Hub City Press Release

2010 Fat Tuesday Street Race Hub City Dragway, Hattiesburg, MS

19 February 2010 - Bankston Boyz Racing kept their cars at the house this year due to the cold weather making it the first time in some years that a Bankston Boyz Racing entry was not in the competition. This does not mean that there was not a Bankston presence in the Hub City. Team owner and professional engine tuner Michael Bankston was there offering his tuning expertise to fellow racers. In particular an agreement was made for him to tune on the ’63 split window Corvette piloted by Greg Buschmeyer as he did last year.

Turning the wrenches and offering pointers were James “Redeye” Goodson, David Shelton, Innis Goodson, crew members for Stan Allen’s ADRL Pro-Nitrous entry. Also in attendance was Heath Jenkins, son of the “Iceman” Shannon Jenkins, who was able to relax and enjoy a low stress weekend in Mississippi. Greg Buschmeyer had his four man crew present and under direction from Casey Buschmeyer, who is crew chief for the 63 Corvette, were encouraged to ask questions and interacted well with the Bankston Boyz. After correcting some nitrous issues the team had the bullet tuned for the poor conditions encountered this day.

Temperatures started in the mid 20’s and frost was on vehicles until 9:30 on this cold morning, seeing them rise to around 45 around 2:00 just to fall off the table when the sun went down. The weather had an impact on the car count this year making the Pro-Modified class have from what I counted was 6 or 7 entries with nitrous and blowers together.

Former Bankston Boyz crew member, Stan Flota, broke his Camaro out of the trailer and used this as a chance to get re-acquainted with his car. Flota parted ways with Bankston Boyz near the end of 2007 in order to focus his efforts on his construction business in a failing economy. After spending the majority of the morning attempting to get the car to start he and his crew got the Intimidator Camaro fired, tuned, and to the lanes in time for a test hit prior the first round. It was nice to spend time at the track with former crew member, Stan Flota.

I would be amiss if I didn’t mention long time competitor and friend’s Thompson Brothers Racing and their automatic Pro-Mod entry from Canton, MS. Michael Bankston’s took the time in the afternoon to read the plugs from the prior run and offered some tuning advice to longtime friends. Unfortunately, the temperatures dropped too quickly for driver J T Thompson to get his Firebird to stick and yielded no information in regard to the tuning changes.

The cold temperatures did not thwart the efforts of Bankston Boyz Racing’s patriarch, Eddie Bankston, whose presence was warmly received in the Buschmeyer pit area. Mr. Eddie showed up around 10:30 with the BBQ pit and gumbo pot with cooker and began to get creative as he always does. After making a test hit around noonish we all returned for fresh potato salad, hotdogs, and BBQ chicken and chicken gumbo. Mr. Eddie, from the bottom of my heart I want to let you know exactly how much I miss you in our pits and would like to invite you to the ADRL season opener in Baytown, TX in March because your talents are unsurpassed in the ranks of the “pit side pit”! Thank you!

With that I honestly don’t know what else to report other than it was cold and this factored in with the wind made it less than stellar day. We are about to begin a intense testing regime to get ready for the upcoming season as it seems that Stan Allen’s 68 David Janes Camaro will have the 5.3 borespaced Reher-Morrison between the frame rails. While John DeFlorian will remain with a 5.2 Reher-Morrison in his ’06 Jerry Haas ZO6 Corvette that has gone on a diet over the winter losing close to 70 pounds.

Plans are not confirmed but if I were a fan wanting to see test sessions I would suggest looking at 3 factors that determine where we will be: distance from Jackson, MS; weather conditions; and amount of time we can test at any one facility. Tracks currently in contention for testing are Steele, Al, State Capital Raceway in Baton Rouge, LA, and No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, LA. Plans are on the books for testing at Baytown two weeks prior to the ADRL event in March. We look forward to seeing you!

Regards,

Mark Teague