JEGS RACER
OF THE MONTH, ROCKY McLAIN
By Tim Glover
Rocky McLain began his drag racing career 23 years ago, as soon as he turned 16.
He
has won many races and series along the way, and a few stand out in his
memory. He recalled a separate NHRA sanctioned Super Comp series in 1986,
which he won with an ex Pro Stock Camaro. In the late 80's, he took a hiatus
from racing, returning in 1995. He then talked about his year in 1998, where
he won just about everything there was to win at Texas Raceway. He won the
Super Pro championship, the overall points championship and runnered up
in the Quick 32 program points. He carried out six different trophies from
the banquet that night. In 1998, his wifeTraci became pregnant, so he decided
to sell his race car. He was leading in the points at the time, so after
a couple of races he decided to fix up a Camaro that was currently on jackstands.
He soon sold that car. By the end of the year, he missed six races, drove
seven different race cars and still ended up second place in the points.
He mentioned he also has about 15 "Big Money" race wins to his credit.
Traci, was a drag racing fan long before she met Rocky, and had taken pictures of different cars and drivers over the years. They have been together 11 years now, and after they met, they discovered pictures she had taken of Rocky going down the track in '86 or '87, long before they met. She has raced his other car, a '66 Chevy II, and won in just her second time out.
"My family is my number one accomplishment. I wouldn't trade them for anything. I'd give up racing in a heartbeat if I had to, but fortunately, my wife loves it." Their son, Rocky II, is "ate up with it" (drag racing), according to Rocky. He said Rocky II has about 150,000 hot wheels cars that he arranges in the living room, with some in the pits and some lined up in staging lanes. A few nights ago, he caught him spitting on the glass table; the explanation was he needed water for the burnout box! Needless to say, there is a Jr. Dragster in the future for Rocky II as soon as he turns eight years old. They also have a daughter Alexis, who is not quite as excited about racing as the rest of the family.
In 2001, he said just about everything that could go wrong did. He had the motor in and out of his car ten times, and finally parked his racing operation in September. He regrouped this year; first making it as far as second place in the B&M points, and is currently leading the Southern Super Tens series, which is at its midway point now. He had to choose between the two series, and made the right choice for him by going with Super Tens. He said all but three of the races are less than four hours away from home. He has already put his 2000 Cameron dragster into three finals and three semi-finals so far this year en route to his Super Tens points lead.
McLain owns and operates H/E/B Collision Repair in Fort Worth, Texas. Although he does well racing, he still needs a lot of help to keep his operation top notch. PTC Torque Converters takes care of all his torque converter needs, giving him 2mph over other cars that run the same ET he does. Eagle Motorsports in Tyler Texas helps out with his mail order parts needs, and he also thanked Goza, Sullivan Transmissions, QStich and Texas Supercars for their help.
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