The 2012 schedule for the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series added a second stop at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway which will be early in the season. LVMS will thunder on March 23-25 and will include Top Fuel Categories. NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series will head back West for the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, March 30-April 1.

For ticket information go to LVMS.com or call 1-800-644-4444

March 10, 2012 : Modifieds, Street Stocks, Factory Stocks, Team Factory Stocks.
Gates at 4pm, Racing at 6pm

March 24, 2012 : Lucas Oil Modified Series, Street Stocks, Factory Stocks, Team Factory Stocks.
Gates at 4pm, Racing at 6pm

April 7, 2012 : ASA Tour Trucks, Street Stocks, Factory Stocks, Team Factory Stocks.
Gates at 4pm, Racing at 6pm

April 13, 2012 : Gene Price Legends, Sam Nichols Bandoleros
Gates at 5pm, Racing at 8pm

April 14, 2012 : Nascar K&N Pro Series West(150 laps), Gene Price Late Models, Gene Price Legends, Sam Nichols Bandoleros, Factory Stocks, Team Factory Stocks
Gates at 4pm, Racing at 6pm

May 5, 2012 : Street Stock 50 laps, Factory Stocks, Team Factory Stocks.
Gates at 5pm, Racing at 7pm. No test and tune.

May 19, 2012 : Waterless Boat Race, Sam Nichols Bandoleros, Factory Stocks, Team Factory Stocks.
Gates at 5pm, Racing at 7pm. No test and tune.

16th Annual Show and Shine – by Alan Didway

It is hard to believe that Havasu Classics has been doing car shows in Lake Havasu City for 16 years. It seems like the was organized just a couple of years ago. That old adage that “time flies when you are having fun” is true. Their first shows were in the parking lot next to Classic Burger, then Windsor 4, Rotary Park and now the 1 at 6th Annual Show and Shine will take place at the Shops at Lake Havasu.

The Havasu Classics could not put on the shows that they do without the support of the local community and the generosity of the local merchants as well as the support that they get from the other local car clubs. They all work together to ensure
that the shows are as successful as possible.

This year’s show and shine will be on Saturday, March 24 beginning at 8am with trophy presentations at 3pm. The entry fee this year is $35.00 until March 11 and $40.00 after that. The show is open to all classic cars, special interest vehicles, hot rods and rat rods both domestic and foreign. Music will be provided along with raffles and other fund raisers. The first 200 registrants will receive a goody bag with a dash plaque and what ever else we are able to fit in the bag.

Profits from the show and shine are donated to various charities here in Lake Havasu. The Havasu Classics have been donating money to various groups in the community for all of the 16 years that they have been having the show and shines and make every
effort to ensure that the donated moneys stay in town to help locally.

For more information about the show and shine contact either Dan Thompson at 928-505-4184 or Larry Giles. 928-453-0963. There is also show information and entry forms on line at www.Havasuclassics.com.

By Alan Didway

Here we are at the beginning of another NASCAR season! NASCAR is the one truly American sport with the longest season and the only sport that starts its season with the biggest event of the year. History was made Sunday February 26th at Daytona International Speedway, but not the kind that anyone who traveled to Florida for the biggest race of the year wanted to see.

The Daytona 500 has a long history of exciting races, but this record buster cannot be called exciting. For the first time in the event’s 58 year history, the Great American Race was postponed due to weather. Over the years, millions of people have flocked to Daytona Beach to partake in the festivities of Speed Week and watch the Daytona 500. They have brought their friends, in-laws, clients, kids, money, and support for their favorite driver in the hopes of witnessing a trackside rivalry, the big wreck, pit stop strategies, and a photo finish. But, this year, they had to wait… until Monday or Tuesday or … whenever Mother Nature decided.

So today we think about support for our favorite drivers. The big news this week has been that Republican presidential primary candidate, Rick Santorum, has paid for sponsorship of the No 26 car driven by Tony Raines. The Rick Santorum for President’s campaign message was on the hood and quarter panels of Raines’ Ford Fusion for the season-opening of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Santorum’s advice to his driver was this “When you’re starting way back in the pack, just hang back there for a while, let all the other cars in front of you wreck and then run hard in the last few laps and win the race.” Sounds like a race strategy to me, of some sort!

At first glance, though, this may seem to be an odd way to spend campaign dollars when faced with the deep pockets of rival candidates. I mean really… NASCAR has its beginnings in redneck, moonshine runners who dislike government revenuers! How would this decidedly religious candidate support a sport that keeps people out of church on Sundays while they drink beer and carouse in non-church-like fashion for an entire week prior to the “event”? But, much to this fan’s surprise, politics and NASCAR have a rich history. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush have both attended the Daytona 500 and President Jimmy Carter of Georgia was a passionate NASCAR fan. The living legend Junior Johnson remains a staunch Democrat today, having endorsed candidate Barack Obama last summer, even though it was a Republican, Ronald Reagan, who’d granted Johnson a presidential pardon for moonshining. Did you guys know this?

