April 15, 2014

Randy Weatherford Blazing New Trails in Nitrous Pro Mod

Randy Weatherford speaks in the slow, measured way typical of a true son of the South, but don’t let his distinctive Virginia drawl or his laid-back demeanor fool you. The 50-year-old Weatherford is a wily veteran of the Pro Modified wars who has seen it all and done it all in nearly 20 years of competition, and he knows what it takes to run hard and win championships.

As successful as he has been on the track Weatherford has been equally successful as a business owner and a family man. He and wife Dana have three children – daughter Erica, 26, who is about to become an attorney, and sons Taylor, 19, and Patrick, 17. Both boys are following in their dad’s footsteps as each has won Wally trophies in NHRA Jr. Dragster competition. Taylor will soon be moving up to a big car behind the wheel of a rail his dad recently purchased for him.

On the business side, Weatherford is the president of WS Construction, a company he started over 25 years ago. Located in Providence, North

Carolina, WS Construction specializes in pre-engineered steel buildings and erection services. Clients include such high-profile entities as FedEx, Airbus, First Quality Tissue, the U.S. military and many more. WS Construction is currently working on or will soon begin major projects in Montana, Alabama, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kentucky, Michigan and Delaware. They also regularly serve customers from Florida to Pennsylvania.
“I started WS Construction in 1988, and we have done very well over the years,” Weatherford said. “Of course when the economy took a downturn we had to tighten our belts some, but things are getting quite a bit better. These days we employee up to 120 people during our peak times and we have a number of large projects on the go all over the country.”

The dedication and passion that Weatherford brings to his personal and professional life carries over to the business of drag racing as well. Growing up in the South, where doorslammer racing reigns supreme, inspired him at an early age to become involved in the sport.

“Years ago I used to hang out at Piedmont Dragway in North Carolina, and I eventually bought a Chevy Vega and started racing it in Top Sportsman,” Weatherford said. “When the Pro Mods started to come in I was really impressed by their power and performance and decided that I needed to see what I could do with a Pro Mod car of my own. I bought a 1968 Camaro with a small nitrous motor and a Lenco, and I started from there. My first serious Pro Mod car was a 1963 Corvette that was built by Jerry Haas and had a Gene Fulton nitrous motor in it. I later switched to Jerry Bickel and I’ve been running his cars for the last ten years or so.”

Fans of Pro Mod racing have seen Weatherford’s trademark blue cars with WS Construction emblazoned on the sides in action for years, and his latest Bickel-built machine is carrying on the tradition.

“The car that I currently run is a 1969 Camaro that is powered by an 855-cubic-inch nitrous motor built by Nelson Competition in Florida. We have a lot of trick parts, including a Leanders clutch, which is manufactured in Sweden. One of the best investments I have ever made was to purchase a touchscreen system that was put together for me by Chris Patrick of Automated Racing Technologies. My car now is basically run by a computer system. When I crank the car up it turns on the fuel pump and the water pump for me. It spins the motor so many revolutions and fires it for me. It takes all that stress away when it comes to remembering to turn on the fuel and water pumps.”

In a recent interview, Patrick, a Pro Mod racer himself, explained the technology behind his groundbreaking system.

“We put together an electrical system for nitrous cars that is made up of state-of-the-art digital components. It’s a management system that controls pretty much everything in the car,” Patrick said. “The system takes the ignition box, the data recorder and the other features you put in your car and puts them into one central control unit. The system actually knows where it’s supposed to be at any given time and where it’s supposed to go next. It becomes a quicker and more efficient system by knowing what it’s supposed to be doing.

“Basically the system makes the car more automated so the driver does not have to concentrate on anything except cutting lights. Press one screen to start it and the system goes through the whole process normally done by the driver.”

This is certainly not your grandfather’s Pro Mod car!

This season Weatherford is taking all of this technology to the track as a participant in the PDRA’s Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous class. He is looking to add to past accomplishments such as winning championships in the Extreme Outlaw Pro Mod series in 2013 and the Quick 8 Racing Pro Mod Series in 2006.

His year got off to a bit of a rocky start, however, at the inaugural PDRA event hosted by North Carolina’s historic Rockingham Dragway.
“We didn’t do very well at Rockingham; in fact, it was pretty much a disaster for us,” Weatherford said. “We had just gotten all of our motors freshened up but unfortunately we hurt a couple of them. We burned the first one up when a nitrous solenoid went bad, and the new one we dropped in didn’t have any runs on it and we just didn’t have a handle on the set-up coming right out of the box the way we did. Then, when I went out for the first round of eliminations, I turned the sprag over. We really struggled down there, for sure.”

Determined to get the car sorted out, Weatherford and his crew headed to Virginia Motorsports Park immediately after Rockingham for an extended test session.

“At Virginia we still struggled with the motor,” Weatherford said. “It makes so much power down low that we had to take more and more out of it and change gear ratios just to get the feel back. The best I could run there was a 3.85 but we know the thing has 70s in it. This motor has a lot more steam in it – we just have to make the right adjustments. We’ll get it worked out before the next race.”

Weatherford was quick to thank the people and companies that help and support him, including crew members Chris Pottorff and Andy Beal as well as WS Construction and Mickey Thompson.

He also is thankful that the newly-formed Professional Drag Racers Association has provided a great program and top-level tracks for eighth-mile racers and their fans.

“I’m really happy with the PDRA,” he said. “It’s great because there are honest people running it, and that means everything these days. They are racers putting on a series for racers and they know what it’s all about. The other racers and the track owners are going to trust them. I also think the timing for forming a new series is right, because with the economy ramping up the racing will ramp up at the same time. People will have more money to build cars and travel, so I think a lot of them will come back to it. It’s going to grow as the economy rebounds, and I believe it is really going to take off.”

And take off is just what Weatherford is almost sure to do once he overcomes the “first race blues” he experienced at the Rock. He has too much experience and expertise to do otherwise.

Photo Credits: Gary Rowe / Raceworks.com