(Words and photos by Brad Klaassen) – Experiencing tracks I’ve never been to before never gets old. So, when my good friend and fellow Okie, Roger Johns, posted on social media his thought of loading up his beautiful lime green forty-seven Chevy truck and heading to Houston Motorsports Park in Houston, Texas, to compete in an all-truck shootout, I began to plan for another likely road trip. After several of Roger’s friends posted their various reasons why they couldn’t go with him, my response was short and to the point, “I’m down!” The next morning my buddy gave me a call asking if I was serious about going to HMP. He’d need help running in the all-truck shootout class at the Kings Holiday Race.  My response was, “I don’t ever joke about going racing.” After Roger finished chuckling he said “I didn’t think you were”. So, plans were made to head out Friday to warmer weather and some early-season racing.

The road trip was uneventful, which is always nice. We headed out to Houston Motorsports Park mid-morning Saturday to get inline so we could secure a decent pit stall. Hey, what do you know, we were first in line! Roger had lived in Houston previously and had raced at HMP several times; the last being ten years ago. For me, though, it was time to cross another track off my list of straight-line concrete and asphalt speed scenes I had never attended before. The first rig that pulled up behind us was home track racers and they came over to say hello.  The first to greet us was Houston’s own George Huddlen. He’d noticed our Okie licenses plates and said,“Hey I grew up in Oklahoma, in Elk City!” I grew up in Cordell, which is only thirty five miles from George’s former hometown in Oklahoma. After both of us recovered from the shock of this chance meeting, we began talking about high school sports and all the mutual friends we had back when we were growing up. Yep, more small world stuff.

Once we finally rolled through the gate, we were greeted by a beautiful facility with both an eighth-mile drag strip and a paved oval track as well. This place was shinny as a new penny; neat and clean. Oh yeah, it had electrical outlets in every pit stall! What? Yep, you heard me right. More than shocking to me… pun intended. The next warm greeting we received was from Samuel Lewis Welcome, aka AlleyCat Sam, the race promoter. We definitely had earned the long-tow award for the one-day race at HMP. The VIP treatment never stopped from the moment we pulled through the gate until we left Saturday night. AlleyCat Sam gave us primo pit parking up close to the starting line so the fans could check out Roger’s beautiful Lucky’s Speed Shop truck. It lived up to its “Lucky” name that night in Houston. The racers and fans were giving these two ole Okies rock star status from the moment we unloaded Roger’s truck. We had brought a knife to a gunfight with Lucky’s all-motor small block Chevy. The rest of the truck shootout class entrants were all equipped with big block motors with multiple stages of nitrous onboard, but we were there to have fun and man did we ever!

The race format for the truck shootout was two test hits at the track. Then we were paired up in a shootout fashion. Heads-up run what you brung and hope you brung enough! The winners advanced and the losers went back on the trailer. That’s the type racing Roger and I enjoy…an all or nothing approach. That’s why we were there. Track announcer, Lisa “Mouth of the South” Shotwell, kept the packed house on the edge of their seats the entire evening with her fever-pitched frenzy of excitement roaring through the loudspeakers once eliminations began. The track crew was outstanding as well. From cleaning up unfortunate spills on the racing surface to running a well organized event they were top notch!

So, in the first round of the all-truck shootout we drew Reggie Bass, another very kind man with a cause. He’s teaching Houston kids with his Fun Without Guns program. Reggie is dedicated to helping his community and the kids that live in it. So, Roger and Lucky pulled to the line with the “little small block that could”. Both racers went into the staging process and Reggie left before the tree activated and Lucky was lucky. We won round one. Because one of the trucks broke in the eight truck field, we advanced to the semis after round one. There we faced another big block Chevy with three stages of nitrous. Roger was on his game on the tree and gapped our opponent by about two truck lengths. Lucky showed his tail lights all the way into the speed trap, but came up a fraction short. Oh well, we were in the money and more importantly we had a blast!

I immediately switched into one of my Bad Brad’s Speed Shots crew shirts and hit the wall. My second job was just beginning. I shot as many cars and bikes as I could, but because I was helping my brother, Roger Johns run his Lucky’s Speed Shop truck in the truck shootout, I wasn’t able to shoot them. That’s often the price you pay for being a racer and a photojournalist. I’m always a racer first. That’s just what I do. But, after experiencing Houston Motorsports Park, AlleyCat Racing, and the hospitality of the racing family there, I’m already working with AlleyCat Sam on plans for a repeat performance to cover an entire race.  My straight-line brother Roger Johns and I have never been hosted any better than at HMP. Thank you from both of us.

See you at the drags,

-Bad Brad