Wed, 4 Feb 2009, 11:20 PM Everything He Expected...And More

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2009 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Steve Kelly

It's always nice when a plan comes together. You know the feeling, as a kid you ask for that one special present for Christmas and there it is on Christmas morning under the tree just waiting for you. Or you plan a vacation and when the time finally arrives, the weather is great and everything about it is exactly as you envisioned it. Or you buy a lottery ticket and when they call the numbers you have all six of them. OK, so you have three of them, but you know what I mean. Well, that's exactly the feeling that Steve Kelly had after going three rounds at Pomona to win the 2008 Summit Racing Series national championship in the Pro E/T class. "Getting to Pomona had always been at the top of my priority list," he said. "I had spoken with other drivers who had been there and they all talked about what a great experience it was. So when I finally got the chance to go I was thrilled, and I have to say that the experience was everything I expected and more. We were treated so well by the folks at Summit Racing, Jerrie Foss and Eric Lotz from NHRA and everyone. I hope every racer gets to experience that at least once in their lifetime."

Steve Kelly

I know that you've heard this before but Steve Kelly's introduction to drag racing came from his dad. "My father raced when I was in high school and he did very well. In fact, he won the division championship a couple of times, but that was before the Summit folks got involved so he didn't get to go to Pomona." And while Steve had a great year in 2008, his father, Bob, didn't do too badly, either. "He qualified for the Race of Champions this year in our division," Steve said "He really is pretty darn good at this. If you talk to a lot of the racers up here they'll tell you that dad was one of the most accomplished racers in our division back in the late 1980's and early '90's." Even though both of the Kelly's have been racing for a while, Steve said that he has never raced his father. "We actually run in different eliminator brackets so we never get the chance to face each other." Another reason that they haven't faced each other is the fact that, after beginning his drag racing career in the early 1990's, Steve later took off several years so he could serve as crew chief for another pretty good racer from the great Northwest. "I travelled with Terry Giese for a while and actually was his main crew member. I learned a lot racing with him, things like how to set up the car, make adjustments for tracks and weather and things like that." Steve's time with Terry also paid off when he got a chance to drive a "class car" a few years ago. "I drove for Tommy Turner for a while in Stock Eliminator and I enjoyed that." He did well, too, making a couple of final rounds at Lucas Oil races in Division 6. Before driving for Turner, Steve won the Mission Raceway Lucas Oil event in 2003 in his own car, a '69 El Camino that used to be owned by Stan Hawes, and he also made it to he semi-finals at the national event in Seattle. He said that, until winning the Summit national championship, winning a Lucas Oil race and his big win at the Boise Nightfire Bracketeer race in 2005 were his biggest accomplishments "I'd like to do some class racing again if I could. I have an offer to drive for Tommy again and he always has good equipment and he's a great guy, but right now I just don't have the time to devote to the Lucas Oil series, but it really is something that I would like to do." After helping Terry for a few years Steve retired from racing while he, in his words, "started saving for a house and tried to become responsible." I can only assume that he has the house and has assumed a measure of responsibility since he is back racing and winning.

Kelly vs. Moshier

Prior to making the trip to California for the national championship race, Steve had to win the Division 6 title and that included a very tough six rounds of racing. With that completed, he made the journey south to begin his quest for the championship, and as most of the winners have said, it took at least one lucky round for him to achieve his goal. "I call it the one, single, luckiest round of my life," he said. That's in reference to his second round match with Dennis Cameron, the Division 4 champ. "I was off the tree a bit, but so was he. I thought he was on a break-out run so I just picked a spot on the track and dumped him. I was very fortunate to win that round." The numbers reflect Steve's attitude, because according to the stats on DragRaceCentral.com that day his margin of victory was .0013, or about three inches. Steve was .046 on the tree to Cameron's .045, and Dennis ran 9.002 on his 9.00 dial-in while Steve was dead on his 10.29 dial. "To have your opponent beat you off the line and run two-thousandths over his dial and still win is almost unheard of," Steve said. "Like I said, I got lucky." Prior to that run, Steve faced the Division 3 champion, Joe Lee, and he won on a double-break out run. And in the final, it was Brock Moshier and his Division 1 winning Vega waiting for Steve, and on that run Steve was better off the line and ran closer to his dial (a 10.274 on a 10.27 dial) and there's nothing at all that's lucky about that.

The car that Steve took to the championship is a 1967 Camaro with a 377 cubic inch engine. "It has a DART block, AFR heads, a Powerglide and a Hughes converter." He added that while the engine performed well there is something that the car needs. "I have to say that it's in need of a good paint job and that's something I hope to work on during the off-season." Armed with a national championship and a gold card for the 2009 season there must be some smart painter in the Northwest who would like to put his name on Steve's car. "Like every racer I could use any support and help that I could get." Steve's career has come a long way since the time he made his first pass down a drag strip in St. Louis while serving in the Air Force. Now the forty-one year old technology systems designer says that he is really looking forward to the new year. "Now that I've been there once and won the championship I really want to do it again. I would love to be able to repeat but I know that's going to be tough." So is matching six numbers on a lottery ticket, but somebody's going to do it.

Steve would like to thank David Chun Jr. of Supertune in Vancouver, Washington., who spends as much time maintaining Steve's car as Steve does. Also, thanks to Dan Stokes for his regular support at the track, Brad Plourd who showed Steve how to celebrate after a win at a National Event, and girlfriend Jody Thompson who made the trip to Pomona with him and is looking forward (he hopes) to a full race season with him. He would also like to thank sponsors Mike and Ann Francis who towed Steve's trailer down with their motorhome and were part of the crew, Glen Paine of Legends Roofing Company and Mark Campbell of Washington Cedar & Supply. Now of only he could get a really good paint job!!