Mel Nelson used to drive up to Orlando Speed World Dragway from his North Fort Myers, Fla., home every October and sit in the stands, watching all the hottest cars from East of the Mississippi -- and a few bold chargers from out west -- try to outdo each other on the unpredictable quarter-mile.
 
Promoter Carl Weisinger had all kinds of outrageously long and hyperbolic names for this outlaw World Street Nationals race of his. This year, for instance, he advertised it as "absolutely, positively, the most talked-about doorslammer race in the world!" And it has been, drawing racers and perennial fans from Iceland, Scandinavia, all across Western Europe, the Caribbean, Australia, and Canada.

 
Mel Nelson used to drive up to Orlando Speed World Dragway from his North Fort Myers, Fla., home every October and sit in the stands, watching all the hottest cars from East of the Mississippi -- and a few bold chargers from out west -- try to outdo each other on the unpredictable quarter-mile.
 
Promoter Carl Weisinger had all kinds of outrageously long and hyperbolic names for this outlaw World Street Nationals race of his. This year, for instance, he advertised it as "absolutely, positively, the most talked-about doorslammer race in the world!" And it has been, drawing racers and perennial fans from Iceland, Scandinavia, all across Western Europe, the Caribbean, Australia, and Canada.
 
Oh, and Mel Nelson just loved it -- wouldn't miss it for the world. What fascinated him were the Drag Radial cars. He liked the fact that this race was loaded with them year after year and plenty of people tried to get into the 32-car field and many had to wait their tunr until the following year.
 
But Nelson never thought he could become a talented enough racer to win this race that he considered bigger than life.
 
One day, he decided he would work harder, apply himself, to improve behind the wheel so he could enter the World Street Nationals and race with the favorites he always had admired from the grandstand. He wanted to be able to enter this race with confidence.
 
He did that last year and in his Orlando debut was Heavy Street runner-up to Dave Hance. And he has gotten only better since last Halloween weekend.
 
Nelson capped a three-victory swing down the east coast in the past six weeks by winning the Heavy Street championship Sunday at the World Street Nationals. And he did it with style, defeating Kenny Markwich in a showdown between two of the top three qualifiers.
 
"I was just your weekend test-and-tuner. I never felt I could be good enough to be a winner here. Now I know I can be," Nelson, a 50-year-old retired roofer, said.
 
Starting from the No. 1 spot, Nelson drove his '02 Camaro to a winning 7.660 seconds at 207.37 mph, while No. 3 Markwich, of nearby Gainesville, ran an 8.287 / 176.33 in his '94 Mustang.
 
Nelson, who claimed the $3,000 winner's check and $1,000 for leading the field, also earned the Clean Sweep Award and pocketed an extra $1,000 for setting low elapsed time (7.407 seconds) in qualifying.
 
He won the U.S. Street Nationals at Bradenton, Fla., in September. Two weeks later, he was earning a trophy at Hance's Shakedown at E-Town. Now, on his loop back home, Nelson has a prized Orlando trophy, jacket, and maximum paycheck.
 
"This race, it’s up there with the big ones, for me," Nelson said.
 
Nelson marched back to the final round by defeating Jeff Gibbud (Palm Harbor, Fla.), Luis Perez (Opalocka, Fla.), Eric Kenward (Vero Beach, Fla.), and Danny Griffin (Jacksonville, Fla.).
 
Markwich, $1,000 richer with his runner-up' finish, advanced past Rick Doern (Deltona, Fla.), Larry Albright (Jensen Beach, Fla.), Spurgeon Adkins (Cordele, Ga.), and No. 2 qualifier Kevin Fiscus (Jacksonville, Fla.).
 
Nelson, who's only 50 years sold but already has retired from his roofing job, said he and Lori, his wife of 31 years, "have been at a racetrack for the last six weeks." He did take some time off on his only free weekend here lately to take Lori to dinner and a movie.
 
(Of course, he can't recall which movie it was, although he did remember that "it was a cute one." But he can tell you all the details about how Hance loaned him equipment last year and helped him get to the finals in his first WSN appearance.)
 
He said Sunday that he's not tired of racing, that he's preparing to take his Camaro to Gainesville Raceway for the upcoming NHRA Unleashed program.
 
But dinner and a movie again just might be in the works for him and Lori soon, courtesy of Orlando World Street Nationals architect and promoter Carl Weisinger.

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