Camden man is runner-up in wheelstand championship

On the way up The photographer captured the impressive angle of this wheelstand by driver George Willis, but it wasn't at its highest point. The car snapped up until all four tires were off the ground, and then skidded on the bumper. Photo provided A definite crowd-pleaser at the Bunker Hill Dragstrip is the once-a-year daredevil wheelstand contest. At this year's competition on June 20, George Willis of Camden was runner-up, taking home a prize of $1,000.

In two rounds of competition, contestants take their turn at standing their car on two wheels and seeing who can travel the farthest with the car up in the air.

"I stood it up way farther than I wanted it to come," George said. "I pulled it so hard, the back tires were off the ground. I had all four tires up for 50 feet."

He said he knows the car skidded on the bumper because it's all scratched.

"He gave the crowd what they wanted," said his wife, Donna. She said people were cheering and going wild.

The car went from bumper to two wheels, traveling upright for a total of 223 feet. That successful attempt was in the first round, but George said he lost a cylinder, hurting the performance in the second round. The first effort still counted, placing him at runner-up out of seven competitors.

'Grandpa's Toy' George Willis of Camden races at the Bunker Hill Dragstrip in this 1968 Camaro. He is holding a miniature look-alike car in the wheelstand position that he achieved in a recent contest. The toy remote-controlled car was a gift from his son, Kenneth Johnson, last Christmas. Comet photo by Jennifer Archibald "He got beat in the distance, by 16 feet," Donna said. The winner, Aaron Jarrell, also won last year, which was the first time for the event at Bunker Hill.

George said the 2006 world wheelstand champion, Steve Blue, was there and congratulated him on his spectacular wheelstand.

"It was accidental to go as high as it did," George said. "I came up so fast and so high and so hard. Once the car starts up, you can't stop it. You just hold on and hope, 'cause you can't see nothin'."

"Time stood still," he continued. He said with the race car vertical, he had the sensation of being ready to blast off to the moon.

Donna said it all happened so fast, but she held her breath.

"If the car would have gone over backwards, it could have killed him," she said.

A split second later, she was relieved the car started skidding forward, still up in the air. The crowd loves this wheelie momentum, called "walking the dog."

"Steve Blue equates it to being blindfolded on an elephant on roller skates," George said.

"Donna said after the contest, kids came up and wanted George's autograph.

This was George's first time in the wheelstand event. He said although he didn't win, he gave the crowd a good show.

"I won a grand and my grandkids got to see me," he added.

Donna said other family members were there, too - 14 in all.

The name of George's car is "Grandpa's Toy." One of his sponsors is Karlee's Eggs, (an enterprise of granddaughter Karlee Sparks), and another is Cohee Performance (their daughter-in-law's father, Jan Cohee).

George said he's been drag racing since he was a teenager, but has been a steady competitor at Bunker Hill for the last seven or eight years. He competes in the Pro ET class. Donna and George's son, John Johnson, and daughter-in-law, Angie, also race at Bunker Hill.

George said his car will accelerate to 114 mph in 1/8 of a mile, but he said speed is not the key factor.

"Ninety percent of the races are won or lost by the reaction time at the Christmas tree (lights)," he said.

He's won plenty of rounds and has been a class winner a couple of times but he says his car tends to do wheelies at the start, which costs him some time.

Time is of the essence. He said he won two rounds in the Pro ET race the same day as the wheelstand contest, but lost in the third round by 1/10,000th of a second.

George has had his current car, a 1968 Camaro, since 1995.

"I bought it half done," he said, and then he did the rest.

"You want it as light and as powerful as you can get it," George said.

"Grandpa's Toy" has a fuel injected 505 cu. in. Chevy big block engine, producing 800 HP.

George said he's drawn to the dragstrip by that "need for speed" and the "American competitive spirit." With a big grin on his face, he said there's one more thing that makes him climb into a souped up car and race in front of a crowd.

"It's that show-off mood that all of us hillbillies have."