NAISER KING OF THE HILL

Words by Bubba Corzine
Photos courtesy Bubba Corzine
9/8/05

The monthly running of King of the Hill (KOTH) cars took place at Texas Raceway, Kennedale, Texas on Friday night, August 26, 2005. The battle all year long has been between the Houston area cars and the Dallas-Ft. Worth area cars. This race went the way of the Houston racers. Two rounds of qualifying ended with two Houston area cars sitting one and two. The '92 Camaro of Jeff Naiser led qualifying with a 4.734 at 156.34 and the 69 Camaro of Greg Pizzino with a 4.801 at 153.72.

First round action opened with a pair of turbo Mustangs. The 2000 model of Travis Franklin prevailed over the 1996 model of Grant McCrary 4.965 to a shutting off 10.295 of McCrary. McCrary did have top speed of the evening with a top end blast of 159.38 in qualifying. Tony Thorn’s '70 Nova then took out David Houser’s '86 Camaro with a 5.109 to a 6.172. James Morgan in the wild wheelstanding Morgan and Son '67 Camaro put Al Sneed and his Camaro on the trailer with a 4.944 to a shut off 7.906. Next up Greg Pizzino in his orange '69 Camaro had little trouble with Kim Smith and his Dallas-based '68 Camaro 4.741 to a 5.020, making him the the number one qualifier.

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Jeff Naiser and his beautiful '92 IROC Camaro had little trouble with Travis Orr’s '68 Camaro. Naiser’ winning time of 4.764 was well ahead Orr’s 5.190. Marquis Ross’s '67 Camaro received a free pass to the second round when Josh Lindsey redlit in his '91 Mustang. Likewise Matt Jones and his 67 Nova received a free pass to the second round when Cleve Mathews’ '66 Chevelle left early. Closing out round one was Nick Williams and his wild blown Porsche 928 taking out Brian Longacre’s 95 Sonoma with a 5.316 to a 5.906.

Round two opened with Naiser getting a free pass to the semis as Franklin redlit. Naiser still ran a 4.734. Matt Jones then took out the popular Porsche of Williams when the Porsche shook the tires and shut off. Jones ran a 4.926 for the win. Ross then strapped a hole shot on Morgan .005 to a .112 only to see Morgan blast by at half track and record a 4.854 to a losing 5.121. The last pair saw Greg Pizzino out first and never looked back as blasted to a 4.755 to put away Thorn’s respectful 4.881.

The semis started with a blast as Morgan’s Camaro had a small nitrous fire on the starting line and had to sit and watch Pizzino ripped off a strong 4.798 to advance to the finals. The second race started with a lengthy staging duel between Jones and Naiser, then a .02 holeshot by Jones, only to see Naiser blast by with a winning 4.763 to a 4.888 for Jones.

The finals came down to the two fastest cars from qualifying and three rounds of racing, facing off against each other. Pizzino’s bright orange Camaro left first by .02 only to see Naiser pull even at half track. Then something went away in the IROC allowing Pizzino to power away for the win. The numbers for Pizzino were 4.776 at 153.74 to Naiser’s 4.798 at a slowing 143.73.