Willie's 2004 Activities and Racing

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2/8/04 - Willie has started his new engine and it sounds great!  The specifications of the new power plant are confidential for now, so all I can say is, WOW!  This is a awesome Small Block Chevy!  

Willie explained how good the engine sounded to the team at our team meeting.  Willie said, "Do you remember the song by Betty Wright, where she is asking the audience to go, way back, and remember their 'first time'?  Well, IT'S BETTER THAN THAT!!!!"  Willie is really happy with the way the engine has turned out, and in fact, the whole project.  Just a few finishing touches are left on the wagon before it is ready to go to the track.  Everyone wants to be on hand to see the first few passes on this new wagon.

3/9/04 - Willie is shooting for April 1st for the debut of the new station wagon.  There have been some minor setbacks with the transmission, but nothing that cannot be fixed.  I understand the engine is so responsive, it only takes a light touch of the throttle to get a 3000  RPM increase!  Everybody is waiting to see what this new creation will do when it hits the track.  

3/19/04 - Willie and Jeremy had the new wagon at State Capitol Dragway for testing tonight.  The wagon looks very good and the engine sounded good but some trash in the carb. did not let the car make a complete pass.  The car should be at the track this coming Weds. or Friday for shakedown runs. 

3/26/04 - The new wagon, with Jeremy Beathley driving, was back at State Capitol Dragway with all the bugs out.  Jeremy made his first pass, that was suppose to be an easy 1/8th mile pass, but as Jeremy put it, "When I hit the gas, by the time I looked for the 1/8 mile marker, it had already gone past."  Jeremy's first pass, and not even a full pass, was a 9.86 sec. pass!  Willie was happy and upset at the same time!  Jeremy will now have to get his NHRA license.  This "Big Small Block" has a unique sound that makes you think it is a BBC.  The wagon itself is very unique and will get a lot of attention in the pits and on the track.  Congratulations Willie and Jeremy!

4/17/04 - Willie had the wagon out to State Capitol Dragway for a shake down pass with Houston Hawkins driving.  Houston is licensed to drive under 10 seconds.  The car is beautiful, with the new grill installed.  That really made it look nice, and also very functional to get the air to the radiator.  

Houston bought the car up and after a few small glitches, they were ready to make the pass, and what a pass!  Houston laid down a blistering 9.50 @ 143 MPH.  That's what was on the time slip.  We all thought it was 9.58, but the time slip said 9.50!  Congratulations Willie, again!  Video of pass - click here. 

5/7/04 - Willie took his new station wagon, with fresh lettering, "Mr. Willie" to Prescott Middle School for their "Career Day".  In addition to Bracket Masters, there were Doctors, Lawyers and a Judge, along with other prominent persons from the community.  Willie enjoyed the home cooked lunch, and the team was  presented a plaque for coming.  The young men and women were very nice and they were all well dressed.  Willie quizzed the children of each class before picking the child with the best attendance, homework and grades to sit in his car while it was started up.  (Photos)

6/6/04 - Willie has been testing and getting ready for the Shreveport trip.  The wagon has made a lot of progress and is almost ready.  Jeremy Beathley has made 4 of his six required passes to get his NHRA competition drivers license.  The passes were made at No Problem Raceway Park.  The car encountered some transmission overheating problems and could not make the last two passes.  They will take the wagon back to the shop and check out everything before making the last two passes.

6/7/04 - The trans. was taken out and checked by Steve Nichol, but no failures could be found.  Steve, who built the transmission, loaned Willie a new converter and it was reinstalled.  Willie is very grateful to Steve and his teammates, James, John and Houston, who worked so hard to get the wagon ready for the license passed and the trip.  Willie and Jeremy are going to No Problem Raceway Park Weds. night test and tune to finish the license passes.

Nobody is looking forward to the Shreveport trip as much as Willie.  He has many friends there, including Moses Brant and "The Lawman", Frank Datcher IV, who has arranged some of the accommodations for the team while we are in their city.  Bracket Masters Racing Team, and all of the Baton Rouge racers that are coming to Shreveport to race this weekend.  We would like to thank the Shreveport Racers for the invitation to come and race with them.  This promises to be one of the best racing weekends of the Summer!

