The Westcott family, of Parma, Mich., pulled off another victory
tonight in the Mopar® NHRA HEMI® Challenge at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals
in Indianapolis. Charlie Wescott, Sr., did it this time, in his 1968
Hemi Barracuda, besting David Barton, of Robesonia, Pa. Westcott
needed a lot of help from his son, Charlie Westcott, Jr., and a bunch
of their competitors.
Westcott Senior’s engine dropped a valve on the bye run that put him
into the finals. “I figured there was nothing we could do but go home,”
he said, “but my son is a workaholic.” Westcott Junior reclaimed a
Mopar 426 Hemi engine he had just delivered to John Raines, of Santa
Paula, Calif., and moved the Barracuda to Californian Jim DeFrank’s
well-equipped trailer to do an engine swap.