Like father, like sons, etc...

Larry “The Legend” Lloyd of Nashua nearly won the coveted Iron Man trophy as he took second place in the No Box Pro class on his 75th birthday last Sunday, June 18 a day also celebrated as Father’s Day.

Shane Cromwell of Scobey won the event after winning a head to head against Lloyd in the finals. Cromwell had a dial in of 6.87 and an elapsed time of 6.88. Lloyd had a dial in time of 6.24 and an elapsed time of 7.21.

Glasgow’s Kyle Stahl won the junior dragster Iron Man trophy, while Havre’s Chris Palmer and Jesse Dobson of Scobey won the Sportsman class and Box Super Pro class respectively.

Saturday’s races were won by Swift Current’s Hayley ViPond (Junior Dragster), Kenneth Darchuk of Scobey (Sportsman), Wayne Solberg of Richland (Box Super Pro) and Harlem’s Dan Stout (No Box Pro).

Lloyd also finished as runner up in the No Box Pro class on Saturday. On that same day his son Duane was runner up in the Box Super Pro class.

Lloyd also races with his other son Larry Scott and his grandkids Garrett, Blake and Ava during the holiday weekend.

“It’s okay,” Lloyd said about racing with his sons and family. “We enjoy the competition. Larry Scott is having problems with his diesel right now but he’s in my class so I gotta worry about him. He runs pretty good, cuts good lights, so he is definitely a threat.”

Lloyd and his sons are extremely competitive and while they apparently have talked about fighting over it, they haven’t.

“We’ve talked about fighting before but we never have,” Lloyd said with a laugh.

According to Larry Scott, his father was the oldest racer on the track last weekend, but the elder Lloyd doesn’t believe that his age equates to being more experienced or wiser in terms of racing.

“There’s a lot more guys with a lot more racing experience than me.” Lloyd said. “I’ve only been racing since the track has been open up here.”

The PCMS track opened about 11 years ago but Lloyd mentioned that he has raced things other than dragsters in previous years.

“I’ve raced stock cars, raced lawnmowers for a few years and I raced my motorcycle up here for a few years before my wife said, ‘why don’t you buy a car?’”

So Lloyd bought an 81’ Chevy Malibu with a 700-horsepower engine and has been racing in the Pro Class ever since.

He won the No Box Pro Points Title last season; the closest he had been in the last few years was second in 2013 and third in 2012. He went to the World Finals in October.

“I had the opportunity to go to Memphis for the IHRA World Finals,” Lloyd said. “That’s where the cream of the crop was and I qualified twenty-eighth out of 84 cars. I did good in that aspect.”

He had made the trip to Memphis before with his grandson, who had qualified for the Junior Dragsters.

“I wasn’t really looking forward to driving to Memphis but once I got down the road it was okay,” Lloyd said. “It was a good trip. We took all three grandkids with us and my boys and it was a lot of fun.”

His kids and grandkids have captured the elusive Iron Man trophy.

“I’ve taken a few first place wins up here but I have never won an Iron Man,” Lloyd said. “Larry Scott won an Iron Man about four years ago. The grandkids have got Junior Dragster Iron Man trophies.”

His son Larry Scott shared what racing with his father was like.

“We’re kind of amazed every day because we all hope that we are going that speed when we are his age,” Larry Scott said. “I got a drag racing tattoo on my arm now and (as the saying goes) like father, like son. Now it’s like sons and nephews and nieces. Look who started it all.”