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SUNNY Temp: 86 °F Wind: NNW at 13 mph Tuesday, June 17, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend June 1, 2003 Pit crew members Pepper Weaver, left, and Sal Alesse, right, help driver Steve Woods get ready to race his 1948 Ford Prefect at the Southern Oregon Dragway in White City Saturday. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Feed the need for speed Still going strong — and FAST! — after 40 years, top driver scorches Medford dragstrip By BILL VARBLE Mail Tribune Steve Woods bought his 1948 Ford Prefect for $25 in a back yard in Birmingham, Ala., in 1961 and has been racing it for the last 42 years. It is shiny, exotic and very fast. Tuned exhaust stacks up front, a big fin in back and all business in the middle. The Prefect is billed as the world’s fastest Ford Anglia, covering the quarter-mile at 203.84 mph in 6.78 seconds in an AA supercharged (his racing class) record run three years ago. You can buy it for $75,000, but you’d better be prepared to fork over $45,000 for an engine and keep a crew of three or four on the road. At the Hot Rod Gasser Nationals at the Southern Oregon Dragway in Medford this weekend (action continues at 8 a.m. today), Woods can win something less than $2,000. "We don’t do it for the money," the whip-thin 62-year-old says, puffing a cigarette. "It’s like fishin’." Advertisement The staging area before Woods’ first run of the day is eight lanes of dragsters in a scene of controlled chaos occasionally split by living thunder. Sal Alesse, 60, Woods’ longtime racing buddy, eyes the track as heat rises from it in waves. "Always a little antsy before the first run of the day," he says. The two men have been doing this together for almost 40 years, a good ol’ boy from Alabama and a cigar-chomping Italian-American from the San Francisco Bay area. Alesse is a former top racer himself, and both are legends in their game. Crew guys make last-minute changes to the fuel injector jets, check air in the monster tires, attach the Spartan car’s steering wheel and tend to countless other details as the air is ripped again and again by groundshaking roars. Then Woods, the calmest guy around, is being stuffed into his safety boots, gloves and helmet like a medieval knight in the lists. He doesn’t wear ear plugs. "I like the roar," he explained earlier. The car gleams and vibrates in a world of heat and noise and smells of alcohol fuel and burning rubber. OLD CAR, OLD FRIENDS, GOOD TIMES, it says on the side near the data port that’s a sign of the changes that have taken place during Woods’ years of racing. These days, crews download data on oil pressure, supercharger performances and a host of other things after each run. "I liked the old days," Alesse admits. He doesn’t wear ear plugs because without them, he can hear the way the engine is running. "The NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) today is just mega-dollars," he says with a shrug. "They got a this-guy and a that-guy. "I’m old school. I don’t like all this corporate s—-." Woods says the racing itself is as much of a rush as ever. He believes he’s as good as he ever was. But he says a man tires of the peripheral stuff long about his fifth decade of doing this. "Havin’ fun is hard work," he says. Based now out of San Leandro, Calif., he’ll race in Sacramento, Calif., next weekend, travel to Indianapolis the next weekend, return to Oregon for a race in Woodburn the following week, then head for Pomona near Los Angeles. "Yeah, I’m tired," he says. He worked as a machinist during most of his racing career and retired about five years ago. He builds cars for other owners. His biggest fan is daughter Libbye Gulino, also a crew member. In addition to the travel, the overhead, the changing nature of racing, there’s the occasional disaster. A couple of weeks ago, Woods blew an engine after a crew member left a fuel line loose. Remembering, he shrugs. "I said not to do it again," he says. Alesse says Woods’ first run of the day will be "a little soft," meaning not all-out, a sort of shakedown. "We gotta be careful at first with all the new stuff," he says. The crew tows the car to the staging area in an old Suburban, Gulino driving. In plaid shirt, red suspenders and dress oxfords, the unflappable Woods keeps an eye on race after race as the others tinker with the car and Gulino touches up her lipstick. Then the announcers are saying something about "a legendary name" and "a legendary crew" and there’s a stir as the little car is towed to the starting line. Woods smokes the tires with a roar, gets to the line. There’s a hush, then the sound of a thousand, snarling horses and an acrid smell and in about seven seconds he’s at the other end of the runway. The time goes up in lights: 197.43 mph in 7.02 seconds, sparking oohs and ahs from the crowd. That is within 6 mph and three-tenths of a second off Woods’ world record. It was a soft run. "What you should see," Alesse says chewing his cigar, "is our 3 o’clock run." Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Rogue Valley Auto Finder Rogue Valley Job Finder --> Rogue Valley Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times