Harris is gearing up for race at Elk Creek Dragway

By JIM CUNNINGHAM/Staff

Terry Harris has been hard at work getting his car ready for his first appearance of the season at his home track at Elk Creek Dragway next Saturday (June 14).
Harris, who lives on the outskirts of Wytheville off Pepper’s Ferry Road, normally races there twice a year. He competes in the King of the Streets Division with Heads Up Racing.
Harris explained that the King of the Streets Division is a throwback to the roots of drag racing because two cars race side-by-side. The winner is the first one across the finish line. He called it “old school racing.”
Harris has been in drag racing about 15 years. He said he’s stayed in it because of his love for the sport and the enthusiasm of the fans at the track, especially at Elk Creek. “Elk Creek always has a great turnout,” he said.
Harris has won in his class four times in the past three years and has finished runner-up six times.
In addition to Elk Creek, Harris races at tracks at Radford (Motor Mile Dragway) and at Natural Bridge.
He races three times each at the other two tracks and twice at Elk Creek each season.
His last race at Elk Creek in the King of the Streets Class this season will be sometime in the fall and will be called “Fire on the Mountain.”
Harris has been busy lately preparing for next week’s race by putting a new 434-cublic inch engine into his ’67 Chevy II, built by Albert Racing Engines of Wytheville. “I hope to have it on the track at Elk Creek,” he said.
Along with Albert Racing Engines, another one of his sponsors is John’s Antique and Classic Autos of Wytheville.
His crew members include his wife, Missy Harris, Chris Paschal and crew chief Herb Stuart.
When he’s not getting his own car ready, Harris can frequently be found working on cars for other drivers. He is finishing up on an ’87 Ford Mustang for rookie driver Kenny Stuart of Wytheville that will have a 565-cubic inch big block Chevy engine in it.
He is also building a new car for Tommy Sullivan, a ’67 Chevelle, that will be debuted at the Motor Mile Dragway.
Harris said the even though the cars in the King of the Streets Class are street legal, many of them have about 1,000-horsepower. And because the tires are about 10½-inches wide, there is a definite element of danger that you don’t have with normal size drag racing vehicles.
And it looks like Harris will have serious competition in his family. His step-daughter, Brittany Lambert, won in the Powder Puff Division last Saturday at Elk Creek Dragway.