‘Nevada Missile’ set for Jegs Allstars drag race

Jon Irving's station wagon looks more suited for a grocery store parking lot or sitting next to a soccer field than on a racetrack.

But don't let the 1978 Dodge Aspen wagon fool you. It can haul groceries at 109 mph and cover a quarter mile in 12.30 seconds.

The Aspen affectionately known as the "Nevada Missile" has delivered the 20-year-old student at the College of Southern Nevada to Joliet, Ill., where he qualified to compete in Saturday's 26th annual Jegs Allstars drag race, which is part of the weekend's Route 66 NHRA Nationals.

His father, John, let Irving pick out a race vehicle to buy when he was 12.

"I saw the station wagon and thought it was cool," said Irving, who races regularly at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with his father and brother Robbie.

It might look like a sedate wagon, but it is a full-scale race car with a 400-horsepower Dodge engine maintained by family friend Randy Bursell.

Jon began racing when he was 15 and became a two-time high school division champion at the speedway. The Boulder City resident has won his NHRA class 13 times in division and national competition and won the Stock Eliminator title in a divisional meet in June 2009 at Top Gun Raceway in Fallon.

He qualified for the 10-man team representing western tracks in the NHRA's Division 7 based on his performance the past year. The seven divisional teams are each represented by a driver from each NHRA Sportsman category, and the winning team at Route 66 will split $20,000.

Irving competes today through Sunday in the NHRA national event portion of the event.

Another Boulder City resident, Duane Shields, is competing in Top Alcohol Dragster of the Allstars for Division 2 representing the NHRA's Southeast Division.

■ DESERT -- Las Vegan Robert Pickering will try to retain his Class 6 title in the Baja 500 when the classic race begins for four-wheel vehicles at 10 a.m. Saturday in Ensenada, Mexico.

Pickering won the title a year ago in his Ford Ranger. ...

After the past few decades of racing against each other, Southern Nevada natives Troy Herbst and Brian Collins will compete as co-drivers in a SCORE Trophy Truck at Baja. Forty years ago, their fathers -- Mart Collins and Jerry Herbst -- drove together and won the Baja 500 in Category 3.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.