Sun, 27 Mar 2005, 12:37 PM I Thought It Would Go Quicker!!

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2005 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Robert Bailey

With all of the talk at the Gatornationals about the six-second Pro Stock Motorcycle run by Andrew Hines and the national record that was set by Greg Anderson in Pro Stock, the real run of the event came in the Competition Eliminator category. Robert Bailey of Wabash, Indiana, took his world famous A/ED down the Gainesville quarter mile in an amazing 6.608 seconds at a stunning 203.34 miles per hour. And if you're not that familiar with the A/ED class let me tell you what made that run so spectacular, it was accomplished with a 468 cubic inch engine with one four barrel carburetor and an automatic transmission. In fact it was done with a Powerglide transmission and not even one of those new-fangled three speeds that you can use in the class. The current national record for the class as indicated in National Dragster is a 6.63 but that was an "altitude corrected" run by Clint Neff and the actual time on the scoreboard was 7.062. At sea level and "on the scoreboards" this was the quickest and fastest run in A/ED history and that's quite an accomplishment, but for those who have followed Robert's career, it is hardly a surprise.

Robert Bailey and Judie, his wife of thirty seven years, have been racing since before they got married. "I tried everything," Robert said. "Golf, tennis, you name it, but you can only be really good at one thing so this is it. Besides, Judie loves drag racing and that made the decision really easy." To say that he is good at drag racing would be an understatement. With eight national event final rounds and divisional wins going back to the mid 1980's, Robert Bailey is one of the best around and when he brings his dragster to the track all of the other competitors take notice. And when the scoreboards showed that 6.608 at Gainesville, anyone who follows the sport took notice, or at least they should have. It was, simply put, the run of the weekend. In true drag racer fashion though, after the run Robert said, "I thought it would go quicker. When I got out of the car and they told me that I had just gone 6.60, I told them it should have been better." It might have been, too, if Robert hadn't clicked it off just a bit early. "It was pretty dark and the car eats up a lot of track when you're going 200 miles per hour, so I think I can go quicker and faster." Of course all of the elements have to be just right to get a car like this down the track that quickly. "You need the right air and a really good race track," Robert said. "We had that and Gainesville and you saw the results."

Bailey in Gainesville.

The results that Robert gets are the product of years of working, testing, trying new things and hard work, a lot of hard work. When he's not working at his day job at Dorais Chevrolet in his home town of Wabash, Indiana, he spends weekends working at one of the real legendary horsepower emporiums in the sport, Steve Schmidt's race shop in Indianapolis. "I've been working there on the weekends for about seventeen years now," he said. "When you've got an expensive hobby you have to work hard." Of course working at a place where you can build you own horsepower is a real plus. Ironically, one of his closest competitors in the A/ED class, Wayne Henderson, also works at Schmidt's shop. "I work on the engines and he works on the rear ends and I guess it works out well for both of us." I guess it does since Robert has the quickest and fastest car in the class and Wayne isn't too far behind. Last year, for example, the two of them turned in the two quickest times in the class and the friendly rivalry looks like it will be renewed again this year.

In addition to the Powerglide transmission, Robert's car is unique in another respect. Unlike a lot of competitors who use a chassis that's built by one of the big name shops, Robert's record setter is one of the few cars that was built by Gary Agan. "Gary works for the railroad so he doesn't have a lot of time to build cars, but the ones that he does build are top quality all the way." In addition to the A/ED, Gary also built the Top Fuel car for fellow Indianapolis racer Bruce Litton as well as his own Super Comp car. "I like having him build my car because he'll build it exactly the way I want it." The way Robert wants it is a neat little 260 inch wheel base that is actually a bit shorter than some of his competitors. But the way he ran in Gainesville don't be surprised if you see more 260 inch cars in the near future. Robert has another advantage and that's the fact that he works with and tests products for some of the other top manufacturers, like Bob Book and Coan Transmissions. "I'm kind of a rolling lab for Book's carburetors and Coan's products and it works out well all around." He said that he has been using Book's carbs for about three or four years now and ever since he put them on his car has been among the best in the category.

Bailey in Joliet 2003.

>From his humble beginnings with a 1957 Chevrolet with a big block engine that ran in the C/MP class through the years with his front engine dragsters that featured 327 cubic inch engines that ran in C/ED to his current ride, Robert Bailey has always had cars that were among the best in his class, whatever class that might have been. As he was making a name for himself and winning track championships at Bunker Hill Dragway and tearing up the competition in Division 3, he always watched the other top runners in Competition Eliminator and marveled at what they did. "I loved watching guys like Dennis Ferrara and Paul Blevins and other guys who built their own stuff and made them competitive," he said. Now you can only imagine how many guys like watching Robert Bailey do his own thing. In his early days Robert raced at a lot of eighth-mile track and he turned in times of 5.20 at 136 mph. "We thought we were really something with those numbers, but now our car is running 4.22 at over 166 miles an hour in the eighth." My have times have changed!!

As the 2005 season progresses, Robert intends to run the Division 3 schedule as well as most of the national events in his part of the country. He is looking forward to the Sportsnationals in Columbus because the big rumor going around is that there will be a class championship for the Comp cars, something they don't get a chance to do anywhere else. "I'd love to run the other A/ED for a class title. We haven't been able to do that for years and it would be fun." He is also in the midst of building another car for his son and crew chief, Jeremy, that he hopes to have done in time for the season opening points race in the division. "We have a nice little B/ED that we're putting together. It's one of my old cars and we have an engine for it. Jeremy goes with me to all the races and he's a huge help and now he'd like to drive a Comp car. Maybe one of these days, when I slow down a bit, he'll take over driving this car." Well, I don't know how to break it to you Jeremy, but from what I've seen your dad doesn't show any signs of slowing down. In fact, if everything goes right, I think his car can going even quicker than it already has. And so does he!