Throughout the day, I kept seeing the above 1963 Plymouth Fury come to the line. As Eliminations started the car kept winning round after round. I could not recall seeing this car race before. And, of course, I didn't look at the number on the car. Finally, I went to race control and learned Ricky Pena was driving the car. Ricky normally campaigns a red AMX. When Ricky won the Pro Class over last week's Sportsman winner, Tony Lyons, after Tony broke out, I met Ricky in the Winner's Circle. He related the following: He purchased the car two years ago from long time racer Jay Tappela. Jay has been experiencing some health issues and sold the car after it had been sitting since 2010. This was only the second time that Ricky had the car on the track. Jay just happened to be at the track today, so he was brought to the Winner's Circle to celebrate with the car, Ricky, family and friends. Jay related after he originally bought the car, long time Route 66 racer Dave Ancel built it into a race car with Bill Osborne painting it. Jay related he campaigned the car winning many races and track championships. Congratulations to Jay, Ricky and crew to bring the car back to the Winner's Circle!
The rest of the day was just a solid day of racing with a few stoppages for minor issues but overall, it was just good racing. Unlike Saturday, the good weather allowed racing the entire quarter mile. I did inquire of several drivers about the newly repaved track top end. There was nothing but praise for the condition of the track. Many stated they were happy that the left lane "bump" was gone! Here is some of the images from qualifications.
At yesterday's race, I tried something new by mounting a remote camera in the left O'Reilly lane and me working the right Toyota lane. There were some challenges, but I am going to work at perfecting the use. Here is an example of what it looks like.