Dragzine

Francis Johnson in his flamed out Firebird.

Friday the 13th made for a great night of racing under the lights of Maryland International Raceway. It was Outlaw Drag Radial that was on tap for the fans on this night and with a very strong local contingent of racers it would prove to be quite exciting. With seventeen cars waiting to take a shot at the MIR track surface, it was going to get real serious real fast with the nitrous cars chomping at the bit to show the turbo cars who is boss.

Qualifying:

Round one of qualifying rolled into the lanes at 8:00pm sharp with seventeen cars. Jumping right to the front of the pack was Al Marlow going 4.96 @ 150mph which was followed closely by Richie Stine with a 5.02 @ 152mph. Rounding out the top eight after round one was Tim George of Johnstown, Pa. in his 1968 Camaro. Several heavy hitters sat outside the field looking in like Francis Johnson and would work hard to improve their qualifying effort in round two.

As round two of qualifying was set to begin the nitrous cars were set on kill and they would work their way up through the pack. Francis Johnson and his Samakow Racing Engines powered Firebird blasted the eighth mile in 4.741 seconds at 153mph. Richie Stine followed suit in the Mustang owned by Ricky Fox. Stine knocked two tenths off his previous effort to a 4.806 @ 154mph. Another strong effort was made by X275 racer Daniel Whestine as he qualified in the number six spot with a 5.32 @ 133mph. Tim George held onto the number eight position and would have to face Francis Johnson in round one of eliminations.

Richie Stine lost to Francis Johnson in the final round.

Round 1 Eliminations:

First through the water was Richie Stine taking on number seven qualifier Chris Wilkinson. Stine once again stepped up his performance to a 4.769 @ 154mph to take the win. Next up was Francis Johnson and Tim George, George red lighted which gave Johnson a easy pass but he laid out his cards for everyone to see. His 4.725 @ 153mph would be low for the round. Al Marlow also advanced to round two by defeating Karl Walther and Buddy Tippett advanced over Daniel Whestine as Daniel did a huge wheel stand and crossed the center line.

Round 2 Eliminations:

Round two was going to set the stage for what was heading up to a exciting final round. All four cars were nitrous powered and first up was Richie Stine versus Buddy Tippett.  It was a close race but Stine had a better reaction time and outrun Tippett to the finish line. Stine’s 4.775 @ 154mph would advance him to the final. Francis Johnson was taking on Al Marlow in the other semi-final round and Johnson had to do his part at the tree to win this race. Johnson’s .080 reaction time was a huge margin against Marlow’s .312. At the stripe it was Marlow with the faster elapsed time at 4.828 but it was Johnson’s 4.887 taking the win by virtue of a hole shot advantage.

Final Round:

What a final round it was shaping up to be with multi time track champion Richie Stine taking on Francis Johnson. Johnson had been just a few hundredths faster so Stine would have to be on his A game. When the pro-tree dropped it was all Johnson though with a stellar .039 reaction time to Stine’s .125. Johnson wheeled his 2000 Firebird to the finish line with a 4.762 @ 152mph for the win over the Mustang.