White Hall Drag-O-Way

Tryin' our best to go 'Back to the Sixties'!
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Who are we?

White Hall Drag-O-Way members:
L to R: Dan Ford, Dick Gillis, Don Nell, Jeff Fansler, Al Short, Neil Fansler,
Dennis Cumby, Ed Baker, Scott Fraser, Clyde Dunphy, Paul Fansler
 Standing: Fred Westerhold, Dave Jones (Absent from photo: Barney Taylor)
 
 
 


Our History

In the mid to late 50s a group of young men from the White Hall, Illinois area formed a Car Club and adopted the name "Conquistadores". In 1959 this group set out on a new adventure. Not satisfied to just have club meetings and attend the drag races at the few local tracks in the area, they decided to host their own races. The first events were held on the horse track at the Greene County Fair Grounds East of Carrollton, Illinois . It was tough to get a 1/8 mile strip on the oval horse track, and the shut-down area was interesting to say the least.
( circa 1960. Property of Barney Taylor)
 

After two short seasons, the club moved its operation to a hilltop field just north of White Hall on the East side of Route 106, better known as the Winchester Road. This was the unofficial 'birth' of the White Hall Dragway. The members cleared and leveled the area, hauled in tons of good clay material and worked it into the existing soil to make a hard-packed racing surface. This track served the club well and drew quite a crowd for its Sunday afternoon and Tuesday night races.

 

In 1964 the club moved the track to an area at the north edge of White Hall adjacent to Illinois Route 267. The crowds followed and actually increased as the word spread about the 1/8 mile dirt dragstrip. Many popular racers attended the Tuesday night events at White Hall and most of those racers were surprised at the traction available from the hard packed smooth clay racing surface. It was not at all unusual to see front wheels in the air at the starting line, and smiles on the faces of many of the drivers.

 

(Circa 1964. Property of Neil Fansler)

 

In early 1968 the club made a bold decision to once again move the track to a location Southeast of White Hall. As with the previous locations, the strip was built using mostly club member labor with the generous assistance and donation of time and equipment from the local city and townships. However, this strip would present a new challenge; it would be asphalt. The hours, days, weeks and months passed. The members learned about grading, paving, electrical work, setting poles and hanging the lighting, setting poles for the guardrail, running the wiring for the timing equipment, and other tasks too numerous to mention. They even built much of the timing equipment, copying pieces borrowed or purchased from other strips.

(Circa 1968. Property of Dennis Cumby)

 

The strip opened in late 1968 with a new name "White Hall Drag-O-Way", a new logo shown above and as a fully Sanctioned AHRA Track. The first full season of racing at the new asphalt strip was in 1969.  The starting line had an overlay of special asphalt mix called 'trap rock'. It was a much finer consistency than the normal mix and was touted to give superior traction. Unfortunately it didn't wear as well as the more coarse mix, and within a few years there were thin spots where the rear tires sat. Just another learning experience.

 

Competition between the area strips was friendly, although serious. All the strips were competing to draw as many racers and spectators as possible to fund the 'purses' they paid back to the racers. At the same time general operating expenses, such as insurance, were increasing and the pressure was on. White Hall had something of an advantage over most local strips in that it was operated by a club.  None of the members received any pay for the hours they worked but still, things were financially tough.  Eventually the competition took its toll and most of the smaller strips had to close their gates. The final year of operation for the Original White Hall Drag-O-Way organization was 1975. 

 

(Used from 1968 - 197?)

 

A couple of other organizations tried their hands at running the asphalt strip at White Hall but neither of them had much better luck than the White Hall boys. By 1980 there was nothing left of the race facility but the lonely asphalt ribbon, ........................ and tons of great memories.

 

Sadly, here's what she looks like now.

 

(Bob Gibson photo)

 

For more History about the Original AHRA (American Hot Rod Association), click HERE for Part 1. 

 

Part 2

 

Part 3

 

And for information on the New, Resurrected American Hot Rod Association, visit the New AHRA.

 

 

The Reunion

Sometime around 2001, while attending a Cruise in Carlinville, a few of the original members of the White Hall Drag-O-Way club were chatting with Butch McDow, a former racer who competed at the old strips. Butch casually mentioned that it might be a cool idea to try to contact some of the local racers who had competed at White Hall and see if they would like to get together; a Reunion of sorts. Many of the guys were still very active in the car hobby and some of them may have still owned old race cars that ran at White Hall. We all agreed it might be fun but no one actively pursued the thought ............... at that time.

 

Fast forward a couple of years. We continued to cross paths with Butch and a few other familiar faces from the past, and Butch's idea came up many times. In early 2003 Paul and Neil Fansler along with Paul's son, Jeff started talking seriously about a Reunion. The first gathering was to be held around the City Park in downtown White Hall, but we soon learned from talking with old friends that this could be a bigger turnout than we thought. We decided to move the event to Lion's Park at the edge of town, where it is still held each year.

 

The first event was meant to be a simple gathering of old racers, cars and friends getting together to reminisce, .......... and that's what it was. We weren't sure how many would show up so we had accepted the fact this might be a one-time event. Boy, were we wrong! The support has been great and the cars just keep coming out of the barns.

