2012 Rodders Reunion in Review

Amy Faulk was the 2012 Memphis Rodders Reunion honoree, and this is her current C/SA Pontiac Firebird race car. Amy, a trailblazer among women drag racers, was on hand to help tell her story.

Who would ever imagine that a young woman who didn't obtain a driver's license until she was 21 years of age, would go on to master the art of drag racing to such an extent that she would become an NHRA World Champion? Yet here she was sharing her story with a mostly male audience of old world hot rodders and drag racers, that gave her their utmost attention and respect. The multi-media presentation and the guest of honor herself revealed Amy's exploits as an accomplished driver, as well as those of her husband and ace crew chief Kenny, as they made their way through a series of sportsman class drag racing machinery. Amy started racing door-slammers, which culminated with the 1979 NHRA Super Stock World Championship. She reached a personal performance peak behind the butterfly steering wheel of a top alcohol dragster that routinely racked up 250+ MPH clockings, and she's still racing today with a very competitive stock eliminator LS powered Pontiac Firebird after 35 years of racing success.

Amy is also a long-standing representative of racer interests, via the high performance industry. She has collected plenty of honors throughout the years that reflect her commitment to drag racing and high performance enthusiasts of all stripes. Too many awards to list them all, but a quick sampling reveals a lot of respect from the male dominated racing fraternity. Amy is a recipient a Car Craft Magazine All Star Team Driver of the Year award in 1980, she is a former SEMA board member, has been voted as the SEMA person of the year in 1996, and is a resident of the SEMA Hall of Fame. Amy was honored in 2009 at the National Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green, Kentucky. She is currently the CEO of Hypertech Inc. She's definitely what we might call a mover and shaker by most any standards.



As usual, the reunion was well attended with supportive enthusiasts who contributed greatly to the charitable cause of supporting the Shriner's Burn Transportation Fund. We appreciate each and everyone one of you. A special thank you has to go out to the two oldest active car clubs in the Memphis area. The Memphis Street Rods really raised the stakes this year as they contributed an unprecedented $10,000 to the effort, and the Memphis Classic Chevy Club continued their long-standing support by raising their annual contribution to $4,000 for 2012. Needless to say, these benevolent gestures will produce much needed financial support for a good cause. Stay tuned for the final tally, but rest assured, it looks like this year will have been the best yet in support of this worthy organization.



Members of the Memphis Classic Chevy Club pose for a group photo with Amy (above). These guys are enthusiastic supporters of the local car show scene, and their tireless fund raising efforts help support several worthwhile benefactors, including the Memphis Rodders Reunion. MCCC President James Hicks is shown with reunion organizer Larry Nolan (below).



The display cars were pretty diverse this year, as they covered the gamut from old to new. Among the cars on hand were George Poteet's recently completed homage to a standard 1960's street fighter 55 Chevy, to "Doc" Parson's unusual sprint car influenced 23 T-bucket from Tulsa Oklhoma. Click this link to see a photo gallery of images from the 2012 Memphis Rodders Reunion.



The recently completed restoration of the historic 1960 Tennessee B0-Weevil (below) was among the display cars at this year's reunion, and to cap off the evening, Preston Davis rolled the vintage modified roadster in the parking lot and put Amy in the seat for a bit of nitro fueled cackle time.





Amy was right at home in the vintage nitro burner. It was a proper way to to wrap up the reunion, and see over a half century of drag racing history influencing the trends that are still in place today.

LK

Tags: Memphis Rodders Reunion, Rodders Reunion, Amy Faulk