drivers proper safe driving techniques and was founded by Herbert when he lost his two sons in a road accident a few years back.  I've known Doug Herbert for several years and I was happy to contribute to his program while I was there.

We talked to Shirley for a bit outside of the breakfast area and she was kind enough to pose for a picture with the 3 of us.  She was really, super nice, I couldn't have asked for a better time meeting her.  She has always been good to me.  As you can see, the photo turned out awesome.  I'm going to print it out and hang it up with my Brooks Robinson and Nolan Reimold pictures.  Meeting her on my birthday meant the world to me, so you know I was happy.

On Sunday, Chris met current Top Fuel dragster driver, Leah Pruett and got her autograph.  I think he was a big smitten by her as he wanted to go back and congratulate her after her round one win over Tony Schumacher.  She was really nice as well.  She took the time to thank Chris for coming back by her pits and congratulating her.  She said she won the round because he had brought her good luck.

We had a great time, but I am now feeling it.  I didn't get much sleep over the weekend and am now feeling like a zombie.  So, that being said, I will retire for the evening and will return to my regular blogging probably tomorrow.

April 7 Card Show Recap - The Miscellaneous Stuff

One of the things I love about going to a card show or even a memorabilia shop is that you never know what kinds of random stuff that you'll find.  I took a break from my tables with about an hour to go in the show and walked around with Christopher.  He had $13 bucks to spend, so he bought an 8x10 of WWE Superstar, The Big Show.  We also found a table that had some wrestling cards for $1.00, so he picked up one of Mach Man Randy Savage.  At the same table, on the same dollar rack was the below Press Pass Legends card of my favorite Drag Racer, Shirley Muldowney.

Finding a card of Shirley is a bit of a rare feat in itself, since not too many cards are made for drag racing.  One would think that they would give it a shot, since NASCAR cards seem to have some popularity.  I'd rather see drag racing cards than NASCAR ones anyway because with all the different types of cars out there, there would be a bit of a variety.

I know I have blogged in the past about meeting Shirley in person back in 1995.  She is an awesome person and I love this card.  Press Pass Legends has some relic and autos of her that I think I'm going to pursue.  Might as well, since they are out there and I definitely will appreciate them.

Another cool thing I got was this 1979 AL Champion Orioles pennant.  It will look really good on my wall with my other pennants.  They guy was a friend of my brother's, so he made me a deal on the pennant.  I got it for $15, which is the same price I paid (I think) for my Camden Yards All Star Game one I got in Cooperstown last year.

Stay tuned to see some of the cards I picked up.  I got some sweet deals on those, so I'm really pleased with what I picked up.

Also, I hope everyone has a Happy Easter with their families and remembers that today isn't about eggs and rabbits, but for the ultimate sacrifice.  I don't normally get on the religion soapbox, but I feel like the meaning of this holiday is lost sometimes.  So, take a little time out, be thankful for the things that you have and, if nothing else, try to spend a little quality time with your family.

Taking a Look at my Man Cave - A Work in Progress

So, I thought it would be a good idea to show everyone what I have finally been able to do with my 'man cave.'

This room is the first room that you step into if you are coming from the driveway into our new house, so it was a staging area for boxes for the first few months that we have been here. We finally were able to get rid of a bunch of stuff via a yard sale (and plan on having another very soon). I had a free weekend this weekend, so I hung a bunch of stuff up.

Bear in mind that the room is still taking shape, so there are boxes and stuff still piled in certain areas. I hope to get rid of several boxes at subsequent card shows, but for now, I wanted to show how things have been coming along...


As you come into the room from our living room, you'll see a few of the movie posters, etc that I have. I hung up the Family Guy Blue Harvest and Scarface posters first, but I have a few other movie posters that I would like to hang up as well. There is a beat up china cabinet against the wall that will be sold at the next yard sale because I don't have time to restore it (or a hutch to put it on). Once it gets out of there, I'll have more room, haha.


Our good friend Babe-O-Licious gave my wife the awesome NHL All Star banner from Atlanta for Christmas. We went to that All Star game, so it is awesome that we were able to get our hands on one of the banners.


Here you can see some event posters that I have collected over the years. The 1938 World Series poster is a replica of course. The two wrestling posters came from the grocery store I used to work at. They would put the posters up on the Pepsi machine that we had outside and my manager let me have them when the event was over. The pom poms came from Babe in a collection of Panthers gear that she gave me for Christmas one year.


Here is a better view of that corner. My wife's octopus from the Red Wing games is what is sitting atop my curio cabinet. Inside the cabinet are all baseballs that I had signed in person at various minor and major league games. A few notable baseballs in this curio are Don Zimmer, Mike Bordick, Chris Hoiles and a team signed ball from the Charlotte Orioles (possibly 1984) that a friend from work gave me.


Here you can see Chris in his PJs pointing at old pictures of my Dad's race cars. The china cabinet to the left is one of my prized possessions. Inside it are all of my HOF signed baseballs as well as balls signed by star players, MVPs, Cy Young winners, etc. Please forgive the pile of mess on the table, this is everything I had loaded up for the last card show. I wanted to keep it all in one place in case I decided to do the July show. I decided not to and need to put the stuff away somewhere. I'll get around to it.

