The Colorado Rocky Mountain Superchargers rolled into the Sunflower Rod and Custom Association’s (SRCA) dragstrip in Great Bend on Saturday. Some folks like to characterize this as the Colorado-Kansas summer shootout. The Super Chargers are a travelling racing tour with cars from Kansas and Colorado. It was a beautiful overcast day providing cool temperatures and lots of O2 for maximum horsepower resulting in some very fast acceleration competition.
On their website they describe themselves as Pro/Comp racing for the 21st Century featuring Funny Cars, Altereds, Pro/Mods and Dragsters. Behind the starting line technicians ensure that each car is ready, and then they pair up side by side and lay down long, smoky burnouts. In a matter of seconds the fastest and most intense racing on the planet leaves one driver victorious, another defeated until – round after round – one driver, undefeated, remains standing.
Travelling with the eight “Super Chargers” is a Kansas car out of Wichita named the “Rude Rat,” possibly a naming tribute to famed artist Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. “Rude” is duded-out in bright red paint as well as red duct tape at various strategic locations on the machine. “Rude” team member, Daniel Butherus, explained that the Super Chargers was a travelling show energized by “having fun.”
In addition to the hot Superchargers the racing agenda included classes for Sportsman, Street Legal, Pro ET, High School, Bikes, Super Pro, and Junior Dragsters. The program starts with each driver setting their breakout time. The competitor cannot go quicker than this elapsed time in the heads-up competition that follows. During the finals, the start line green light is off-set by the difference in the pair’s breakout times. This is the equalizing factor. It is up to each racer to optimize their reaction time and beat their competition at the ¼ mile but not exceed their breakout time.
Great Bend’s seasoned racer, Carles Clyde “Butch” Fry, drives a beautiful ’82 Corvette in the Pro ET class powered by a Chevy 355 engine. Butch began racing at the SRCA track in the early 1960’s after beginning his racing career at 15, terrorizing the streets of Great Bend with his other racing buddies. When asked his opinion on what prospective young racers should do to achieve success he opined that “the way to make a million racing is to bring two million.” In the interest of full disclosure, Butch is this writers’ mentor as I learn to race a 2016 Challenger SRT/392 in the Street Legal class. He has helped me as well as many racers before me.
A field of 140 plus race cars challenged each other resulting in the following winners: Super Pro Scott Gordine (Salina); Pro ET Jeremy Smith (Great Bend), Sportsman Eli Thorpe (Topeka); Motorcycles Greg Frahm (Newton); Street Legal Ron Potts (Ellinwood); High School Kiley Dinning (Larned); Jr Dragster (10-17 yo) Mitchell Rice III (Hutchinson) and (8-9 yo) Aiden Peres (Galva).
Information regarding future races can be found on the SRCA web site at http://www.srcadragstrip.com or by calling 620-792-5079 (track phone).
Racing action continues June 13, Great Bend Party in the Park; June 26, Test and Tune and Gamblers Race; June 27, NHRA Summit Points Race #6 featuring the NHRA National Dragster Challenge and NHRA Summit JR Dragster Challenge.