I just spent 20 hours towing home from probably the greatest weekend of my life. The ltx shootout was the most fun I have ever had in racing, or in anything. I want to express my grattitude and thanks to everyone involved in running the shootout as well as all of the participants. It takes a lot of time and money to run this shootout as well as a lot of dedication from the event coordinator's like tony and kyle, not to mention they also race in it. I COULDNT imagine how crazy that must be.

Also it takes a lot of time and money for each participant to make it out there and compete, without that dedication from each and every participant and there own friends and family this event wouldn't happen. So thank you to every single racer and there friends and family.

I also would like to thank Beech Bend Raceway as well as Bowling Green KY as a community. Everyone there at the track and in Bowling Green welcomed us loud mouth crazy Yankee's from New England with open arms and were extremley nice. They even let me into the tower to get a print out of my final pass in street stock so i could dial my car for the bracket semi's, when I was up there i watched Mike V. my fellow new englander win Mod N/A for a 2nd year in a row. Congrats to him.

I want to congratulate all of the winners and runner ups. You did well for a reason, because of all of your hard work and dedication, enjoy it. You earned every last bit of it. Be happy. This is your moment in the sun.

The very best part of the shootout was the new friends I had made. Putting the faces to names was amazing. Just hanging out with all the fastest and most knowledgable LT1 enthusiests in the country was by far the best part of the entire trip and I want to thank you all for being my friend as i know i am a loud mouth ******* sometimes, i apologize i get very excited sometimes

Some people I want to thank personally:

Daren Poole - Adams and his wife/crew- I put that poor guy through hell on saturday but I believe we got the street stock class right and it went very well. We followed the rules that were set prior to the shootout and it worked perfect. Thanks again Daren for everything! and i apologize for my excitment i just wanted to make sure we finished the class correctly, like I said if we didnt weigh in there was an opportunity for cheating. I would NEVER do that but I wanted everyone in the class to be sure. That is the only reason i mandated a weigh in for every winner.

Tony Shepard - I must say myself my gf and my buddy thought you were by far the coolest most chill guy we have ever met. When I first met you i didnt even know it was you! i had no idea i was speaing to a legend. Thank you again for everything you do for us. You really are a great person deep down to the center of your heart.

Kyle Mechenzie (sp) - great guy! hard worker and was very nice when it came to giving me extra cool down time after the heads up final and before the bracket final. Thank you again Kyle.

Colin - haha your a funy guy and honestly imo had one of the best if not the best overall car at the shootout. im sorry about your trans misfortune but i believe you did the correct thing and didnt hurt it any worse.... haha i could sense i tiny bit of tension the night b4 with your guys and myself about who will run what. it was tinyyyy but we were all friendly and became good friends. I apologize again if i went a lil over the top with celebrating.... i was just wicked excited!

Casey (kall) - great race man you by far had the cleanest and fastest street stock car there. and i am glad you won in the car show and got fastest runner up. you fully deserved it. my car dosent compare and isnt even in the same league as your car. its a work of art and super fast!

Justin from GMHTP - what a great guy. I had some great convos with you and thought you were super cool and down to earth and i felt like i could relate to you wll. to be honest i wasn't expecting that at all. Thanks again man and im sure you got some super shots and the article will be amazing!If your ever in Boston give me a shout we'll get some beers!

Chris and Dave and everyone from Nitrous Outlet - AMAZING guys! chris is the life of the party and hilarious love that guy! i knew i shouldnt of sat on that cooler! lol Dave was sooo down to earth and cool and mellow. what a great guy! When it is time I will be going through them for all my nitrous needs and will recommend and even push people to go to them. GREAT GUYS!

All the street stock competitors - thank you for putting up with me and my loudness. I truly apologize if i offended anyone in any way. I had a great time and everyone had super fast cars. r/t's were very key. It was a great class with great stand up guys. Thanks again for coming out and making that little idea i had that started out as a poll thread on here a reality. Thanks again!

I want to send a special thanks to my parents, my amazing girlfriend samantha who was my crew cheif and spotter, it was the first time she has ever seen me race in competition and she was beyond amazing i couldnt get it done without her. i want to thank my best friend jordan for comin and helping with driving out there and back and everything. also All my good friends in Northeast F-Body Association; Pizza Mike, Kevo, Joe, Maddie, Alex and everyone! Don at Slowhawk performance for trying to fit me in for a dynotune just considering that was amazing, Want to thank all the New England Dragway Racers for there friendship and advice, justin Picillo (i ended up shallow staging thank you!), Lee Vartanian, Bobby and Rick Monteforte, Bob Smith and Eliza, The Caisse's, Ed Knodler, Tim Steed, Lance, and everyone else! Yank for a killer converter that both the street stock finalists were running, John P. (1slowformula) and Shon Herron for all there wisdom and expirence that I learned from, Brad Noyzee and Noyzee Racing, i want to thank coastal customs, sullivan tire, and my current workplace TSD Rental Software for funding the trip and this car throughout the years of having a quality job at a quality workplace. I have been blessed with health and happiness and this weekend i TRULY WAS LIVING A DREAM.



Like my tow setup? I traveled the furthest with the crapiest tow setup lol





stopped in erie PA on the way home and found this wicked cool restaurant called "Quaker Steak and Lube" it was a bar and grill all racing themed it was sweet they had legit dragsters and sprint cars hanging from the cieling!











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the first race in the vid was me and it was the first qualifier and the fastest pass of the day, 12.64 @106mph

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First round of elims, another great race agianst Casey! I cant say enough about casey and his car. by far the nicest car in the class!

