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It’s day three of qualifying here at the South Georgia Motorsports Park, and barring a run-in with Hurricane Matthew that’s presently working its way up the coast of Florida, we’ll be reeling off a pair of sessions today as we lead into the weekend. Keep it tuned right here to Dragzine throughout the day for updates. As always, a big shout to Fuel Air Spark Technology for their support of our same day coverage!
Jason Digby is debuting a brand new combination here this weekend in his Leaf Spring Dodge Dart, making the swap from nitrous to a turbo. Eric Yost redid the front and rear half of the chassis, along with the interior, firewall, and other components, giving Digby a fresh palette for his new setup. The Predator-headed, de-stroked Chrysler mill measures 547 cubic inches and is now paired with a 118mm Precision turbo, built by Jeff Burns and now tuned to Peter Harrell. Digby felt he'd reached the ceiling with his nitrous combo, and given that many of those he races with were already running turbo setups, it was an easy decision to go that route in order to share data and knowledge. With the new chassis setup, he can now run the car in Limited and Outlaw Drag Radial, providing him more options to race in the future.
Daniel Pharris made another stellar low 3.80 lap this morning, a 3.82, in the third session of Radial vs The World.
Justin “Big Chief” Shearer JUST missed the three-second zone in the Crowmod on Thursday night, clicking off a career best 4.01 on a nice and straight lap. Barring some significant changes in the qualifying order, Shearer will almost certainly make the qualified field after coming up just short at Lights Out back in February.
Mike Hupp is still the No. 1 qualifier in Outlaw Drag Radial with his 4.20 from last night, but his weekend was put in some jeopardy when he broke a transmission on today’s second round. Hupp and crew were still pulling the transmission to assess the damage at press time.
Billy Midnight and crew were yanking the motor from the Phil "Corndog" Smith-driven Firebird following the second session of Outlaw 632 this afternoon. According to Billy, the engine endured some punishment in advancing to the recent King of the Streets final round, which led to torching a head today. Smith is currently fourth in the field with a 4.47. "I came here for one reason, and that's to beat every one of these big tire cars with our little radial," Billy said.
Larry Roach has his 1964 Chevy II back-half car here for the first time this weekend competing in It’s powered by an AJ 481 from Mike Janis topped with a PSI C rotor screw that was campaigned by Jason Hamstra before he went to a Hemi engine. They have made some hits at Piedmont and Shady Side testing the combo using a Bruno/Lenco trans and NCRC converter. Roach is based out of Alta Vista, Virginia. The car was run previously with a big block Chevy roots combo on 28’s at No Prep events for a couple of years before the switch as Larry has wanted a screw blower for some time now. “I have to thank Donny Holdren at DRH Performance for tuning and all his help with the car, Tracy Ramsey, my wife Sara helps out, she keeps us all together” – Larry Roach
Tim Kincaid powered into an impressive wheelstand in the third session of RvW and was forced to shut it down early.
Pro 275 racer Jerry Gunter has brought out his gorgeous Camaro with an all-new Alan Johnson small-block powerplant with a C-rotor screw blower on top. With just six passes on it, Gunter has been a 4.68 best so far this weekend.
In Pro Charger 275 last night Ziff Hudson had put up a 4.11 at 186 earning top MPH for the session and first place on the sheet. That would not be for long though at Matt Moore scored a 4.10 later in the session. Scotty G sits third with a .19.
Shawn Pevlor shocked everyone going a 4.601 at 150 MPH in Nitrous Xpress Nitrous X, a good bit ahead of Robert Rogers' second place 4.84 at 142.
Marty Stennett went for a ride after the stripe sliding around to the right side and getting flipped over on the rook by a strong headwind. He got out of the car under his own power and is basically ok. We are part way through this round and under a rain delay for the time being.
Video credit: TheRacingVids
A 4.07 at 181 for Chad Opaleski will likely move him up a couple of spots in PTC Radial vs the World. That’s a new best for him and continuing improvement for the team with Rob Zarc tuning.
Barry Mitchell is running well with his new combo built by Tim McCamis Race Cars powered by BAE Hemi topper with a Hammer Superchargers Roots blower tuned by Todd Tutterow. He did not improve this session but was fifth last night with a 3.84 at 189. Today’s third round hit was a 3.87 at 191. He has been as fast as 196 MPH this weekend.
Mitchell was paired with Dwayne Mills who set low ET with a record breaking 3.79 at 208.88.
Mark Micke and Larry Roach were paired up with Micke going 3.85 at 205 which was no help to him but a good a to b pass, Roach scored a 4.06 at 196 improving on last night’s 4.20 at 171 in his twin turbo charged 63 Nova.
Joe Albrecht improved on his earlier run with a 3.83 at 196 this session, a new best for the Resolution Racing Tuned AL-LEE Installations owned GTO. You can just see Tim Wiley’s fender in the corner of the shot as he was hanging the front end high.
Unfortunately, due to persistent sprinkles and a strong northerly wind from Hurricane Matthew to our Southeast, racing action has been called for the day. The plan is to begin tomorrow morning with the Index categories and then continue on with the session of Radial vs The World that was partially run this morning.
Mark Woodruff dropped a valve in his Sonny's powerplant in the third session of RvW this morning and was busily preparing to drop a spare motor into his Corvette this afternoon. Woofruff has been a best of 3.92 this weekend, which is a career best run.
Along with the Woodruff camp, Andrew Alepa’s team was also changing out a motor this afternoon after damaging the rods on their 3.82-second lap. Alepa pointed out the externally visible damage to the oilpan, but was unsure of whether the rods were broken or bent. Regardless, a new Pro Line bullet will be powering the car in the morning.
Marty Stinnett’s fortunes went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows during his run this morning. After cranking off a career best and small-block radial record pass of 3.88 — a number he says he joyously saw on the scoreboard as he went through the traps — the car turned left and took a violent tumble in the shutdown area. Stinnett said the strong headwind was “certainly a contributing factor,” but alluded to some nose-heavy weight balance as a possible element that led to the accident. Nonetheless, the likable driver said he had no ill effects from the crash, and is already receiving an outpouring of support from those here at SGMP, who have been buying up tee shirts in mass quantities and even offering parts for the rebuild effort. Showing the prowess of his new small-block Chevy combo, his 2.581-second 330-foot clocking is thought to be the quickest ever for a radial car, although that’s unconfirmed.
Round 2 Qualifying Orders