 

The second event brought a surprise of sorts when Vaughn Bright of Virden, IL appeared with "THE" 1968 Hemi Barracuda formerly campaigned by the NHRA Record Holding team of Ronnie Sox and Buddy Martin. This added quite a bit of interest for the other participants and the word began to spread about our Reunion.

 

The following year we were happy to see the resurrected "Lil Screamer", a 33 B/A Coupe formerly campaigned by another NHRA Record Holder, Jack Ditmars of Harvey, IL. This car is now owned by Mike Bridgeman from Blue Mound, IL and was in the final stages of a complete restoration. Such a cool car, and we remember seeing Jack race the car at Indy a couple of years.

 

Since then we've been treated to a number of owners and cars from the good ol' days. A long time friend and competitor, Mr. Keith Bacon attended our events with his AHRA and NHRA record setting '62 Chevy Bel Air. Unfortunately, Keith passed away in late 2006, but his family brought the car back to our gathering in 2007. There were more than a few moist eyes that special day.

 

Also in 2007, we were thrilled to see another couple of local Legends. Art Badgley of Godfrey, IL and Stan Lomelino of Virden, IL graced us with their presence. This was not Art's first time at our reunion but he's always a treat to talk with and his stories and history as an engine builder and racer at the Midwest tracks are incredibly interesting.

Art Badgley and Stan Lomelino

 

Stan Lomelino. The name brings up so many stories and memories. Stan's flathead fuel dragster and his '48 Mercury tow car were truest grass roots foundation of drag racing you'd ever encounter. Stan was accompanied by his son, Danny, and fellow competitor Joe Hendricks. Joe ran against Stan in another flathead fueler back in the day, and still runs a nostalgia front-engined AA/Fuel Dragster. These three fellows along with Art Badgley had the crowd mesmerized all day. And Danny Lomelino's tow rig, a '40 Ford tudor sedan, flat towing his latest Traditional Hot Rod creation powered by the flathead engine out of Stan's original tow car,....................... well, you just had to see it!

 

In 2008 we held our sixth consecutive reunion. Still hopeful that the crowd would hold up, what with the high gas prices and struggling economy, we came prepared with our usual array of door prizes, etc. from the Super group of folks who have supported us all along. Our fifth reunion brought in the neighborhood of 85 cars and we would have been happy with that number again. Well! Happy doesn’t begin to describe what we felt at the end of the day. An unofficial count of 145 cars in attendance. And as in previous years, more old friends appeared; some for the first time. Vaughn Bright was back, but this time with his latest project. Vaughn has very high standards when he restores his vintage race cars, and this one was no exception: the 1969 Plueger & Griffis Corvette Funny Car complete with ALL VINTAGE Go-Fast Goodies, including authentic MAGNESIUM wheels, intake and Don Hampton blower housing…………….. And those beautiful Goodyear Blue Streak slicks! Very cool!

 

Also surprising us with his presence was Tom Clary from Alton, MO who pulled in around 10 AM after a seven hour tow. Tom brought “RED ALERT”, the NHRA Record Setting ’70 Chevelle, Many of us old timers remember the car not only for its racing history, but also as the inspiration for the Number One top selling model car kit offered by AMT. Tom had just purchased the car in April and is having the time of his life not only showing the car, but also has “RED” back on the drag strip; right where she belongs! And just to prove she’s no trailer queen, Tom brought her out to play in our Burn-out contest. Those Goodyears may never be the same!.

 

Other first-timers at the ’08 event were Mike Story, son of John Story who owned and operated Alton Dragway. The history Mike carries around in his head is an old racers’ dream, and Mike was extremely gracious in sharing some of those with us. Mark Johnson from the St. Louis area also made the trip along with Bill Biermann and Brian Fox. Brian’s Blown & Injected small block Chevy front engine dragster is a trip back in time and Bill’s Big Block Chevy powered “Suicide King” altered wheelbase Studebaker is crazy cool! They evidently enjoyed themselves because Mark told us they would be back next year ’in force’! Now, add in all the regulars who have attended faithfully every year, and I think we’ve hit on something special here.

 

We had no idea if this thing would ever fly when we hosted our first reunion, but with the support we've received, and the fun we've had, I can see it continuing for a while. One of the members stated at one of our meetings in 2007 that, "We have to keep this going at least two more years. That will be our fiftieth anniversary."  Well, we made it!  On September 12th   2009, we celebrated 50 Years of White Hall Drag-O-Way!  And we did it with nearly 200 cars and too many friends to count.

Now we're busy working on some COOL stuff for our 9th Annual Reunion in 2011...... and stuff for our TENTH in 2012!

 

Butch McDow; our heartfelt Thanks for your suggestion. We love what we’re doing and we're havin a BALL!

 

Click here for a report and pix of our 2008 Reunion 

and our 2007 Reunion

 

Thanks sYc!


The pictures from the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Reunions are on their own page so check out the menu to your left.

 

The 10th Annual Reunion is in the planning stages.  Lots of new things coming your way so check in often and see what's happening.

See you there:

Saturday, September 8th, 2012!!!!