{"id":36024,"date":"2020-03-27T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T13:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=36024"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:23:04","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:23:04","slug":"keep-on-draggin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/owners-clubs\/2020\/03\/keep-on-draggin.html","title":{"rendered":"KEEP ON DRAGGIN\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Drag\nracers come in all ages and from all walks of like. Lloyd Wofford, a 69-year-old Jonesboro, Arkansas, resident has been making some very fast trips down\nthe quarter-mile for decades. Most of them in some very fast Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> vehicles. The seeds\nfor speed were sown when Lloyd was a youngster and his mother took him to Lakeland\nDrag Strip in Memphis, Tennessee. There, he witnessed the iconic Gassers with\ntheir long burnouts and out-of-control handling. These ill-tempered cars were driven\nby legendary racers like Big John Mazmanian; Stone, Woods and Cook; and K.S.\nPitman. From that day, Lloyd was hooked and wanted to be a professional drag\nracer. By the time Lloyd was 17, he was racing a \u201957 Chevy running in the C\/MP\nclass. But as fate would have it, Lloyd realized it would be hard to make a\nliving as a full-time drag racer. Lloyd went to college and soon began working\nat his family\u2019s agricultural farm implement dealership, which later became a\nJohn Deere Diesel Engine Distributor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"plymouth<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The\nchange in career path didn\u2019t stop Lloyd from drag racing on a part-time basis. He\nwas inspired by some very famous drivers. \u201cBack in those days, we all had the\nsame racing heroes like Sox and Martin, Dick Landy, Bill Jenkins, Dyno Don, TV\nTommy Ivo, Big Daddy, Butch Leal and more,\u201d said Lloyd. \u201cThe person that was a very big part of my\nearly racing carrier was Arkansas native Ray Sullins. Ray took me under his\nwing in the early \u201970s and helped me a lot. In 1977, I got my first Mopar racecar, a 1965 Plymouth A990 Super Stock HEMI\u00ae<\/sup> Belvedere. It was built by John\nLivingston and ran Super Stock\/B Automatic. Herb McCandless was the person that\nreally got my Mopar racing career going and with his help, I was very\nsuccessful. I was a 26-year-old kid from Arkansas with long hair and\nthought I knew a whole lot more than I actually did!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"plymouth<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lloyd\u2019s\nHEMI Plymouth had a Barnett-built HEMI engine and back then, they were the\nhot ticket for fast Mopar vehicles throughout the south. \u201cWarren Barnett treated me as\nif I were a grownup instead of a \u2018kid\u2019 and I have always considered him one of\nmy most beloved mentors. During my early tour of duty in the Super Stock days, I\nwas befriended by the late Sonny Ray. Sonny taught me more about driving a racecar than anyone else in my carrier. I have been very blessed to have so many\ngreat racers and good people in my life,\u201d reminisced Lloyd. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"vehicle<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over Lloyd\u2019s illustrious career, he\u2019s raced five Mopar vehicles from various decades and he\u2019s loved them all. \u201cI\u2019ve ran a 1965 Plymouth HEMI Belvedere, a 1979 Plymouth Volare, 1968 Super Stock HEMI Plymouth Barracuda, 2005 Dodge Stratus and a 2010 Challenger Drag Pak. If I have to pick favorites, it would be the \u201965 Plymouth and the \u201968 Barracuda. The 1965 car may have \u2018brought me to the dance,\u2019 but it was the \u201968 Barracuda that let me fulfill a dream of winning the Dodge NHRA HEMI Challenge,\u201d said Lloyd. There\u2019s a saying among drivers who\u2019ve had the experience of piloting the raw power of a fast Dodge or Plymouth down the strip and being part of the Mopar community. As Lloyd likes to put it, \u201cThere\u2019s nothing like driving a Super Stock HEMI car! The Mopar fans are very dedicated and I love to talk to them when we\u2019re at the races because of their passion and knowledge of the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"group<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Along\nwith winning the Dodge HEMI Challenge, Lloyd has won and runnered-up at NHRA divisional\nraces. He\u2019s also runnered-up at a National event and has made it the\nquarterfinals three times while finishing in the top ten in his division. Lloyd\u2019s\nMopar vehicles have also won the \u201cNHRA Best Appearing Car\u201d three times and \u201cNHRA Best Engineered\u201d\ntwice while setting National Records and winning their class at the iconic NHRA\nU.S. Nationals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"group<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While\nLloyd has raced and owned many cars over the decades, his 2005 Dodge Stratus had\nbeen his most \u201cmodern Mopar\u201d, but that all changed when he got his 2010 Mopar\nDodge Challenger Drag Pak. It\u2019s car number 43 out of 50 and was modified by\nB&B Race Cars in Hohenwald, Tennessee. It was the first Challenger Drag Pak\nbuilt for especially Super Stock. The Drag Pak is powered by a 360 Magnum\nversus a GEN III HEMI engine. Sending the power downstream is a ProTrans three-speed\nautomatic transmission to a nine-inch differential. \u201cThe car can