GM, and Chrysler cars in the field. We paid 663 billion to be sure that GM had the advertising budget to support NASCAR and its drivers. The US Army has of budget of somewhere near 7 million dollars to be certain young men of enlistment age see how cool they are and the National Guard sponsors the sports favorite son, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Who is paying this bill? The American people are paying both with our tax dollars and as consumers who buy the gear. How about this? There are over 75 million NASCAR fans in the U.S. We are proud, flag-waving Americans who vote in significantly larger numbers than the general American population. We could be a force to be reckoned with if we all got together. Let’s all write in our candidate for the next president this election year. This NASCAR fan will be writing in “D.W for president” will you join me?” boogity boogity boogity!!!

Until the next race, may your caution flags be few, and your gas tanks be full.

A true story of train hoping hobo’s

Our story will start the same place it will end, and start again, some random town in the middle of nowhere sitting beside a set of railroad tracks waiting for the next train to take me where ever the tracks are laid. In Colton, CA, sometime in 2005, we sat around a make shift fire trying our hardest to stay warm without attracting the attention of the train bulls. With a few warm coals and some pulls off the whiskey bottle, we were able to keep warm enough to sing random songs of travel and keep our minds off the fact that we could be charged with a federal felony at any minute. The train we expected had already been delayed about eight hours and the lack of sleep from staying up all night waiting was starting to get to us. Rocko and Jimi had walked down to the store, which was about 200 yards up the track, to buy another bottle of booze. This would take us through breakfast, leaving me and three other hometown road dogs on watch.

Sitting around, kicking at random empty bottles and cans, I felt the pebbles and sand begin to rattle and shake, as if an earthquake were begging to tear the very ground under me apart. A thought flashed through my head; maybe the booze and no sleep had finally brought me to the point where I was unable to hold on to earth any longer. That thought quickly dissipated as the bright lights of the oncoming freight train shined directly in my eyes. I grabbed my backpack and got myself ready to catch my first train.

Looking over my shoulder I realized Rocko and Jimi were still down at the store so I began to yell for them as loud as I could. The sound of my yelling was completely drowned out by the massive train passing by about two feet away. An open box car came slowly by and I watched as the three other people that stayed behind took off running and jumped into it as the box car disappeared from view. I looked over my shoulder once more to see that my two road dogs had come bolting out of the store and were half way too me as the freshly purchased bottle slipped from one of their hands.

Alcohol is an extremely real and scary addiction, and when you spend half your nights drinking just to stay warm, or forget the fact you did not make enough money to eat, your body begins to need the booze. As the bottle hit the ground, Rocko, who was completely grasped by this addiction, fell to his knees and began to scoop up the liquid slurping it from his hand. Looking back at the ever shortening train, I realized our opportunity to get out of this dreary town was growing thin and quickly turned and yelled to Rocko “leave it… we’ve got to go”.

No sooner had the words left my mouth Jimi comes flying by me, jumps up and grabs on to the ladder of a gondola, climbs to the top and flops inside. Realizing this was the last cart on the train, I grabbed on to the ladder as it passed by me and hung on for dear life. The feeling of dangling off the side of this massive beast of a machine was unreal. I was so overtaken by this feeling of having so little control over my own safety or life that I froze up while hanging onto the ladder. In the corner of my eye I could see Rocko heading back into the liquor store to no doubt dispute the bottle that had broken in their parking lot.

As I chuckled at the man’s extremely misplaced priorities, I looked up just in time to see a set of stop lights built on the ide of the track coming straight at me, about to knock me off the ladder. If thrown off, I would have defiantly been sucked under and pulverized. In the nick of time, Jimi who had climbed into the gondola before me, climbed to the top, grabbed me and yanked me into the dumpster-like car. I landed on the bottom of the gondola and sat there completely stunned by the near-death experience still seeing traces of my life flashing before my eyes. Jimi extended his hand and helped me up. Looking
out over the top of the gondola, gazing back at the miles of land quickly disappearing behind us, I had a sudden rush of accomplishment. Then Jimi got my attention; slyly pulling a second bottle of booze out of his jacket, we began to scream joyfully at the top of our lungs. We screamed and shouted as loud as we could with no one to hear since the sounds were completely drowned out by the roar of the train engine. With absolutely no idea where this train was heading, we passed the bottle back and forth and celebrated yet another trip into the unknown.