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After Successful Factory Hot Rods Race, Plans Being Made for Next Year's Race

Posted By: Mike Galimi
By Mary Lendzion Photos courtesy of Jimmy Cantrell and Jacob Lamb With their wild wheelies and serious shifting, drivers of the G-Force Racing Transmissions Coyote Stock, Richmond Gear Factory Stock and Chevrolet Performance Stock presented by Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center are ones to watch at NMRA and NMCA events. They are as hardcore as they come, and when the annual Factory Hot Rods race was created three years ago, they were pumped to add that to their schedule. While the event was originally organized by NMRA Richmond Gear Factory Stock driver Bart Welte, it has been organized by NMRA G-Force Racing Transmissions Coyote Stock driver Jacob Lamb for the past two years. We're fortunate to have the six NMRA/NMCA races to take part in each year, but we wanted to have yet another race where we could put these drivers together for some wheels in the air, side-by-side, heads-up racing, said Lamb. This year's event was in mid-May at Kentucky Dragway and welcomed twenty-two cars, including thirteen in Coyote Stock, five in Factory Stock and four in Chevrolet Performance Stock. While the categories were combined for competition, rules allowed Factory Stock drivers to pull some weight from their cars for parity. The top three qualifiers represented all three categories, as Coyote Stock racer Frank Paultanis set the pace with a 10.14, Factory Stock racer Charlie Booze Jr. qualified in the second spot with a close 10.17 in Justin Fogelsonger's Mustang and Ronnie Hackelton qualified in the third spot with a 10.19 in his Camaro. Several rounds later, Booze Jr. earned the holeshot win over Paultanis with a 10.19 to Paultanis 10.18. The margin of victory in the close race was .006. Booze Jr. took home a hefty $5,000 purse, and Paultanis took home a handsome $2,500 purse. Several racers received giftcards, including some designated for those who had served or are serving in the military since the event fell on Armed Forces Day, and it was all courtesy of very supportive sponsors including Laris Motorsports Insurance, Finish Line Performance, G-Force Transmissions, UPR Products, Granny's Speedshop, The Big Mattress Outlet, Redline Motorsports, MV Performance, Foxcast Media, PowerHouse Automotive, JLT Performance, Stifflers, Weldon High Performance, Pipeline Repair Services, ProTree Race Carrs, Race Part Solutions and Ram Clutches. Considering we weren't even sure when we were going to be able to have this year's race in light of the Coronavirus pandemic, everything turned out great, and I couldn't have asked for a better Factory Hot Rods race, said Lamb, who lives in Kentucky and raced in Coyote Stock in his Mustang at the event. We had racers from all over, including Florida, Massachusetts, Arkansas, Georgia and other states, and while we couldn't have fans in attendance this year, we could feel their support. I couldn't have done this without the help of Billy and Matt Fint, who ran the scales, staging lanes and tech for me. Adam Cox also helped me, and I'm also so grateful to Aaron and Carrie Sipple of Kentucky Dragway for working with me on this. Lamb said he's already looking forward to planning next year's event, which he hopes will be even bigger, and racers and race fans are encouraged to watch for the release of the date, and other news, on the Factory Hot Rods Facebook page. "I really enjoyed the Factory Hot Rods race since it gave me a chance to compete with Factory Stock and Chevrolet Performance Stock, mixing it up a bit from racing with the Coyote Stock crew," said Paultanis. "It was the first time I lined up against a Chevrolet in a heads-up race. It was an exciting event, and I'm looking forward to the next one. Jacob did a phenomenal job setting it up."

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