The track is one of only two tracks in Missouri that I know of with score boards at the end of the track, the other being Kansas City International. We marked the territory with a sticker and headed out toward our ultimate destination—George Ray's Outlaw Wildcat Drag Strip in Paragould, Ark.

About another hour down the road and about 40 miles West of I-55 we came to the Mecca of outlaw drag strips in this area. Now, I've been to a lot of drag strips since my first trip to Amarillo Dragway more that 40 years but I've never, never seen anything like or, for my money, better than George Ray's little bit of drag racing paradise.

As you can see from the photos, in order to get into the track you turn into Mr. Ray's driveway and drive to the ticket booth and pay Mrs. Ray your seven dollars entry fee (It's seven dollars race or watch). If you're going to race—which I was—you go directly to the tech director Scott Mace's spot and get classified. They use a combination of NHRA and AHRA rules from 1961. The Burkster's Dodge van fell into the O/SA class while Bret "Mr. Dirt" Kepner's land barge Merc was an H/PSA.

The class racing is heads-up and they don't give you a time slip in eliminations. If you win, you come back; if you lose, who cares what you run. I got a bye run and then ran an older gentleman in the final who was driving a Buick. He was kind enough to give me lane choice and I cut a pretty good light and left on him and then watched him drive by me just before the lights. After the race we shook hands and I congratulated him. He said to me. "The car would have run a little quicker but I had to ground my 11-year-old grandson who usually drives the car. He's about a hundred pounds lighter than I am."

After Bret and I took our whippings, we pulled up a log next to the starting line and spectated for a while.

I am so grateful that he grounded his grandson. Imagine my embarrassment at being beaten by an eleven year-old! I also took some small pleasure in professional racer Bret Kepner getting whipped in his final round appearance. The one blotch on his stellar career as a racer is that he has never won his class at George Ray's and he has tried for years.