May 10, 2008

First off, if you read Esquire Magazine (May 2008), you’ll probably join me in thanking Connie Kalitta and all those associated with his company for getting the our parished soldiers back to their loved ones. There was a 10-page story in the magazine about Sgt. Robert Montgomery, from start to finish, on how he gave his life for his country and made the trip home. I won’t express my views on the bad shit going on in Iraq and the surrounding countries, but it makes me proud to be an American and have an association with the Conrad Kalitta, who was our February cover story.

Well, this last weekend I enjoyed a pleasured change of racing scenery in San Diego, California. Maddie Stephens of Red Bull World Wide invited Wesley and myself to attend the 2nd stop on the Red Bull Air Race World Tour this past weekend – held at San Diego Bay. At first I figured it was some sort of sick joke from the NHRA Media department – they always make us feel so welcome at their events. But after realizing it was a real offer and that Red Bull wanted our publication there just to see the spectacle of air racing, I quickly redeemed some Delta Sky Miles and booked a ticket. San Diego is a beautiful city with a perfect temperate and city center to keep you busy 24/7. After arriving at the media center and getting credentialed, Wes and I were informed of all the “can’t miss” happenings of the Red Bull Air Race. These people really know what they’re doing; from meet and greets with the pilots to VIP Pre-Parties, they’ve got it figured out. They even had a media-only part on top of the historic Hotel Solamar and its outdoor 4th  story bar jSix. Free Red Bull, free booze and gorgeous women to enjoy my company – it was fantastic. Not to mention the scheduled “Pit Lane Walk” where the media is invited to interview the pilots and photograph the crews/planes before the race starts. What a novel concept?

The race alone is tremendous, if you dig air races. There were 120,000 people in attendance over the 2-day event. The pilots push these planes to instantaneous 10G snap rolls and maneuvers that almost break their body. These pilots cover a four-mile course in roughly one-minute and 18-seconds – that should give you an idea as to the performance of these people and machines. They come into the opening gate at 240mph just 65 feet above the bay. It’s a qualified field where the quickest 8 (Super 8’s) pilots race off for the win. If you live in the Detroit area I suggest you go to the next event here at the end of May. The tour only makes two stops in the states this year on the 10-race circuit. A globally marketed event, the air races drew 400,000 people in Abu Dhabi last month. If a company like Red Bull can do this globablly than what we were missing with companies like Coca-Cola and the NHRA. A race can be fun, too. Street parties, guerilla marketing, attendee participation, city-wide activation – not just a one-liner from John Force. I think our buddies Max Naylor, last year with Jagermeister, and Joe Parsons with Monster Energy deserve a bunch of credit for trying to get more people involved and create new fans of drag racing. It was terribly upsetting last year to see with my own eyes the NHRA telling the Monster Energy guys to to turn down the music in their pit area after they’d brought in a professional DJ and a great crowd. Just curious, but what exactly is “too loud” in the Top Fuel and Funny Car pits?

It seems that anytime someone gets creative in the NHRA they end up having to beg for forgiveness. I’d say that’s why so many teams struggle to get major corporate backing because they know that no matter how much a bang-for-your-buck the NHRA may be – you can’t activate your sponsorship when you get there. I’d say a trip to a Red Bull Air Race or a Monster Energy-backed Super Cross event would do a lot of good for the hierarchy at NHRA.

That’s it for now. Check out the poicture of the two little LUCID fairies we met at the Red Bull Terminal Party. Now, I completely understand why absinthe has been outlawed in the U.S. for 95 years.

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April 29, 2008

This blog stuff is pretty cool. I’m getting a lot of feedback from the readers and a couple critiques from a few guys who probably still read Playboy in the closest. This last weekend I headed out to Commerce, GA for the NHRA Southern Nationals with a pile of Speedtech stuff to deliver before I put the Bubba Smoothe cape on and get after my Drag Illustrated responsibilities. It’s pretty funny to see guys like Bob Newberry of Top Alcohol Funny Car fame and Phil Shuler, crew chief for the Rockstar Nitro Funny Car, like nitrous too. Both of them called and ordered parts this week from Speedtech. Mr. Newberry is putting together a little footbrake street truck and Shuler is doing a balls-out 3-system manifold for a big tire Mustang. Good to know we have an appeal to the blown guys when they aren’t getting paid to race. Seems like we’ve sparked some interest in our wire harness systems also – the ones we distribute for Spaghetti menders in some of the Pro Stock ranks. I’m taking a unit over to go through with one of the crew chiefs this weekend. It should be real nice to clean up the vast number of wires that get plumbed on these 500ci Pro Stock cars. Speaking of 500-inch, it’s going to be great to see last year’s cover boy Dave Connolly get his ass back to work in a race car. He is way too good not to be bangin’ gears through a Liberty 5-speed.

Look out Athens on Saturday night cause Bubba and my pal Old Dirty Bastard JC will be out on the prowl – probably have a few of those closest Playboy readers with us.

Also want to wish good luck to all the Dart Dash contestants that use Speedtech. Jeff Pitman, Bert Prejan, Keith Raferty, and Anthony Munao. Kick some butt – Speedtech style.

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April 23, 2008

What a weekend at The Rock. The fabled Dragway in Rockingham, North Carolina managed to provide even more racing history this last weekend while I created a little bit of my own at another Rockingham landmark. Not only did I get to see all my friends from years past at the track, all of whom we’re struggling to get down the Rockingham track, we also met up at a local staple in the Aberdeen community by the name of Pure Gold - a place where racers and golfers go after a hard day at the track or on the links.

And a hard couple of days is exactly what everyone had at The Rock. It’s amazing that a track as prestigious as this struggled so badly to give the racers an equal surface on Friday and Saturday. In the first round of Pro Stock only one car went down the left lane and just a handful of back-pedaling Pro Mods made it down it as well, the best being Ed Hoover with a outside-looking-in 6.19 lap.