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(Street Stock Finals GREAT RACE! barely edged out muddyjimmy (GREAT GUY!) to win. 12.70 on that pass.)



all the money spent, all the time taken, all the blood sweat and tears, all the headaches and sleepness nights...... that trophy made it all worth it. x10000000000000

soooooo... whos going to come out next year and take it away from me?

 

I have a sweet video of one of your runs! I will get it up shortly!

 

sweet man thanks! your car was flying! just need some more seat time with the new setup and i think you will be right around mikey V. keep at it that car was nasty! was that your first 10 sec pass? if so congrats man that must feel soooooo goood!

 

Tony,

Nice post. Thanks for the kind words. We all love your enthusiasm and hope to see you again at another one of these things.

Congratulations on winning the first ever Street Stock Shootout!!


Take Care,

Daren & Veronica


P. S. I think you just blew your chances of getting a U-Haul sponsorship!!

 

congrats tony! lets see what that thing will do on our track before the track closes!

 

haha Daren your the man and thank you so much, it means sooo much coming from you, you have no idea how much i learned from you the short period of time we spoke, i would love to know more tricks! and your wife Veronica was sooo nice! If i can afford it again next year I will be there for sure. and i can tell you right now a 12.64 pass WILL not be enough to win it even in triple digit heat!

I'll be coming next year with something much faster i can gurantee that to everyone!

and btw great racing man! you treed the crap out of mikey and gave him a run for his money! Him and I told eachother if we r going to make the 20+ hour tow we weren't going to leave empty handed! im just pissed i lost bracket!

Sponsorships would help me a lot as i have very limited funds, i'd be open to any opportunity!

haha maybe i should edit that uhaul comment! trailer worked great actually!

Joe we need to talk...... i want atco in november and i want it bad.

 

Great post congrats and Im glad you made it out! I wont miss one ever if at all possible.

 

thx man! im glad i met you! your car is AMAZING literally the sexiest bird's i have ever seen... ever.

you'll get the bugs worked out with some seat time and be running the # in no time!

 

Good **** man, its post like this that set us apart from the rest..... This was also the best time in my life and my familys and we had a blast, from talking with Tony S to meeting all of you. Racing was great but meeting everyone was WAY sweeter. See you next year

 

^^^^AGREEEEED! i was talking with tony for a few min before i found out it was him and i almost sh*t my pants i was like omg lemme bow down hold on!

guy is so humble and laid back. i CANT say enough good things about him!

 

O ya and Tony, My name is Tom Simpson i was the 7ft tall guy with the red beard if i did not interduce myself, my little dude loved your car with the vette style window. He is like me a Vette Freak.lol
Anyway this is me below.... Shhhhh im hunting Rabbits

 

we will talk man ! need to get my 99 back together, maybe ill make some good runs before winter. .5x

 

congrats man nice racing! nice meeting ya and glad you could make it start putting next years funds away now!! thats what im doing!

 

I apologize for not introducing myself Tom. I think we spoke breifly, it was just such a crazy weekend it was sooo hard to meet everyone. especially at the track i was running street stock and bracket and literally had no time for anything especially going deep in both classes. i didnt even get to spectate one race lol.

Tell the little guy thx and he'll have to go for a ride down the track in it with me next time!!! I remember like it was yesterday being 12 years old seeing brad noyzee with his twin turbo brand new ls1 at NED make a pass and ever since then i have been hooked. now i drink beers with him lol and he lets me use tools lol.

to me i remember thinking how cool the older guys were when being around the track when i was younger and how cool it would be if they ever talked to me and spoke to me like i was one of them. Whenever I can i try to get the younger kids involved and talk to them. they are shy you have to intiate the convo but i know it makes there day! or at least it would of for me when i was there age! so i try to do it as much as possible....

my gf says i scare kids and look creepy to there rents! lol im like im just being a cool nice guy!

 

hahaha it was late at the end of the day but we finally met! lol thx for the sticker man that was wicked cool of you! i owe you a beer! wait was the car we pushed onto the trailer urs? i literally was drooling over it and your TBSS!

nice meeting you man and literally you had one of the best cars there!

 

Great post and congrats on the win Tony. It was a pleasure to meet you and put a face/car with the name. Your car ran great and had what it needed to get the win. This weekend was awesome and I will look forward to it every year.

 

Great to meet you after all these years man, glad you had a good time.

 

David right? Man you were one of the most stand up guys i have ever met. With a damn fast bolt on car! I really loved how you brought the whole family out and really appreciate how your a family man. You guys had a killer combo there. i think us both having the SS3600 kinda set us apart.... that converter is killer! it was a close race its hard to react to a pro tree i really just got lucky on it. i dn how but i did! that was only my 2nd time on a pro tree and the time b4 i was trying deep staging! I hope we both make it out next year and if u run street stock again i know u will have something killer to take me down!

thanks again for a great race and the congrats. i was worried i was taking too long on the burnout and ur car was getting hot. again i apologize if i did. i just wanted to make sure i would stick on the launch....

thx again man say hi to the kiddos for me and get the little guy in a car asap!

same man same! haha it was sooo funny i met u at like 2am friday right when i got in lol. im like holy **** man watsssuppp lol u were very nice and friendly i liked that it was awesome!

 

It was good to meet you and your girlfriend and congrats on the win. I can't wait for next year!

 

thanks josh! i have noooo idea why i thought ur name was matt like all weekend lol im sorry man! myself and my gf really liked you guys. we felt like we could relate to you guys a lot and liked hanging out and talking. your car man is killer looking in person! the pics on here do not do it justice it is a wicked nice car, and running that series must be wicked fun! good luck in that man cant wait to hang again next year! tell christine? maybe? i said hi and my gf samantha says hi too! i apologize im awfulll with names as u can tell lol