ALKY FLOPS
Around 12 alky cars were in attendance for
this event. Many of these cars had original
chassis and bodies from the Sixties and
many of them had automatic transmissions.
There were only two cars in this class that
ran under seven seconds Rick Lawrence
was quickest with a 6.919 during eliminations
in his '70 Cuda. That e.t. was good enough
to trailer Rack Stanbaugh and get him the
third place money. Pennsy driver Lou Sgro
drove his hemi-powered '73 Demon to a 6.926/205.65
to get the number one qualifying spot and
the speed mark for blown alky cars. He
then ran a 6.95 to trailer number two qualifier
Rick Wilson for the overall title.
The rest of the field qualified in the high
sevens or slower with speeds around 170 mph.
CONCLUSION
If this class is going to become a real
fan favorite and an alternative booking for
the smaller track owner looking for a nitro
show, then they
must improve their act. In two nights of
qualifying I saw no nitro cars—repeat,
NO nitro cars—with noticeable flames,
and only two cars (Mike Adams in the VRA
Nitro class and Steve Hill in the Alky ranks)
did acceptable burnouts. (Hill absolutely
fogged in the track Friday night, but huffed
a blower in the process).
If these cars are going to get bookings and
be entertaining, just burning nitro won't be
enough. Six-second, 230-mph nitro funny cars
that don't flame or do good burnouts aren't
entertaining and fans won't pay to see them
more than once.