Also inside the china cabinet is my dad's helmet from his championship seasons of 1992 and 1993. You can see a connecting rod signed by my dad to the right of the helmet and a piston signed by fellow racer Bill Kuhlmann (given to me in 1993). Inside the helmet is a burnt piston signed by my dad.

To the left are baseballs signed by Orioles (Brooks, Cal, 2 Brian Roberts and obscured by the door frame is Jim Palmer). This shelf houses my HOF balls. The shelf above has Cy Young/MVP winners and other notable players such as Don Newcombe, Marty Marion and Bryce Harper. Not sure if you can make it out, but there is a Phillie Blunt tin box that belonged to my great grandfather. The copyright date on the tin is from the 1920s. My mom rescued it from my dad's shelf in his race shop.

Finally, here is the newest china cabinet that I got last weekend. It came from an elderly couples house that my grandparents purchased in 1989-1990. They bought the house with the intention of moving my great grandmother in, but she, instead lived her final years in their spare bedroom. My parents had the china cabinet in their 'brooder building' (where they have been breeding their exotic birds). I was able to thoroughly clean it with Murphy's wood oil. It looks awesome.

Inside it are my die cast Shirley Muldowney dragsters. My brother Philip picked me up 3 of them while my wife bought the fourth one. I also have my bobbleheads in here (Cal Ripken, Jim Thome and 2 generic Orioles). My Nolan Reimold bobblehead is on my file cabinet in my office at work.

There are plush mascots of the Lansing Lugnuts and Montgomery Biscuits.

There are two additional die cast cars: Blaine Johnson (mom got it for me after Johnson was killed in 1996) and Mark Thomas' Ethanol Funny Car (Mark gave it to me in the mid 90's - he is an awesome man). I walked up to him in St. Louis in 1989 and got his autograph. The next day on the way to the track, he met my parents at the gas station and gave them a stack of signed cards because he remembered us from the day before. Since then, we have kept in touch. He is also the winningest pro driver in IHRA (International Hot Rod Association) history.

So, there you have it. I have a lot more to hang on the walls and organize before I consider the room complete. Of course, it will be an ever evolving endeavour, so things will always be moving in and out of it. I hope you all enjoyed the glimpse into our new house. I plan on adding another post once I consider the room more toward completion.

My First Ever TTM Success - Shirley Muldowney 8x10 Photo

Switching gears for a bit (see what I did there?), I thought I'd post something I found while getting all the pictures I intend on hanging on the wall in my new 'man cave' together.

I used to watch the movie 'Heart Like a Wheel' every chance I could get when I was little. The movie came out when I was 3 and it was the only drag racing movie I had ever heard of, so it worked for me on a few levels. Since my dad drag raced, I was around it my whole life. I became a HUGE Shirley Muldowney fan because of the movie. Being the first woman to ascend the professional ranks in drag racing was a tremendous feat, and she was the perfect woman to do it. She has always had the type of 'Take no Sh*t off of anyone' attitude that served her well in being able to send the boys home on raceday.

Something else about Shirley is that she has always been very accommodating to her many fans around the world. When I was 10 years old, having seen the movie probably a billion times, my mom found me a way that I could write Shirley a letter. I wish I could remember what I said in the letter. Probably that my dad also drag raced, I loved the movie, etc. I also included my 5th grade school picture and a card of my dad's racecar.

Shirley was racing exclusively on the NHRA circuit at that time, so I didn't have a chance to see her race in person, since we were in IHRA territory. I had always longed to go to a race and watch her, but at that time, I didn't have the chance.

Fast forward 5 years (1995), I'm walking along the pits at Bristol Dragway for the 1995 Spring Nationals with my cousin's girlfriend. As we are walking, a top fuel dragster was being rolled out of its transporter. As the car rolls out and I see the name on the car, I flip out and run straight back to our pits and scream at my mom 'MOM OH MY GOD SHIRLEY IS HERE SHES HERE SHES HERE...' (Yeah Im a dork). She had decided to try the IHRA tour that year, so made a (then) rare trip out east.

Later on that day when I calmed down, I went up to Shirley to meet her in person. She was sitting at the end of her transporter signing autographs for the people who came by and I was the last one there for that moment. This meant I didn't have anyone waiting behind me so I could talk as long as she allowed. So, I nervously approached the woman I had only read about and seen on TV and told her 'Hello, Ms. Muldowney, I'm a big fan, I loved your movie and I wrote you a letter when I was 10...' She stopped me right there and said 'Your name is William and you sent me a school picture.' I was floored. This awesome lady REMEMBERED me! She REMEMBERED MY NAME! How awesome is that? I will never forget that as long as I live. She is and will always be one of my sports heroes.

I hope you all enjoyed this story, as I enjoyed re-telling it. Please leave me some comments and let me know what you think.