"I had gone to the 1959 event in California (Inyokern) and they were good enough to pay me $500 in expenses to make the trip," said Hill. "They covered my time off from work and my motel bills so I was more than happy to race out there. That was the first time we were ever paid to appear at a race. As I look back on it, it was a good/bad experience. The car (single engine-blown, injected Pontiac) ran great and we made it to the AA/Dragster final against Jack Chrisman's 'Sidewinder.' I remember I left first and was ahead to just about the lights and he went by me and I was crushed. I was heartbroken, come all that way and lose. But Chrisman was a good guy, he gave me a few minutes on the top end, then came by with a Coke and we talked about the race. The guy pumped me up.

"Well, we (racers) all read Drag News and National DRAGSTER and knew they were having this deal in Amarillo, so we had time to prepare the cars and get ready to race. There was definitely some local pride in these things and as I remember it we raced hard."

When Hill ran his 8.84 at the first event, that was almost a half-second below the A/Dragster national record, and a number of racers (West Coast racers primarily) had troubles with that e.t. They didn't believe that Hill's car could come out and run that time when the national record was a 9.00 and the average A/Dragster time was in the mid- to low-nines.

What happened was that a number of racers wanted to see Hill do it again, and Dale Ham, according to Hill said something on the order of, "These guys are giving me a hard time on that 8.84; would you be upset if we had you make a back-up?"

Hill said, "Well, that was the only time I was asked to do something like that, but at the time I said why not? We wound up blowing up all our stuff on the back-up run. I guess that's what you get for being so accommodating."

In 1961, Amarillo hosts booked a most ambitious program for the second edition for what now were billed as the Texas vs. California Challenge drags. Walker, Ham, and Texas Panhandle Racing Association President Jim McGinnis put their heads together and came up with a combined match race and eliminator show for the Memorial Day Weekend. On Saturday of the Saturday/Sunday event, Walker booked in the following Texas vs. California best of three match races:

(A/Dragster) Vance Hunt-J.L. Payne vs. Muravez-Janke - Bob Muravez (Calif.) (A/A) Ratican-Stearns-Jackson (Calif.) vs. Raymond Austin B/Modified Roadster) Jess Van Deventer (Calif.) vs. Jim McGinnis (A/MR). (B/Dragster) Boffin-Dill (New Mexico) vs. Joe Ed Taylor (Texas).

Then on Sunday, the doors opened at 7 a.m. and a full schedule of classes were run-off, leading to final competition in Top, Middle, Stock, Little, and Street Eliminators. NHRA national records could be set at the event and the winner of Top Eliminator would collect $250.

TEXAS WINS THE MATCHES BUT CALIFORNIA TAKES THE TITLE
As things turned out, the Texans and an Oklahoman swept all the eliminators, yet managed to lose the overall points title to the Golden State invaders. Points were collected based on round wins and low e.t.s and top speeds for the different categories and those results put the "W" in the California column.

Still, up and coming Jimmy Nix of Oklahoma City won the $250 for Top Eliminator with flatlanders Henry Love (Middle) James Butler (Little), Bill Dennis (Street), and Tom Bowman (Stock) carting off the eliminator trophies.

Payne wheeled Hunt's dragster past Muravez in two straight sets, but Ratican-Stearns-Jackson, and Van Deventer took their bouts. Taylor won the all-B/Dragster with Lloyd Dill in two straight.

 Copyright 1999-2001, Drag Racing Online and Racing Net Source