Hi, I'm Dave Russell, from central Virginia and I've been playing with cars my whole life, mostly hot rods and drag racing.
I sort of got into land speed racing by accident. One of the guys in my car club, John Mullen, was asked to build an XO engine for a guy in Oklahoma, but the project fell through. Since John had already invested time and money, he decided to finish the motor and build a truck to compete in Production Pickup. He asked the club to help and the rest is history. Together we built a 61 Ford Unibody to compete in XO/PP.
Our regular club trips to the drag strip led to me being asked to drive. I guess I appeared to be the most aggressive? Anyhow, I have the privilege of driving the 640 XO/PP Virginia HAMB Special.
We completed the truck in early 2018 and made it to Speed Week that year. We made it through tech, and put down 5 or 6 passes before we pulled the plug because of engine troubles. 2019 was a tough year financially for the team, and the salt wasn't good anyway, so we didn't make the trip out. We returned to Bonneville in 2020, but were plagued with mechanical problems. But we'll be back! We're hooked!
Welp, that's the short story. I'm glad to be here. Cheers!
