Junior Stock Memories

Ron Sanders '61 Pontiac wagon, yesterday and today...

The AHRA had their Stockers as well, and you'll find plenty in the recently released book. Available everywhere.

Who here remembers the AHRA?

Thought you would enjoy Uncle’s 1964 GTO. His name was John Harris and he won a lot of races at Lakeland and Halls Tennessee. Kevin Harris...

Gary Glover post... "Graham Douglas and Ed Forys won the 1967 Jr. Stock Eliminator, 14.42 seconds at 95.94 MPH. Defeated 1952 Oldsmobile of Keith Berg." Some of you may remember these guys story from the Junior Stock book.

Any NJ racers recall this o/s 57? Would have originally been striped blue and white like Supinski/Jesel 56. It was Painted blue in 73 after the rule change. First raced at Englishtown , 1970. Island next, and then Atco. Looking for any history on this survivor. Hardtop Rob

In search of... If anyone has details or history, please contact the number listed. Thanks

Keith Pullum shared this popular northwest '57...

Robert Walker at the 1969 NHRA Winternationals...

Phil Chisholm's Chevy wagon over Wayne Keeling's Poncho for I/SA class at the Nationals in 1964. This was the first national event in which the NHRA ran a final eliminations program for the Stock class cars. Phil would win it all. Check out the Junior Stock book, we've got full coverage, and a nice color shot of Wayne's Pontiac... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1613253842/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tpbk_p1_i3

Before turning pro in 1972 with an SRD Vega, Frank spent some time behind the wheel of the Tom Callahan & Frank Sulc '62 Plymouth Stocker.

Keyes Bros. E/Stocker. Love the mild customizing which was allowed back when. Looks to be a '58 Ford grille. Paul Krukar photo

Collin Saunders E/Stocker. 270 horse 283. Ben Preston photo...

B/S Tri-power GTO out of NY. Dean Johnson photo.

John Dianna's '56 Chevy sedan delivery was purchased by Lloyd Dickson then sold to Dick Butler in 1969. When rule changes disallowed the use of the hydramatic transmission in the delivery, Dick converted it into a powerglide equipped station wagon. Where the car is after all these years is anyone's guess...

R/S '59 Chevy of Culpepper & Simmons. Pretty nice set up for a Junior Stocker...

Jim Louis having a little fun back when with his Q/Stock '67 Mustang. Bobby Floyd photo...

AHRA record holding J/S '57 Chevy. Joe Sherwood photo...

Just heard that Darwin Doll passed a couple days back. A great loss to the drag race community, Darwin was affectionately referred to as NED. The head of the north east division for years, NED was always a champion for the little guy and his division WAS the home of the nations greatest Junior Stocks. My condolences go out to his wife Pat, family, and friends. Here's a shot of Darwin, Dave Strickler and Nikki Phillips from 1970 taken at the north east division year end banquet. Dave is being rewarded as Pro Stock division champ.

Someone asking for early Buick photos? Here are a couple from the collection of Stephan Lackey...

An early shot (1965?) of Larry Walker's supercharged '57 Ford. Later named the "Legal Cheater"

Paul Smith's west coast based early Olds killed them in lower Stock back when...

From the fb page, Doug Boyce - Books... Okay, admittedly Im a little bias when it comes to the cars of 1960s Stock class drag racing. I love the clean lines of this 1960 Pontiac Star Chief that was owned by Gary Smith out of Franklin, Ohio. Class record in September 1971 when this photo was taken was a 13.54 at a shade over 100.

Wiley Cossey's '66 Chevy, seen here in '67 was a B/S record holder (12.41 @ 116.42) and won Stock Eliminator at the '66 NHRA Winternationals. The car was later sold to Paul Flanders who in 1969 held the C/S mph record with it at 118.92 while running 11.80s....

A very warming post from Todd Hoven, son in-law of Anne Toews...
It’s been a couple of days since the race last week up at Epping and I figured I would give a report on the events.
For the first time since 1973 my mother in law Anne Toews got to race an NHRA points race and national event again. This was something she has been anxiously waiting for a very long time to say the least. She has been racing since 1965 and has had this car since 1972. She raced up to 1974 and stepped away from the sport when she became pregnant with her first child ( my wife Jenny ) after that she never was able to get back in the car again due to a growing family and the obligations that go along with it. 4 more kids later she was done but the work of raising them never stopped. Fast forward many years later, her and her late husband Walter decided to resurrect the Camaro and work toward bringing it back out to race again. Unfortunately we lost Walter in the summer of 17 and he never got to see the car race again. So a team of us picked up on finishing it for her to get it out again.
Last week the car finally completed its journey back to an NHRA sanctioned race. She lost first round on a red light during the LODRS race on Friday. Disappointed but not discouraged she moved on to the Jegs Sports Nationals.
Late Saturday afternoon she accomplished something that she had not done at a National event in 50 years. Won first round! what a moment for everyone involved. After this she went and won another round after that before a red light 3rd round concluded her race weekend. I want to first congratulate My MIL Anne Toews on a very successful week and a great job in achieving her goal on returning to NHRA racing and winning a few rounds on top of it. We are all so proud of you.
There’s another part of the story that absolutely has to be told. Her and I were both racing in the same class so I could not be up there when she was making her runs. For first round I actually ran before she raced so I only got to watch this from a distance and was not on the line or near her when it was her time to run. As she went to do her burn out the tires were a little dry or her line lock didn’t hold. She tried twice to do the burn out and pushed through each time. When this happened she started approaching the line probably a little disheveled and not on her game with the distraction. This is where something special happened. Anne was racing Katie Sepanek, a very accomplished and successful racer who I know Anne very much looks up and admires. Katie and Jack saw her struggling trying to do her burnout and stopped before staging. Katie shut her car off and Jack ran over to help. Jack proceeded to re-back her up into waterbox and help her do her burnout, during this time also motioning with his hands for her to calm down as well. This helped her compose herself to do good burn out and stage the car. A few moments later she was in possession of a time slip that told her she won the round. I know she doesn’t look at the win lights going through the finish line so she had no idea what the result of the race was until she got that timeslip.
I watched this all transpire from behind the burnout box. I couldn’t believe my eyes and I got emotional. This is one of the greatest examples of selflessness and sportsmanship I have ever witnessed. I cannot thank Jack and Katie enough for this selfless act towards a struggling opponent in a moment of vulnerability. The only regret we have is it had to be at the expense of their own success.
With the world feeling like it’s coming apart at the seems, and there is division and strife everywhere, These are the moments that still show that there is good and kindness in the world and sometimes it can be right in front of you when you don’t expect it. Thank you Jack and Katie so much for everything and we are so proud and honored to call you friends.

RIP to Sonny Bryant. A Junior Stock original.

Joey Hadley ran this old '53 Chevy between 1965 and 1968 in lower AHRA Stock. Fun, fun, fun

Another Terrible Tangerine. This one a '61 Poncho...

I dont know much about this 1966 SS Nova. I think its save to assume that running H/S its powered by a 283...

AHRA Stock was nothing like NHRA Stock. F-3 on this '62 Biscayne denotes Formula 3 Stock, the 15 denotes cubic inch class within F-3. Im not sure of the year of this photo but in 1968 the AHRA had 11 formula's and 166 Stock classes....

An early and later photo of Jim Cordia's, Jere Stahl's 1956 Chevy wagon. Jere smashed the G/S class record with this car in May 1964 running a 13.57, on par with the cars in E/S...