After qualifying number one in EZ Street, Smith and his Rossville, GA-based '72 Nova made it to the semi-finals where they faced eventual race winner Thomas Taylor of Mt. Holly, NC. Smith lost in the semis when his car went in to an eighth-mile-long wheelstand, tripping the finish line timers with his rear wheels! Near half track, his car's front end was so high in the air it looked like his car was ready to flip over backward! Ed Lavender beat Jeff Plemmons in the other EZ Street semi-final.

In the final round, Taylor's 1988 Mustang crossed the finish line just slightly ahead of Lavender's 1986 'Stang, as Smith carded a 5.65 at 126.87-mph pass, while Lavender was close with a 5.67 at 121.74 mph.

"I loved the track." Taylor said. "It was a good race. That was a much needed win."

The 6.0 final came down to a battle between David Harvey from Richmond Hill, GA, and Matt Davis of Acworth, GA. Number-one qualifier Sanders fell to Harvey in the semis, while Davis eliminated Marty Collier. Unfortunately for Davis, his light turned red off the start of the final round, as he left just .003 too soon, allowing Harvey to post the winning 6.04/113.40 pass in his 1984 Trans Am.

Perhaps familiarity with track conditions helped local Sportsman Al Hause and his pristine '70 Cutlass survive to finish on top of a tough 7.0 index class at Atlanta Dragway.

One of Atlanta Dragway's regulars took the top spot in the 7.0 class, as Al Hause from Grayson, GA nailed the 7.0 index with his 1970 Cutlass 442 W30 several times during eliminations. Although Hause was a little off in the final, running a 7.05 at 97.82 mph, the win light was his the instant opponent George Bolton left the starting line with the big red bulb glowing.

Hause's first 7.0 Heads Up win was only part of a family winning streak that weekend. Hause's niece Morgan won her soccer game Saturday by two goals (both of which she scored), his stepmother Bobbie Hause won her golf tournament on Sunday, and his dad Jerry finished second in his golf tournament.

Finally, Gerry Williams, who recently bought Jesse Young's '89 Horton dragster, earned his first ever win in Sunday's Top Eliminator final by beating the 1970 GTO driven by footbraker Toby Barnes from Palmetto, GA. Barnes went 7.70/89.83 against his 7.68 target, while Williams crossed the finish line first by just .0007 seconds, running 5.09 at 133.25 mph on a 5.06 dial.

SHOOTING GALLERY

Shannon Ragsdale had such a huge wheelstand in his '95 Corvette during Saturday afternoon's Limited Street qualifying session that all four wheels actually came off the ground and damaged the fronts when the car came back to earth. No problem, the Marietta, GA racer just borrowed some extra wheels and came back racing, eventually ending up one of the semi-final finishers.