Lighting 'em up is Peter Biondo...
Lighting 'em up is Peter Biondo in his Biondo Racing Products dragster, Sunday's Gambler winner. Both the car and Peter himself, below, were on in the race, which saw him defeat a red-lighting Bill Mitchell Jr. in his World Products dragster.
This place, this Atco Raceway in southern New Jersey, will probably keep on going well into the next millennium. And why not? It's been a traditional stopover for drag racers famous or not for the past 38 years, first opening its gates on Memorial Day 1960 as a full quarter-mile super drag strip. It is probably one of the last historical race tracks around.
Thirty-eight years ago, it was Super Stockers and fuelers, gas coupes and sedans. Today, under Joe Sway's and Bob Van Sciver's ownership, Atco holds regular bracket races, three and sometimes four times a week, on land that is not threatened by development-even though it is but three miles from a New Jersey township and 30 miles from Philadelphia and a similar amount from Atlantic City. "There's not much construction around," Sway says. "We're surrounded by the Wharton State Forest, the pine lands of New Jersey, and the state's largest single natural water table." Atco, he says, which has flown three racing sanctioning flags-the NHRA, IHRA, and AHRA-will be here for some time.
So much so that while our latest ET Challenge race was taking place, the Bracket Racing USA/Garden State Nationals, held on June 20-21, Sway and company were also monitoring construction of new, permanent, aluminum bleachers trackside. Hopefully, Sway says, Atco will host an IHRA national event soon.
Biondo's winner's circle crowd...
Biondo's winner's circle crowd included girl friend Jackie Rogge, who also races his old bracket dragster. That "peace" clown on the right is Editor Dale Wilson.
"But we like bracket racers. Most tracks don't. This is what we do best," Sway says. Indeed, the track went through 21 drums of VHT last year, and Atco holds regular Stock, Super Stock, Super Gas, Super Comp, and Jr. Dragster circuits, and is open for racing Friday through Sunday, with an occasional Thursday thrown in. "We've even run some thrill shows on Wednesdays," Sway said. Friday's Gambler purse was set at a cool $3,000, and Saturday's and Sunday's purses were $5,000 for the fast cars, with $1,000 slated for Heavy Eliminator winners.
Atco is a racer's race track. Sway once raced in Pro Stock, and Van Sciver has had jet Funny Cars and will have a new jet truck. And everybody from "Big Daddy" Don Garlits to Shirley Muldowney to John Force has been there. Plus darn good bracket racers.
Looking like it is all motor,...
Looking like it is all motor, Ted McCarthy's roadster leaves the starting line; blower and carburator handling the induction. "State-wide recycling" roadster is show-quality.
The first racer to win the money at the 1998 Atco Garden State Nats was Allan Juhasz from Jamison, Pennsylvania, in his 1992 Vette, a car which he's had for the past two years-which was a Jerry Haas-built AA/Altered Competition Eliminator car that once belonged to Carl Petersen. Juhasz bought it from a guy who tried to run the Vette in Pro Modified but gave up, and now it's a bracket car. He got $3,000 for his racing on Friday in Super Pro.
"This is the biggest amount of money the car has ever won," Juhasz said later. "The third time out, last spring, I won here." He won over Mike Quartorone from Ewing, New Jersey, this past June, and he credits the 522-cubic-inch Shafiroff engine with helping him win. "I blew up three motors before finding him," Juhasz said.
Our next big winner came on Saturday during the Gambler's race, wherein William Carroll from Stowe, Pennsylvania, won in his "Cajun Spice" Meng low eight-second dragster over John Scott from Edverson, Pennsylvania. Carroll has had "Cajun Spice" since 1991, and he says the $5,000 purse he got from Atco was his biggest win to date.
Flamed and chopped is the...
Flamed and chopped is the way Harry Barnett likes his Ford pick-'em-ups. "Incinerator" is from Williamstown, New Jersey.
"I was raised in Louisiana, and that's why I call it 'Cajun Spice.' I figure I'm up here among these northerners, and the name is appropriate," Carroll said. He had the math on his side (despite a .534 to .524 reaction time, Carroll's dragster ran a dead-on-to-the-thousandths 8.11, while Scott broke out). Carroll will give some of his winnings to his daughter, April, and wife, Lynne, and save the rest for the Florida winter series of races. "I've been thinking of getting a four-link for the car, but every time I get ready, it wins me some money," he said.
And on Sunday, a big name in bracket racing, Peter Biondo, won all the bucks in the Gambler race. He was victorious in the final over another well-known bracket hitter, Bill Mitchell Jr. of Bill Mitchell Hard Core Racing and World Parts. Biondo is a member of the racing Biondo family, which makes practice Christmas Trees, delay boxes, and a whole lot more for the industry.
... and the winner of Friday's...
... and the winner of Friday's Super Pro race is Allan Juhasz from Jamison, Pennsylvania, in his 1992 Vette, an ex-Competition Eliminator altered that now runs in the 8s in brackets. Juhasz tallied a good .038 ET Challenge score.
Mitchell red-lighted with a .498-after having taken two-thousandths out of his delay box-while Biondo was to the good with a .513. He ran 12.076 at 61.98 mph for the win.
"I've been in a major slump all year, until recently," Biondo said later. "Last week at the (NHRA) Spring Nationals at Columbus, I got runner-up in Super Comp, and that's been it. I won in my girlfriend Jackie's car, but nothing like this until now." In 1996, Biondo was the NHRA Winston world champ in Super Stock, and last year he won the Division 1 bracket finals at Maple Grove, plus two $5,000 races at Atco, plus Super Comp at the U.S. Nationals, and Super Stock at the Keystones. Maybe now, he says, his luck has changed.
Biondo is now the current BRUSA ET Challenge leader with a good .017 score. Carroll accrued a .025, and Juhasz got a .038.