North Star Dragway, located an hour north of Dallas, Texas in the college town of Denton, hosted their first annual Match Race Madness event on Saturday, October 25th which was presented by RS Foundations.  Anticipation for this event had built for months prior, especially for the headline match-up which paired Frankie “The Mad Man” Taylor and his Pro Extreme Corvette Pro Mod against Howard Farris’ “War Wagon” AA/Fuel Altered in a best of three bout.

Taylor came into the event as the quickest and fastest Pro Mod in the great state of Texas while Farris entered the match as the quickest fuel altered in Texas and the fuel altered track record holder at NSD.  A friendly rivalry between the Pro Mod and Fuel Altered racers of the southwest has been reignited by North Star Dragway in hosting their 4th of July Pro Mod vs. Fuel Altered Showdown events the two previous years and this prime time match-up was a spin-off of that unique and fan favorite event.

Also headlining the bill was a nitro funny car match race between the world famous “Blue Max” driven by Ronny Young against a new kid on the block, Greg Longoria driving the Gary Doak owned “Bucket List” nitro funny car.  This match-up also included a special solo tribute pass by the “Blue Max” to Raymond Beadle who had just passed away after an illness in a Dallas hospital.

A battle of blown alcohol vs. nitro Outlaw Fuel Altered teams made up the third match race pairing as Donnie Massey’s “Showtime” and Jimmy Jones “Texas Tremor” were set to do battle in a best of three match.  Pro Nitrous competitor Doug Riesterer was in the house set to take on Outlaw Fuel Altered racer Donny McSwain’s “Wild One” entry and these pairings were joined by a plethora of no time grudge matches and the Texas Outlaw Volkswagen Shootout.

With racecar parking literally overflowing almost to the sand trap at the top end of the track, an absolutely stunning crowd of eager racers and fans packed the facility at North Star Dragway to experience the biggest drag race of the fall season in North Texas.  Action got underway at 5 pm with qualifying rounds for the Volkswagen Shootout and by 7 pm the first round of match racers were in the lanes and ready for action.

In round one of the feature match racing, Jimmy Jones and Donnie Massey kicked off the show as Jones earned his first win of the night with a 3.90 at 187 mph pass over Massey’s 4.12 at 181 mph.  Doug Riesterer tallied a win for the Pro Mod fans using a 4.12 at 186 mph to defeat a tire shaking Donny McSwain.  Back in the pits, the “Blue Max” team encountered a magneto problem and were delayed while a fellow racer returned home to bring a replacement magneto back to the track so the “Blue Max” could make the call for rounds two and three.  Greg Longoria’s “Bucket List” nitro funny car, making only it’s second appearance on a drag strip since completion, laid down a header flaming half-track pass with a 5.01 at 114.

The headline match-up was out next as Frankie Taylor and Howard Farris brought their machines to life.  After the burnouts, the respected crew chiefs made their final adjustments and sent their drivers into the stage beams.  Taylor was off the line first and lit the scoreboards with a 3.61 at 215 mph to take round one over Farris’ header flaming 3.74 at 217 mph.  Frankie Taylor 1, Howard Farris 0 after round one.

Between rounds, a thirteen car field of Outlaw Volkswagens did battle with some ill handling wild runs.  Countless no time grudge matches filled the staging lanes with some of the biggest grudge race names in the southwest including Jeff Sitton’s “Hyde” entry tuned by “Stevie Fast” Jackson and Billy Stocklin.  Also in the house, names like Gaylen Smith, Travis Orr, Rodney Whatley, Spencer Johnson and Tony Thorn among others wowed the crowd with wheelstanding nitrous powered grudge racing.

In round two of match race action, Jimmy Jones notched another win over Donnie Massey as Jones stepped up to a 3.86 at 191 mph to Massey’s 4.05 at 181 mph.  Doug Riesterer lucked out when his tire shaking pass took the win over a red lighting Donny McSwain, as McSwain laid down a career best 3.83 at 193 mph in the “Wild One” Outlaw Fuel Altered.  The “Blue Max” Nitro Funny Car was out next in a special tribute pass to Raymond Beadle.

After a 300 foot burnout, Ronny Young crept into the beams and got into tire shake about half-track but brought the fans to their feet in tribute to Beadle.  Greg Longoria lit up the “Bucket List” nitro funny car next and clicked off a career best 3.99 at 159 mph as Frankie Taylor and Howard Farris pulled into the water box for their second hits.

Farris felt the pressure in this round as Frankie had cut a .013 reaction time in round one as the “War Wagon” team aimed to even the score here in round two.  Farris jumped the tree with a red light but lit the scoreboards with a 3.53 at 162 mph which unofficially broke the track record, yet after review a timing system error likely resulted in a false elapsed time.  In the other lane, Frankie Taylor showed no mercy as he posted a stunning 3.59 at 207 mph as Frankie now led the match 2-0 and kept the momentum for the Pro Mod fans cheering him on.

The third and final round got underway just before midnight with the stands completely packed on both sides, eager to see what Frankie and Farris could put on the board in their final runs.  Before the big finale, Donnie Massey and Jimmy Jones held their third round as Massey earned the win with a 3.93 at 191 mph to defeat a tire shaking Jimmy Jones.

Doug Riesterer dominated his pairing with a 3-0 win over Donny McSwain as Riesterer posted a strong 3.77 at 197 mph just short of his career best.  Ronny Young’s “Blue Max” and the Greg Longoria driven “Bucket List” lined up side by side for their third and final passes.  Young blasted off the line and posted a nice 4.00 at 192 mph to take the win over Longoria’s triple pedal job 4.77 at 119 mph.

The final pair of round three was a great closer of the match racing action for the night as Frankie Taylor and Howard Farris returned to the line.  Farris’ AA/Fuel Altered crept into the beams belching three foot flames while Taylor’s screw blown Pro Mod revved up and bumped in.  At the flash of amber, Taylor had the advantage off the line but Farris closed the gap at half-track.  As they thundered to the finish line side by side, Farris got the win with a 3.64 at 190 mph to Taylor’s close 3.72 at 206 mph.

“It was so awesome to be sitting on the starting line and look over to see nothing but huge header flames coming from the “War Wagon” car.  Those guys are a class act and we had a lot of fun today match racing them.  The track here at North Star really got my attention and we were able to really pour the coals tonight.  This was a lot of fun and we hope to come back and do it again soon,” said Taylor.

In Outlaw Volkswagen Shootout eliminations, Dan Harmon took the event win over Gary Calvert.  Also crowned in Denton was Travis Orr who won the North Star Dragway/Grudge Inc. Outlaw Backhalf Belt by defeating Gaylen Smith in the final round.  An action packed night came to an end but post-race chatter would carry on for days to come as the Pro Mod vs. Fuel Altered rivalry continues to brew.  Re-matches between Frankie Taylor and Howard Farris are already in the works as Farris has plans to debut a brand new dual-magneto 1948 Fiat bodied nitro burning AA/Fuel Altered in 2015 that he thinks will leave Frankie Taylor with no chance of a win light.

Track owner Gene Nicodemus couldn’t have been happier with the results of this event which took months of planning and development.  “At North Star, we aim to bring the fans shows they have never seen before.  Texas has some of the fastest cars in the country and we want them to shine at this facility.  I want to thank my track crew for their hours of hard work and dedication which has resulted in making North Star one of the quickest tracks in the country in many different classes.  The match racers put on an awesome show for these fans tonight and we will keep it up next year there’s no doubt about that,” said Nicodemus.