Mount Vernon News

MOUNT VERNON — For those who think of drag racing as a man’s world, think again.

Spending a day at Pacemakers Dragway Park, one is struck by the important and varied roles women have played at Pacemakers over the past 50 years. From the ticket booth to the starting line, they’ve been there every step of the way.

“My husband started racing there when we were both young,” said Vicki Burson, wife of racer and former Pacemakers treasurer Denny Burson. “When our son, Brian, turned 16, he started racing there, too. On the side of his car it says, ‘Flyin’ Brian.’”

Burson was part of a women’s club called the Pacemaker’s Girlz Club during the ’80s and ’90s.

“We would do 50-50 raffles and the money we would be use to buy different materials and food to go to the bracket finals out in Indy,” said Burson. “Other times, we would collect money for charity in Knox County. For five or six years, we did a thing called, ‘Team Valvoline — Say no to drugs,’ which raised money for the Freedom Center of Knox County.”

Burson, a Mount Vernon resident, fondly remembers when her son won two weeks in a row.

“The first week he was running my husband’s ’64 Chevelle,” she said. “The next weekend, it was double money and he ended up winning that as well. My son is so laid back and the rest of us were jumping up and down and screaming and crying. He just got out of the car and smiled, but we were the ones that were real excited about it.”

Excitement was not what Burson, then a stranger to racing, felt when she first came to Pacemakers.

“When I first went to the track with my husband, when we were dating in 1968, my thought was, ‘What am I doing here?’ I was never around race cars,” said Burson. “My dad was a football fan. I didn’t know much about the racing thing, but in a matter of weeks, by just going and watching, that was when I started meeting people and getting to know the racers’ faces with the race car they were in. After a while, I got acquainted with the people who were racing and got to know a little about the race cars, then it all fit together and it started becoming fun.”

Burson even takes her turn behind the wheel.

“Occasionally, I race my street car and so does my granddaughter, Chelsea Goephardt,” said Burson. “She races frequently, and, if she doesn’t race her mom’s car, she races my son’s truck. She just turned 16 this year, so this is her first year doing it and she really enjoyed it.”

“I’ve been going to Pacemakers since I was 10 years old, so I have been out there, pretty much, most of my life,” said Mount Vernon resident Pam Vernon, mother of 2006 Pro Class points champion Jenny Vernon. “I remember running around out there, just like the kids do now. I remember seeing my dad race and that is going back to the ’70s.”

Kim Spring of Newark, who is married to longtime pro-class driver Mark Spring, is most proud of their pro-class sons, Brett and Brian. Spring speaks of her role as, “Mainly support — make sure they are fed.”

“I also help get the cars warmed up. I am just in the background, enjoying watching them run and enjoying the racing.

“I just like the cars,” said Spring. “I’ve been a car fan since I was probably 15 years old. When I got married, he was a drag racing man and I have been going ever since.”

Spring has many fond memories of her years at Pacemakers, but two of them stand out.

“One (of those memories) was when Brett turned 16 years old and just got his driver’s license. Pacemakers was having a Trails at Pacemaker’s Night,” said Spring. “My son’s first time ever of racing — he won street that night. Also, when Brian went to Indy (drag racing championships) and got down to the last eight cars. That was exciting. Going home, I had no voice — I couldn’t talk past a squeak.”

Mount Vernon’s Barbara Rudrick, wife of Pacemakers’ all-time winningest driver, Dick Rudrick, has been at his side for all of his 35-plus years of racing. Together, they are at the helm of one of Pacemakers’ best-known multigenerational racing families.

“My favorite memory was when Dick won the Wally (National Dragster Challenge trophy) in 2005,” said Barbara, ”I will never forget that night, because he tried for 34 1/2 years and he finally won one. That has kind capped our whole racing years off. I think that was the most exciting.”

“My role is just to support him when he does good,” Rudrick added, “and support him when he, maybe, doesn’t do so good. I think that I am his crutch to lean on in all circumstances, either good or bad. Most of the time we just thoroughly enjoy it — win or lose. We enjoy being there and being with our friends. You just can’t have a better place to race.”

Rudrick’s daughter-in-law, Lori Rudrick, whose husband Rod, has raced for years, really enjoys the racing.

“I like watching the cars go down the track,” said Lori, who has mixed feelings watching her sons, Kevin and Ryan, speeding down the track in their junior dragsters. “It’s a thrill, but I worry, too. I have that worry everytime they go down the track.”

She sees her role as simular to her mother-in-law’s.

“I’m just there for support,” said Lori. “I help out. The kids love to have me there watching them. I can help them get ready at the staging lane.”

In all her years at Pacemakers, Barbara Rudrick has watched other families grow, including her own.

“If the father starts, then it it goes right down on through,” she said. “Maybe the son, maybe the daughter or the wife, maybe the girlfriend. It always goes down through the years. I like the fact that there are more women driving. I like them coming forward and racing. I think that’s great.”

Driver Jenny Vernon, 20, is part of a new generation building new memories for the future.

“I enjoy meeting new people,” said Vernon. “I have a lot of friends there and everyone is so nice. Of course, I also like winning. I won last year and this year and it was pretty cool, because most of the drivers in my class are older men and I was the only girl, so it was kind of cool to beat them. Most of them are really impressed that I can beat them and I am a girl. I would like to see more girls get involved in it.

“Right now, it’s mostly guys and a lot of people think that girls can’t do the guys stuff. I think it’s cool to show them that girls can do it.”