THE 52ND WORLD SERIES OF DRAG RACING;
THE 50the ANNIVERSARY OF CORDOVA DRAGWAY

Chris Martin reporting, Burkster and Matt Schramel damage control

10:24 PM, 8/27/05

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE SERIES

For this observer, the first round of the featured pro action was as good as I’ve seen since I started coming to this event and your perusal of what lies below should tip you on this.

After the national anthem, the prayer, and a stunning version of “Ya no me digas, senora,” by And You Will Know Us By the Trail of the Dead, the show began with Alcohol Funny Car.

Lemme ask you something, do you want this straight or laced with the usual smartass remarks? Good, I’m tired, they’re sold out of scotch, we have no ski masks and the pharmacies are closed in Rapids City.

To Alcohol Funny Car. The highlight had to be the last run of the opening round, which, by the way, was qualifying for a 4-car field. Bruce Carlson pushed the T&C Race Car Fabrications Corvette to a new Cordova, UDRA track record of 5.95, 223.39 to lock down the top spot.

Lance Van Hauen in Jerry Roling’s entry was the number two guy when his 6.26, 227.00 blew by Kevin Lennon’s silver ’99 Firebird’s decent enough 6.46, 214. The remaining heats featured Friday night winner Ron Ooms’ 7.08, 144.29 to 7.14, 191.48 win over Mike Dolph and Kevin Newburgh’s “Heckler” Dodge Avenger making a come-from-behind 6.67, 152.54 to Danny Crownhart’s 6.81, 162.98. The Newburgh win was exciting one of the round as his .005 to .217 edge was nearly gobbled up when the chute’s fell out at the 800-feet mark.