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Photo by Bret Kepner

Excerpts By Chris King Of the St. Louis American
September 23, 2004

Quick 16 Car: Edmund Hall (Montgomery , AL)
Quick 16 Bike: Glen Nickelberry (Oklahoma City, OK)
Street Bike: Charles Willis (St. Louis, MO)
Pro Bike: Dusty Katich (Collinsville, IL)
Jr. Dragster: Jerry Bonifield (Fairview Heights, IL)
Trophy: Steve Zeuner (St. Louis, MO)
Pro: Robert Sabatino (South County, MO)
Super Pro: Michael Richter (St. Peters, MO)

This past weekend, Gateway drew a different crowd - an estimated 22,000 folks, nearly all of them African-American, who gathered to race, show and admire cars and motorcycles.

It was Black Sunday, organized at Gateway by the United Black Drag Racers Association (UBDRA) for the past 10 years, with roots extending back another 20 years into informal neighborhood "show-up or shut-up" competitions, according to Geno Sharp of the UBDRA.

And this event was good to the bone.

The National Marrow Donor Program set up shop in the parking lot at Gateway. Jacqueline "Jackie" Donahue, sister of rap star Nelly and a leukemia sufferer in search of a bone marrow transplant, was present to aid the drive. It netted 75 new registered African-American bone marrow donors.

The event was also simply a smoking good time - literally. The parking lot swirled with smoke from barbeques, and the track steamed from burning rubber and exhaust.

The UBDRA ran timed heats all weekend, narrowing the crowded field to four winners in each of eight categories. The biggest purse - $5,000 for winner of the Quick 16 car competition - went home with Edmund Hall of Montgomery, Ala.

As that Southern winner indicates, the event drew racers from every corner of the country, even as distant as Hawaii. Yet most of the people tending barbeque pits, lining up for cold drinks and donning insulated racer suits were from the St. Louis metropolitan area.

D. Edwards of St. Louis was there, racing one of the more unassuming vehicles, dubbed "Lil Dirty."

"It's very fast," his wife Vicki said. "He refuses to give it a paint job. He likes it that people don't realize what they are up against."

At the far opposite end of the spectrum was Walter "Nick" Nichols of North County, who paid the fee to race his gleaming lime green '56 Chevy Bel Air two-door (name of Rosco), knowing the car has no racer's harness and was ineligible.

"I'd never race it," he said. "I don't want to tear it up."

Nick attended Black Sunday simply to breathe in the atmosphere of car enthusiasm, and be seen wearing his lime-green bandanna next to his lime-green beauty.

Then there was "Big" Ron Able of East St. Louis, a fascinating mixture of "show-up or shut-up" racer and show-car buff. Able advanced into the late heats on Sunday running his 1967 Chevy Camaro, but also brought his 1931 Chevy Sedan, customized as an old-school gangster getaway car with fake bullet holes on the windows.

"I did a little Al Capone thing with this," Able said, beaming.

There was a lot of that at Black Sunday - black men standing beside machines they have customized with love, and beaming.

A life-saving dose of bone marrow may result from the weekend as well.

For the National Marrow Donor Program, call (800) 627-7692 or visit www.marrow.org. For the UBDRA, call 427-2641 or visit ubdra.org.