We’ve all heard the old saying that there is always somebody bigger and badder. The stories about how the meanest guy in town met his match in an unknown stranger, or the fastest gun in the west getting taken out by someone even faster. Well when it comes to the baddest small blocks in the world, at this point in history there is only one that stands above the rest, and that’s Gene Hector! Hector, hailing from Big Spring Texas—along with his “Small Block Mafia”—have gone to war with the screwblown Hemis in the Professional Drag Racing Association’s (PDRA) Pro Extreme class and have shown that, even though they are 126 cubic inches smaller, you don’t mess with the mob!
Hector got his start in drag racing 17 years ago behind the wheel of a small block-powered dragster running at bracket races throughout the western part of the Lone Star State and picking up a number wins along the way. A move over to IHRA Top Dragster showed that the man was serious about small blocks, as he ran the smallest engine in the class at just 355ci and was still able to pick up several number one qualifiers at national events. But it was his brother’s love of boat racing which moved over into racing on land that got Gene truly hooked.
“Don Reed was a huge influence on my career and drag racing as a whole,” Hector said. In 2006, things were about to change drastically as Hector picked up the Rick Jones built 1963 Corvette that Jason Scruggs had set the eighth mile Outlaw Pro Mod world on fire with when he ran…..Read more of this article, just click on the digital feature below this introduction.
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