GREAT BEND — At the birthplace of the National Hot Rod Association, Darrell Gustin races his air-cooled mini-dragster in the NHRA’s  junior Drag Race Challenge.  The Sunflower Rod and Custom Association of Great Bend operates the drag strip where local racers can win points and money towards competing at other events across the country.
Gustin won the points race last year and went on to compete in Denver, Colo.
“This year, I didn’t want to chase points,” the 11-year old driver said. “I wanted to do other things in the summer too.”
According to Darrell’s father, Craig Gustin of Kanopolis, to win the season’s points standings, a racer has to make about every meet. Races are held almost every weekend either in Great Bend or a track in Wichita. Gustin has been drag racing for three years.
Craig Gustin said that he used to race, but when Darrell started racing he sold his car and became the pit boss.
Gustin’s car is a miniature version of the long, low and sleek ‘rail cars’ of the drag racing world. It is powered by a 3.25 bore with a 3 inch-stroke, air cooled engine and can attain speeds of up to 78 miles per hour. This is Gustin’s second race car, as he outgrew his old car. The machine is fitted with a computer that can produce graphs telling the Gustin racing team the rotations per minute for the engine, the acceleration of the car, and Gustin’s reaction time per race. It also has other goodies like a magnetic racing clutch and a high-performance air filter.
Stacey Gustin, Darrell’s mother, takes weather readings telling the team the humidity and air temperature of each race so that the engine can be ‘tweaked’ to peak performance.
The car is fitted with safety devices such as kill-switches, a five point restraint harness that must be replaced every two years and wrist restraints.
“The wrist restraints are designed to keep his arms in the car in case something should go wrong,” Craig said.
Just because the car is new, it doesn’t mean that it is perfect. Earlier this year, Gustin blew a ring in the brand new engine at the Wichita drag strip.
“We were running great but at the end of the day it was smoking really bad,” Gustin said. “What surprised me was that this engine was brand new and I had got only so many passes out of it. We shipped the engine back because it wasn’t our fault.” Gustin missed a couple of races as the engine manufacturer did the warranty work.
The SRCA drag strip is located west of the Great Bend airport and racers have reserved “pits” where they park their machines, trailers and campers for each race. Meets usually take two days with the first day comprised of qualifying trails and the second day with the elimination runs. It resembles a spread-out gypsy camp, and race teams usually have small vehicles like golf carts or mini-bikes to scramble around the tarmac.
Races are divided into several classes depending on the car and the expertise of the driver. As each class is called, the racers line up into two lanes and approach the starting line which is dominated by the ‘christmas tree’, or starting light. A racer’s reaction time and his previous runs are used to handicap each race. The christmas tree has a vertical rows of lights and is placed between the lanes. The driver must concentrate on the amber lights as they fall down towards the green starting signal. Drag cars do not usually leave the starting line simultaneously and if the driver jumps the light in response to the car next to him, they are disqualified for that run.
Traction is important and most drivers pull up the the starting line and spin their tires in water to make them smoke and heat up the rubber before each race. However, Gustin uses a chemical application instead which he feels makes his tires sticky while keeping his engine cool. They clean the tires and then cover them with leather wraps until Gustin is in the starting gate at which time the wraps come off.
The threat of thunderstorms surrounded the track Aug. 14 as Gustin competed in the finals. A small shower stopped racing for about an hour and a half as the crews dried off the tracks to complete the races, forcing the drivers to run at night. Each car must have at least one tail light as they hurl down the quarter-mile run so that they can be spotted by the track officials in case something goes awry.
The juniors, as they are called, run one-eighth mile races and in his first run of the evening, Gustin made the run in 8.805 seconds with a speed of 72.08 m.p.h. In his second run of the night, disaster struck, as one of the kill-switches engaged, stopping the young racer just feet in front of the christmas tree.
In his final run of the evening, Gustin ran the eighth-mile in 8.738 seconds with a speed of 75.03 m.p.h. Like almost all timed sporting events, racers learn that they are usually competing against the clock as opposed to each other.
What does Darrell’s mother think of her 11-year old son driving at 75 m.p.h.?
“I love it,” she said laughing. Darrell has a sister,  nine-year old Macey, who has decided that she doesn’t want to race.
In the final race of the evening, Craig competed with the family’s golf cart in the “pit car” division, winning the race and collecting a cash prize of $300.
“It’s the most money that I’ve ever made racing,” he joked.
Editor’s Note: Darrell Gustin’s grandparents are Dale and Julie Boxberger, from Great Bend, and Charles and LaJune Gustin of Galatia. An aunt and uncle also live in Great Bend in Crystal and Jeff Boxberger.