Pro Modified event winner, Mike Hazlett behind the wheel of his '97 Oldsmobile Cutlass

Mike Hazlett upset the Outlaw Pro Modified field at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis, IN., on Friday night in the top category of Napa Autoparts Friday Night Rage.  Sheldon Bissessar captured the Ultimate 10.5 Dragster category with booming 190 mph blasts in the eighth mile eliminator.  Also capturing wins in the heads up categories were Waldron, IN., resident, Kris Fewell, who took the win in the Outlaw Limited Street class and Darren Hiltebran who took the win in the highly competitive True Street eliminator.

Outlaw Pro Mod action had Cathy Belcher capture the top qualifying spot, with a shut off 4.32 second run coasting to just 148 mph.  Belcher, however, would go out in the first round as she would turn on the red light by .015 seconds and would hand the win to Mike Hazlett in his ’97 Oldsmobile Cutlass.

Tommy Jones beautiful ’67 burgundy Mustang would be put on the trailer in round one as he would be shut off after the burnout, advancing Glenn Julius’ ’04 Grand Am powered by a Steve Schmidt 706 cubic inch powerplant.  Hazlett would defeat Julius in the semi-final round with a 4.50 second pass, while Julius would post a 4.83 second lap.  Eric Burnett’s ’05 Cavalier would simply break the beams in the semi-finals before lining up against Hazlett in the final round.

In the final round, Burnett’s Cavalier was obviously wounded as it sounded like the motor was struggling to just maintain an idle.  Burnett’s Cavalier launched nearly half a second after the green light flashed, immediately taking him out of the race and handing the win to the Cutlass driven by Hazlett, who fell off of the pace to a 4.61 at 154 mph.

Shedon Bissessar, Ultimate 10.5 Dragster event winner

Ultimate 10.5 Dragster saw Eddie Careceia take the top spot in qualifying with a 3.94 seconds at 184 mph.  In the semi-finals, Bissessar defeated the third qualified driver, Mark McElwer in a close Race.  Bissessar’s pass of 4.00 at 190 mph was just enough to edge out the 4.05 at 180 mph of McElwer.  In the final round, both drivers inched into the stage beams, then, before the green, Careceia launched, and reacting on the launch of his competitor, Bissessar followed.  Neither driver received a time, but race officials confirmed that Carecia left first and declared Bissessar the event winner.

Kris Fewell wheel standing his '69 Camaro, Fewell would go on to win the Outlaw Limited Street Class.

Mark Woodruff provided the fireworks in the first round of qualifying, but not in the way he would have liked.  Woodruff’s signature blue ’67 Corvette popped the intake on his turbocharged Chevrolet motor, and sent a piece of the hood over 50 feet into the air.  Meanwhile, Ron Stinson would qualify his ’84 Ford Thunderbird at the top of the field with a 5.39 second pass at 142 mph.  In the final round, Fewell would up his ’69 Camaro against the ’84 Thunderbird of Stinson.  The pair would be close on the line, but Stinson would fade as his Thunderbird would struggle for traction down track, allowing Fewell to take the win with a lap of 5.68 at 120 mph.

True Street event winner, Darren Hilterbran

Kevin Neal would lead the True Street field in qualifying, with a 4.87 second lap at 150 mph in his ’89 Mustang.  In round one, Orson Johnson would be loading his ’99 Mustang convertible on the trailer after posting a reaction time of just three thousandths of a second, but would slow to a 5.95 at 130 mph, while Tom Donathen would advance with a 5.36 at 135 mph.  In the semi-finals, Neal would be unable to run, and Donthen would advance on the single pass, and Hilterbran would defeat Matt Bell in a close race with a 5.05 defeating the 5.26 of Bell.

The final round would see Hilterbran having to make up a steep deficit from a reaction time disadvantage of eight hundredths of a second, but he would easily make up the difference on the track with his 5.01 at 141 mph defeating the 5.36 at 134 mph of Donathen’s ’87 Mustang.

Indy’s Friday Night Rage hits the track again on August 12^th, and will once again provide great heads-up racing action.