DragRacingOnline.com - Drag Racing From a Different Perspective

Words and photos by Ian Tocher
4/30/04

he track was fast, the night was warm, the beer was cold, and a pair of local heroes reached the final round of the main event. In other words, it was a perfect day of racing at Savannah Dragway Apr. 24, for more than 1,000 fans who packed the stands at the tree-lined eighth-miler near the Georgia coast.

Eleven cars showed up to vie for the $5,000-to-win 2nd Annual Outlaw 10.5 Challenge, with Coby Rabon picking up the top qualifier position with a 4.916-seconds pass in his turbocharged Mustang. Five cars made bye runs in the opening round of eliminations in order to get down to an eight-car field in the quarter-finals. That's when the real racing started.

Coby Rabon set the standard in qualifying with a 4.916-seconds pass straight off the trailer.

Rabon looked set to dominate after posting another 4.90 in his bye, but ran into trouble in the next round against number-seven qualifier Blake Wilder and his blown å66 Rambler. Just as it appeared all over for Wilder, his clutch locked up just past half track and he surged past Rabon to win by nearly a car's length. We just got a new RacePac computer and we found out what weÇve been doing wrong in the past, Wilder explained. We were actually pulling the motor down too much and that caused it to unload the rear tires, because it didnÇt have enough power to keep them loaded all the way down.

Before the race, Blake Wilder said he wanted to send a hello to nephew Eric Ingram and his wife, both stationed with the Air Force in Japan after serving several months recently in Iraq.

Wilder went up against Barfield in the semis and looked to be on his way to another upset when Barfield's car got out of the groove and drifted toward the rail in his right lane. But Wilder had his own trouble about the same time, heading for the center line. As he let off to gather it up, Barfield had already recovered and stormed past for the win.

It got pretty exciting down there at the end, Wilder recalled. He didnÇt want no black paint and I didnÇt want no yellow paint. I was going to cross the line if I hadnÇt have lifted and he came back at me off the guardrail. We had our hands full down there, åcause we were door handle-to-door handle.

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Barfield said he thought his day was over when his car took a hard turn to the right, but after he lifted and got back in the groove, I saw Blake's headlights bouncing off me, so I thought, åBrother, it's about time to get back on this thing.Ç The car apparently got back on the wheelie bars a little too hard and unloaded the left front wheel. We were lucky to get past that one, but weÇll take it, make a few changes in the front end, and move on, Barfield said.

The left side of Bobby Cole's Nova wasnÇt quite so straight by the end of the night, after driver Gene Wright bounced it off the guardrail in the quarter finals. Wright did a good job, though of bringing the car to a safe stop after what looked like a much worse accident than it turned out to be.

Miller's march to the final round included a first-round bye, followed by a win over Gene Wright in Bobby Cole's 1970 Nova after Wright sideswiped the left guardrail about mid-track. Fortunately, Wright was uninjured and most of the damage was cosmetic, but some of the front suspension did take a beating, Cole said. We can fix it, though. There's no major damage.

Miller then eliminated Marcus Birt in the semis after Birt had nearly taken Miller's 4.834-secs track record away from him with a 4.836 in the previous round. I think I was a little crooked from the start, but you know, that's racinÇ, man Birt said. The car just went for the center line and we smoked the tires.

Craig Miller fell one round short of defending his 2003 event win at Savannah Dragway.

Before the final, Miller said he expected to use his third stage of nitrous for the first time all day. Actually, it's on always; it's just a matter of when you want to use it. He added that the track was perfect after being pretty slick during the heat of the day. Over in Barfield's camp, no changes were made to the tune-up, Barfield said, but weÇll just tighten up the front end a little bit to keep it going straight.

In staging for the final, Miller lit the pre-stage bulb in the left lane, but just as Barfield was about to join him, he backed up instead and restarted the procedure. I wanted to run up and tell him to back out of there, Miller's father and team owner Bobby Miller said. I warned him there might be games at the line. Regardless, once Barfield was staged and the lights came down, he left with a .471 reaction to Miller's .506. Barfield also had a better 60-foot time at 1.172 to Miller's 1.207, but Miller recorded a better 4.828 e.t. at 150.95 to Barfield's 4.846 at 151.20 mph.

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I picked a bad time to have a bad light. That's the worst light IÇve had here ever, Miller said later. However, he insisted Barfield's staging practice had nothing to do with his loss. He made a good run and we made a good run; it was just a good drag race and that's the way you like to end one of these things. IÇm not upset at all. When Jack backed up I couldÇve backed up, too, cleared my head, that sort of thing, but I just got outrun, period.

Jack Barfield (near lane), from nearby Pembroke, GA, and Savannah's own Craig Miller squared off in the Outlaw 10.5 final round, where thanks to a .035 holeshot, Barfield beat Miller by just 12-thousandths at the top end.

I just didnÇt feel quite comfortable. I felt the car was aimed left a little bit, Barfield explained about his starting-line delay. I didnÇt want to hold him up, but I like to make sure everything is just right before I go. Once they left, Barfield said he was aware of Miller all the way down the strip. I kept seeing the nose of Craig's car sneak on up there and it was kind of a see-saw battle there. And right before the end we broke the tires loose and I could see him good. I knew we were ahead of him, but I was just worried about hitting a bald spot on the track and losing my momentum. Ý

SHOOTING GALLERY

Marcus Birt made it to the semis, but was fortunate even to be competing at Savannah, as his VIP Racing team discovered a broken rocker arm shortly before qualifying began. With no spare on hand, it looked like Birt's day was over until fellow outlaw Jim Arpin went to his nearby shop and returned with a replacement from his Pro Mod engine.

Fitzgerald, GA's Josh McClelland lost in the opening round of eliminations to Marcus Birt when his 2000 Trans Am got out of shape near the half-track mark. We had a little too much power in it, he said. They can get away from you pretty quick. They just go.

Bryan Little Mo Morris had a rough time at Savannah after having to replace a transmission even before qualifying started, then losing in the opening round to Gene Wright.

Michael Robinson, winner of the season-opening ORSCA points race at Carolina Dragway, qualified fourth in Savannah, but bowed out in the quarter finals against eventual race winner Barfield.

Kerry Crosby, a regular at Savannah Dragway, cracked the Outlaw 10.5 field with a fifth-place 5.197 in qualifying. He fell in the second round, though, to Marcus Birt.

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Charleston, SC's Mike Harstad (shown) won the Super Pro portion of the show in Savannah by defeating Grant Lewis in his Jesup, GA-based å67 Camaro. The Sportsman bracket win went to Jennifer Putnam from Hilton Head Island, SC, in her 1972 Maverick, with Midway, GA's J.W. Fanning finishing runner up in a 1967 Nova.