While Outlaw 10.5 is widely considered to be one of the most competitive categories in all of drag racing, it seems that whenever and wherever Tim Lynch shows up, Tim Lynch wins.  Lynch, along with tuner Steve Petty, did exactly that over the weekend at the 16th running of the Holcomb Motorsports Spring Outlaw Civil Wars, held at Steve Earwood’s fabled Rockingham Dragway.

Holcomb Motorsports in nearby Lumberton, was founded in 1993 and is widely known around the Blue Oval community as a “one stop shop” for Ford performance parts. As diehard Mustang and 5.0L pushrod gearheads and racers themselves, the Holcomb’s began hosting the Civil Wars events at “The Rock” in 1995.

Originally billed as all-Ford events and continuing as such for many years, the Holcomb Civil Wars opened itself up to all brands in recent years and brings together some of the finest racing machines in the Southeast, becoming a popular stop for heads-up doorslammer racers from all over the region. In addition to Outlaw 10.5, this year’s race featured True 10.5, 275 Real Street, the wildly popular X275 category, MSD King of the Streets, Open Comp, and a host of bracket and index categories. In addition to the Spring event, a Fall rendition takes place annually in late September.

Lynch, from Woodstock, Ga., reset both ends of the Outlaw 10.5 eighth mile world record in the final round of qualifying with a crushing 4.143 at 197.36 miles per hour to solidify the top spot as others nipped at his heels. T.J. Kasper and  The quickest and fastest class on the weekend fight card featured heavy hitters that traveled from near and far, including the North, south, Maryland, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, and other Eastern states.

Lynch opened eliminations with a first round single and put an exclamation point on his qualifying performance with a stellar 4.16 at 196, then defeated Jason Enos and his gorgeous ’67 Mustang and Tom Kasper in the semifinals. In the final round, paired with fellow Georgian and Proline runner Danny Lowry, Lynch’s 4.242 at 188 effort was just enough to nip Lowry’s 4.283 at the stripe after giving up a sizable .035 advantage out of the gate.

Kevin Fiscus, who made headlines in February when he ran the quickest lap ever recorded on Drag Radials in South Georgia, drove his twin turbocharged 2002 Mustang to the TCI True 10.5 crown by defeating perennial Rockingham winner Keith Szabo and his ’93 Mustang, 4.57 to 4.69. The True 10.5 class brought together the best of both worlds as the rules allowed for both 10.5″ slicks and 315 Drag Radial-clad cars to compete head-to-head.

Fiscus qualified atop the field with a 4.571 at 176.40 MPH and marched his way through eliminations, picking off Josh Gross and Amanda Long on his journey to the final, while Szabo used a an opening round 4.67 to take out David Pearson, then bested the hard-hitting Steve Jackson and #2 qualifier Brad Edwards on his side of the ladder to make the final.

In UPR Real Street 275, Terry Morton of nearby Kannapolis, NC drove to victory lane after edging out Kevin Robinson in a great drag race, as Robinson took a small edge past the tree but couldn’t fend off the quicker Morton, dropping the race by a 5.599 to 5.627 count.

Lisa Handy and her ’79 Ford Fairmont led qualifying in Real Street 275 with a great 5.510 at 126.36, with Robinson (5.514) and Morton (5.711) trailing close behind.

The Kooks Headers X275 Drag Radial category, perhaps the most popular eliminator in all of drag racing these days, boasted a field of some of the class’ finest competitors from tracks all up and down the East Coast.  When it was all said and done on Sunday afternoon, it was Lacrosse, Virginia’s Justin Smith taking home the hardware after opponent Peter Harrell couldn’t make the call after a fire downtrack in his semifinal matchup with Mike Freeman.  X275 was boasted as a North versus South shootout, and it was exactly that with racers hailing from New Jersey to Florida and every point in between.

Smith put his ’01 Camaro atop the qualifying sheets with a nice 4.949 at 145.09 that led Florida’s Clint Lonon and New Jersey driver Rich Bruder, who recorded a new X275 national speed record of 149.20 miles per hour in qualifying. Smith defeated Lonon in the semifinals with a slowing 11.74 after Lonon lit the red bulb. Freeman actually reached the finish line first in the semifinals alongside Harrell, bu crossed the centerline and handed the round win to Harrell, who was having plenty of troubles of his own in the other lane.

Craig Owen took the MSD King of the Streets Series honors back home to Easley, SC after driving his ’79 Mercury Zephyr to the win over Jerry Hildebran Jr., 5.157 to 5.224. King of the Streets is a series in and of itself, with an eight race schedule around North Carolina pitting some wicked fast street-driven cars in heads-up battle. Illustrating that is Erick McMillon’s ’91 Mustang which paced the field with a quick 5.06 elapsed time.

Ron Williams was the victor in Performance Automatic Open Comp after defeating NMRA regular Reggie Burnette Jr. after both drivers broke out at the stripe by several hundredths.

Other winners included Shane Williams (Saturday Pro Tree Door), Mark Soles (Saturday and Sunday Footbrake), Terry Floyd (Sunday Combo Index), David Barnett (Saturday Ultimate Converter Concepts 6.0 Index), Jerry Cline (Saturday 7.0 Index), Shane Williams (Saturday Open Comp), and Dale Sanders (Saturday Pro Tree Door).