A Good Day Trip To Sumerduck

May 4, 2026May 18, 2026 Missed Gear

The weather was a little cool but the sun made it feel a little warmer and any place that wasn’t littered with tents was a good place.

Even better if that place had some noise and some action…

Camping…? Not so much. Racetrack…? Now we’re talking…

As the wife was busy with campy stuff and was set for the day I took an opportunity to take a short drive and visit Sumerduck Motorsports Park. It’s a 1/8 mile drag strip about an hour from where the camping was. It’s been there since the 1960s. I was there for about 4 hours…

It’s another Virginia track to tick off the list. Add this one for drag strips to Elk Creek (Southwest Virginia about 30 miles South of Wytheville) and Natural Bridge (schedules seem to be coming together after a re-start in 2025).

Virginia Motorsports Park was an hour in the other direction and a consideration but there was a higher percentage for rain so Northwest it was with a trip to Sumerduck.

It’s a small town (?) maybe village (?) with this pleasant little drag strip down this little bit of road. The IHRA sanctioned facility is well organized and presented, landscaped and clean. The staff and people keeping it together were friendly and pleasant. If it wasn’t for the drag racing it could almost be a country store that sells fried chicken, fresh bait and ice cold lemonade with a checkers board and open arms of welcome on each visit.

Sportsman, ET, Street and Motorcycle classes were running the 1/8 mile. For an afternoon ticket, it’s a hot rod sweet spot located in a forest setting back over there a piece… Sumerduck is a great “drop in” for racing, motorsport variety and some head to head speed.

Check out “The Duck” if you’re up towards Fredericksburg or Culpeper. It’s more or less between…

Photos from an afternoon at Sumerduck Motorsports Park – May 2, 2026

A Very Brief Meeting – James May

It could have been worse… After the rain and the snaking line by what seemed like a prison of finely crafted glass and the rush to get by and say something meaningful and profound, the response could have been “What a muppet” or “You utter pillock”… It was none of those things. It was a welcome of “How do you do” and what seemed to be a genuine and pleasant surprise when he learned I had been to his pub (The Royal Oak Swallowcliffe). There were multiple plans or scenarios in my head leading up to this adventure to meet James May at a burb of Richmond, Virginia ABC store. There may have been an impromptu car show outside the store as most everyone knew James from the car shows so, logically (in my head), there would be some cool cars to see parked in the lot. Well… Not so much. A Mercedes, A BMW or three, a Tesla… Lots of regular SUVs and crossover type, standard issue American, oversized common denominators. There could have been a conversation about the stay at the Royal Oak… The stay was marvelous, the food was great and the classic English pub styling was there in loads. Time then, as now, was jammed so just one afternoon, night and English breakfast the next morning and we were back on the road to further our “Grand Tour” of the UK. This drive to meet Mr. May was to, maybe, make up for him not being at his pub while we were. Imagine… There could have been a quick reference to the name on the business card and the web domain that has been registered since around 2008 or so. “Missed Gear” is and always has been a tongue in cheek “stolen” reference to “Top Gear”. It’s now a Virginia based collection of visits to and reports from race tracks and automotive bits, shows and people. The self-appointed task of documenting May’s visit to this Virginia outlet of spirits was even a little tighter than anticipated. There were way more people on hand than the two hour event could handle so there were either more tickets than minutes or there were an awful lot of “standby” visitors hoping to make it. The police security were, understandably perhaps, rather pointed about lingering about so it was shoot and duck documentary style. (Shoot… with a camera. Let’s be clear.) So… To sum up. The best laid plans were laid to rest rather quickly and improvisation on a stopwatch was the baseline. The mission, as it was, became the minimum with no frills. The brief hello, the autographs on bottles of gin, a mention of Legos and my daughter and the pub and a visit and some photos, courtesy of Lucy Brown. Ms. Brown… Another not quite. She is the assistant, the videographer, the getter of getting things for James as needed… She seems to be a keeper of James so he doesn’t get in trouble. Maybe… She is a feature on much of the James Gin / James May content on the FaceTube… There was a plan to have a photo with both May and Lucy Brown but time and rush to get folks through put that idea off the burner. She was, for mostly the most part it looked like, helping folks get their photos with James and being, perhaps, out of the photos on purpose…? Either way, it was another possible plan that did not shake out. She was taking photos with peoples’ phones for them and, in my case, with my camera. So… There it was. A lot of possibilities distilled down to the minimum. A good time…? Sure. Yes. No more or less than any “star” schedule event with a “meet & photo” opportunity. However, for all that was and did go on. The staff, security (Understandably stiff… Lots of alcohol and lots of people), Lucy Brown… All were keeping things moving along as best as could. The gin… James Gin. Two flavors were currently available. Asian Parsnip and American Mustard. The same flavors purchased earlier in April when it became available in Virginia. The ‘parsnip” has a bit of a slight bitter edge and the “mustard” has a hint of pickle. There are a batch of recipes on the website and other flavors available. The recipes will need some sampling… The “grand” plans and possibilities for the day were cut from necessity of circumstance and surroundings. The cost of fuel, two bottles of James Gin, time… were not really large but much larger than not spending at all. With that, as much as the shows that made James May famous and able to travel to exotic locations like Short Pump, Virginia… Ambitious… But rubbish. The result… Not the gin. Right. Photos from James Gin – James May at Virginia ABC, Short Pump, Virginia (May 11, 2026)
Roanoke Drifting In Jappalachia

