Frankie “Mad Man” Taylor

Match Race Madness at Denton, Texas

Frankie Taylor Leads Winners

Words and photos by Chris Graves

North Star Dragway, located an hour north of Dallas, Texas, in the college town of Denton, hosted their first annual Match Race Madness event on Saturday, Oct. 25, which was presented by RS Foundations.

Anticipation for this event had built for months prior, especially for the headline match-up which paired Frankie "the Mad Man" Taylor and his Pro Extreme Corvette Pro Mod against Howard Farris's "War Wagon" AA/Fuel Altered in a best of three bout. Taylor came into the event as the quickest and fastest Pro Mod in the great state of Texas while Farris entered the match as the quickest fuel altered in Texas and the fuel altered track record holder at NSD.

A friendly rivalry between the Pro Mod and Fuel Altered racers of the southwest has been reignited by North Star Dragway in hosting their 4th of July Pro Mod vs. Fuel Altered Showdown events the two previous years and this prime time match-up was a spin-off of that unique and fan favorite event.
     
Also headlining the bill was a AA Funny Car match race between the world famous "Blue Max" driven by Ronny Young against a new kid on the block, Greg Longoria driving the Gary Doak-owned "Bucket List" car. This match-up also included a special solo tribute pass by the "Blue Max" to Raymond Beadle who had just passed away in a Dallas hospital.

A battle of blown alcohol vs. nitro Outlaw Fuel Altered teams made up the third match race pairing with Donnie Massey's "Showtime" and Jimmy Jones’ "Texas Tremor" were set to do battle in a best of three match.

Pro Nitrous competitor Doug Riesterer was in the house set to take on Outlaw Fuel Altered racer Donny McSwain's "Wild One" entry and these pairings were joined by a plethora of no-time grudge matches and the Texas Outlaw Volkswagen Shootout.
     
With racecar parking literally overflowing almost to the sand trap at the top end of the track, an absolutely stunning crowd of eager racers and fans packed the facility to experience the biggest drag race of the fall season in North Texas. Action got underway at 5 p.m. with qualifying rounds for the Volkswagen Shootout and by 7 p.m. the first round of match racers were in the lanes and ready for action.