The Falcon on the grassy knoll.

My wife and I recently attended the Southeast Gasser Association event at shady side dragway. This was our first time at one of there events, which also happened to be my first time shooting with full media credentials. Being at a unfamiliar track i stuck with my usual routine. I prepared my gear and my wife and I made our way through the pits with our first stop to Renee & Barry Lynn's RV to pickup my media pass. We were able good look at their awesome two door 65 Chevelle wagon “lil red wagon ” after a brief conversation with Renne (to whom I am extremely grateful for my media credential opportunity) we continued our way through the pits where we came across more and more wonderful cars .We were in Gasser paradise as we headed up towards the track and staging area I caught a glimpse of a very well weathered and extremely cool patina Ford falcon sitting up on a grassy knoll at the corner of the pit road I immediately excused myself and stepped away from my wife to get a closer look. This greenish gold little Ford that caught my eye that's when I was greeted by Chris Whitley who proceeded to give me the back story of this little steel wheeled straight axle 65 falcon. This little Ford started life with a straight six and a three speed that was daily driven by Chris uncle Tommy this car had played a significant role in Chris life as he grew up around it. The Falcon was eventually parked along side the barn where it developed its patina and Chris developed his driving skills jumping behind the wheel and day dreaming of one day owning it.Well years later that opportunity arose when his uncle Tommy decided to give him the Falcon with the dream in his head, determination in his heart and the help of his good friend Jason Smith.They got to work removing the straight six to make way for 521 cubic inches of motivation to get this homebuilt hotrod rolling after two years of hard work lots of scrap steel and a all night drive that started at 1:30 am. Chris and Jason rolled into shady side dragway with the intention of having the tech guys look it over to see if he would need to revamp his efforts but to his surprise they told his he could join,the A/Gas class and be part of the event. He made his first passes in the Falcon they were good clean passes for a first time out. Unfortunately with the extremely competitive and talented group of drivers and extremely fast cars in A/Gas his day was cut short, but the potential and drive of this small North Carolina team leads me to believe that they will be back and making large strides along the way.

Special thanks to Chris Whitley and Jason Smith for there time and info.