South Mountain Raceway – Whenever you watch a drag race, there’s always a car that has a certain quality that draws your eyes to it. The “Thunderstruck” ‘73 Plymouth Duster of Joe Valenzia is one such car. The bright, eye-catching yellow paint accents the natural clean lines of the car in a simple, yet engaging way. Joe bought the car already partially built from New York and finished it up himself, and said he’s been racing it about 10 years.

Joe was quick to say he put his own personal touches on the car when he finished putting it together, such as adding a fiberglass front end and installing a 510 cu.in. stroker engine. He also mentioned there was one other change that was more a change of necessity than anything else; “[I] put a Dana rear in it because I kept blowing up the 8-3/4s. One season I blew the rear four times.”

Joe’s racing career started long before owning this car. In Joe’s own words, “I raced back in ‘76 thru ‘80, I raced with J&D Performance down around Randallstown. [A] friend of mine owned a performance shop, one thing led to another. I raced a 72 Duster then.”

This car definitely gets down the track, turning in a best time of 6.26 on this day. When asked how it was running, Joe responded, “First run I didn’t hook up, the second run it hooked up and pulled me right into the tree, so I had to let out of it. That’s why I was adjusting the wheelie bars, maybe to keep it straight.”

While we’re talking about keeping things straight, we’ll close this story by giving a shout-out to Joe’s Crew Chief, Deb. Deb’s presence is quite prominent as she lines Joe up at the starting line. It’s an important piece of the puzzle as she points out, “I keep him in order, line him up and put him where he needs to be.” Of course, when things don’t quite work out, such as the earlier run that aimed the car at the tree, the problem has to be analyzed and figured out. As Deb says, “Once in a while I’ll take the blame, but it’s usually him, because he doesn’t listen to me.” At that, the pair looked at each other and had a good, long laugh. It’s obvious they’re both having fun as they work together to get “Thunderstruck” down the track. Keep an eye out for this one. You’ll enjoy watching to go down the track almost as much as Joe and Deb enjoy getting it there.

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