Friday

The second day of racing at SCSN 16 was packed with plenty of excitement. Racers in every heads-up class took advantage of the cooler weather and great track conditions during each round of qualifying. The stage has been set for a huge final round of qualifying on Saturday and there are more than a few racers that are on the outside looking in.

Jim Philp is the kind of gearhead whose biggest goal is to have fun with his hot rod, so when he decided to build his 1961 Ford Falcon he wanted it to still be street legal. By sticking to this plan, Philp gets to enjoy his Ford twice as much along with his wife, and his dog Roxy.

Philp’s Falcon rides on a full chassis from Chirs Alston’s Chassis Works. The car is powered by a 468 cubic-inch big-block Chevy, and is backed by a powerglide transmission that works with a Gear Vendors overdrive unit. The star of the show upfront is the 6-71 Weiand supercharger that has a pair of 750 Holley carburetors on top. This combination has produced the best pass of 9.80 this weekend at SCSN 16.

This entire project started for Philp after one of his friends built a Falcon and it inspired him to find one for himself to build. Things escalated quickly from there and Philp took his Falcon to a new level.

“Originally, this was just built as a show car, but when I turned 70 I decided I wanted to start racing, so we did Rocky Mountain Race Week. I keep it a streetcar because my wife and I like to drive it. During the summer we travel to tracks in Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado just to have fun,” Philp says.

Brylon Holder’s racing career began behind the wheel of a dirt track car about eight years ago, but when you’re dad is Roger Holder it’s only a matter of time before you start drag racing. Now that Brylon has got a taste of drag racing, he’s ready to leave the dirt racing for life in the fast lane at the drag strip. 

The 1991 Mustang that Brylon pilots is powered by a 427 cubic-inch Ford engine and it feeds on a healthy diet of nitrous oxide. Roger picked this car up for Brylon to see if he would like drag racing, so far the answer is a resounding yes.

“Drag racing gives me a bigger adrenaline rush than dirt track racing. There’s so much of a difference between dirt racing and drag racing. From the reaction time side of things, to how much you work on the car, it’s just a totally different world. My favorite part is going so fast in such a short amount of time,” Brylon says.

Brylon has really enjoyed the time he’s got to spend with his dad drag racing. Since Roger has such a massive amount of knowledge about drag racing, Brylon has done everything he can to soak up his father’s teachings. Brylon has put considerable effort into learning about all aspects of drag racing. It’s safe to say that Brylon is hooked on drag racing and plans on doing it for a long time.