TENNESSEE WALTZ
FOR ADLER

For the third year in a row, the AutoZone Super Chevy Show (www.superchevyshow.com) at Memphis Motorsports Park broke its own attendance record during the April 17-18 event.

The huge crowd saw defending WorkMat.net Nitro Coupe world champion Randy Adler of Tinley Park, IL, return to the winner's circle and also got an extra dose of Nitro as Top Fuel star Clay Millican brought his Werner Enterprises Top Fuel dragster to the events.

Clay, from nearby Drummonds, TN, made a total of four test runs Saturday and Sunday. Although none of the runs went the full quarter mile, Memphis fans were delighted to see their hometown hero and experience the thunder of a Top Fueler.

Adler, who won the first two national events of the Nitro Coupe season before going out early in Valdosta, GA, took his latest win at the expense of Holley, NY racer Dave Tomasino. Adler's '57 Chevy Nitro Coupe ran a 6.580 at 211.99 mph in the final to best Tomasino, whose 6.612-second run was marred by some engine damage causing him to pull the chutes early and slow to a 167.76 mph pace. The win also boosted Adler back to the top of the points in the Mickey Thompson Nitro Coupe Challenge.

Canadian racer Bruce Boland and Nitro Coupe rookie Wayne Torkelson were the semi-finalists. Torkelson showed that he will be a force to be reckoned with as he made a sizzling 6.333-second pass during eliminations for the fastest ET of the young Nitro Coupe season.

In the Top Sportsman ranks, Tennessee racer T.J. Tracey took care of business with a final-round win over Jeremy Glidewell, part of a Top Sportsman brother act from Corinth, MS. Tracey dialed his '66 Nova to a 7.07 in the finals and ran a 7.104 at 190.19 mph. Glidewell, driving a '95 Cutlass, dialed a 7.46 and ran a breakout 7.457 at 182.67 mph. Jeremy Glidewell's brother Corey and Billy Vaughn of Knoxville, TN were the semi-finalists.

The Chicago Outlaw Super Stock Association brought a full field of cars to the Memphis Motorsports Park AutoZone Super Chevy Show. The cars are a fan favorite because they are street legal, but run quarter-mile times in the 8-second range. Association founder Bill Houghton of Homer Glen, IL, ended up with the victory, besting Ron VanderWoud, also of Homer Glen. Houghton took his world-record setting 1993 Camaro Z-28 to a 8.091-second pass at 170.60 mph in the finals; VanderWoud ran a 8.275 at 165.72 mph.

A field of over 400 cars was at Memphis for the AutoZone Super Chevy Show's Flowmaster bracket racing series. The Memphis crowd also saw duels between the only two train-themed jet dragsters in the world...the "Cannonball Express" and the "Super Chief", both owned by California driver KC Jones. Jones, piloting the Cannonball Express, took three of the weekend's four races.

Before the first round of eliminations Saturday, Roger Gustin, President of AutoStar Productions, the producers of the AutoZone Super Chevy Show, presented a special "Partnership" award to racing legend Bill Taylor, President of BTE/Memphis Performance.