It's no secret that the force to be reckoned with this year in the wildly popular and competitive South East Gassers Association B/Gas class, has been TJ York and his "Greenhorn Hillbilly" 55 Chevy. Having won the first 2 races and going 14 rounds consecutively before getting beat in the finals at Indy, he's also won 4 of the 7 races that have been run and been to the finals in 5 of those 7 this 2020 season.
We took a minute to chat with TJ to get to know about his involvement with racing and some details about his success. It comes as no surprise to learn that racing has been a part of TJ's life since day one with his father being heavily involved with weight: cubic inch racing all the way back to 1958 and competing until 2004.
TJ started racing at 17 in a 1969 GTO that ran Super Gas and Super Street. In 2003 he started running a Third Generation Camaro in Super Stock and GT/F Automatic with some success, before going to an S10 for 2007/2008 in Super Stock in SS/TB.
At this point, as often happens, TJ's oldest became involved in sports and for a few years, racing took a back burner. That was until 2014 when he saw the wild, wheels up, period correct, 4 speed gasser racing presented by Quain Stott and his South East Gassers Association. TJ called his dad to see if he wanted to build one more car. The platform was easy for him to decide as the first car his dad every got him was a 55 Chevrolet and the name? Well TJ's dad had a 56 Chevrolet named, you guessed it, "The Greenhorn Hillbilly" back in his earlier days of racing.
TJ and his dad got the car put together and during his first full season in 2019, took 3rd in the points standing for the year with what he calls a mediocre engine. For 2020, a new powerplant was put together that TJ, in combination with the exceptional chassis work, credits for the cars overall competitiveness not only in the speed department, but in consistency and reliability as well.
We'd like to thank TJ for taking the time to chat with us, and he would like to thank his sponsors and crew. Be watching on November 7th, when TJ, once again, heads out on the road to race at the home of the South East Gassers, Shadyside Dragway
SPONSORS -Jack Slagle, my Dads racing partner for 30 years -JEGS Automotive -Scott Leber, ScottRods Customs -Tradition Over Trend CREW OF THE PROGRAM -Dave and Heath Watson, Watson Ruppel Performance (WRP) -Jeff and Chris at 1Way Technologies -Steve Taylor, PRC Carbs -Pat and Andy Kronenbitter, PK Race & Rods -Ric Panneton, CP-Carillo -Chris Hyatt