Pro Eliminator · 2001
WhipLash Racing: "the family that races together"
Dale and Donna Hornby and their six kids started out with a '77 Camaro running 14.60s. Then Dale bought a rusted-out '75 Monza he'd been told would run in the 12s. "Of course don't always believe what everyone tells you; it was lucky if it would run 16's."
Two years of work later it ran 12.60s in Street Eliminator, then 12.30s in Pro Eliminator. When the 331 let go with four races left in the season, Kenny and Kelly Jo Newitt of K-n-K Racin pulled the motor out of Kelly's street car and put it in the Monza, with Dale away working in Seattle. He finished seventh. With a new 357 and a Powerglide, the car got into the 11.50s, and Dale ran reaction times of .030 to .010 on his way to fifth for the season.
Original page (2001) →
NW Late Models · #74
John "The Hammer Down" Gamble
John Gamble of Otis Orchards started in Bump-to-Pass at State Line Speedway in 1996. He moved up through Hobby Stocks and Street Stocks, winning the Sportsman Street Stock title in 2000. In late 2000 he built a Northwest Late Model and later bought one Kevin Richards had raced for Monaco Enterprises.
He was Rookie of the Year in 2001 and won the Idaho 200 that year and again in 2002. Between his own races he worked as a jack man and tire changer on the Monaco Winston West team.
Original driver page →
Friday Night Street Racing
Dean "The Hog" Lambson
Dean was a graduate student in Spokane, originally from East Wenatchee. He ran an '85 Camaro with a 406 small-block, AFR 227 heads, a solid roller and an 850 Holley on ET Streets. His best was a 9.97 at 137.5 MPH, with a 1.59 sixty-foot. Not bad for a street car on a Friday night.
Original spec sheet →
NW Late Models · 2002 season
Garber takes the crown on the last night
Dan Garber went into the September 28, 2002 points finale with a slim lead over Ron "The Tazman" Turner of Spokane Ditch and Cable. With eight laps left in the 75-lap main, Turner was running second and looked headed for the title. Then Amber Cope got high coming out of turn two and came down across his nose. Turner couldn't finish, and Garber took the championship from his brother Dave, who had won it in 2001.
It was a family season all around. Father Bruce Garber retired with two races to go. Teen Shelby Thompson won the finale for his first Late Model victory and the Rookie of the Year race, and the #64 Sneva car, from Spokane's best-known racing family, finished fourth in points. Forty-seven drivers entered the series that year, with about twenty starting each main.
Original AARA news page (2002) →
Press Room · August 2002
The weekend the records fell
The track's own news feed covered the 40th annual AHRA World Finals as it happened: "Track @ SRP is being prepped for the AHRA." Pit gates opened at 1:30. Then the track record fell twice in one day (5.833 at 240.82), a jet car went 301 MPH, and by the time the Tuesday update was posted the jet car record read 307.
The feed also asked people to "Please Remember the Jeff Phillips family," and apologized that the site's photographer had run the digital camera's battery dead.
Original press room →
