[Dave Rifkin]

My wife bought me the best gift ever for last year's birthday and Christmas presents; a trip to Frank Hawley's drag racing school. This past Tuesday and Wednesday I went to Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, PA to fulfill a lifelong dream.

I opted to drive the Super Comp dragster; I also had the option to drive a Super Gas Firebird.
Frank Hawley is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet and, in his classroom instructions, taught the class some very useful life lessons; things that we can use outside of racing. He is extremely knowledgeable and made the instruction portion very interesting. My wife paid to attend the classroom sessions and even she enjoyed it.

At the end of the last day I had made my best pass; 8.393 @ 161.65 mph.

Oh, I forgot to mention, Ed Hedrick was also in the class with me; what a gentleman he is. Very humble, very nice and shared some fascinating stories with me about cars he's owned / raced as well as some great racing stories. He brought his own car to drive; a really clean Nova.

If you ever get the chance to attend Frank's school I highly recommend it; Frank's a class guy and his crew, Derek and Jim, were equally as accommodating.

These were two days that I will not soon forget.