Renegades Tonight!!!!!

Yes my friends, the Renegades are running tonight at Piedmont Dragway. The defending champion is our very own Sandy Wilkins. As you may remember, the last time out, Sandy defeated good friend Stacy Hall of Chesnee, SC. The great thing about that race was, it contained two small blocks running on one system. The winning time for Sandy was 4.45 and Stacy ran a 4.46. Close competition. Their will be a ton of cars trying to get into a 16 car field. You need to go to this race if you are in the area tonight. A must see. Plus, Sandy could probably use the help.

No, this pic in not my new dragster. It is Steve and Brenda Corker's new American Race Cars dragster. It is a beauty. They received the Best Engineered Award at Coastal Plains Dragway a couple of weeks ago. We all know that Steve is the defending World Champion in Top Sportsman but he is also a winner in Quick Rod. Steve wanted to start out the new year with brand new equipment, thus the American Race Cars dragster. The second thing he did was order a brand new 565 ci big block chevy from Sandy Wilkins @ Wilkins Racing Engines. Now most hard core fans know Sandy Wilkins as a small block genus. He has taken his 432 ci small block with a power glide to a best of 6.74 @ 204 mph. With those credentials, surely he can produce with a big block. Well, Steve Corker's car ran a 4.82 @ 141 on it's maiden voyage, and then it was converted over to Quick Rod mode. Both Steve and Sandy were pleased with all the numbers from the first 565 produced by Wilkins Racing Engines. Not bad for a small block guy. If you are looking for an engine, Sandy can build you what ever you need, from a 432 small block, to a 565 big block, to a 700 cubic inch pro mod engine. He can do it all. Just ask Brian Williams, the winner from last month's Big Dog.

That leads me to an engine that he has for sale. Well, it is actually mine. It is a 522 Par Racing Engine that I purchased from Scott Duggins new. I raced it in Quick Rod most of the time, but ran Top Dragster in the 1/8. It has run 4.90 @ 140 in the eighth and 8.90 @ 170 in the quarter. Because of my accident, I would like to sell this engine to help off set some medical expenses. My firm asking price is 8 grand. If you are not interested in the engine, you can buy me a dragster to put it in when I get better. Now that's a plan. Just contact Sandy if you are interested. Thanks!

Don

Happy Birthday Flea!!!

Happy Birthday to the Flea. The man with the small block that does. Mr. Wilkins the engine doctor. The man that always smiles. That's right, the flea turned 40 this past Sunday. That's May the 24th so you can put it into your memory bank for next year.

This past weekend at Kinston Dragway, Sandy Wilkins reached a milestone in his life by reaching the big 4-0. He had a lot of friends come by and wish him Happy Birthday and basically give him a hard time. You will notice in one of the pictures that someone gave him an old fart hat with curly grey hair. Thank you Lisa Bingham. He also enjoyed the company of his parents this weekend since the race was so close to their Wilmington, NC home. He even had a birthday cake to share with his friends. If you look close enough in the cake pic, you will notice the end of the propane torch used to light the candles. When you do not have a lighter or matches, a torch is the next best thing.

So since it was his birthday and he was having a great weekend, Sandy probably went on to win the race. Well the fun stops here. The car ran good on Saturday and Sandy was stellar on the tree, but Sunday came and luck just wasn't on the Flea's side. Sandy was 20 on the tree and tapped the breaks to let his man back by him for a .004 margin of victory. To the house. So where does he go from here. Let me think.

In case you haven't heard, Sandy is having a 40th birthday

party/bash at his house this coming Saturday. Anybody that is anybody will be there. Of course I want be there. Something about a leg. Anyway, if you haven't let Sandy know, you better call him now. A person only turns 40 once and Sandy likes to celebrate, whether at winning or getting old. Ha

I personally want to wish Sandy a Happy Birthday and many more. Ive only known Sandy for four and half years and it seems like I have known him all 40. Thanks for the friendship Sandflea and I hope this is your best year ever.

Don

Piedmont Payout!!!!

Tuesday I told you that Sandy had won the Renegade race at Piedmont Dragway the Thursday before the divisional. Well, Sandy sent these pics of the two winners checks. I think who ever come up with the idea two hand out these huge checks to the winners is awesome. It's just another way to celebrate what you have accomplished. Sandy also received a trophy that will go in the office. But the big check will go in the shop on the wall with the others to remind the guys and whoever else comes in that they are dealing with winners. Way cool.

Back in the day while bracket racing, I remember only getting cash for the win and a that a boy. You would come home jacked up knowing you had won, but had nothing to show for it. When I ran some IHRAI they gave you a plaque when you won a divisional. Now they give little iron men. I would like to do some trading. How many remember while bracket racing you got a business card for a time slip with only your E.T. and no reaction time. I have a few of those.

Anyway, I just think it's cool that racers get lots of "stuff " when they win. And having the trophies, plaques, pictures, checks and other " stuff " visible to people, makes them want to do business with you and just be around you. Everybody wants to be around winners. That's why I have decided to quit hanging around Sandy Wilkins. Only kidding! That's why Fleabag has so many friends. He is a winner in everything. By the way, this is not a paid advertisement. I better stop. I think the meds are kicking today.