fit in several Factory Super\nStock and Factory GT classes. The two classes we run the most are FSS\/K and\nFGT\/K, but most of the time in FSS\/K. The car is always one of the fastest in\nwhatever class it competes in, but the best ET and MPH are: 9.18 @ 144.58,\u201d\nsaid Lloyd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"three<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lloyd\nknows it takes a crew to get his Challenger Drag Pak prepped and ready to race,\nand this is also true of his second car. It\u2019s a 1979 Plymouth Volare Super\nStocker that\u2019s also powered by a 360 Magnum. \u201cI have James Caro and his son\nJacob DeLaune helping me and they are the heartbeat of the team. If not for\nthem, I wouldn\u2019t be racing,\u201d commented Lloyd. \u201cThey deserve most of the credit\nfor our success and I want everyone to know that. They are both very talented\nand drag race savvy and have made the transition from carburetors to EFI almost\nseamless. With the FGT classes, it made building the 360 Magnum Drag Pak engine\ncombination for our Volare Super Stock a ‘no brainer’. We have two cars running\nthe exact same combination, so every time one car goes down the track, it\u2019s a\ntest run for the other one. On a much smaller scale, it\u2019s like two fuel cars,\nyou learn twice as fast.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"vehicle<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

James\nand Jacob do all of the engine prep and building in Houma, Louisiana, and come\nup to Lloyd\u2019s shop in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to work on both the Challenger Drag\nPak and Plymouth Volare. With Lloyd handling the driving duties on the Drag\nPak, James takes the wheel of the Volare. \u201cI am extremely fortunate to have a\nwife that supports me and the financial means to have a Super Stock team that\nis operated like most Pro teams,\u201d exclaimed Lloyd. When at the races, James is\non the computer looking at previous race data for that track and reading the\ncurrent weather while Jacob heads to the starting line and checks the surface.\n\u201cIf you ever watch me make a run, Jacob is always in front of the car from the\nwater box to the staging beams and I only pay attention to him. He stops me\nabout six inches before the pre-stage beam and I have it from there. With his\nguidance, I do a much better job of staging and we all know how important that\nis in drag racing,\u201d noted Lloyd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"dodge<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Other than drag racing, Lloyd\u2019s other hobby\nis skeet shooting. As Lloyd was\nquick to point out, \u201cDon\u2019t confuse skeet and trap shooting, it\u2019s sort of like\ndrag racing and dirt tracking.\u201d He\u2019s\ncompeted all over the country and has earned two All-American Shooter\nawards. He also met his wife, Linda, while competing and she happens to be a six-time ladies All-American Shooter. In 1993, Lloyd and Linda won the\nhusband and wife World Championship. Still, Lloyd\u2019s a gearhead and even though\nhe dreamt about racing a Mopar Pro Stock, for now, he\u2019s happy with his\nChallenger Drag Pak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"person<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lloyd\nowes his drag racing success to many people. His wife, Linda, and son, Cameron,\nhave supported his passion for years. Mopar racing icons such as Herb\nMcCandless and Warren Barnett have also guided Lloyd down the right path when\nhe got into racing Super Stock HEMI Mopar vehicles. James Caro and Jacob DeLaune have also spent countless hours thrashing on both cars and getting them race ready.\nThere are other folks and sponsors behind the scenes that also make things\nhappen, such as Darren Breaud at B&B Race Cars, Richard Hotard, A-1, David\nVisner, Mopar, Indy Gear, Gibtec Pistons, Cam Motion and others. When we asked Lloyd what he\u2019d race if it\nwasn\u2019t a Mopar vehicle, he replied, \u201cI\u2019d be racing a Ford or Cadillac because the Dodge\nbrothers had something to do with both of them!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"man<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Well\nsaid, Lloyd\u2026 well said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drag racers come in all ages and from all walks of like. Lloyd Wofford, a 69-year-old Jonesboro, Arkansas, resident has been making some very fast trips down the quarter-mile for decades. Most of them in some very fast Mopar\u00ae vehicles. The seeds for speed were sown when Lloyd was a youngster and his mother took him to Lakeland Drag Strip in Memphis, Tennessee. There, he witnessed the iconic Gassers with their long burnouts and out-of-control handling. These ill-tempered cars were driven by legendary racers like Big John Mazmanian; Stone, Woods […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":36036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2624],"tags":[528,2011,547],"class_list":["post-36024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-owners-clubs","tag-drag-racing","tag-hemi-engine","tag-mopar"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/keepondragginfeature.png","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36024"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36024"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36350,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36024\/revisions\/36350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}