The third annual Trail of Tears Rendezvous began August 29, 2008 at the Sikeston Drag Strip in Sikeston, Missouri, and offered drag racing fun for the weekend.
Friday night was test and tune for the cars to get everything in top shape for the races to be held beginning the next night. Mike Cooper from El Dorado, Kansas with his '64 Tempest and Chris Schenuk from Wheaton, Illinois with a Third Gen Firebird brought their Super Pro cars for extra thrills.
Larry Cooper, Jr. brought his rail from Pensacola, Florida and tore up his transmission on Friday during test and tune. That began a flurry of phone calls and frantic searching to find a replacement or to find someone who was willing to work on a holiday to fix this problem. "Racer" Brown from Jackson, Mo took the time to help Larry. Many thanks to him!
Sunday came with blue skies and temperatures in the mid-80s, but with high humidity. The morning hours brought the car show with the shiny cars glistening, and lined straight and proud. The judges went to each car while the owners stood by proudly and chose from the field the best of the best. These were hard choices to make. All the cars were at their best.
Thomas Horn of Whitewater, MO took the Best of Show with his '80 Pontiac Trans-am. Joe Camp of Waterloo, IL took first in his class with a '71 Pontiac GTO. The '77 Pontiac Lemans Can-Am of Kelly Barfoot from Campbell, MO took first in his class. Other winners were Tina & George Price of Moscow Mills, MO with a '78 Pontiac Trans-Am, a '79 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am owned by J.A. Roberts of Dexter, MO and Thomas Horn of Whitewater, MO. Jeff Redhage of Sullivan, MO won for his '74 Pontiac Trans-Am SD 455. This car was one of 731 automatics and still had the custom paint from 28 years ago.
12:00 PM brought the racers to the long awaited moment where they could start their engines and begin time trials. Cars got as many time trials as they could manage within the time allotted with a guarantee of three. Actual racing began at 3:00 PM and the fun began. This year proved to be a testing ground as well as adding more excitement by introducing a new class to the race - a fast four rail race as well as a fast four door car race sponsored by Butler Performance. Larry Cooper, Jr. won this first time race with Dave Wallace from Mattoon, IL coming in Second. The door car fast four was equally exciting with Mike Cooper winning the prize and Chris Shenuk winning Second. Danny Estep from Royalton, IL won Third. These cars provided the crowd with some exciting moments for the day.