Experiencing your first drag race can be a life-changing moment. For Dennis White, that’s exactly what happened when he attended a Funny Car show at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in 1966. After that injection of high-horsepower excitement, Dennis decided he wanted to take on the challenge of drag racing, and he hasn’t looked back since.
Being exposed to the ground-shaking horsepower Funny Cars produce was just one of the factors that drew Dennis into cars. The other influence was growing up just two blocks away from Rod Tyler Ford. A local racer named Dick Lore campaigned an original 1964 Fairlane Thunderbolt for the dealership, and seeing that car regularly only increased Dennis’ curiosity about drag racing.
“I’ve always been a Ford guy. My best friend’s sister had a 1964 hardtop Fairlane, and I just loved that car. The first race car I built was a 1965 Mustang that I ran as a bracket car for many years. I also purchased a 1964 Fairlane Sport Coupe that I restored as a street car,” Dennis says.
Dennis found his current ride, a 1964 Ford Fairlane 500, on eBay in 2010 as a fully restored street car. When the urge to go racing hit again, he transformed the super-clean street machine into a competitive bracket car.
Today, the Fairlane is powered by a 347 cubic-inch small-block Ford built by CNC Motorsports. A set of AFR cylinder heads and an Edelbrock intake sit atop the short-block. A Holley 750-cfm carburetor mixes the air and fuel as it’s drawn into the engine.
Originally, Dennis wasn’t interested in racing in Super Street. But after seeing just how consistent the Fairlane was at ripping off 10.90 passes, he decided to give it a try.
“I never built this car to go NHRA Sportsman racing, it just ended up going that way. It turns out that I have a lot of fun trying to tune this car to run the number and stay consistent. The competition is tough in Super Street, and the people I race with are great, so it makes it easy to keep trying to get better,” Dennis explains.
Dennis White may have only needed a small nudge to become a full-fledged drag racing addict, and that first Funny Car race provided it. What followed were years of great memories at the track with friends, and the build of a Ford Fairlane Super Street car that runs just as good as it looks.
You might also like
From Darlington to Benson: PDRA Racers Overcome Conditions for Big Wins
The PDRA finished up its Darlington event at Benson. Here's who brought home wins in all the PDRA professional categories.
