2010
True Drag Racing Excellence!
2008 INDUCTEES
Bobby Warren - This Clinton, North Carolina native got his start in racing at the old Easy Street Drag Strip located near his home in a 1953 Chevrolet and also raced frequently at his home track, Fayetteville Dragway. Warren went on to win 14 NHRA national events in stock and super stock. He scored his first major victory at the division race held at Blaney Dragway in 1969. Fr
om there, he went on to win 15 division races and 3 NHRA Championships. He is undoubtedly amount the NHRA's winningest sportsman racers. His last national event win came at Bristol Dragway in 2004 at age 69.In addition to being one of the best stock and super stock racers, he was and conTinues to be one of the best engine builders of all time.
Harold Denton - They called him "The Wildman" from Middlesex, North Carolina. Harold was one of the true weekend warriors. He began racing a 1957 Chevy at Kinston Drag Strip in the early 1960's. He was known throughout the Carolinas in his "Bad Thang" Mustang. In 1967, he won 32 consecutive races at Dunn-Benson Dragway.Harold became one of the pioneers in the IHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock division. He built and maintained his own motors until 1986. He won the 1st Mountain Motor Pro Stock race at Darlington in 1977 and went on to be the first to go
into the 6.00 second zone with a win in 1991.After years of racing his own, he joined Jim Ruth and the famous "Party Time" Pontiac and captured wins, 5 national event wins out of 11 final rounds. Harold is a charter member of the 200 mph club as well as having being inducted into the East Coast Hall Of Fame at Henderson and has been and continues to be a role model for drag racing, serving as a Drag Racing Representative with the "Race Against Drugs" program sponsored by the FBI and National Safety Council and is a strong supporter of Racers For Christ.
Herb McCandless - Herb started racing at Halls Tennessee Airport in the early 60's driving a 1960 348 Chevy. In 1968, he quit his printing job and began racing full time winning 36 out of 52 races in the Southern Style Heads Up events. In 1970, he joined the world famous Mopar team of Sox and Martin of Burlington, N.C. as team driver and won the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis that year. He also became the first person to win a NHRA sportsman and pro eliminator in the same year. In the Sox and Martin ride, Herb became the 1s
t pro stock driver to run 8.50's and won 4 of 6 United Racing Team events in a row.In 1975, Herb opened McCandless Performance in Burlington where he worked with Chrysler in the development of the W2 Cylinder Head program. In 1976, using the W2 heads, he won 3 IHRA Super Modified events. Herb has been inducted in the NHRA Division 2, Super Stock Magazine, East Coast Drag Times, and now the North Carolina Drag Racing Hall Of Fames.
Ray Price - Ray Price, of Raleigh, N.C., began racing Harley-Davidson motorcycles on the street in 1964. Street racing evolved into organized track racing and a means to promote his Harley-Davidson business that he and his wife, Jean, opened in 1973. His early influences in the sport were Leo Payne and Danny Johnson.He began his professional racing career in 1967 by modifying street bikes into race machines. His mechanical and engineering capabilities became the groundwork for racing as we know it today. Ray, known as the "Father of funny Bike", designed the first wheelie bar for bikes and helped develop the current style racing transmission.
Ray spent years match racing at many North Carolina tr
acks and also built an impressive record of national event wins with several sanctioning bodies, including NHRA, AHDRA and IHRA. His most memorable race day came in Shreveport in 2002 when he set the Nitro Harley World ET record at 6.365 at 224.21 mph and won the race.Although Ray has retired from riding, he continues his lifelong love of drag racing to be one of the most successful owners and tuners in Nitro Harley Davidson drag racing.
Sonny Shipmon - Sonny Shipmon's career in drag racing started as a high school student, when school officials saw a way to keep a young man out of trouble. The principal purchased a rail dragster and Sonny and his classmates would prepare the car for races at Piedmont Dragway in Greensboro, N.C. Sonny went on to drive other cars including a 1964 DMP Chevy Corvette (won 19 weeks in a row at Piedmont) and a 1965 Tennessee Thunder Plymouth.Sonny was later hired by Larry Carrier and became the first African American official in the IHRA, serving in various capacities at the IHRA events. In partnership with Tom Parham, Sonny purchased Roxboro Dragway in 1981. He was the first to hold "Big Bucks" races paying upwards to $10,000 to win. One of his proudest accomplishments was being named IHRA Track Of The Year. He sold the track in 1986 and retired from dra
g racing.In 1999, Sonny returned to drag racing with his son, Kevin, who raced in IHRA Stock Eliminator. Sonny then built his final race car and campaigned in the IHRA Top Stock division in 2004.
Sonny passed away in 2004 and was inducted in the Roxboro Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2006.
