George Hill admits he once parted company with his 1967 Mustang fastback.
But after a few years of separation he realized he had to get that sweet ride back into his life. He bought it back and the love affair blossomed again in 1995.
He beefed it up with a 427 cubic-inch engine that churns out 650 horespower, enough to toss an unsuspecting driver into the back seat. After 16 years of making improvements with his car, Hill and his Mustang are inseparable fixtures on the local drag racing scene, where he's found his ultimate stress-reliever.
"I always had a hot rod when I was younger and growing up in the '70s I always liked the '60s muscle cars," said the 50-year-old Hill.
"Racing gives my relaxation and something to do. You can come out here and run fast and you don't have to worry about police. On a good day, my car will do 130 miles an hour here."
The metallic green Mustang is licenced as a street vehicle but once he puts those slicks on, it's strictly a drag car. Hill had it entered among a 60-car field over the weekend at the P.G. All-Out meet, the final event of the season at NCMP.
Aside from a few rainouts and long weekends, Hill has had the chance to race regularly this summer in the Northland Chrysler Jeep Dodge Friday Night Street Legal events at Prince George Motorsports Park. Drag racing nearly died a few years ago under a cloud of uncertainty over the track's future until Shane Lodjn bought the facility last year.
Now, on any given Friday, between 40 and 60 cars are showing up to race. Those weekly races have served Hill well. He won two of the nine King of the Hill eliminations and also took the no-box class at the P.G. All-Out event in June.
"It's practice all the time and experience and it's really fun," said Hill. "I really like to run on Friday nights. I just love running the car."
Hill is part-owner of Parkhill Transmission and utilizes his skills as a mechanic to keep his Mustang purring. His 21-year-old daughter Jenna and 18-year-old son Clint are showing an interest in drag racing and they've got their eyes on the Mustang. But he's not quite ready to turn his kids loose on a car capable of running a quarter-mile in 10.3 seconds.
A glitch in the electronic timing system Saturday at NCMP forced race organizers to shorten the track to an eighth-mile for the King of the Hill eliminations. Hill ended up losing in the first round to a 1955 Chevy driven by Dan McKenzie.
"It was pretty close, I actually ran my [7.1-second dial-in] number right, but didn't get a good start," said Hill. "My reaction [time] was .07 and his was .056. He's dialed in at 5.60. That's a fast car."
Jim Bailey, 48, spent the first 12 years of his life in Prince George and still makes regular hauls to PGMP to race his 1957 Chevy Bel Air. The 3,750-pound car had a high-boy suspension when he bought it and he kept it that way when he turned it into a drag car.
The additional height and monster thrust he gets out of a bored-out 540 cubic-inch engine, originally designed for a school bus, meant he had to install a wheelie bars on the back end. He's tamed down the torque going to the back axle but the car still takes off with only two wheels touching the pavement.
"The last year we put some more power to it and I had my launch a little too high -- it was pretty rank to run -- so we dropped it down a little bit," said Bailey. "If I didn't have the bars on it, it would go on the roof because the car sits so high.
"We've got the wheelies down from 3 1/2 feet to 2 1/2 feet and it's nice and smooth."
