Jimmy King and Reggie Bernier, 70-somethings who made names for themselves as drag racers several years ago, will be two of the headliners for the Gassah Guys vintage drag racing card at Winterport Dragway on Saturday, July 12.

“Jimmy King beat [multi motorsports Hall of Fame selections] “Big Daddy” Don Garlits and Don Prudhome back in 1970,” said Vaughn Stevens, who created the Gassah Guys Nostalgia race series last year and has four of them scheduled at Winterport Dragway this summer with one having already been held in June.

Rhode Island resident King used to drive King & Marshall dragsters in the Top Fuel division and survived a horrific oil fire during a race in 1980.

Bernier used to race for the Bernier Brothers team at the three New England drag strips including the one in Sanford which closed in 1967.

Bernier and Ray Helger, a Rhode Island native who bought a King & Marshall dragster, will have a best-of-three race series featuring a push-start.

Stevens said Helger will drive a 1927 Model-T Ford with a fuel-injected 409 Chevy engine and a Corvette rear end. Bernier will drive an “early ’30s bantam-altered roadster with a 420 Oldsmobile engine and six carburetors.

“That will be a show in itself,” said Stevens.

In a push-start, used in the early days of drag racing, a pickup truck will push each car down the eighth-of-a-mile track before they peel off and are pushed back up the track. The drivers will turn the ignition switch on halfway up the track on the second leg and then they turn and await the flagger to drop the flag and start the race.

“No one has seen a push-start in this area in 45 years,” said Stevens.

There will also be a best-of-three series pitting Helger and King in front-engine dragsters.

Stevens said he expects “60 or more [vintage] cars” on hand for the racing.

“Nobody else is doing it,” said Stevens. “This is the only place where they have old-school racing. People will be coming from all over. They’ve heard how much fun it is going back to racing from years past. It’s a throwback. And people like the camaraderie.”

He also noted that Winterport Dragway is an old military airport and that’s the type of facility they used to race on during the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s before they began building special facilities for drag racing.

Gates open at 8 a.m., racing starts at 9 and the elimination heats begin around 1 p.m.

There will be 18 classes.

The rain day will be Sunday, July 13.

There is free camping at the track facility for anyone who wants to come beginning Friday, July 11.

Winterport Dragway doing OK

Winterport Dragway’s regular race cards have been respectable so far this season, according to track president Bob Reynolds.

“The economy has slowed us down a little bit but it hasn’t been huge. The car counts have been down about 10 percent for most events. That’s to be expected with the price of fuel,” said Reynolds.

He said the weather hasn’t helped, either.

“When [meteorologists] tell people on Monday and Tuesday it’s going to rain on Sunday, people make other plans,” said Reynolds. “But there’s nothing you can do about the weather.”

Overall, Reynolds said, “I’m satisfied but we always want it to be better.”

The track, in its 41st year of operation, features several classes including Super Pro, Pro, Motorcycles and Snowmobiles, Pro Streets, Street Trophy, Imports/Sport Compacts for four- and six-cylinder cars, Juniors (drivers ages 13-16 who don’t have their driver’s licenses) and lawn mowers/small tractors.

Winterport races Sunday afternoons and one Saturday a month. There won’t be any racing this weekend, however, as a local motorcycle club will be using the track.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

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