6/13/04 - Willie and Jeremy Beathley took "Mr. Willie" to Red River Raceway in Shreveport, LA and really put on a show.  The wagon was looking good and running even better.  After cleaning the fuel system and resetting the valves, the engine was running at peak performance.  Jeremy and Mr. Willie were forced to run at the 1/8 mile distance due to rain that had washed down the track during time trials.  The best time of the day was 6.04 sec., which is about 9. 48 in the quarter.  Jeremy won two rounds before losing in Non-Electronics when there was 19 cars left.  Everything really came together and the car and driver were working well.  
   Video From Shreveport

August 7, 2004 - The team picnic was a great success!  Willie, Houston, James, Big Man and Lacey coordinated the picnic and worked all day to see to it that our guest had a great time.  The food was very good and there was plenty to go around, and then some.
Willie enlisted Houston to drive his wagon for him and the car made some low 9.40 sec. passes.  None of the team members got past the 2nd round. 

August 31, 2004 - Willie reports that during testing last Friday night at State Capitol Dragway, the Station Wagon ran 9.56 @ around 142 MPH.  The temp. was high and the humidity was also very high.  This small block really runs.  Jeremy and Willie will be ready for the Louisiana Drag Classic. 

Sept. 4, 2004 - Jeremy Beathley drove the Station Wagon during the Louisiana Drag Classic.  The car ran well, competing in the Fall Footbrake Fantasy, which was a 1/8 mile race.  Jeremy ran some impressive 6.11 times in the heat of the day.  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), in the first round, Houston Hawkins backed Jeremy up when he spotted a large puddle of water and anti-freeze under the front tires after Jeremy had staged.  The car was taken back to the pits and inspected.  The lower radiator hose was the problem.

Oct. 3, 2004 - Willie took the wagon for some pre-Shreveport testing.  He was accompanied by several of the team members. 

Oct. 6, 2004 - Willie took the wagon to Houston's to have the transmission looked at.  While it was there, Houston reset the valves and did a minor tune-up.  Houston reports that the wagon is running excellent and is super responsive.  The transmission was not sealing as it should in a few areas, and the band was burned.  New seals and a new band are being installed. 

Oct. 10, 2004 - After testing the transmission and getting the correct matching parts in place, the transmission is working as it should. 
Testing will take place after the rain from tropical storm Matthew has finished dumping on us.  The weather is suppose to turn cooler and dryer for the coming week.  Willie and most of the members are looking forward to the trip to Shreveport this coming weekend.

Oct. 16, 2004 - Willie and Jeremy Beathley took "Mr. Willie" to Shreveport and the Big Small Block was really taking advantage of the excellent air at Red River Raceway on Sat. evening.  They ran a best time of 9.43 sec. at over 141 MPH.  This is a footbrake car!  Willie and Jeremy were really happy with all the work that had been done on the car.  Good 60 ft. times and the best ever time and MPH.

While we were in Shreveport, we talked to other racing team members about forming a  Drag Racers Association.  Mr. Willie Beathley and Mr. Moses Branch are the combined driving force behind this new association. United Drag Racers of New Orleans Association is also a part of these discussions.  One benefit a larger association would offer would be purchasing power, at a discount.  We will sit and put a prospective organization together and let everyone know how to join and what the organization goals and regulations will be.  Right now we are looking at t-shirts and caps, and web pages for members with profile and photos of the member and/or their rides.  The web site would be similar to the Bracket Masters web site.  All of this would cost a to-be-decided membership fee and additional fees for the shirts, caps and web site pages.

Oct. 24, 2004 - Willie and several of the team members attended Jordan United Methodist Church to support one of our team members Men's Day Program.  The team donated $100 and Willie added $200 to the donation for a total of $300. 

Oct. 24, 2004 - Willie was elected Vice President, without opposition, for the 2004-2005 term.  Willie will spearhead the expansion of the team and will try to coordinate a statewide racing team. 

Oct. 29, 2004 - Willie and Houston took the wagon to State Capitol Dragway for testing of the transmission work that Houston had completed.  The transmission work was good, but an old problem resurfaced.  Silocone in the gas tank, which restricted flow to the carb.  They cleaned the tank and flushed all of the lines, ran a one minute flow test and tried again.  This time they found their plugs were not up to the compression of the high powered small-block.  They will purchase some real racing plugs and try again.

Oct. 31, 2004 - Willie attended the Old School Car Show at Man Dunn's Place, 12 miles North of Clinton, LA.  Excellent car show with some great cars. Willie won the 1st place trophy for the Race Car Division.  Photos.

Nov. 19, 2004 - Houston has found the problems with the wagon that cause it to fall off in ET lately.  After cleaning the fuel system and removing the hood, the car ran back to back 9.5 sec. passes at State Capitol Dragway.  Willie and Houston were both happy with the runs.