ABOUT US.
Family Fun
By David Dudley
Racing has been a tradition with the Dudley Family for four generations now. It all started with my grandparents in the fifties hot rodding around the streets of Houston, Texas in one of their many neat cars that most people would do almost anything to own today. From a 1949 Mercury to a 1955 Chevy, they always had a good running car that would hold its own. Add to this that they spent a lot of weekends at the local racetracks with their five sons and you can see how racing is kind ofin our blood.
Then in the sixties, as my father, H.R. Dudley, and his brothers became old enough to drive, their love for neat and powerful cars grew. They owned several really cool cars including a '65 GTO that was the first car that my dad and his younger brothers raced. They would drive it out to Houston International Speedway, bolt on some slicks and have fun making runs down the quarter mile.
Then I came along and the tradition continued. Our Family spent many weekends in the mid sixties and seventies at that same race track cheering on all of our favorites like Don & Roy Gay, Gene Snow, and Dick Landy. So it should be no surprise that when the late seventies came around that my Dad and I started working on our first race car. I had purchased a brand new ‘79 Trans Am that I truly loved, but it just was not something that I could take to the drag strip and get rough with. So we purchased a '67 Firebird for $75.00 that was not running and was in pretty rough shape.
Then we bought a brand new 428 fitted block from a local Pontiac dealership and started hitting all of the local swap meets to gather up all the pieces for our project. We went over every inch of that car. We did everything from building the engine to replacing the damaged body parts and all the painting and polishing and we had a great time. After about a year we were up and running and for the next several years we were regulars at the local race tracks.
In the mid eighties our schedules changed and time for racing was in short supply so we would only attend 3 or 4 races each year. Then in the nineties, as time allowed, we have gradually got back to racing on a regular basis. For the last several years we have been competing in the Texas Muscle Car Challenge that consist of 8 – 10 races per year and attend as many of the Pontiac only and Super Chevy events as possible.
We have been featured in High Performance Pontiac Magazine several times and my dad and I were both winners at the 10th annual Pontiac Southern Nationals in 2003. My dad won 4th place in the Stock Muscle Class driving my '79 Trans Am (The same one I bought new in ’79), and I won my class & the Race of Champions driving the same '67 Firebird that my dad and I built in 1980.
In 2003 we made a new addition to the Dudley Racing Team of cars. I purchased the 1962 Corvette formerly owned by Don Spencer. This car is a 12 time AHRA World Record Holder in the modified stock class & was the runner up in this class in 1977, 1978 & 1979. It took some time to get used to the way this car performs, but I did win some rounds after we got things figured out. Meanwhile my dad has been getting reacquainted with driving the '67 Firebird.
In 2004 my dad and I both competed in the King Muscle class at several of the Texas Muscle Car Challenge events. I switch off my driving between the Firebird and the Corvette. At the events that I raced the Corvette, my dad would race the Firebird, and at the other events he raced the Trans Am. At the 2004 Super Chevy Show in Baytown, TX, I won the Super Chevy Magazine’s Editors Choice Award and our '62 Corvette was pictured in the March 2005 issue of SUPER CHEVY MAGAZINE.
In 2005 my daughter Jessica got in on the action, racing my '79 Trans Am. At several events in 2005 we had three cars entered in the competition. It is not uncommon for us to have 20 or more family members and friends cheering us on at the race track.
Over the last 25 years of racing together we have won several events and we have had a few frustrating times, but we always have fun when the family gets together at the races.
By David Dudley
Racing has been a tradition with the Dudley Family for four generations now. It all started with my grandparents in the fifties hot rodding around the streets of Houston, Texas in one of their many neat cars that most people would do almost anything to own today. From a 1949 Mercury to a 1955 Chevy, they always had a good running car that would hold its own. Add to this that they spent a lot of weekends at the local racetracks with their five sons and you can see how racing is kind ofin our blood.
Then in the sixties, as my father, H.R. Dudley, and his brothers became old enough to drive, their love for neat and powerful cars grew. They owned several really cool cars including a '65 GTO that was the first car that my dad and his younger brothers raced. They would drive it out to Houston International Speedway, bolt on some slicks and have fun making runs down the quarter mile.
Then I came along and the tradition continued. Our Family spent many weekends in the mid sixties and seventies at that same race track cheering on all of our favorites like Don & Roy Gay, Gene Snow, and Dick Landy. So it should be no surprise that when the late seventies came around that my Dad and I started working on our first race car. I had purchased a brand new ‘79 Trans Am that I truly loved, but it just was not something that I could take to the drag strip and get rough with. So we purchased a '67 Firebird for $75.00 that was not running and was in pretty rough shape.
Then we bought a brand new 428 fitted block from a local Pontiac dealership and started hitting all of the local swap meets to gather up all the pieces for our project. We went over every inch of that car. We did everything from building the engine to replacing the damaged body parts and all the painting and polishing and we had a great time. After about a year we were up and running and for the next several years we were regulars at the local race tracks.
In the mid eighties our schedules changed and time for racing was in short supply so we would only attend 3 or 4 races each year. Then in the nineties, as time allowed, we have gradually got back to racing on a regular basis. For the last several years we have been competing in the Texas Muscle Car Challenge that consist of 8 – 10 races per year and attend as many of the Pontiac only and Super Chevy events as possible.
We have been featured in High Performance Pontiac Magazine several times and my dad and I were both winners at the 10th annual Pontiac Southern Nationals in 2003. My dad won 4th place in the Stock Muscle Class driving my '79 Trans Am (The same one I bought new in ’79), and I won my class & the Race of Champions driving the same '67 Firebird that my dad and I built in 1980.
In 2003 we made a new addition to the Dudley Racing Team of cars. I purchased the 1962 Corvette formerly owned by Don Spencer. This car is a 12 time AHRA World Record Holder in the modified stock class & was the runner up in this class in 1977, 1978 & 1979. It took some time to get used to the way this car performs, but I did win some rounds after we got things figured out. Meanwhile my dad has been getting reacquainted with driving the '67 Firebird.
In 2004 my dad and I both competed in the King Muscle class at several of the Texas Muscle Car Challenge events. I switch off my driving between the Firebird and the Corvette. At the events that I raced the Corvette, my dad would race the Firebird, and at the other events he raced the Trans Am. At the 2004 Super Chevy Show in Baytown, TX, I won the Super Chevy Magazine’s Editors Choice Award and our '62 Corvette was pictured in the March 2005 issue of SUPER CHEVY MAGAZINE.
In 2005 my daughter Jessica got in on the action, racing my '79 Trans Am. At several events in 2005 we had three cars entered in the competition. It is not uncommon for us to have 20 or more family members and friends cheering us on at the race track.
Over the last 25 years of racing together we have won several events and we have had a few frustrating times, but we always have fun when the family gets together at the races.
ABOUT OUR CARS
1979 pontiac trans am
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1967 PONTIAC FIREBIRD
Featured in 11 issues of High Performance Pontiac Magazine, and "The Ultimate Guide to Muscle Cars".
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1962 CHEVROLET CORVETTE
Click on the picture to see an article about our '62 Corvette in VETTE Magazine.
-Winner of Super Chevy Magazine Editor's Choice Award
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