NHRA News: Comp racers devise their own Holy Grail (12/10/2003)

Comp racers devise their own Holy Grail

By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
12/10/2003

"That old plate isn't worth a lick but everyone out there wants it so much it makes it priceless."
– Bo Nickens

Professional drag racers love to say that they have such a burning desire to win that a homemade trophy would be every bit as valuable to them as the thousands of dollars routinely up for grabs each weekend. They'd race for free and the love of the sport, they insist, even if the crowds weren't there, the money evaporated, and the TV crews went home.

Competition Eliminator racer Sal Biondo made that ideology a reality after winning the '95 national title. As a good-natured way to prod his rivals, Biondo festooned his pit bike with a motocross-style number plate proclaiming his No. 1 ranking. Although battered and worn, that plate has become one of the most revered items in the sport, passed along each year from champion to champion.

"If you're in Comp, you just gotta have it," said Bo Nickens, who was presented the plate when Biondo relinquished the Comp crown to him at the end of his title-winning 1996 campaign. "I wish I could have held onto it a little longer but they made me give it up the next year."

The coveted Comp Eliminator Champion's Plate.

Karenina Sidney, the longtime girlfriend of engine builder David Nickens, has become the de facto "Keeper of the Plate." She dutifully makes sure the outgoing champion adds his signature to it each off-season and then ships it off to the new champ.

"When Bo clinched the '96 Comp title," Sidney said, "we were towing back to the pits and all of the other Comp racers were lined up to congratulate Bo and the team. Just as we pulled in the pit, Sal pulled up on his bicycle, gave us a look, and then took off the plate and tossed it over to Bo.

"We had given him such a hard time about that thing when he showed up with it that year, but he was always such a good sport about it. I really think he gave it to Bo just so he could get even with all of us the next year."

And so the tradition of "Passing the Plate" was born. Nickens admits that he was so excited by Biondo's gesture that he immediately asked him to autograph it for posterity's sake.

"That old plate isn't worth a lick if you look at it," Nickens said. "But everyone out there wants it so much it makes it priceless. I don't know if it'll be replaced one year by a trophy or a plaque or something nicer. It really doesn't matter. It's what that old plate signifies that counts."

The following year, when the appropriate time arrived, Nickens signed the plate and presented it to 1997 champion Andy Manna Jr. For his part, Manna left his mark before forwarding it to '98 champ Bob Andrews, who then gave it back to Manna the following season, making Manna the first, and only, two-time plate holder.

Subsequently, Jerry Arnold (2000), Don Stratton (2001), Mike Saye (2002), and Dean Carter (2003) all earned the coveted award.

Sal Biondo

Dean Carter

"The whole thing kinda started as a joke," Biondo said. "We had this old bike that my brother-in-law was going to throw away and I told him I'd keep it and use it as a pit vehicle. It rode around in Vinny Barone's trailer and after I won the championship in Phoenix that year we stayed on the road and went to Pomona.

"Eric Reyes, a friend of mine who runs Super Gas, has a business doing pinstriping and detailing. He was at the track working on something for Larry Dixon and we ran into him. At the time the plate was just blank, but he said, 'give me that thing,' and pulls out his bucket and gets to work. Five minutes later he had put all those decals on there. So it just kind of went from there.

"We raced with the Nickens and used their motors at the time. They were like family to us. When Bo won I looked at that plate and just said, 'the heck with it,' and cut it off my bike and threw it over to him.

"I kind of lost track of it since then but I was back in Comp this past year and I was racing Mike Saye in Illinois when I look over in the staging lanes and there's that plate on his pit bike. I was sitting in my car just laughing to myself."

As with most idols of its kind, the plate's stature grows with each passing year. The faded names of past champions and various nicks and scratches only make it more valuable.

"It's become a status thing more than anything else," said Carter, who just received the plate and a box of assorted champion goodies in the mail from Saye via Sidney. "For me it's cool to have my name among that mix. Hopefully I won't have to pass it on too soon. I'd like to keep it for awhile.

"I'd say it's reached a point where most people in the sport know about it. I was just showing some of my buddies the other day and they were excited. I hope I don't hurt it. It might need to be put in a glass case or something. It's become a big deal for the Comp racers."

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