By Mary Lendzion

Just as he went through the traps at the 8th Annual Nitto Tire NMCA/NMRA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing at Route 66 Raceway in Illinois in ’13, the engine in Dave Schultz’s nine-second ’60 Plymouth wagon let go, and pieces of it hit and damaged his transmission mounts and chassis bars.

Rather than remaining sidelined while he had a new 542 Wedge engine built by Indy Cylinder Head and chassis repairs made by BRC Racecraft, he decided to climb into his eleven-second ’63 Plymouth for the ’14 NMCA season-opener, the 13th Annual Ross Racing Pistons NMCA Muscle Car Nationals, at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida in March, where he drove to a runner-up finish.

“I went a couple rounds at the next few races, and found out right before the race in Joliet, Illinois in July that my wagon was ready to be picked up from the chassis shop in Indiana,” said Schultz, of Katy, Texas. “I made plans to pick it up on the way to the race, but I was concerned because it was going to have a new engine and chassis changes.”

But, he charged to an event win anyway, kept his momentum and ended the season as the ’14 ATI Nostalgia Super Stock class champion.

It marks his first championship in the class he’s been running since ‘07, and further boosting its significance is the fact that he has dedicated it to his brother, Donald Schultz, who died in ’12.

“There are eighty-plus guys running in this class, and some of them have been at it in the same car for twenty or thirty  years,” said Schultz. “The competition is tough, but I like that it’s reminiscent of the ’60s when guys like Dave Duell, Dandy Dick Landy and Ronnie ‘Mr. 4-Speed’ Sox were racing.”

Helping Schultz every step of the way is his son and fellow ATI Nostalgia Super Stock driver, Dallas Schultz,  and his goal for the ’15 season is to have a first and second place finish in points with his son.

Catch him alongside his fellow NMCA class champions during the NMCA Awards Ceremony on Dec. 12 at the Indiana Convention Center.