Glidden struggled to get his Mustang to perform
and qualified seventh with a 7.74/181, but
he apparently had solved his problems when
he opened eliminations with a stout 7.552/186
win over David Hance. That performance by
Glidden was good, but No. 2 qualifier Millen
served notice with a 7.48 opening round thrashing
of first alternate, Christian Helms.
Possibly the biggest upset of the WFC came
in the third round when Glidden staged up
with No. 3 qualifier Jim Blair. Blair proceeded
to trailer Glidden when he treed him with
a .089 r.t. to Glidden's less than spectacular
.137. Blair's 7.613/186.18 was good enough
to hold off Glidden's quicker but losing 7.574/186,
setting up a final round between the number
two and three qualifiers.
Based on his performance alone Millen looked
to have the edge in the final against Jim
Blair, but driver reaction time determined
the winner, not horsepower. Millen's .067
light left Blair in the beams when he only
mustered a .108 reaction time. Millen's 7.827
e.t. barely held off Blair's quicker but losing
7.824 and gave Millen the win by just .038
of a second.
DRAG RADIAL CLASS
The Drag Radial class requires drivers with
absolutely no fear! Cars in this treaded-tire
class weigh in between 2900 and 3300 lbs,
stock suspension is mandatory, but any engine
power-adder is allowed. This class adheres
to the roots of "Pro Street." These cars are
"street legal" in the loosest of terms, a
little dangerous, and the drivers fearless.
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The
treaded tires, usually with most of the tread
buffed off, never quite hooked up completely
yet 10 drivers in this class were able to
get the rides into the eight's.
New Jersey's Dwayne "Big Daddy" Gutridge,
who qualified No. 1 with an 8.297, and Neptune,
Nova Scotia's Bob McDonald ran an 8.875 for
the number two spot. Distaff driver Christine
Eldert got her 308-inch small block Mustang
into the eight-second zone during the first
round of eliminations with a stout 8.87.
"Big Daddy" lived up to the reputation of
his namesake from Seffner, Florida by not
only qualifying on the pole but setting Top
Speed for the class at 177.37 and Low E.T.
at 8.180. He then beat No. 2 qualifier Bob
"Big Mac" McDonald in the finals to run the
table.
If there was an indicator of how these cars
weren't hooking up it had to be the reaction
times. The average reaction time going into
the final round was an unbelievable .267 and
that included "Big Daddy's .085 reaction time
in the final. Nevertheless, 8.18/177 on treaded
tires in a 3000-lb car! Whooee, are you kiddin'
me?
DIESEL CHALLENGE
In a race full of outrageously fast sedans
it was really cool to see diesel-powered pickups
that would run in the eleven-second zone.
In fact, the WFC is probably the only organized
drag race on a "national event" level that
has a class with diesel fuel-burning pickup
trucks.
There were 19 trucks in an all-run class
with only one of the entrants breaking the
twelve-second barrier. Number one qualifier
David Lott from Cypress, Texas drove his F-250
to an 11.94 in qualifying and then, in a losing
effort, a stellar 11.74 with a top speed of
115.31. Most of the quickest of the trucks
ran high 13 second and low 14-second elapsed
times. Those are very quick times for any
street car and extremely quick for a diesel-burning
pickup. (I'll bet there are some guys with
'Vettes in those truckers' hometowns that
are in a state of denial after a stoplight
race with one of those trucks.)
