Well it was Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008 and I found myself traveling down a very familiar road to an all too familiar racing spot located in Penwell, Texas. Yes, Penwell Texas, population 20 or less, one post office, no convenience stores, one welding service and an abandoned truck stop. I am betting it’s a “one-dog town,” too. All that being said, one would ask the obvious question: What is a dragstrip doing in a place like this? Kinda reminds me of a pick-up line I tried about 20 years ago. For the record, it actually worked.

Anyway, back to the race track. My first recollection of this track originally named Odessa Raceway Park (est. 1966) goes way back to the mid –'70s as a very young grease monkey brat running up and down the pits checking out all the cars while “helping” my dad race his car. Then the next thing you know, it’s the mid-'80s. The track is named Penwell Raceway, owned and operated by Jack Nance. Now I am racing dad’s car and having a blast and doing quite well thank you very much. I was the 1985 and 1992 Super Pro Champion. Then somewhere along the mid to late '90s it became West Texas Raceway Park, owned and operated by Ronnie Burrows.

More recently the track acquired new ownership by one of my “good ‘ol boys” Gary Gardenhire, from Odessa Texas. It is currently named Penwell Knights Raceway. Gary bought this piece of local history and turned a dream of his into a reality. Owning this race track and the legacy of racers that have participated here over the years is something Gary had always dreamed of. You might recognize some of the names such as Dickie Harrell, Tom McEwen, Johnny West, Tom Hoover, Roland Leong, some guy named Force, uhhh…oh yeah, John Force, Big Daddy Don Garlits, Hayden Proffitt and his son Brad, who raced jet- and even rocket-powered dragsters, Pete Huerta and his Mexican Jumping Bean wheelstander (his son, Donnie “Bean” Huerta, now drives the car) Texas Stagecoach, Cartie Beal and his son, Carl and their “God Is Awesome” Pro Stockers, and current NHRA Pro Stock racer Johnny Gray. Brad Klein, former NHRA Pro Stock and current Comp eliminator racer, also raced his Dream Chaser Corvette here.

Then there is a list of racers who grew up racing here who have moved into some of the NHRA Sportsman classes like Dennis Smiley, Pete Carbery, Lester and Chris McGaha, Bill Kent, Gary and Ray Wise, Johnny Oldham. Then there were two gun slingin’ Texans named Mark Taliaferro and some guy named Bradshaw who raced in the Top Alcohol Dragster ranks and also in Top Fuel. The list goes on and I am proud to announce that every one of these racers have been successful to some varying degree and they all “cut their teeth” at some track located in the middle of West Texas. Penwell, Texas, to be exact.

So back to Sept. 27, 2008. I was driving down I-20 heading west to that familiar exit 101 and much to my astonishment, I saw rigs stopped on the side of I-20 waiting to turn off and head to the track. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It reminded me of the good old days when we had 300-plus cars every month. The support of this new venture was overwhelming and a total success to say the least. Over 260 cars showed up and spectators in excess of 6,500 attended. Everyone definitely got their money’s worth as Gary put on a West Texas True 10.5 and Outlaw show headed up by Robert Conrad from Midland, Texas. There were also Junior Fuel and Nostalgia Fuel dragsters as well as the Supercharged guys from SouthwestSuperchargers.com headed up by Jerry Norman. A bracket race was also held. The coolest thing about the whole weekend is that Gary elected to use the entry fee proceeds to bless four families who lost their husband and/or fathers recently in our area. Odessa police corporals Scott Gardner, Arlie "Lee" Jones and Abel Marquez died while responding to a domestic violence call in September 2007. In addition to the three officers, local sport bike rider, Demonica DeJuane “DQ” Robinson lost his life in a bike accident on May 09, 2008. The local sport bike community and Gary decided to also bless DQ’s family with the entry fee proceeds as well. Over $10,000 was raised and I just spoke to Gary today and he said they were looking at adding to that amount to be an ever greater blessing to the four families.

All in all, it was an awesome weekend getting to see so many of my friends whom I had not seen in a long time. There were cars that I am certain were dragged out of storage that I know hadn’t seen daylight in 15-20 years. Even the “Pink Cadillac” dragster showed up to race. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Like I said, it was awesome and I commend Gary Gardenhire and all the guys who refurbished this track from top to bottom and front to back with all new facilities and even paved pits.

Oh yeah, my next blog will be about the California Hot Rod Reunion from Bakersfield. My dad and I leave on a plane Thursday morning and return Monday, so look forward to some pics from Bakersfield.

AB out!