IHRA's Tankersley knows a good thing when he drives it

It was the 1970s and Deborah Tankersley had one of the best-looking rides as she attended classes in college: A gold 1970 Pontiac GTO with a black vinyl roof. Little did she know then her beloved GTO would still be in the family in 2017, and running more than 130 mph in the eighth-mile at IHRA drag strips.

The GTO, says Joe Tankersley, "was my wife's college car. We began racing it in 1978."

Then, it was pretty much stock. Now, not so much (pictured). There are wheelie bars, a parachute and a big rear wing.

"In 1994," Joe says, "it got a Bickel chassis," sourced from Jerry Bickel Race Cars in Moscow Mills, Mo., one of the most successful builders of doorslammer dragsters in the country.

Then he had Wilkerson Racing Engines, of Athens, Ala., build a 535-cubic-inch Pontiac V-8. He only got the engine back on the Wednesday night before the Friday, Feb. 4 start of the IHRA Summit Sportsman National Championship at Immokalee Regional Raceway in southwestern Florida, a long tow from the Tankersley's home in Elkton, Tenn. But they made it.

Tankersley has won a lot of races in the family GTO, including the 2012 IHRA Sportsman Spectacular at Memphis International Raceway, running in the Super Rod class. He was also the IHRA Super Rod World Champion in 1984 and 1987. He and the GTO now compete in Quick Rod.

Tankersley says he "loves" the new IHRA Summit Sportsman National Championship and its format. "It's more of a true championship," he says. "Before, there had to be a lot of luck involved."

So look for Joe and Deborah Tankersley at IHRA tracks around the country in 2017. They should all be familiar. "Same car, same wife, since 1978," he says.