Mason Dixon Dragway – Some cars just have a quality about them that is captivating. One such car is the “Hood Rat” Monza of the Stone family of Roger, Justin, Nathan, and Carmen. They came into possession of the Monza by trading an altered drag car for it. It came equipped with ladder bars, big tires, and overall features that were like that of a 1980s race car build. The family campaigned it like that for about a year before deciding it was time for an upgrade and they proceeded to tear it all apart. The roll cage was cut out of it and redone from the firewall back with all of the cage work being done by JDR Motorsports in Winchester. The older ladder bar suspension was changed to a 4-link rear suspension. Under the hood is a small block Chevy engine aided by two 500 systems, but Justin Stone added, “we’re not spraying it.”

With that work done, they had the car primered and were in the process of trying to decide what color they wanted to paint it, then, as Justin says, “the guy who does stickers for our business suggested an airbrushed trash can and came in and spent a whole day airbrushing it.” After the “trash can” look was complete, Justin and his day clear-coated it the next day. I asked what kind of times the car runs and Justin told me, “It’s all new, we don’t have any [full] passes on it. Only a burnout and a 60-foot pass.” My curiosity got the best of me, so I had to ask what they expected from it. According to Justin, “It’s a “No-Time” car, so we can’t disclose any times.” He further explained to me how the “No-Time” class is heads-up racing with no times recorded. Having a car like this should make for some exciting days of competition ahead for this gang. Justin added that they’d been building this car for about 3-4 years and it’s all steel except for the hatch and front end. Even though the doors are gutted, they’re still about 60 pounds apiece. The whole purpose of the day was to do some testing to get a handle on the car and they had Kenny Fox showing up to help tune the car and get it all figured out.

In the beginning, when they first got the car, it was white and lime green and it said Hood Rat on the side of it. Roger Stone, being originally from Baltimore City, thought the name fit right in with them so they decided to keep it. And there is something about how it looks on the side of the car that makes it look just right. This is definitely a car and a group of people to keep an eye on.