A big thank you one more time for everybody who came out to support the Ultimate Doorslammer Shootout. Congratulations to the big winner and very proud new owner of an IHRA Ironman trophy, Wayne Montgomery. After breaking his Buick Friday night, he came back with this good ol' C10 Chevy P/U, and came away with the title of Ultimate Doorslammer!
Hank McGee was the runner-up. .014 on the tree, but the rear end broke, allowing Montgomery to lift early to the win. I believe Hank said he had 5 60's in a row within .001, and was heading for dead-on when the rear end gave way just after the 60'.
Semifinalists were Randy Anderson in the "slow" teal Vega, and S/SS competitor Mike Mayhew in his M/SA Olds Cutlass. Mayhew was only worse than .012 on the tree twice the entire day, including numerous time trials. The rear end started to go the round before, but it wouldn't go that one last round. Mayhew was .007 at the tree before the rear end broke. (A note for S/SS guys: We were way short on cars for this event, but even so, Mayhew won just THREE rounds, and walked away with $1,000!) Hate to see anyone break. I think that "Madness n' Mayhem" could have gone all the way. I've never seen him drive better.
We also had a Gambler's race, which we started after 3rd round. The very pretty Chevy II of Cori Jenkins laid out a .007 package for the win, turning away Jimmy Raper's .014 start and narrow breakout. Defending Pageland Dragway track champion Anne Jackson was the lone semifinalist.
Kelly Martin made exhibition passes in his blown Pro Mod Bel Air in attempts to break his own 4.00 record. He made passes of 4.12, 4.09, and on the last run, was sideways up on two wheels, and still ran a 4.18! The Top 8 Doorslammers (4.70 index) were also in the house, with Pageland's own Matt Hicks' Lumina taking the win over Woody Elders' '63 Corvette.
As expected, Eathon Lanfri from California collected the Bearden Oil/Sunoco Race Fuels Long Haul Award. He did get down to 6 cars in the Gambler's race.
The free Dash for Cash was hotly contested, with the Stock/Super Stock guys shining brightly. Jack Zimmerman's son David took the wheel of his B/SA '71 Challenger this weekend, and set the mark to beat early with a dead-on 6.6507 - yes, we're looking at four digits. Head of the PTRA, Tony Brown stunned everyone with his Super Stock Production '55 Chevy, carding an absolutely perfect 7.0600 on a 7.06 dial to claim the $200 prize. It's a good thing I was standing up while announcing, or I would've fallen out of my chair. It was magic.
Finally, a big thank you to M&M Chassis Craft (330-533-9093) for sponsoring the Low E.T. Award, going out to the quickest pass in the first round of eliminations. The runner-up in Friday heads-up program, Joe Rampley from Georgia, picked up the $200 bonus from M&M with a hearty 5.11 bullet. If memory serves, the car was a Buick Somerset!
For those who came out to support this event, my heartfelt thanks.