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REYNOLDS, Ga. -- With a slight chill in the air but not a cloud in the sky, the crowd at Silver Dollar got to witness a fantastic event. The spectator count was the highest of all three years that the NMRA has been to Silver Dollar, meaning that the grandstands were packed and fans lined the fence on both sides for the full quarter-mile. ProCharger Pro 5.0 had a better showing than the season-opener at Bradenton, with 5 cars in the class. They were led by David Hance, who bought Donnie Walsh Jr’s championship-winning car from 2003, converted it to a turbocharged setup, and set the pole with a 7.04 at 196mph pass in qualifying. Hance was followed by Vic Williams, Bill Rimmer Jr., Chip Havemann, and Dale Thaxton (in the ex-Derrick Smith car). Outlaw 10.5 and FFW Pro racer Brit Floyd was also on the property, but was only testing with a 101mm turbo (not allowed in Pro 5.0). The finals came down to Williams and Rimmer. At about the 60-foot mark, Rimmer’s turbo car lost the hook and he had to pedal it, while Williams blitzed to a 7.54 at 182 to take the win. Rimmer crossed with an 8.41 at 174. MSD Super Street Outlaw had 15 cars, and Jim Blair was setting the pace with a 7.83 qualifying pass. Hot on his tail were Joe Morgan, Manny Buginga, Tim Lynch, Gary Rohe, Brian McGee, Billy Laskowsky, and Mauro Vitale. Vitale fought his way through the tough field to make it to the final, his first final round appearance since this same race last year. There, he met Blair. When the lights flashed they left close together, but Blair’s Cobra R just had more power, and he won with a 7.86 at 169mph to Vitale’s lifting 8.57 at only 146. The final of Edelbrock Hot Street was a record-setting thrill show. Number one qualifier, Charlie Booze Jr., became the first 8-second Hot Street car when he lit the boards on fire with an 8.99 at 150mph pass to defeat Curcio’s wheel-standing 9.21. In ProCharger EFI Renegade, Kurt Gallant came to Silver Dollar as the defending class champion and also the winner of the Bradenton race. Gallant qualified number one with an 8.75 at 155, and went to the final to face Bob “Flea Market” Cook in his first NMRA final round. Both were solid 8-second cars. Cook stood it on the bumper and carried it all the way to the 300-foot marker while the crowd went crazy, but it didn’t help his ET. He lifted and ran 9.75, while Gallant blitzed to an 8.82 to take his second win in a row. BFGoodrich Drag Radial had 12 cars, with Bradenton winner Phil Clemmons qualifying on top and going to the final round. Rob Corujo, from Leonia, New Jersey, qualifed down in the 9th spot, but fought his way through eliminations to meet Clemmons in the final. Both cars got way out of shape in the first 300 feet, but they gathered it together and were door-to-door down the track. Clemmons got there first, taking his second consecutive win with a 9.47 to Corujo’s 9.58. The 5.0 Mustang Real Street class had 14 power-adder Mustangs, led on Saturday by Bruce Hemminger and Bradenton winner Tim Matherly in a modular-powered 2001 Bullitt. Brian Meyer, Chris Tuten and Robin Lawrence filled out the top five and were the only 9-second cars in qualifying. Matherly made it to his second consecutive Real Street final round to face Meyer, who took out Hemminger in the semis. Matherly stood the car way, way up and drove through it, catching and passing Meyer and winning with a 9.85 to Meyer’s 9.92. There were 8 cars in Tremec Pure Street, and the quality of the racing was top-notch. During qualifying, Rich Groh was the quickest with a 10.44, but Mark Whitney was the fastest at 129.85mph. The final round came down to Groh and fellow NMRA veteran Gene Hindman. Groh ran a quicker 10.43 to Hindman’s 10.47, but Hindman got there first by virtue of a holeshot, .043 to .092. It was perhaps the best race of the weekend! BFGoodrich Factory Stock had 11 cars, with Bob Cosby’s 4-valve Cobra leading the ET race with an 11.70 at 116, a tick ahead of the defending champion, Mike Washington, with an 11.88 at 113. These top two qualifiers stayed on top all day Sunday, meeting each other in the money round. Washington went in deep and got the holeshot, but Cosby chased him down, running an 11.55 to Washington’s 11.78. Vortech Modular Muscle saw 20 cars go for the gold, and the final round came down to defending class champion Lupe Davila facing Victor Downs. Davila got to leave first and cut an .044 light, but Downs cut a .062 light and chased him down, forcing both racers to break out. Davila was the closest to his dial, however, and took the win with a 12.666 on a 12.67 dial-in, to Downs’ 10.997 on an 11.05! Toyo Tires Open Comp was the biggest class of the weekend, with 25 cars. The quickest car in the class was the ’65 Fairlane of Speedy Petey Ricart, but the finalists were Larry Geddes and Mike Sodano. They left with identical .020-second reaction times and it was very close at the finish line, but Geddes took the win with a 11.86 to Sodano’s 10.04. DynoMax Truck & Lightning had 18 trucks, and the top dog all weekend was the same guy who dominated the 2003 season, the class champion, Mark Morales. He qualified number one with a 9.78 (at only 136mph) and met veteran truck racer Paul Gamino in the final. Gamino got the better light, but the cagey Morales caught and passed him to take the winner. In the Superchips Bracket classes, Mike Alligood of Perry, GA won in Pro Ford, Byronville, GA’s Jeffrey Green took top honors in Super Ford, and Darryl Buckner of Goose Creek, SC, won the Superchips Street Ford class. The UPR Top Qualifier bonus money was won by David Hance (ProCharger Pro 5.0) and Jim Blair (MSD Super Street Outlaw), while the SLP Burnout Contest was dominated by not just a car, but also by its driver. Danielle Price wowed the crowd with her well-proportioned figure and a heck of a smoke show from her beautiful Fox-body Mustang. In the NMRA Auto Show & Shine, presented by Dallas Mustang Parts, Kert Lancaster’s ’34 Ford 3-window won the coveted Best of Show 6-foot-tall trophy. The next event on the Denso Iridium Power Spark Plugs NMRA Ford Nationals schedule is on April 30 to May 2, 2004, as the 5th Annual Quarter Master NMRA Ford All-Star Nationals comes to National Trail Raceway in Columbus, Ohio.
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