The leg injury? I went to the plastic surgeon yesterday. He told me a few things I can do to help myself, but overall the leg is looking good. I do not have to wear my splint any more and he wants me to air the wound out more. I still have to keep it elevated for now. I have some good pics of the leg, but I don't know if you are ready for that. I go back in two weeks, so keep me in mind while I sit around and go crazy. Talk to you soon.

Don

Let's Try This Again!

Hello Everyone,

I hope all is well with everybody. It has been a while since I have written and we have a lot to catch up on. As some of you know, I have been down for a while with a leg injury. You may ask why would that stop you from writing. I will explain shortly. As far as not writing in the blog over the winter, well that was just being lazy. Let's start with some racing

The last time I blogged was when Sandy was runner up at Farmington Dragway. That was my first and only race of the year so far. The next race was the Moorseville divisional and Sandy had a third round loss. Then it was onto the Spring Nationals at Rockingham. Coming into this race Sandy had qualified for the Summitt All Star race. Sadly he was a first round causality in that race as well as the national event. Not a good weekend. For me, all I could do was follow along on the web. We do have a photo of some of our friends hanging out in Sandy's trailer at the Rock.

From there it was on to the Renegade race at Piedmont Dragway the weekend of the divisional race. The Renegade class is a new class that Piedmont created this year to draw more race cars that have a hard time running the Big Dog race. It has the basically the same rules as Top Sportsman, but you can only use one nitrous system. It is also heads up, first one to the finish line, which Sandy loves. Finally, his first win of the season. In the finals, he ran good friend Stacy Hall. The neat thing is that it was an all small block final. Winning E.T. 4.45. The Piedmont divisional was not as good. A second round red light. The photo is our old pal Doug West working hard for the Sandflea at Piedmont.

Let's talk about a leg injury. That day at work was slow and I continued the cleaning out of one of our buildings. I was cutting all the metal up to take to the scrap yard. I had cut up some barrels and cut on one that had not been vented. Big explosion. Totally my fault because I did not prepare. Been around cutting and welding my whole life. Can't explain why I screwed up this time. But it happened. Moving on.

The barrel was laying down and the blast hit my left lower leg. I fell to the ground and was dazed. I heard my torch still burning and reached up and turned it off. I wondered how bad my leg was bleeding and when I looked, I could only see a couple of spots on my pants. When I raised my leg to see if their was a pool of blood (their wasn't) my leg went 90 degrees about half way down below my knee. That's when I panicked a little.

The next thing I wondered was where was my phone. By the way, I was there by myself. I realized my phone was in my jeep about 30 yards away. I crawled to my jeep and got my phone and called 911. I am leaving out a lot of little things that you can ask me later. But basically the first responders came and took care of me. Then I was air lifted to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC.

While in the hospital for two and half weeks, I received a titanium rod with lots of screws and staples. I lost the front muscle on my leg because of the blast. Believe it or not, they cut my stomach, leaving about a 10 inch scar while taking a stomach muscle and transplanting it to my leg. Ugly! Also a nice skin graph from my left thigh.

It has been 5 and half weeks since my accident. They say it will be 6 months before I can put any pressure on it. I still have to keep my leg elevated, so I only have three spots to sit. Bed, recliner and wheel chair. I went to the ortho doc yesterday and he said all is good. I go to the plastic surgeon tomorrow and I hope I will get another good report. But for now, I do a lot of sitting and surfing. I finally got everything set up so I can blog at will. Trying to get up to date . Even set up a Facebook account.

I want to thank everyone who has prayed for me, called, sent cards and came by to visit. I am truly lucky to be alive and my life has changed for the best because of it. The Lord has always been good to me, even though I have let him down a lot in the past. I will keep you up to date from here on out. My goal is to be at the Fall Nationals in Rockingham. Talk to you soon.

Don

Don Shuford and the Rock

For those of you that don't know, Don was in a terrible accident at the end of march. Let's just say he is extremely lucky to be here but he has a long road to recovery. Don was working at the muffler shop, there was an explosion, and his leg was severely damaged. After spending a couple of weeks in the hospital he has finally made it home to finish his recovery.

First i want everyone to know that racing just will not be the same without Don's help. Of course everyone expects him to make a full recovery, it just going to take some time. Without a doubt the success of Wilkins Motorsports can be directly related to the team of Shuford and Wilkins. To quote John Furr, "If there's a picture to be had you can count Wilkins and Shuford to be nearby". So in Don's honor i am including a picture of him made after the final round at Rockingham spring 2008.

We love you buddy!!!! Get Well SOON!!!!!

Starting Out The Year # 2

I hope the winter has been good to everyone, but I sure am glad it's spring. I know all you guys are ready to race. We finally did get to race last weekend. With Rockingham getting postponed due to rain and then the Farmington race getting pushed back a week, it seemed as though we would never get to race. Let's back up a couple of weeks.

