Lexington, SC's Richard Lee experienced this big wheelstand in the first round of Q8 Outlaw when his wheelie bar broke right off the start. Lee still won the round, though, and made it all the way to the semi finals.

untsville Dragway hosted its 12th annual 'Bama Nationals Apr. 17-18, with an estimated crowd of more than 5,000 showing up over the two days to enjoy heads-up Alcohol Funny Cars, Outlaw Pro Mods, and the fledgling Quick 8 Outlaw Series, as well as Pro and Footbrake bracket classes. Also on tap were exhibition passes by Danny O'Day in his SuperWinch '34 Ford wheelstander and Pepi's jet Freightliner, with Saturday's action capped off by a trackside rock concert. Not bad for a $20 one-day ticket.

Q8 OUTLAW

Sometimes the right idea just has to wait for the right time to be implemented. That certainly seems to be the case for the South Carolina- based Quick 8 Outlaws Series for automatics-equipped doorslammers, as it already has 40 members from eight states in its first year, according to director of operations Tommy Granger. "We created the series to give these guys somewhere to race, create a points fund, and keep the costs down," Granger said. In order to discourage all-out Pro Mod cars from entering, the series stipulates Powerglide transmissions only (with Jason Green's Bruno 3-speed grandfathered in for this season), so most entries are ex- or current Top Sportsman cars.

"Right now we're just trying to build our credibility and after just three races, we're already hearing back from tracks that said they weren't interested at the beginning of the year," Granger added. "I have to give a lot of the credit for that to George Howard (owner of Huntsville Dragway), because he believed in us from the start. Because of his reputation in the sport, he's been instrumental in getting other tracks to sign on with us."

Jason Green came up just a little short with his '63 Corvette in both qualifying and eliminations. Green said he burned a plug in the semi finals and hurt the engine again in the Q8 Outlaw final round against Nick Cline. "We probably just finished it off that time," he said.

Despite the name, Granger said the series aims to fill a 16-car field at each of its 11 scheduled races this season. Seventeen teams made the trek to the north-Alabama eighth-mile strip, with Nick Cline nipping Jason Green for top qualifying honors for the second straight race. Lined up side-by-side for their third and final qualifying attempt on Saturday night, Cline drove his nitrous-boosted '38 Chevy Coupe through the lights in 4.305 seconds at 167.13 mph, eclipsing the 4.332 that Green posted in the previous round.