Chuck Gerald crowns Daniel Shipley of Marthasville, MO “King of Illinois” at Cordova Dragway. Once upon a hot summer evening, while checking my messages, I found one of particular interest. It read, “We ran across your resumé from 2004 and wondered if you were still interested in working with us in the National Mustang Racers Association (NMRA) Hot Rod and Street Car Nationals.

I hit the reply button with a resounding YES!

After being quizzed on my technical knowledge of race cars and other qualities, I was on my way to Cordova, Illinois to be MSD (multiple spark discharge) Ignition True Street Coordinator at the 4th annual Ross Pistons National Muscle Car Association Nationals at Cordova Dragway.

The True Street portion of the event consists of making sure cars have current insurance, tags, and can pass any state mandated tests for such things as smog and broken glass. They also must have department of transportation approved tires no larger than 10.5 inches wide, mufflers, and pass all safety standards set by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).

Another part of my duties included wearing a permanent smile and making sure everyone was happy.

The True Street portion consisted of a 30 mile police escorted cruise and three back to back runs after a 30–minute cool down. Any work done on the cars after the cruise, other than bleeding air from the tires, would result in disqualification.

Friday began by welcoming the early arrivals, teching them in and allowing a few practice runs. As we lined up the cars behind the Cordova Police chief, the skies began to clear and we took off through the country side. The scenery was reminiscent of Pixley or Hooterville of Greenacres fame.

Beautiful rolling hills with postcard perfect views of manicured fields strewn with giant rolls of hay, lots of cows, and white barns with huge cupolas on top that looked like they were all made by the same barn maker. The yet to be muddied Mississippi river flowed deep green nearby.

Everyone made it back in one piece, lined up in staging, and began their runs. The times were averaged and the fastest over all and the fastest of each bracket – 10 sec, 11 sec, 12 sec, 13 sec, 14 sec and 15 sec. – won money and prizes.

As the full moon rose from the east, temperatures cooled, and one car eliminated the other, winners emerged. Dennis Oneill and his ’87 Suburban was the 14–second winner, Terry Herbert’s ’84 Monte Carlo the 11–second winner, and Robert Centner’s ’93 Mustang was the 10 –second winner.

For the overall fastest it was classic Ford vs. Chevy with Tony MacDonald and his Nova of Anoka, MN. runner up with a 10.71 and the man who would be crowned “King of Illinois” Daniel Shipley of Marthasville, MO., ’91 Mustang , 9.78 ET.

Once the paperwork was done, awards given out, and the crowning of the king completed, I went to help out at the tech department with the other classes. Most of the cars had to be weighed and a fuel sample taken after each run to help keep a level playing field. As we lined them up on the scale, we handed the driver a cup for his fuel sample before he got back to his pit. Special meters were used to see if any illegal substances were in the fuel, sort of a drug test for cars. And another race began.

Photo courtesy of Chuck Gerald