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Just a couple
of weeks after being the quickest
nitrous racer at Dragstock, Dan Parker
reset his career-best elapsed time
in qualifying on top of the Outlaw
Pro Mod field at Atlanta Dragway.
Parker enjoyed a bye run in the opening
round of eliminations, but lost in
round two. |
The first winner of the weekend was Saturday's
Top Eliminator champ, Ed Nalley. Nalley, who
hails from nearby Maysville, GA, couldn't believe
he'd won the race with his footbrake '76 Vega.
The Top Eliminator format paired the winner
of the Footbrake field versus the winner of
the Super Pro field in the final. Nalley, who
faced off against Mike Holman and Holman's
show-quality 1970 Buick GSX in the final, saw
the win light pop on in his lane the moment
Holman left the starting line.
Apparently, Holman had switched off his delay
box during the previous pass, and forgotten
to turn it back on, causing his car to leave
the starting line at almost the same time as
Nalley. Nalley went a little quicker than his
6.48 dial, with a 6.42 at 107.56, but Holman
lifted to a 7.20 at just 72.31-mph pass on
a 6.27 dial.
A mistake
on the line cost Mike Holman a chance
at the win in Saturday night's Top
Eliminator final. Holman's bright
yellow Buick has been a DRO feature
car.
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"I figured my chances to win were slim
and none," Nalley exclaimed afterward. "I
wish my wife Diane was here to see it."
On Sunday, Kirk eventually met up with Lynch
in the Outlaw 10.5 final after they defeated
Terry Robbins and Lance Styck in the semi-finals.
Kirk made another strong run in the $10,000-to-win
final round, going 4.69 at 156.57mph pass,
while Lynch was forced to lift and coasted
through in 6.71 at 71.11 mph.
Kirk's excitement wasn't quite over, though,
as he had his hands full at the end of the
run when his car's steering arm broke off the
right front spindle the moment he took his
foot off the throttle. Kirk held on, bringing
the car to a safe stop, and it remains unclear
if the failure is related to the handling troubles
he experienced at Orlando the week prior. Regardless,
in the winner's circle, car owner Green declared, "This
is an expensive trophy."
In just his
fourth race with the car, Americus,
GA's Lance Styck made it all the
way to the Outlaw 10.5 semis at Atlanta.
The 2004 Mustang was built by Steve
Kirk and carries a Custom Performance
420 c.i. small-block SVO engine boosted
by a 106-mm Precision turbo.
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Kirk meanwhile, thanked David Young of Atlanta
Dragway for the great track preparation. "It
takes an excellent track to put that kind of
number down (4.56 seconds) with a 10.5 inch
tire," said Kirk.
The number-one qualifier also made it to the
final in Limited Street, as Darren Hoyle and
his '69 Camaro met up with John Iannuzzi in
his '67 Camaro. Unfortunately for Hoyle, an
apparent nitrous explosion immediately ended
his day when he hit the throttle, allowing
Iannuzzi to cruise on down the track to a leisurely
5.77 at 134.42-mph win. Iannuzzi recognized
it was a lucky break, as he said he'd burned
a hole in his number-eight piston during round
one, effectively turning his 632 c.i. engine
into a smoky seven-cylinder powerplant for
the remainder of the day.
"Even a bald dog gets lucky sometime," said
Iannuzzi. "Thanks to Bryan Renfro; I couldn't
have done this without him."
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