LIVE from Piedmont TOC
 

Reporting from the IHRA Tournament of Champions Qualifier (Sportsman National) at Piedmont Dragway, Greensboro, NC... Myron Piatek made the trip up from Florida, and saw some other travelers from a fair distance including He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named (Well, ok, Mike Mayhew, from Georgia) ;) and Adam Keir came down from MD. Test n' tune last night, along with a Racer Appreciation BBQ... and we appreciated every bit of it! :D

Todd Tutterow set a new track record last light with a 3.83 @ 199, I believe it was. Ok, it may not be S/SS related, but that a seriously HAULIN' door car, I don't care who ya are!

Re: LIVE from Piedmont TOC
 

Had some excitement last night while testing my FF/SA '85 Turismo. One of the brass fittings on my fuel check log split! Glad the header is behind the engine in this car! Myron had a piece to block it off. Did some tinkering and got it under the index comfortably in these conditions. (Been -1.04 under 1/4 mile, but the 1/8 indexes are crazy hard by comparison). Last night was 81deg, 51%, 29.10 (almost a full number lower than Belle Rose last week!) 1.0697 correction, 2946 DA.

Cooler this morning, with a stray sprinkle here and there. Barometer's up a tick to 29.17, but the humidity's making it a wash.

Re: LIVE from Piedmont TOC
 

They called Hot Rod to the lanes, and it started to sprinkle.

Re: LIVE from Piedmont TOC
 

Got a run in, and picked up .05 from last night, even though I seem to need a little direction as to the location of the tree. ;). Got through bout half of Top Dragster, and rain has struck again. Big system over Winston-Salem going back into WV. We're on the edge of it... Just have to hope it blows north of us.

Took a kazillion pics -- all the Super Stock ones with my digital camera instead of just my phone. I'll process them later and post everything this weekend.

Raining pretty steady now... Going be down awhile.

PS - FWD burnouts are a blast! :)

Re: LIVE from Piedmont TOC
 

Rain projected for another 3+ hrs, plus potential 2hr dry time, best case scenario. We're officially done for the day kiddos... 12 Noon start tomorrow, completing rest of TD, getting 1 run for TS, and we're into Rnd 1 of Eliminations.

Re: LIVE from Piedmont TOC
 

Was this supposed to be a single race or a double weekend?

Re: LIVE from Piedmont TOC
 

Single. Sportsman National (TOC Qualifier) only. No Pro-Am points involved.


Here's just a taste of the 97-pic photo gallery I've posted on my web server, at http://www.staginglight.com/photos/piedmont_toc10/ Hit the link to see them all!

Doug Hobgood (SS/CS Camaro) and Brian Rowe's new SS/JA '97 Firebird. Waiting in the wings are Steve McCreary's #1 Qualifier SS/BX Sunfire and Jimmy Spell's cool GT/K Camaro
http://www.staginglight.com/photos/p...s/100_0211.jpg

It doesn't get more classic! A pair of distinctly different '57 Chevys... Jim Reynolds vs the stick-shift wagon of Mike Boyles
http://www.staginglight.com/photos/p...s/100_0221.jpg

Div. 9 Champ, Tracy Robbins heats the hides...
http://www.staginglight.com/photos/p...s/100_0226.jpg

Great food to be had at the 330' Cafe...
http://www.staginglight.com/photos/p...s/100_0231.jpg

Stacie Ridings' Lil' Aggravation leads the way... former J/SA car, now in G/CM
http://www.staginglight.com/photos/p...s/100_0170.jpg

Emily Volkman checks the scales in her SS/HA Camaro
http://www.staginglight.com/photos/p...00731-1033.jpg


Complete photo gallery: http://www.staginglight.com/photos/piedmont_toc10/

Re: LIVE from Piedmont TOC
 

Michael,

Thanks for the updates and the pictures. Very nicely done, even while you are strapped in that monster FWD stocker. Love the rear view mirror shot....

Who owns the Super Stocker '63 or '64 Chevy II in silver with the blacked out wheels? Good looking ride. Any idea what the combo is?

Piedmont is a very nice looking facility. Appears very clean.

Thanks,

Mike

Re: LIVE from Piedmont TOC
 

I think a guy named Scooter (sorry, don't know last name) owns all of "The Total Look" cars. Richard Alford, Jr. is driving for him. The car is running in SS/Production FA-1

Re: LIVE from Piedmont TOC
 

Pearsall.... that's the name.

Couple of pics to round out the weekend, although I didn't last long. First round, .027 and out by .005, tripping with the spoiler (sigh... again.) :rolleyes:

Waiting to be paired up. Behind me is Kevin Riner with his new B/FIA combination (formerly a CM car), Marvin Strickland, Tony Ward, and Kyle Shipmon.
http://www.staginglight.com/photos/p...10/pairing.jpg

Mike Mayhew. Off to the left is AJ Currie from Fayetteville Motorsports Park, and the gold Nova in the background is the D/PS driven by local hitter Randall Cantrell.
http://www.staginglight.com/photos/p...c10/mayhew.jpg

Mickey Whaley came out with his super clean 'vert.
http://www.staginglight.com/photos/p...c10/whaley.jpg

Eventual winner Richard Alford, Jr., driving Pearsall's E/SA Camaro. Although Alford has won the Bracket Finals and innumerable track championships and big money races, I believe this is just his second win in Stock. Since this was a Sportsman National event, it paid National event type purses and contingency, and he's now in the Tournament of Champions, to be held at Virginia Motorsports Park in October.
http://www.staginglight.com/photos/p...c10/alford.jpg

Tip o' the cap to Hillarey Sloan for her R/U... almost a sweep, as she won the Pro-Am here earlier this season!