Serious Status Stratus!

After campaigning a show quality Willys Coupe for almost 15 seasons, the Alberta-based husband and wife duo of Gary and Sherry Miserva have ramped up their Top Sportsman racing program to “serious”….

Gary & Sherry Miserva’s Dodge Stratus is one of the most impressive TS cars in all of Canada

Since first hitting the drag strip during August of 2012, the Miserva’s who are based from Sherwood Park, have been turning heads with their meticulously prepared Dodge Stratus Top Sportsman car.   Featuring a fuel injected 673 CID engine program by Sonny Leonard, the Jerry Haas-built car runs a good as it looks — hitting 6.90 secs at over 200 mph on a regular basis.

Scott Wawryko with Gary and Sherry Miserva

“We realized our Willys race car was at it’s limits and I simply wanted to go faster,” Gary Miserva admitted.  “This new car works well in the race series’ we participate in — Top Eliminator at Castrol Raceway and within NHRA divisions six and seven in Top Sportsman.”

Gary,  in conjunction with his wife Sherry and crew member Scott Wawryko, have been busy since refining their truly phenomenal new machine, which Gary admits took a bit of adjustment learning to drive.

“After all those years racing our Willys the Status is very different,” he added.  “The visibility is actually not as good as the Willys because you sit so much lower — but the car really rides nice at much faster speeds and it’s a lot easier to work on.”

Gary and Sherry who are mainstay and popular racers at Edmonton’s Castrol Raceway, fund their racing operation as independents.  Gary has been in the trucking industry for 25+ years and sold off his own business a while back but remains in trucking sales management.

His drag racing career has spanned some 18 years now and before that he was involved in street rods and also High School drag racing programs.

The Miserva’s raced this ultra popular 1941 Willys for almost 15 seasons!

 Posting & Photos By:  Bruce Biegler