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WHO WINS DRO QUICK 8? THE REAL McCOY!
By Chris Martin
Photos by Jeff Burk and Jeff Leonard
CORDOVA, Ill. - Dragracingonline.com, the meanest conga dancers in
the straight-line orchestra and the most powerful drag racing entity
on the internet, took advantage of the free-for-all atmosphere at Cordova
Dragway Park's 49th annual World Series of Drag Racing to host its second
DRO Quick 8 Special. The four quickest dragsters and the four quickest
"doorslammers" made up the eight-car field and when the top
end lights faded for the final time, the winner of the show was Keith
McCoy of Washington, Ill., in a super quick '79 Trans Am. This marks
the second time that a doorslammer has won the much coveted DRO prizes.
And just what were the prizes from this corporate powerhouse that generated
all this six- and seven-second activity? How about $1,000 to the winner?
How about $650 to the runner-up? How about $200 just for qualifying?
How about a free drum of fuel, courtesy of Torco, for just being the
first alternate, be thou a dragster or doorslammer? Huh? How 'bout them
DRO dogs?
Seriously folks, before we plunge into who-did-what-to-whom, in addition
to Torco, a tip of the DRO hat has to go to Jeg's, MSD, Scott Walker's
ASW Race Engines, and Ohio Crankshaft for putting up non-contingency
dough. Our additional sponsors were Koehler Engineering, Mike's Transmission
and Oddy's Dyno Tested Race Engines.
Qualifying for the show was dominated by the dragsters. Dave Keeling
of nearby
Bettendorf, Iowa, ripped a 6.803/199.94 to lead the field with No. 2
qualifier Tim Stevens (6.838) and Don Speer (6.964) in hot pursuit.
The first "doorslammer" (and this is a loose definition of
"doorslammer") on the qualifying sheets was Dennis "Critter"
Maudsley in his "Crazy Critter" '48 Fiat all-steel, alky-burning
Fuel Altered at a 7.562.
McCoy got a break to lead off round one when Stevens' potent dragster
broke on the line, affording the eventual winner an 8.08/175.84 win.
If McCoy's win wasn't eye-opening enough, Maudsley's win over Pat Richardson
in the Halley & Richardson former Pro Stock Pontiac Firebird was.
Maudsley's tempermental, ill-handling beast was brought under control
long enough to rack up a 7.85/141.55 to 8.39/166.99 victory.
The first six-second run of eliminations cropped up next when chassis
builder Don Speer's 6.950/191.27 covered the 8.37/139.87 of Hank Enzellis'
Camaro. Closing out the round was Keeling, whose blown dragster cranked
a 6.89/170.58 to handle Rick Verkler's 7.60/179.83 in a Ford.
The semifinals proved to be corral time for the "Crazy Critter."
The wild Fiat fell back into its old ill-handling habits again and shut
off against McCoy's winning 8.16/165.84. Keeling then established himself
as the favorite in the final when the best run of eliminations, a 6.82/191.62,
embalmed a decent 7.02/186.48 effort by Speer.
And then there was the final. McCoy had goosed his mount to some mighty
seven-second efforts in the past and one would think he'd need one against
Keeling's potent dragster, but alas and alack. Keeling did a burnout
and lost fire whereupon his crew pushed him back to the line fast enough
to re-fire the car. Unfortunately, it farted to a stop on the rollback
and McCoy sped to 9.88, 92.61 solo for the win.
THE PLAYERS
Hey, you play ball with us, we play ball with you. You qualify for
the DRO Quick 8, you get ink. I've got to caution here that the nine
thumbnail sketches seen here were collected after Saturday's second
qualifying session. So, if someone made the show or ran hard and didn't
get in, well ... next time get yer entries in early so we know where
to look when we begin our pub crawl through the pits.
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