What, why, who and when is the problem. The teams that did make it had to squint just to see the ET/MPH posted on the scoreboards because of expired light bulbs – and people actually question why car counts and fan base fades. Those burnt-out light bulbs are the perfect metaphor for a great majority of the guys and gals out here doing this deal. Still screwed in, but obviously burnt out.

Beyond that, I was excited to see the number of engine builders involved, hands on, with their customers and/or racing themselves. It was great to see Scott Duggins of PAR from Spartanburg, who’s one of the coolest f*#$&@ I know, always managing to remain even-keel, guys like Billy Albert, Sandy Wilkins, Nesbitt Racing Engines and APD’s John Kile (carb guy of choice for my dragster). What a diverse group of people from one small region in the country. It’s astonishing that these guys manage to have the business they do considering their geographical location…

As far as I’m concerned, the industry-theme of the weekend was that customer service is paramount no matter what arena you may be in. One car’s performance doesn’t mean a hill of beans to the other 200 cars out there.

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April 16, 2008

Finally, after a busy weekend, I have a minute to sit down and give you the story behind the seemingly infamous Bubba Smoothe. Those who know me best call me “Sharpy”, a nickname given to me by Tommy Mauney – yes, the bad ass chassis builder from Spartanburg, South Carolina. Most recently, though, it’s been “Bubba Smoothe” and I can’t seem to shake it.

The moniker came along during a photo shoot in Runaway Bay, Jamaica a few years ago. It was Chuck Melton, father of Sean Melton of Urban Hillbilly Action Videos who bestowed the nickname on me. Basically, we spend a week every year in Jamaica shooting pictures of models for the BabeXtremeOnline.com calendars and after a 15-hour day of taking pictures, most the girls want to see how the images turned out. Well, Chuck started to notice the random women leaving my room, strictly work related, and tagged me the “Bubba Smoothe”. It’s a lot of fun and having the initials B.S. fits perfectly with the politics involved in drag racing from time to time.

I grew up in sunny Tampa, Florida and have some really fond memories of guys like Bruce Allen, Tony Christian, Warren Johnson and Morris Campbell, Jr. blasting up and down the local drag strips. I spent a lot of time at the tracks in St. Pete and Bradenton and ended up meeting a group of people that would forever change my world. People like Steve Cohen, Corky and Sherry Markwart, the Brannens, Hollingsworths, Tim Butler, Jim Carlton and Mel Eaves who would later give me a pit crew job at the age of 19 – helping with his Top Sportsman car at the time.

One of the most influential people in my life was during those years, his name was Gordie Hmiel, cousin of Steve Hmiel of DEI Inc, who was just moving to Lenoir, NC and starting his own engine business. After a couple seasons Gordie asked if I would like to go to work for him. The answer, of course, was “yes”. We’re talking about the first guy to make a 6-second pass in a nitrous-assisted door car in Bristol, Tennessee. From racing on the track to the business that is racing, Gordie taught me a great deal, but the most important lessons were on life in general.

At  the time I was spending my weekends at some of the hottest Quick-8 spots in the world; places like Shuffletown, Mooresville, Farmington, Greer and Coastal Plains, hanging out with guys like Ed Hoover, Michael Martin, Ronnie Sox, Tim McAmis, Tommy Mauney and Ronnie Hood – just to name a few. Unfortunately, that rush came to a tragic end one Friday morning when the plane Gordie and his father were piloting crashed in the woods of Warner Robbins, Georgia, killing the both of them and racer Tony Cox.

Two guys showed up at the door that weekend and told me that everything would be okay; their names are Roger and Mike Sanders, they helped a broke kid with a little cash and made sure no one tried to take advantage of the situation. When the dust settled both Gene Fulton and Tommy Mauney had offered me jobs. I thought Tommy and Gene were both gifted in the individual professions, but I wanted to race and TM had a bad ass Willy’s at the time. Tommy is a blessed individual with talents that reach much further than just drag racing. He kept me in check and more importantly kept me educated. I could never repay him for what he had the patience to teach me.

After a short stint working for Brad Jeter I decided to venture into a different world, still greasy, but a different kind of grease – the restaurant business. I opened 132 units worldwide for a well-known company called Ruby Tuesday, all the while staying in touch with my buddies – Gene Fulton, Shannon Jenkins, Tim McAmis and a few years ago I was presented with an opportunity to help get a little nitrous company started named Speedtech.

It’s been a challenge, but a very rewarding one. It’s been a demanding industry to be involved in, fortunately for us we have a strong core of engine builders and racers that will listen and work with us to become a better company and build a constantly improving product.

As for photography, which is what I’m best known for here at Di (that’s probably debatable), it’s been a passion of mine since I was 7 years old. Back then I was just a kid who was handed a camera to take pictures during rec. center soccer games for the local news. With such a diversified history, I figured there is no better way to document the story than with photos. It’s great to know that there are some people out there who enjoy my images that have been printed in Drag Illustrated.

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April 8, 2008

Hey everyone, it’s Bubba, writing in on my first blog entry. There’s plenty to write about in the future and I’ll be sure to fill you in on me, what I do on a day to day basis along with my past – touching on the wealth of memories I have from drag racing competition and the high performance industry over the last 20 years. At the moment, though, I’m flying solo at the race car shop tonight trying to get my Horton-built rear engine dragster ready to race at Jim Howard’s Super Seven Series race at Montgomery Motorsports Park this weekend. With a little bit of luck we’ll bring home that big check and I’ll have a little extra motivation for my next entry.

Till then, have a great race weekend and be safe out there on those highways, byways, eighth-milers and quarters.

Bubba