If you can run on water, then the land shouldn’t be a challenge.
Eddie Knox never believed for one moment his transition from drag boat racing to AA/FC competition would be an easy one.
Knox, a four-time champion in the water drags, has embraced the more solid footing and is doing so with a championship driver in Billy Morris, a successful driver in the major leagues of sand drag racing.
Together, they have their hands full with a Problem Child, the name of their 1969 Camaro.
As Knox saw his opportunities dwindling over in the drag boat arena, he put his boat up for sale. At the same time, Mark Porter was looking for a boat to go racing, and one thing led to another, and they ended up swapping racing vehicles.
Now for Knox, Funny Cars have been a part of his life since childhood so the move to the NHRA Heritage Series, enabled him to fulfill a childhood dream.
“As a kid growing up in Southern California, Funny Cars were always the coolest thing, always loved them,” Knox explained. “And a few years ago we were out here and came to this meet and saw 33 of them, 34 of them all lined up and I was smitten. These cars have names on them, you know, and murals, and it’s really fun.”
For Morris, the one who climbs behind the wheel, the transition has had its challenges from racing on sand.
“The transition has been a little bit more difficult than I thought jumping into this,” Morris admitted. “I think the length of the track has kind of been my biggest thing to get used to. My shift points, things along those lines. The power, all that, it wasn’t too big of a surprise for me. But just hitting my shift points right, a lot more going on here. Of course, the burnouts and getting reversed, back into forward. A lot more going on than the boats and also the sand dragsters.”
Knox admits he gets by with a little help with his friends, at least when it comes to finding a baseline.
“Throughout the years I ended up with quite a few car friends as we’ve gone along,” Knox said. “And then we’ve got my buddy Jon’s over here trying to help us get this clutch thing figured out. That’s the biggest thing. It’s a restricted class so you get one itty bitty fuel pump and that’s all you get.”
There have been no visions of grandeur, Knox and Morris are content in accepting what has come their way.
“We’re extremely excited just to be involved in this field,” Knox said of his Bakersfield March Meet debut. “It’s a great group of guys, they’ve been very welcoming to us, both the track owner and the racers. We’re a little behind. Some of these guys have 40 years’ experience on us.
“So we’re just getting a little more knowledge with each and every run, and we hoped to at least qualify for this event, that would have been a big coup for us. And then we’ll start looking at the rest of the season and see where we go next.”
