In the opening round of qualifying, Eddie Ware tied Mike
Ashley’s 3.979 E.T. record set at Jackson, SC, last
year and was prepared to back it up within the required
one percent in the second round before a local emergency
took the track ambulance away from the rural-Georgia strip.
With racing halted until the medical team returned, it
was delayed long enough to lose the cloud cover and change
conditions to the point Ware’s crew chief, Jimmy
Rector, was no longer confident in their chances to confirm
the record. "We’ll just wait until it’s
cooler tonight," Ware said. "Then we’ll
go for it." He made it with a 4.001, but the accomplishment
was overshadowed by Todd Bauknecht, John Lynam, and Bil
Clanton all running threes in the session. Ware redlit
against Josh Hernandez in round one of eliminations, but
would have been hard pressed to keep up, as Hernandez went
3.972 at 179.73 to take the win.
Pat Doherty made the trek from Windham, NH, with his sinister-looking ’57
Chevy and placed it sixth in the Pro Nitrous field with
a 4.137 effort. Doherty had a terrible .162 light in his
first-round match against Keith Baker, though, throwing
away a 4.011-second pass that was the quickest nitrous
run ever made to that point. He never quite matched that
performance on Sunday, but was a picture of consistency,
going 4.141, 4.168, and 4.167 in beating Chip King, Terry
Housley, and making a bye run for the Outlaws team.
Twenty-year-old Herman Sheppard was at Valdosta making
laps in his primered ’68 Camaro, running a best of
4.227 that placed him 17th of 24 Pro Extreme entries. Mike
Ashley’s crew chief Chuck Ford was in Sheppard’s
pit most of Saturday.
