Drag Racing Online - Drag Racing From a Different Perspective

NMRA at Bradenton

Words and photos by Ian Tocher
4/1/04

In his semi-final solo pass, Terry Robbins went 4.751 at 153.79 mph, which turned out to be good enough for lane choice in the final round

fter more than six years of faithful service -- and probably in its final race outing -- Terry Robbins' pristine '67 Nova gave him one last Outlaw 10.5 win Mar. 28, on the 1/8-mile at Atlanta Dragway. In the second points race of the Outlaw Racing Street Car Association's (ORSCA's) inaugural season, Robbins made it through four preliminaries before pairing up against Jack Barfield in the $7,500-to-win final.

Marcus Birt's 1997 Camaro broke on the line before going up against Terry Robbins in the Outlaw 10.5 semis.

Robbins, from Mooresboro, NC, had a bye in round one, used a big holeshot to get past Bryan Goethe in round two, then overcame a holeshot by Ronnie Davis to continue his advance. That set up a semi- final match against Marcus Birt, but after the burnout Birt's crew was forced to push him off the starting line. "I knew it was ignition right away," Birt said. "It was as if someone just came up after my burnout and hit my kill switch."

On the other side of the ladder, Barfield got lucky with a bye in his first round as the transmission broke on his '68 Camaro. After a quick tranny swap between rounds, "The Original Outlaw" raced past Wesley Scott Chambers and Mike Hill to reach a semi-final pairing against Brian Morris where Barfield left first with an excellent .412 light and never looked back on his way to a winning 4.765-second pass at 153.81 mph.

We just threw a little too much power to it a little too early," Hephzibah, GA's Brian Morris said after losing in the semis to close friend Jack Barfield. "But this is just our first year with this car and just the third race, so we're still pretty happy."

Barfield saved his best pass for last, running 4.738 at 151.80 mph in the final -- but it was all for nothing, or at least $2,000 paid to the runner up -- as he also lit the red bulb with a .383 reaction. That let Robbins salvage the event win with a 4.770 effort at 152.87 mph. "I messed up. When I first went in I let the car roll in a little deeper than I normally do. Normally I just barely turn that second bulb on," Barfield explained. "The car did what it was supposed to do; it was just the driver that screwed up."

Jack Barfield, from Pembroke, GA, made a rare starting line error in Atlanta that cost him the Outlaw 10.5 win. "I saw it (redlight) right away," he said later. "That's just part of drag racing."

Robbins said he didn't realize Barfield had fouled out until picking up his timeslip at the scales. After running in the 4.70s in each round, he praised his Dan Parker-built Nova for being "real consistent all day long," but said it's time to move on. Robbins said he hopes to swap the engine out of the Nova into his new 2002 Camaro in time for the ORSCA non-points race Apr. 17, at Hattiesburg, MS. "This car has been around a long time and it's been good to me, but it's time to let it rest a little bit. I've got a new car built by The Race Factory in Hampton, GA, that I think will be even better."

SHOOTING GALLERY

A pair of Dallas, GA-based racers faced off in the ORSCA EZ Street final at Atlanta Dragway, with Kell Eubanks (near lane) going 6.07 secs to take the win over Scott Taylor with a 6.09-secs effort.

After nearly identical reaction times in the Limited Street final, Keith Szabo (far lane) won with a 5.101 compared to the 5.412 by Philip Tarlton. Wesley Kelly won the heads-up 6.0 class with his 1981 Malibu and Dennis Smith, the runner-up in 7.0 a week earlier at Jackson, SC, did one better in Atlanta with his 1976 Duster.

Ray Sanchez suffered a serious engine fire during Outlaw 10.5 qualifying on Saturday, but the on-board extinguisher put out the flames with relatively minor damage to his late-model Camaro. (Photo by Jason Fenn)

Jacksonville, FL's Bryan Goethe set low elapsed time in his '69 Camaro in Outlaw 10.5 eliminations with a 4.681 in the second round. However, a .638 light cost him the win against a 4.758-secs pass by Robbins in the opposing lane.

At Atlanta, Mike "The Hitman" Hill was involved in a timing system mix-up for the second time in as many weeks. Hill's pre-stage bulb failed to light for his Outlaw 10.5 quarter-final match against Jack Barfield, throwing confusion into the round and forcing a re-run that Barfield wound up winning.