ADRL Memphis Drags II Weekend Wrap UpMy trip to the National Guard ADRL Quarter Max Memphis Drags II this past weekend began on Thursday evening where the atmosphere in the pits was relaxed and everyone got their respective areas set up. I was sorta just hanging out when Tim walked up and wanted for me to drive him and his family to town so that he could get some supper because they knew what the next two days would be like. I simply handed him the keys and said, "Don't let 'er get away from ya", before he and Cindy, Kristen, and Jordan loaded up and went to town for a while. Congratulation goes out to Kristen Savell who is a recent high school graduate, from everyone here at Bankston Boyz Racing wishes you our best! She will be attending Hinds Community College in the fall of 09 with the intent of becoming a nurse. Well, after Tim left I walked over to Stan's locked motorhome, seem as if he decided to go to supper earlier, so I had time to burn and a six pack of Fat Tire and was surrounded by race teams. It was on Keith Baker's hauler that I decided to perch for the evening to chew the fat and tell some lies! When Flip, Chad and Heath of Al-Anabi Racing show up there will be some 'stories' told. Before the second beer was down we had quite a small group and I learned a lot about this diverse group of people who faithfully attend these fantastic events presented by Kenny Knowling and his staff. It is the people after all that pulls off these events. The Father/Driver like Tim who brings his wife and daughters to races, the father son operations like J B Baker and son Keith, the husband wife operations like Michelle Wilson and Billy Glidden teams illustrate this diversity of character that makes this fun and very competitive. The interaction of the ADRL staff with the teams is exemplary, for the most part. Watching Eddie Cranford mosey around and take the time to make folks feel at home as he does at each and every ADRL race was refreshing. However, witnessing Hawk conduct the Nitrous tech inspections while thwarting off insults and degradation from driver and crew was amusing. It was obvious to me that he knew exactly what he was looking for and no matter how either myself or Stan tried to sidetrack him. Jim "Hawk" Fathera stayed on task while demonstrating a good sense of humor. Being able to observe the subtle ways the media attempts to squeeze information out of some of these guys is an art within itself, with the ADRL's own Ian Torcher leading the pack. This 'agent' suspects that some of that National Guard’s interrogation tactics were modified and dropped square in the lap of Ian, 'cause he is good at what he does!' Now, when I ventured to query him on some rumors around the pits that were in need of verification the politician in him came out and it appeared to all of us the he couldn’t remember the question and deferred to some archaic form of the journalistic babble that only few have ever heard. With all drivers getting their new 'hero' cards in time for this race and new Sharpies to go along they were ready for the fans. When I took a moment to notice the way Bankston Boyz Racing's drivers were interacting with our fans made me feel good to know that for this short moment in time our driver made this fan feel as if he belongs no where else other than standing there with a driver of one of the baddest door slamming nitrous cars on the planet! The way that John DeFlorian would stop what he was doing in order to sign an autograph for a six year old boy as quick as he would for a sixty year old woman displayed true character. I witnessed a timid boy of about 8 years approach John for an autograph and John treated him like a champ making him smile from ear to ear. John asked the boy if he was sitting in the pit side grandstand and when the boy nodded his head yes, DeFlorian tells him, "I thought so because I saw you on my last run and if you sit in the same place for my next pass I'll wave to you as I come by!" For you see John missed qualifying by one spot and was first alternate in the Pro-Nitrous class and he had a choice about his attitude and rather being down about a DNQ, he instead chose to get his car prepped and ready to race just in case someone who qualified higher than him could not make the call. This is indeed what happened and John ended up running teammate Stan Allen in the first round of eliminations. Being able to allow a fan to walk up to the "Blue Beast" while being prepped, by driver Tim Savell, makes a fan's eye sparkle and the wheels in their mind turn as they stand in anticipation of their autograph while staring off into the abyss of what we call the "clutch can". I bounced over to Stan Allen's pit just in time to see him interacting with a few fans from Corinth, MS. One asked him, "Are you scared of it?" Stan's immediate and succinct response was, "Only for a little over 4 seconds!" What a great answer and perfect illustration of Bankston Boyz Racing's willingness to interact with all race fans regardless of demographics. Milling around the pits and grandstands for a couple a days allowed me to see and meet fans, racers, sponsors, and drag racing legends. Walking around with the likes of Shannon Jenkins, Jerry Haas, Angelle Sampey, Roy Hill, and others makes this one truly unique racing forum. I would be amiss if I failed to mention the staff at Memphis Motorsports Park who provided all racers one of the cleanest pits I have seen in a long while. Trash cans were emptied about every 4 hours the entire weekend, waste oil barrels were hauled off and replaced and the midway was litter free for the most part. Other facilities have their advantages and disadvantages alike, but cleanliness takes the cake in my opinion. Other notes from the weekend include a surprise, pit side, birthday party for one of our crew members, LeOtis Kelley, see video on this site. We all would like to wish Thomas "Slick" and Rebecca Meyers our best in their recovery efforts for their '63 split window Corvette that burned in the starting box on Friday night qualifying round one, see video of fire on this site. With that I must end this note from Memphis. See ya'll in Martin, MI! Regards, Mark Teague |