Words by Ian Tocher, Photos by Roger Richards

As it turned out, a driver who had entered only one previous Pro Mod race secured the team victory for the AMS All-Stars at the inaugural Dragstock, held October 8-10, 2004 at Carolina Dragway. Unexpectedly subbing for his famous father, who was nursing a back injury, Scott Cannon Jr. entered the final round of racing just needing a win over No. 1 qualifier John Lynam to seal victory for the All-Stars.

At the green, Cannon left first with a .091 holeshot over Lynam's .171 reaction and then tripped the lights in 4.178 seconds to Lynam's quicker but losing 4.026-second pass. That made the final score 21-18 in favor of the AMS gang, earning each member a $2,500 payday, while each member of the Flowmaster Outlaws got $1,000 for their efforts.

Dragstock's unique raceday format featured three sessions of 11 pairings each, with team members from the All-Stars and Outlaws repeatedly racing each other. No one was eliminated by a loss, but the winner of each race received one point for his or her team, plus one point was awarded for both low ET and top speed following each session, making a total of 39 points available.

Fan voting before the event established three members on each team, broken down by those drivers who had previously raced in an NHRA AMS Pro Mod event and all others. Three qualifying sessions on Saturday determined the remaining eight positions on each team, as well as set the field for the $10,000-to-win Pro Extreme Quick 8 race for the top qualifiers, regardless of team affiliation.

Frankie Taylor deserved "hero" status among the AMS team as his 3.994 in the final session on Sunday set low elapsed time and garnered the bonus point that meant all Cannon, Jr. had to do was win his round to take the team title.