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I got the idea that we don't know much about the fellow
corvette owners that we race with, so why not let them tell us
about themselves. So this section will be dedicated to all you
racers to tell us of your successes and your failures, that .499
light to that big eliminator win. I'm hoping this becomes a
popular feature. So let me know what you think.
When I started to think whom I would want to profile first, I
only had one choice, ME. I thought after me the only way it could
go is up.
So here it goes, please don't fall asleep.
Featured Racer: John Mackey
I started my racing in 1967 with a '64 Chevy Impala SS. E-town
was brand new, the pits were on the current spectator side and
the timing tower was the one that is now used on the motto-x
track. No racing back then on Fridays or Saturdays and on Sunday
they only ran an NHRA class eliminator. Even pure stock (and
that's what it was pure stock) was based on a NHRA eliminator. It
was $4.50 to get in, and if you won class you got $10 or a
trophy. I still have those early trophies today.
In '69 and '70 I ran a '57 Chevy, 283/245hp as an LiStocker
running class. Now remember you may have only had a few cars in
your class each week, so you would run the same cars every week.
In 1971 I joined forces with my fellow schoolmate Norman
Mayersohn. We built a NHRA legal 1965 Chevelle station wagon,
with a 283ci, 220 hp. At our first divisional points race we set
the national records. This car was very competitive both on a
local and national level. In 1972 Norm moved to California after
accepting a staff position as technical editor of Car Craft
magazine. It was with the help of Car Craft we were able to build
an all new but low dollar project car that was a recurrent story
in the magazine. So Norm used his contacts to get parts while I
found just the right 4 door, 65 Chevelle, 300 Deluxe for $5.00 to
use as the body. The car proved to be the hot combination to
compete with the 340 Dusters. One of these Dusters that we had to
race at almost every race was another Jersey racer that I knew
because he was the service manager at the VW dealership just down
the street from my gas station. That racer is now the owner and
founder of SLP, and
Corvette Challenge sponsor, Ed Hamburger.
I built a 65 Chevelle SS car and had one on the right coast
and one on the left and we raced that way till 1977 when business
and family priorities took over my life. We were very lucky to
have made some great friends along the way and I have many fond
memories. Of course today looking back at the racing then, the
cars were faster, the competitions tougher and it was all new and
a very exciting time to have raced.
Thanks for listening. I'll be back with more soon. Click on this link to see
pictures of these cars.
Recently John had a rollbar installed by Neverlift
Motorsports. Click here to see photos of this fine work.
johnmackey@corvettechallenge.info
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