Racing, at last

    The Cuda Beast's 2017 racing season is one that stopped before it could get started, as Paul Gibbs was involved in a serious traffic accident in the spring that hospitalized him with broken bones and a punctured lung. Doctors said a full recovery would take four months; it has been three, and Paul said this week he's feeling pretty good and is back working full time.
    This Saturday, there is racing 90 minutes away, up the road at Brainerd Motorsports Park, and Paul is ready to get back on the track for the first time in about nine months. Formerly known as Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip, BMP is sort of the home track for Paul, and the track where Paul tried to establish a promod series in 2014. The effort got off to a late start, which led to problems getting enough sponsors to ensure good payouts, and the track management situation was less than ideal. The circumstances were tough, and series ran one time while Paul was healing from a broken back after a fall from a ladder. The racers put on a good show despite horrible track conditions, and the winner went about 4.20 to take the race.
    Paul said BMP is looking at having several promod races, and this one should be good as the track has seen multiple improvements since 2014 under new management, and the payout is the customary purse for a quick 8.  The only bad part will be the scorching mid-July heat, tough on the racing crews and spectators, and tough to race in. Paul said he's planning on getting to the track Friday night to make a couple of test runs -- good strategy since car and driver have been idle since October. Paul has had a new engine in the Beast that has run in the 3s, but the new drivetrain has just one pass on it.
   I have to admit that I don't know anything about this season's racing -- who's been doing what -- since the promodifieds.us website ceased operation at the end of last year. I don't know who might show up; the race flier features Bil Clanton, and Paul said Tim Segars is another big name that is looking to be there. I'm hoping that the BMP Facebook page will have some results.   The Beast team mainstays will be on hand, including Keith Dockery, who has been fighting serious medical problems for a couple of years.
  

2017 season: Let's test

       Paul and the Cuda Beast team had this weekend circled on their calendar as the start of their 2017 season with the PDRA series opener at South Georgia Motorsports Park. However, a lot of wet weather has put Paul's home construction work behind schedule, so he stayed home to try to get caught up. (The PDRA race is nuts -- 3.68 to 3.88 for the 16 Pro Boost qualifiers).
      When I called Paul Thursday, he was on a roof, but did say a test session is in the offing, in north Georgia at what he considers his home track -- Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip, now known as Brainerd Motorsports Park. It's the track where Paul tried to establish a promod series in 2014. The effort got off to a late start, which led to problems getting enough sponsors to ensure good payouts, and the track management situation was less than ideal. The circumstances were tough, and series ran one time while Paul was healing from a broken back after a fall from a ladder.
    Since then, apparently, things have changed at the track, just over the state line from Chattanooga, Tenn., and for the better, if online comments are any indication. It looks like racers are running the place now and are making improvements.
    The main improvement, Paul told me in our 45-second conversation, is the switch to concrete walls (top photo) after nearly 50 years of relying on guardrails (and not even that in the track's earliest days). Racers hate guardrails, which can impale a car or send it flying during a crash. The walls are a huge (and expensive) safety upgrade.
    The test session could come as early as next weekend. The Beast's new motor got one full run on it last yea at a PDRA race in Virginia, a multiple-pedal job that hinted at good things to come. Paul had traction problems early on, but stayed on the throttle all the way to get some engine data. The ET was 4.28 at nearly 170 miles per hour. With all of the pedaling, Paul said the speed with the old engine would have been a good 10 mph less.
    We'll report any testing news. This year's racing will be strange without the coverage by the late, lamented promodifieds.us site. Paul said he hopes to run a lot of PDRA events, which is good because they are usually streamed live and covered in detail at dragracecentral.com.
    Here are more pictures of Brainerd -- the guardrails coming down, a panorama from a big race last year (what a crowd!), and a shot I took around 1970.

Helen Marie Gibbs (Jan. 19, 1936-Feb. 10, 2017)

      The Cuda Beast family is mourning the death of Helen Gibbs, mother of car owner and driver Paul Gibbs and crew member Louise Dockery. As the following obituary details, Mrs. Gibbs was an eager participant in the drag racing endeavors of her late husband, Reece Gibbs. I met her officially at a Huntsville promod race in 2010. Two years earlier, while driving around north Georgia looking for information for the old Double H Drag Strip website with the late Ronnie Evans, one of the site's essential contributors, we decided to stop by Paul's shop to see if he was around. He wasn't, but Mrs. Gibbs graciously came out to chat for a couple of minutes with the two strangers who had just driven up into her yard. She also helped me fill in some blanks in the history of the famous Strip Teaser Ford Thunderbolt that passed through the family's hands in the 1960s.
     Here is Mrs. Gibbs' obituary, with funeral arrangement information. Please keep the Gibbs family in your thoughts and prayers.

Helen Marie Gibbs

( January 19, 1936 - February 10, 2017 )

Mrs. Helen Marie Gibbs, age 81, of Mineral Bluff, Ga., passed away on February 10, 2017, in the Fannin Regional Hospital. Born in Blue Ridge, Ga., she was the daughter of the late William and Velvia Lewis White. She was a devoted wife, mother and grandmother. Helen was known for her kindness, gentleness and tender hearted. She endured many hardships in her life both physically and emotionally due to illness and the loss of loved ones. She had worked very hard for many years at Levi Strauss and in later years she worked at her Late husbands' side, Reece Gibbs. Whether it was under the hood of a car, at the flea Market or being his care giver, she remained a constant presence. She loved traveling with Reece in all his years of drag racing endeavors. Helen was also preceded in death by her son, Jackie Edward Gibbs; siblings, Wendell White, Clarence White and Frances White.

Survivors include her loving children and their spouses, Paul J. and Karen Gibbs of Mineral Bluff, Louise Gibbs Dockery and Keith E. Dockery of Stone Mountain, Ga., and Gloria Jean Gibbs and John M. McBride of Canton, Ga.,; brothers and sister-in-laws, Tommy and Annie White of Atlanta, Kimsey and Lula White and Junior and Pauline White all of Blue Ridge; sister and brother and laws, Geraldine White and Robert Bruce of Ellijay; grandson, Anthony Paul Gibbs of Mineral Bluff, and a host of other relatives and friends also survive.

Funeral services will be conducted on Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. from the Akins Funeral Home Chapel with Min. Sammy Ledford and Min. Ronnie Merrell officiating. Music will be provided by the Shepherd's Trio and Alan Davenport. Interment will follow in the Hot House Baptist Church Cemetery with the following gentlemen serving as pallbearers: Paul Gibbs, Charles Lewis, Eddie Price, Rodney White, David Messer and Junior White. Serving as honorary pallbearers will be Keith Dockery, John McBride, Tommy White and Kimsey White. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Monday evening from 4-8 p.m. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.akinsfuneralhome.com. Akins Funeral Home of Blue Ridge, Ga., is in charge of the arrangements.