White Hall Drag-O-Way Reunion

[ORIGLS6]

Oh, and just for all you Camaro purists.........

[mockingbird812]

Dennis,

Now that is a car show. Great coverage! Thanks.

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Pretty good turnout this year considering we were up against Monster Mopar Weekend at Gateway. Too bad because I wanted to be there too.

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So, you like them MoPars too eh?

[ORIGLS6]

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So, you like them MoPars too eh?

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I'll try to post a few more tonite.

[ORIGLS6]

Now for my personal highlights (Yep, two of 'em) of the event.

FIRST; Most anyone with as much 'experience' as me (read that, age) who attended ANY of the dragstrips in our area would know the name Art Badgley. Art is something of a local legend in the Godfrey/Alton Il area, and one of the best engine builders of his era (or for that matter, this era). Art has attended the past three of our events, and this year came in style.



How 'bout this for some serious motivation!



And here's the man himself.



BTW, Art celebrated his 87th Birthday on Sunday, September 9th. What a guy!

During one of the many conversations on Saturday, I thought I heard Art tell someone he had attended ALL BUT TWO of the events held at Alton Dragway. Can you imagine????? If memory serves us correctly, Alton was in operation from around 1958 through 1972? If those numbers aren't correct, at least they're close. And Art only missed two races!!!

After I heard this, I asked him if he remembered a big guy from the Chicago area who used to run a '49 Cadillac at Alton. He looked at me for a second and said, "Yeah, a big guy. I think his name was Kenny. Maybe played football or something. I never believed that car was stock." Then I showed him a picture of our beloved Ken Barnhart. "Yep, that's the guy."

Legends...............

[ORIGLS6]

And now,.................... again, if you're from our part of the midwest and you've been around as long as I have, you know the name Stan Lomelino. Stan is as much a down-to-earth, grass-roots racer as you'll ever meet. I mean that with all the respect I can muster. I remember as a kid in high school watching Stan pull into the old dirt strip just West of my hometown. Stan's tow rig was a '48 Merc four door and his trailer was a home built two wheeler. In the back of the Merc, where the seat should have been, was a built-in tool box and sometimes a couple of spare engines. (Did I mention Stan ran a flathead dragster............ an F/Fuel flathead dragster!)
We had invited Stan to all our previous Reunions but his health usually prevented him from attending. He has some breathing problems and the heat and humidity are a little too much to handle.
I was standing at the South part of the park and saw this pair of cars pull into the entrance. I noticed they were pretty neat, but relaly didn't give it much thought. One of our other members came running up to me and said I needed to get to the North end and get some pictures before they disconnected the pair. He said it was extra cool because the '40 Sedan towing the "Rat Rod" belonged to Danny Lomelino,................ and he had his Dad, Stan with him.
Well, we weren't quuite quick enough, but we did get around to a few shots of these two classic pieces of iron. Danny had flat-towed his latest creation with his Super '40 Ford Sedan. And with them was their good friend and former competitor, Joe Hendricks. Joe still has a flathead dragster but is better known at present for his Nostalgic AA/FD slingshot.
At this point I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Danny's tow vehicle.







And the CREATION! This was built using a ton of parts from Stan's actual race car.

[ORIGLS6]

We had Stan and Art come up to the pavilion we were using as 'Party Central' and did a little impromptu interview. That was the main attraction of the day in almost everyone's opinion. These two guys still know their stuff and I could have listened to them share their stories for the entire weekend. I heard Danny ask Stan later in the day if he was tired and needed to leave but Stan assured him he was fine and enjoying himself.
What a treat to see these three guys together and still enjoying this sport.



Art Badgley, Paul Fansler from WHD, Stan "The Man" Lomelino and Joe Hendricks.

Thank you Gentlemen. You made my day!

[Salvatore]

Great pictures and looks like great people too. Hey Dennis, Is the track still there? Any part of it at least? Sam

[ORIGLS6]

Sam,
The ribbon of asphalt is still there but everything else is gone. Kinda funny though; the land owner was approached just a couple of months ago. Someone with some experience in operating a strip called me and asked about the possibility of reopening it. The land owner showed absolutely no interest in selling. Probably just as well because the investment to bring it up to today's standards would be prohibitive.
Pretty sad to drive by and see the gravel and round hay bales sitting on the pavement.................... surrounded by soybeans.

But on a brighter note (no pun intended) we just came in possession of the lights used along the length of the old strip. They had been moved to a ball field in the North end of town and that property has now been purchased for the construction of a new business. The contractor doing the site work just happens to be one of the original club members. He and his son now have the lights.

[Chevy454]

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The ribbon of asphalt is still there but everything else is gone. Pretty sad to drive by and see the gravel and round hay bales sitting on the pavement.

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Sounds a lot like the old drag strip over in Morrison's neck of the woods just north of West Plains, MO...except they've piled junk cars and scrap metal on their piece of history.