- A drag racing legacy

The Modern Era

The team saw their first Junior Dragsters at an event held at the Texas Motorplex during the Summer of 1998. We had received tickets compliments of Hi-Lo O'Reilly auto parts. I was (and continue to be) a den leader for a Webelos I den that was about to be the guests of Revell-Monogram at an event that was already scheduled to be about a month later. Being offered the opportunity to go ahead of time, I happily accepted the tickets. I wanted to get a preview of the facility to provide the parents of the scouts in my den a set of expectations for the day.

So, my family went to the races.

My children were a bit anxious of the anticipated loud noises. Especially, when what appeared to be a top fuel dragster pulled up to the line. We were sitting far enough away that we could not tell that the car was small. I warned my kids to hold their ears as the sounds we had heard thus far would surely be dwarfed by what was about to blast in front of us. The tree lights went down and the sound was, well, not really there. We looked closely at the car as it passed in front of us and then we could tell that this was not a full size car.

Our curiosity peaked.

We went down to the fence that separates the bleachers from the track for a closer look. From this area we could also hear the announcer announcing the ages of the drivers of these junior dragsters. I was amazed to hear of kids, as young as 8, driving these cars. The times and the accuracy of the dial-in was most impressive.

The drive home was laced with conversation expressing curiosity about what the cars cost, what they really were, and what it took to be involved.

About an month and a half later, the scout event occurred. As it turned out, there were no junior dragsters at this event. We were however very grateful to Revell-Monogram for the opportunity to view the races from the vantage point of their suite. It was an enjoyable family outing for all the families and scouts. This event also served to reinforce the interest of my family in this sport.

Soon after this, luck dropped a 5 HP horizontal shaft Briggs and Straton engine in our laps. We were trying to decide what to do with it. At first we thought we might build a go-kart entirely from scratch. Then realizing the limits of our abilities, we thought we would buy a go-kart in need of repairs and put our motor in it. The de lima remained in either case of what we would do with the go-kart once we got it running. There are no open public accessible areas in our area that would allow us to enjoy such a vehicle.

We then began to question what the junior dragster requirements were. Unfortunately, it took about 2 months before we started to get any response to our requests for information. It was Thanksgiving/ Christmas time and the drag strips and NHRA were not answering their phones.

Just before Christmas, we found an ad in the local paper for a used, rolling chassis for a junior dragster for sale. This was a major break for us. We arranged to view the car and spent about an hour talking to the owner and looking over the car. The car was impressive but, we expressed that we were not ready to buy it as we had not looked at anything else and did not have a basis of comparison to determine if it really was a good deal or not. The owner was able to point is in the direction of some of the local providers of junior dragster parts and chassis.

Following up on these leads brought us to two other cars. Both of these were ready to run cars. The difference being one was a heavily modified advanced alcohol car and the other was a stock block beginner car.

On April 16, 1999, we purchased the beginner car mentioned above. This is the Revell/ O'Reilly car pictured on our home page as well as in the pictures section.

Nicholas started racing on June 5th after having had Jr Driving School on May 5th and then a Test and Tune night so that we could figure out our car. We also had to wait for our trailer to be built to haul the car around on

After several months of Racing, the school year was about to start and so was little league baseball and softball. Both kids brought home registration forms. We had a family discussion which went something like this. If they joined a team and the team had a game on Saturday morning, the team would come first and the racing would come second. This would be because if we don't race the only people affected are us. If they do not play a baseball or softball game, the whole team may have to forfeit because they did not show up. Both Nicholas and Chrystal opted to race. Chrystal's statement was, "Daddy, I want to race and win a trophy!". This was two months before Chrystal would be eligible to race.

Chrystal's proclamation also represented a problem for us in that we only had one car and potentially two drivers. We thought about having Nicholas Race in the morning at Texas Raceway and then having Chrystal race at night at the Motorplex. We decided against this since it would mean spending the whole day from dawn to way past dusk racing and paying admissions at two tracks. We decided that in the long run, it would be less expensive just to acquire a second car and let both of them race at the same track.

On August 14, we made arrangements to buy our second car for Chrystal to drive. We picked the car up on Sept 11 and on Sept 18 Chrystal began racing. On Oct 13th, Chrystal had her official driving school and on Oct 16, she won her first trophy.

We have decided to go without monetary sponsorship to remove the stress of having to race and leave it at wanting to race and have a good time.

The Legacy

The "Schnick" family has a long history in the sport of Drag Racing. My uncle raced in the late fifties and sixties. Then, through the seventies and into the early eighties, my cousins raced. First racing in modified Pro Stock classes and then eventually in a Funny car class.

The last car they raced was a candy apple forest green Funny Car based on a 1970 1/2 Camaro Z-28. The car was named "Envy". I had the fortunate experience as a teenager to get to spend a couple weeks one summer with them and spent the majority of the time working on and around the car and racing it at two events. The excitement was amplified when, at the first event, the engine blew up and we were put in the position to build a new engine from scratch in the course of the next week. I had the time of my life.

I have talked with my uncle about our current endeavors and he endorses the sport whole heartily.

The Extended Family and Friends Reaction

So far, the reaction by my parents has been a wash and my wife's parents have been receptive to this sport. However, some of the people I talk to about this are giving me some grief.

The most common misconception is that these cars may be unsafe. Whereas, I recognize that no sport is without its perils, I see no area that makes this sport any less safe then any other activity my kids may choose to do. It is, after all, not a contact sport by design. I view it as safer then football, baseball and/or soccer - all sports that are commonly accepted as children's sports and all that require physical contact at the competitive levels. I also recognize the benefit of running in a sanctioned NHRA class that has rules designed based on decades of racing experience. The cars have full roll cages and safety equipment to protect every aspect of the driver. An added benefit of running at NHRA sanctioned tracks is the safety crews that are present at the events. My view is that they are not only there for the bigger, faster, and more explosive cars. They are also there for any incident that may occur in any class that was running, including the Juniors.