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It’s a beautiful spring Friday here at Memphis International Dragway in Millington, TN. We have light overcast skies and perfect temperatures for our first day of competition. Today will be all qualifying, with each class scheduled to run three times. The run order is as follows: 7.0 Index, Limited Drag Radial, Leaf Spring, MX235, 6.0 Index, X275 and Radial vs the World. Check back throughout the day as we will be updating as the action happens, brought to you by Fuel Air Spark Technology!
Limited Drag Radial competitor Bobby Kruck made some major changes to his Trans Am for the new class. Gone is the 598 CID gas burning bullet, swapped for a smaller 540 CID powerplant burning methanol. Kruck also swapped his twin turbo setup for a single 118mm turbine and pulled almost 400 lbs from the car, putting him much closer to the minimum legal weight for his combo. Kruck launched into a big wheelstand in the first qualifier, but look for this veteran racer to get his new combo ironed out quickly.
Street Outlaws star David “Daddy Dave” Comstock is behind the wheel of this ProCharged Malibu, owned by Brendan Russell. Comstock ran a 4.80 yesterday in testing, but had issues getting the car cranked for the first round of qualifying. Hopefully they can track down the gremlins and get it running for Q2.
Barry Mitchell was forced to abort his first qualifying run after striking the tires at the hit. Mitchell and crew will be back in Q2 to take another shot at the LDR ladder.
Rick Wetherbee made a nice pass in his gorgeous Impala SS. Wetherbee laid down a 4.56 at 172 MPH and is qualified #8 after one round.
Isaac Preston has his twin turbo Camaro sitting at #2 in qualifying after laying down a solid 4.26 at 184 MPH.
Eric Gustafson is currently atop the LDR ladder after laying down a 4.200 at 176 MPH. Gustafson is coming off a strong showing at Lights Out 7 and is looking to improve upon his finish at SGMP.
Huntsville, AL racer Shane Stack is sitting at #4 in LDR after the first session. Stack ran a clean 4.37 at 175 MPH.
Longtime G-Body racer Dusty Bradford made the trip to Memphis from Trinity, AL. Bradford has his ’87 Buick sitting at #9 with a 4.68 at 163 MPH. Dusty has been 4.20’s so look for more from this clean hotrod!
Shawn Ellington has his famed Murder Nova sitting at #5 in LDR. Ellington laid down a solid 4.37 at 178 MPH despite having to pedal midtrack to bring the nose back to earth. Look for the Mustang Oklahoma-based Nova to be knocking on the 4.20’s before the weekend is over.
Randy Westmoreland brought his ultra-clean S10 from Austin Arkansas to compete in LDR. He had to abort the pass after losing traction, but look for more from Randy as the weekend progresses.
Scott Lowery is making his return after exploding his engine and suffering heavy damage at Holly Springs last fall. Lowery's wicked Cadillac XLR is one of a kind, and with a twin-turbo Hemi powerplant, should be able to lay down some solid numbers.
Charlie Booze Jr is competing in Ultra Street in his 1992 Mustang. Booze’s all-motor hotrod is qualified #9 at 5.02 after this gorgeous wheels-up launch!
With nearly 30 cars in competition, MX235 is strongly represented here at OSCR III! Justin Cyrnek’s 2013 Mustang sits at #6 after one session at 5.00!
Michael Main was forced to abort after losing traction in his clean WS6 Trans Am. Look for a huge improvement on his 12.26 Q1 time in the next qualifier.
Oklahoma racer Odie Sturgeon is the quickest nitrous car in X275 after round 1. He is qualified #3 with a 4.57 ET from his gorgeous red Nova.
Clint Downs rode out a wild wheelstand in his Nova to a 4.73 at 152 MPH. Downs sits at #11 but his ProCharged entry has much quicker ET’s in it if he can keep the front end down.
Jimmy White wheeled his Mustang to a 5.39 as he fought for traction in the warmer part of the day. He sits at #19 and hopes to improve in the 2nd session coming up later.
Perennial Radial vs the World favorite Dewayne Mills laid down a stellar 3.95 in the first round of qualifying at 209 MPH! He sits at #3 and look to improve later this afternoon.
Kyle Huettel is behind the wheel of current Radial vs the World record holder Jason Michalak’s C6 Corvette. Huettel powered to a 3.94 to take the early #1 spot. With easy 3.80’s in the blown Hemi combo, look for the BAD9ER team to lower the boom when the temps fall this evening.
Big Chief has the CrowMod sitting at #4 after a solid 4.13 at 183 MPH in Q1. The Street Outlaws star made a clean run in the warmer part of the day and looks to inch closer to the 3-second zone this evening.
Drag Weeker Tom Bailey finally made a full pass in his insane twin-turbo Camaro during the first qualifying session. Bailey laid down a 4.33 at 171 MPH to land in the #9 spot. With nearly 4,000 HP on tap, expect Bailey to lower that number as he fine-tunes his power management for small tires.
Daniel Pharris showed some great consistency in the heat, following his 3.90 from last night with a killer 3.95 at 203 MPH today.
Tennessee native Tim Kincaid made a solid run at 4.27 and actually had to lift early when the new nose collapsed and blew up in front of the windshield. We’ll check and see if Tim is able to make necessary repairs and return to competition.
Eddie Harrison (near) and Shannon Beeler paired up in a battle of 4th Gen F-Bodies. Harrison powered into a wheelstand while Beeler fought traction issues. Harrison sits at #17 with a 5.34 while Beeler is #20 with a 6.47. Both teams will definitely be looking for better numbers in the sessions to follow this evening.
Steven Fereday hauled his Camaro from Houston to compete in Radial vs the World. Fereday’s tuner, Josh Ledford (standing at the rear of the car) will have to look at the data and see why the swoopy F-Body lost traction. This team has been low 4.0’s so don’t expect their 7.53 to hold up.
Shawn Ayers will have to come back in round 2 of qualifying to take another shot at the field. Ayers lifted after spinning early and coasted to a 5.41, but expect much better numbers from the Fletcher Cox-owned Mustang later today.
Run Sheet for Qualifying Round 1
Run Sheets for Round 1 of Qualifying
Unfortunately these clouds brought rain, and although the first round moved through fairly quickly, the staff had a hard time getting the track dry. When they finally did get it dry, another round of showers blew in shortly afterwards, ending the Friday festivities.
Tomorrow’s schedule will open at 10am with X275 finishing their final qualifying session, Radial vs the World’s final qualifying, and then we will go directly into eliminations. Hopefully the race will be completed tomorrow as scheduled. Check back with us as we will be updating again throughout the day! Good night from Memphis.