It is a fine thing when conditions lead to continuity. This particular continuity is also an automotive conundrum in several ways considering the current condition of the existence of the automobile. What….?? The trend that has taken hold, especially here in these United States, is the popularity of the SUV, the crossover variations of five door hatches, the automatic transmission and front wheel drive. All of these would point to a humorless and drab driving culture of A to B with a soccer game or a grocery store on the agenda. The days of fun behind the wheel are drying up. Or are they…? There are a handful of new rear drives out there. Of those, fewer still have a manual transmission. This leads to the continuity of cars of the past being rebuilt and re-born by people who seek the slides and the sideways. Yes, America, drifting may be the saving grace of the manual, rear wheel drive car. On a warm Wednesday tucked in the back corner of an industrial park I was there to bear witness to a mixture of car cultures. The recipe was a good mix of classic British “Top Gear”, American Motor Trend “Roadkill” and a heavy helping of the Japanese origins of drifting. The cars were budget sourced from the pre-owned market and rapidly made “drivable” over the past several days. Now they were here in this slightly barren environment to be compared on a mapped rally / drifting course by (can you guess…?) the same “tame” racing driver. For the sake of a little background… This group of guys have a mission which is building on their combination of talents. What is the mission…? Loosely defined it is a mixture of Japan’s origin culture of drifting and the extreme styling of it with the back roads mountain attitude of American muscle cars. They call it “Jappalachia”. There have been trips to Japan with driving study in the origins of the legendary Daigo Saito drifting style. Japan is distinguished as the genesis of drifting even as the sport has expanded worlwide. The “Jappalachia” handle has been vetted during these visits with positive approvals. The drift is no stranger to these men. A recent visit to NASA Haltech Hyperfest at Virginia International Raceway had a Nissan going tandem on the drift pad competition. On this Wednesday, they have two cars ready to take on the course. These are not their “pro builds” but side projects for the practice and fun of it. One is a late ’80s Corvette and the other is a Nissan 240sx (’89…? ’90…? give or take…) Both of them had less than “garage kept” history. Both put up sideways and dusty shows. I think the Corvette took the time even with bottom scrapes, fuel delivery issues and a lost ass bumper. It was also driven after the 240 so one could say the previous lap in the Nissan gave a nudge of “practice” to the ‘Vette. The “real” cars involved…? These guys are looking ahead to extreme builds in their shop. They are working up another C4 series Corvette and a 3rd generation Ford Mustang. The cars are being treated as homage to the extreme Kaido or Bosozoku style of Japanese drift builds. Big fenders, shovel forward in front of the wheels and wide body wings over the back. These are American muscle cars treated with anime angles. Engines are being built. Chassis and suspensions are being tuned and going into place. A rough timeline has turns on the calendar for the newly re-opened Southampton Speedway later this year as that track is running a drift schedule. This is Jappalachia. Connections…? Roanoke, Charlottesville, Japan, backgrounds in design, mechanics, fabrication, travel… They have formed a friendship from chance encounters, childhood history and love of fun in cars. The “tame” racing driver…? 2016 F4 Champion / 2021 EFO F3 Champion – Cameron Das, visiting from the UK with friends connected through common and crossed paths. His 2016 F4 is in the Jappalachia shop. 2016 USA F4 Champion, Cameron Das, with the season winning car in the Jappalachia shop Das is currently doing a social media series of video showcases of kart racing and tracks. Cameron Das: YouTube InstagramTay Whiteside – Lift Arc StudiosGresh Chapman (Instagram): Jackson WalkerConnor Shupe Visit the Jappalachia Website Photos – A visit to Jappalachia – Industrial Drifting *The dog is “Pickles” – an Alaskan Malamute. He’s a sweetheart in a sweet spot.
Movie Truck Throwback

Hanging out with long time friend from stage and screen who happened to be in a famous truck movie by Stephen King
RoVA-Drive Showcase: Benoit Pigeon

Elite commercial photographer has a fast eye for drag racing