Real Wheelstanders Race at Byron

By Jeff Burk
Digital photography by Rich Katt

Ron Leek's Bryon (Illinois) Dragway facility has long been known for producing races and developing classes that are entertaining for racers and fans. Byron is the birthplace of the big buck bracket race, the last track to have a real "Manufacturers Meet" for Fuel floppers, and one of the very first tracks to have a heads-up class for street-legal doorslammers.

Ron Leek was also one of (if not THE) first to have a class for wheelstanders and we don't mean the purpose-built variety such a those raced by Bill Golden or Danny O'Day. No sir, old Ron has a class for real race cars to do wheelstands that pays real money to the winner.

Which brings us the track's annual October race for the wheelstanders, plus the Outlaw and Modified Super Stock heads-up classes and a Sweet 16 bracket race. It was a vintage Ron Leek promotion and certainly worth a trip the track and the price of a ticket.

The Outlaw Super Stockers are a wheelstanding group of heavy doorslammers generally equipped with mountain motors injected with nitrous through a single stage plate. The cars pull the wheels on every lap and generally run in the low eights at just under a 170 mph in the quarter.

The perennial bad boy in this class is Prestwood, Illinois' Billy Houghton. Houghton drives an all-black '98 Camaro with a 540-inch rat motor under the hood and a big number one on the window. Houghton eventually got the Camaro to run a stellar 7.779/174.37 on a third round by run and in the final defeated Lockport, Illinois racer Rob Vanderwood and his 444-inch big block-powered '67 Nova with a strong 8.064/173.76 to Vanderwood's off the pace 16-second pass.

The "Sweet 16" class featured the quickest 16 seven- and eight-second doorslammers on the premises. Qualifying was lead by Michael Hauf and his '92 Ford Probe who ran off of a 7.23 dial but brokeout in the first round with a 7.225/189.20 lap--a 7.20 'slammer bracket car--too cool! The number 16 car was Nick Rinehart's Monza which was dialed at 8.14.

Jeff Southerland was the winner of a class called B Class 'Slammers which were mostly 8- to 9-second door cars. Ray Gustafson won the modified Super Stock class in his '67 Camaro running an 8.249/166.05 over a slowing Judd Dumke.

While this particular Ron Leek/Byron Dragway extravaganza had plenty of fast, wheels-up, race cars the stars of this event were the participants of the wheelstand competition. At this unique Byron event the winner is determined by the crowd in categories such as highest, longest, and most violent wheelstand. The overall winner this year was Oshkosh, WI racer Brian Ambrowsini in his green Gremlin who went home with three grand in his pocket.

We've put together this pictorial from this annual Bryon wheelstander extravaganza, but we recommend that next year you have to...BE THERE!

Wheelstand competition winner Brian Ambrowsini, from nearby Kenosha, Wisc. Makes a test lap in his Gremlin. He collected $3,000 for the win.