Departments - Missed Races

Words and photos by Jason Fenn
Courtesy of OutlawRacing.com
3/9/04

xpectations were running high March 6-7, when Jack Barfield hosted the "Outlaw Jack Barfield Shootout" at Macon National Dragway, near Jeffersonville, GA. As one of the last outlaw races before the official ORSCA season begins (at Carolina Dragway Mar. 20-21), the Shootout offered a chance for southern 10.5 racers not only to measure up against the competition, but also to go after a $10,000 top prize.

Saturday's action began a little later than scheduled due to rain the night before, as officials had to work extra hard to get the track ready for three rounds of qualifying. Their efforts paid off, though, with a record-setting performance that evening. In the second to last qualifying run of the night VIP Racing's Marcus Birt set down a 4.73 pass to put him on top of the Outlaw 10.5 field. Not to be outdone, Steve Kirk pulled to the line and laid down a track record-breaking 4.68 pass to end the night. Darrin Hoyle led the Limited Street pack with a 5.065-seconds run, followed closely by Shannon Ragsdale with a 5.068 in his new ZR-1 Corvette.

Marcus Birt just missed being the number-one qualifier in Outlaw 10.5 at Macon National Dragway.

Mark Micke's crew reported that Micke would be all right, but it was going to be a long ride back to Missouri.

On Sunday, fans and racers awoke to beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures. Last-chance qualifying kicked off at 11 a.m. and went smoothly until Brandon May, in his Limited Street turbocharged T-bird, took a ride straight into the guardrail on the spectator side. Unfortunately, that wasn't even the worst incident of the day. In last- chance qualifying for Outlaw 10.5, Mark Micke's beautiful first- generation Camaro caught fire at the end of the strip. The Macon National track crew scrambled to the rescue at the first signs of fire, rushing to put it out, but the car was severely damaged and Micke sustained second-degree burns on his feet and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance.

Last-chance qualifying was cut short due to the amount of time it took for rescue teams to return to the track from the hospital, ensuring both Hoyle and Kirk retained their number-one starting positions.

A top runner in Limited Street was David Reese in his stunning twin- turbo Mustang. Reese worked his way through the field, eliminating number-two qualifier Ragsdale in the semi finals and setting up a final- round match against top qualifier Hoyle. It was a close race, but in the end Hoyle's second-gen Camaro came out on top with the prize money and the trophy.

You could not wish for a better show in Outlaw 10.5, with upsets being the order of the day. Looking to move on to the next round, number-two qualifier Birt lined up against number-15 qualifier Bryan Goethe, but Goethe said "No way!" and took Birt out with a 4.97 pass. Next, number- one qualifier Kirk lined up his 2003 big block, nitrous-powered Camaro next to Blake Wilder in his blown alcohol-burning '69 Rambler, but had to back away when fluid was found leaking from under his car, giving Wilder the win.

Blake Wilder's wild ride came to an end with an engine vibration after his burnout for the final round.

Joey Martin gave the fans a show in his turbo Mustang as well, making it all the way to the semi finals, only to be taken out by the outlaw himself -- Jack Barfield. Barfield then made a solo pass in the final after Wilder shut his car down after staging it. When asked what happened, he replied, "I felt the tires shake in the car so I shut it off. I thought it might not be the tires shaking, so I started it back up to see. Sure enough, I felt a shake in the engine so I shut it down."

Darrin Hoyle (far lane) prevailed over David Reese in the Limited Street final, while
Jody Voyles won in 6.00, and Mark Vanblacky outlasted everyone in the 7.00 class.