In the last blog the car had just been painted at Chuck Chapman's place. Following that, Sandy assembled the car and I met him at Mooresville Dragway to test. Sandy has an eighth mile set up where he runs only on motor (no nitrous). While most cars just turn off the nitrous and race, Sandy changes the rear end gear, converter and other settings on the car to maximize performance and minimize problems. The testing went well. Sandy made three runs of 4.98, and back to back 4.97's. We loaded up with the outlook good and we were ready for Farmington.

The Farmington weekend started off with sunny skies and a little wind. It was about ten degrees cooler than when we tested in Mooresville, but hey, no rain in the forecast. Sandy made his two qualifying runs Saturday, which was a 4.88 and a 4.90. We thought about running the combo race but the temperature was falling fast. The track gets real tight when it gets cold and bracket racing a 4.80 door car in forty degree weather can get a little crazy. So we hung out with our friends at the Jay Zimmerman camp before calling it a night.

Sunday was sunshine and no wind. Temperature in the upper fifty's. First round we ran Mike White in his 63 Corvette. Second round was the Allen Racing Engines Monte Carlo. Third round was Tim West from Asheville, NC. He was going for the jugular. He was -.001 & dead on with a 1. That was about to be ugly. In the semi's we got around Mark Payne in his new Cavalier. Sandy had been in the zone all day with the car running the number. In the finals, we were matched up against Jeff Rudisill who was making his Top Sportsman return after a four year absence. Sandy and Jeff both missed the tree and both cars were one number over. But unfortunately for the Sandflea, the win light was in the other lane. Congratulations to Jeff Rudisill, but losing sucks. It was a hard pill to swallow after having such an awesome day.

After a person gets over the what ifs and emotional roller coaster of the day, you have to look at the big picture. 1. This was the first race of the year and we made it to the finals. 2. It was back to back finals after ending 2008 with a win at the Rockingham National. 3. We are second in divisional points. A top three finish in the division gets you in the shootout for the championship at the end of year. 4. The car performed flawless over the course of the weekend and 5. Sandy made his first driver error in ten rounds of competition. Going back to the fall Rockingham win to end 2008 and this race to start 2009, that is one mistake per ten runs. I will take that ratio every time.

As the title states, Sandy started out the year number 2. He has #2 on the window from last year and in our first race we ended up # 2. Now if we can only finish the year #1. Honestly, Wilkins Motorsports has been truly blessed this past year (other than the crash). But even in the crash we were blessed. Winning rounds is fun and winning races is great. It is why we race. We love the people, the competition and Sandy loves the challenge of taking a 432 cubic inch small block and making it run wicked fast. See you in Mooresville.

Don

What Have We Missed?

How have things been? The last blog was about the awards banquet in Ohio and when we left it was snowing. As I write this, their is snow left on the ground from the snow storm we got yesterday. Very nice but I am ready for Spring.

Since last December my family and I had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Sandy also got everything he asked for. He is especially fond of the 60 lb. bag of twenty dollar bills. But seriously, Sandy has been busy building engines and trying to get his car looking normal. Thanks to Chuck Chapman, that has been accomplished. More on that later. On the engine building side, I know he has built engines for Brian Williams, Josh Miller's cars, the champ Steve Corker and many more. While he has been staying busy, one always can stand a little more business.


The most exiting thing that has happened this winter is the birth of Lowman Elizabeth Wilson. This is Sandy's new little niece. She was born on December 9th, 2008 @ 12:39 am and weighed 7 lb 7 oz and was 20.5 inches long. In this photo she is two months old and is being held by her big brother, the King, Mr. Banks. Freda and Lucien are overwhelmed and very proud as well as mom Elise and dad Joel.

If you remember, Sandy's car did not win best appearing at the Rockingham fall race. That was when his car was given the nickname "Wilkemon." You know, it had the John Montecalvo front end on it. It was an ugly winner's circle pic, but it was a winner. Some people told Sandy he was crazy for painting a car that had just won a race. "You don't want to change your luck" they said. Well, I believe it was a winner when it looked good, so I will go with the fresh paint. It has a few tweaks to the paint scheme and I think it looks cleaner, shinier and meaner. It's just plain Hot!!!! Chuck Chapman does an awesome job.

As you know the Rockingham race was rained out this past weekend. Sandy was going to test on Friday for the first time this year and then go racing. Now this gives him another week on the car and I believe testing we be this Saturday at Mooresville Dragway. From there he will head to Farmington for the next divisional race on March 13-15. Hopefully it will be sunny and mildly warm for March. At least we will have the extra hour of day light from the time change.

Sandy has added a few things to the car that will make the 2009 even stronger. You can ask Sandy about that. Like most racers Sandy is trying to keep enough cash flow going so he can race all year. With the economy down, racing closer to home makes common $ents. Hopefully, Sandy can continue the momentum from last year and get one of the spots for the championship shootout at the final race of the year in Rockingham. All you have to do is Win! Sounds easy, right?

Don