Most NHRA professional drivers relish a weekend off from the grind of the national circuit.

Top Fuel pilot Spencer Massey isn’t one of those drivers.

On March 21, Massey was competing in the Foot brake/No Electronics class and he did quite well, racing his 1971 Nova to a runner-up finish at Greer (S.C.) Dragway.

“I got to the finals and it was a double breakout in the final round,” Massey, 32, said. “I beat him to the stripe, but I broke out more than he did.”

Massey was racing against Jim Wood in the finals. Wood, driving a 1968 Camaro, was dialed in at 7.54 seconds and ran a 7.5234 elapsed time at 88.52 mph on the eighth-mile. Massey, who had an 8.39 dial-in, ran a 8.3676 ET at 80.35 mph.

“I pedaled with the brake a little bit and he did as well and he never got around me, and I just broke out more than he did,” Massey said. “I’m still very happy to make it to the final round.”

Massey definitely proved how humble he is since he won the Gatornationals March 15 while driving the Red Fuel-sponsored Top Fuel dragster for Don Schumacher Racing.

“I went from driving the fastest cars in drag racing to one of the slowest, but I just want to go have fun and bracket race,” Massey said. “It is totally different driving one car to another for obvious reasons, but to be able to cut a light and run a number takes skill to do and it is a lot of fun. People who can do it well, hat’s off to them because I don’t feel like I’m that great of a bracket racer. I went to the finals, but at the same time there are a lot of great racers out there that bracket race all over the country, so it is pretty cool to get to do this.”

Massey pulls the Nova around on a trailer with him when he travels to all of his NHRA’s national events.

“If it is not raining where I go, I will drive my little Nova around,” Massey said. “It’s nothing special or fancy. It’s a street car and it runs like an 8.40 elapsed time at 78 mph in the eighth-mile. I bought the car in February (2014) and the owner I bought it from had in cars shows all over Texas. It was a real nice car when I bought it and I just keep maintaining it. It doesn’t go that fast or anything, but it sounds cool and looks cool and it is consistent and whenever you are bracket racing consistency is what you need. My whole intention when I bought this Nova was to go bracket racing on off weekends with it.”

Making to the finals was only part of Massey’s story at Greer Dragway.

“I was going to pull in (March 21) to Greer Dragway with my bus and my trailer and the street you turn on in order to get to the race track, I couldn’t make the corner. That wasn’t good. So, I had to drive further to get myself out of the situation and I was driving my bus and trailer in residential areas where I should not have been. I finally found my way back to the main road and I parked in a grocery store parking lot. I unloaded my Nova, locked up the motorhome up and got a cooler and threw some Mello Yellos and waters in my cooler and grabbed my chair and I drove my Nova from the grocery store parking lot to the race track. When I got there, I sat there in the grass with my lawn chair and was drinking a Mello Yello and relaxing. It was a good time and when it was time for me to race I went and raced.”
 
 

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