 Bankston Boyz Racing Tests at Crandall, TX21 October 2009 – With the 2009 Speedtech National Guard ADRL Battle for the Belts just two days away Bankston Boyz Racing’s own Stan Allen left Awesome Motorsport’s race shop in Tuscaloosa, AL with “Black Ice”, the 2008 David Janes 68 Camaro RS formerly driven by Shannon the “Iceman” Jenkins en route to the world renowned Texas Motorplex located just outside of Ennis, TX. Allen and crew member David Shelton of Baton Rouge, LA had just days before left Jackson, MS for Jerry Bickel’s shop in Missouri to pick up the brand spanking new 68 Camaro for nitrous legend Shannon Jenkins. They arrived on Sunday night and were loaded up on Monday morning and rolled off for Tuscaloosa, AL to make delivery of this car, and to take receipt of Black Ice later in the day. As the car swap was underway Shannon Jenkins was informed of his father’s sudden death following routine surgery necessitating a change in plans and impacting many people throughout the drag racing industry. The original plan was to get Shannon fitted to his new car and make it race ready while Black Ice got refreshed and fitted for Stan to be competitive and then both teams were going to go test in Crandall, TX at the new concrete facility there, and as they rolled through Jackson we were having our spare race hauler loaded with Stan’s McAmis Camaro fall in to have as a spare. On behalf of Bankston Boyz Racing, team owner Michael Bankston, drivers Stan Allen and John DeFlorian, crew, our sponsors Mississippi Foundation Repair Specialists, TeaCo Geophysical, Reher-Morrison, and Goodyear we would like to extend our sympathy and condolences to Shannon, Heath and all of the Jenkins family on the loss of their patriarch. May God bless you all in this time of loss and know you all are in our thoughts and prayers. With changes made in schedules Justin Bankston fell in behind Stan Allen in the spare rig with the 68 McAmis Camaro when they came through Jackson on their way to Crandall, TX for testing. The six hour drive was extended first by at least an hour due to work on the Mississippi River Bridge in Vicksburg and secondly further slowed by blinding rain from Shreveport all the way to Crandall. By 3:30, when both rigs arrived at the facility the rain was hard and drivers were exhausted with sleep being the only thing on their minds. It is amazing the ability of rain to assist in a good sleep and by the time the rain had ceased it was 12:30 with a stiff cold breeze making for poor track conditions. When the car came out of the trailer and placed on the Pro-Jack jackstands, everyone around stood around jawing about the quality and clean look of the newest addition to the Bankston Boyz racing stable. As can be expected with any deal like this a transition time is required in order to get bugs worked out. As it turns out we experienced a minor issue with a jumper wire for the cooling fan not matching and thanks to Billy Glidden we were able to get it fixed. After setting the air gap in the clutch and fueling it up we turned the 798 ci Reher-Morrison motor over and warmed up before going out for Stan’s first test hit in his new steed.  So with this we decided that testing was complete and loaded everyone up for the short haul over to the Texas Motorplex and the greatly anticipated Speedtech Battle for the Belts! Regards, Mark Teague |