Drag Illustrated Issue 118, February 2017 | Page 60
DIALED IN
IHRA AT IMMOKALEE
Scott during Sunday's match-up.
Local racer Mark Nowicki used a wicked hole-
shot to hold off New Yorker Steve Comella to take
the Super Stock win on Saturday. On Sunday,
Jerry Hatch, who traveled all the way from Maine,
got the win over Georgia's Jeff Adkinson. In Stock
Eliminator on Saturday, Merrill Schrimscher of
Florida escaped a troubled run when Jim Mar-
shall fouled at the start, handing the automatic
win to Schrimscher. On Sunday, Schrimscher
nearly doubled up with a second win, but Dan-
iel Young, also of Florida, used a starting-line
advantage to capture the win.
The Hot Rod class had a double winner in
Immokalee, when Bradenton's Troy Williams
Jr. defeated Tennes-
see's Jason Oteri on
Saturday, and stopped
Florida's Robert Ward
on Sunday to produce
an impressive double
victory in Hot Rod.
Amazingly, the Junior
Master category also
saw a double-up win-
ner when Florida's
Nick Ferraro captured
the win in both eliminators. The Ft. Lauderdale
racer stopped Nathan Lopez on Saturday and
held off Gage Burch on Sunday.
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
Kinston Drag Strip’s
Winterfest Welcomes Racers
for January Bracket Racing
K
inston Drag Strip owner Bobby Smith has had plenty
of concerns over the 40 years he's owned his laid-back, quarter-
mile track in eastern North Caro-
lina, although the happenings of
late 2016 presented a different kind
of worry when Hurricane Matthew slammed
the coastal area, causing torrential inland flood-
ing in places like Kinston and the surrounding
locales. With his marquee event, Winterfest,
only two months away, Smith was surveying
the area late last year and seriously wondering
if the track was even going to be there come
January, let alone have the opportunity to host
his famous wintertime event for the 30th con-
secutive year.
The flood waters that were rising around the
drag strip were unlike anything Smith had ever experienced, and that's
significant when you consider that he bought this folksy Lenoir County
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I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
facility way back in 1977, and has been present for practically every single
event that's been held here since then. "The neighboring lake flooded its
banks, and I've never seen that happen before...
ever!" Smith said.
Amazingly, the drag strip didn't sustain any
long-term damage, and Smith and his crew
were able to make the track operational again
after a period of clean-up. Much of Kinston
and the neighboring towns were not so lucky,
and sustained irreparable damage. "We were
very fortunate!" he says.
As for the legendary Winterfest event, for
which the track is best known, it was success-
fully held January 28-29 under sunny skies
with a brisk wind blowing all weekend. The
30th running arrived with a hint of awe for
Smith, but then again it always does. "I never imagined this event would
last 30 years, and for that matter I never imagined I'd last 30 more years!"
Issue 118
By Van Abernethy