Wetscotts Dominate “Mopars At The Grove” Hemi Shootout

Another Hemi Shootout is in the books, and the Westcott clan has another bit of hardware on their shelves in Parma, Mich.

Not only did the first family of Super Stock Hemi racing take home the big check at the Hemi Shootout as part of the Mopars at the Grove at the Maple Grove Raceway over the weekend, but the final round came down to a bout between the two Warfish Barracudas, as Junior got the best of Senior, who was -.031 red in the final and could only race his son to the final for performance bragging rights.

Westcott Jr. opened qualifying on Saturday with a class-leading 8.387 at 160.23 mph, with Tyler Hard nearly a tenth back at 8.46 and Westcott Sr. third at 8.48 amongst the nine cars to take a time. Only three cars improved in the second session, but none of those were the frontrunners and the order remained the same headed into eliminations.

While Westcott Jr. earned a competition bye in the opening round, his closest challenger, Hard, had to race his way through to round two with the tightest race of the opening round, edging Larry Perkins 8.55 to 8.61 after nearly identical reaction times. Gary Wolkwitz, Westcott Sr., and Jim Daniels also advanced to the second round.

This time around, Hard, as the No. 2 qualifier, got an easy single while Westcott Jr. had to run down Wolkwitz 8.47 to 8.56 after Wolkwitz grabbed an .045 advantage out of the gate. On the opposite side of the ladder, Westcott Sr. and Daniels were nearly even off the starting line and the stick-shift Warfish was there for the taking with “just” an 8.65, but Daniels slowed from his impressive 8.52-second pace in round one to an 8.99.

That set up a heck of a semifinal matchup as Westcott Jr. and Hard squared off for a trip to the final round and a date with the elder Westcott.

As was the case throughout eliminations, both drivers were welded together out of the gate with just .001 separating them, but that Westcott horsepower was just too much as the Warfish pulled away to an 8.47 to 8.53 victory.

The Mopars at the Grove marked the midway point in the five-race 2012 Hemi Shootout calendar, with three down and two remaining. Charlie Sr. won the opener at the JEG’S Cajun SPORTSNationals in Louisiana earlier this season and David Barton scored at the most recent event — the Mopar’s at the Strip in Las Vegas. The can’t-miss Hemi Shootout as part of the 58th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis is next up on the docket, and the season will conclude at the Pennsylvania Dutch Classic back At Maple Grove in mid-October.