Fri, 3 Sep 2010, 12:10 PM They've Got Class

By Kelly Wade Photo copyright 2010 Auto Imagery, Inc.

CLERMONT, Ind. --

Bill Hawk went five rounds in his B/SA '67 Shelby for the class win.

Very few trophies come near to being as treasured as one that was obtained at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, and at the conclusion of five rounds of Stock class eliminations at the 56th annual showing of the revered event, 44 racers were awarded honors in their respective classes.

In the first round early on Thursday morning, Ryan McClanahan, who had the better car in earlier qualifying, slowed to a troubled 9.944 and smoke trailed his AA/SA '69 Camaro as he passed through the lights. The end result was an easy round win for Jimmy Holzman and a dejected trip back to the pits for McClanahan, who was left outside of the quick 128 who would race regular eliminations (pending tech inspection.) After a long delay while the Safety Safari cleaned up the track, Grace Howell won her round of AA/SA in her new '10 Mustang over Mark Faul, who is spending the weekend driving the DeFrank family's new gen Mustang. Howell then stopped Jimmy Holzman with a 9.630 to 9.715 for the class win.

In the second round, former IHRA Pro Stock champion Chris Holbrook, whose father was a Super Stock racer in the 1960s, scored the E/SA win over PB Candies, son of Paul Candies of Candies & Hughes fame.

Edmond Richardson's day began with a holeshot win over Jim Conte Jr. in his C/SA '99 Camaro; his .027 reaction to Conte's .084, paired with a 10.575 to his opponent's quicker 10.562, made the difference at the top end. The following round, perennial heavy-hitter Richardson advanced easily when Dave Edwards fouled, and the victory was good for a bye run into the final, where he was a quick .017 at the tree to Gary Richard's sleepy .215 for another holeshot win that was good for the gold.

Fan favorite and pioneer of the sport Don Garlits tried again for the Indy field this season, but a .052 red-light ended his quest for the A/SA class win in his Drag Pak Challenger, and a qualifying best 10.272 left him in the 135th spot - not quite quick enough for a chance to race for the event title.

Jimmy Ronzello scored the A/SA victory in his '08 Mustang.

Barracuda driver Dale Findell cut a killer .009 light in the F/SA first round to beat Russell Johnson on a holeshot by .0268-second and for his efforts nabbed a bye run into the third round, where he was stopped by former Stock world champion Michael Iacono. Meanwhile, James Findell had a bye run in the first round and then was quicker at both ends of the track to put away Tim Gillespie. James emerged from the semifinals on a .006 red light by Joey Wilkes and wrapped up his day with a final round defeat of Iacono.

In a very close first-round B/SA match, Joe Santangelo wheeled his '95 Camaro to triumph over David Latino's speedy .009 reaction and 10.433. Santangelo's .028 and 10.409 got the win light by five-thousandths. D/SA drivers Jerry Bennett ('62 Savoy) and Billy Leber ('67 Camaro) were just three thousandths apart as they left the starting line in the first round, but Bennett made up ground and crossed the finish line eight-thousandths ahead of Leber for the close win.

Rick Rodgers was a quick 9.964 during qualifying and finished runner-up in A/SA.

The first round was riddled with red-lights: 22, to be exact. Tim Lowe was one of the unfortunate to see the red bulb, and his fortune turned worse when his K/SA '72 Buick GS broke just after the too-early launch and had to be loaded onto a flatbed and towed off the track.

Close margins of victory continued in the third round, where Matt Antrobius claimed the H/SA class trophy by .014-second over James Perrone by driving his '86 Camaro to an 11.440 after clocking a .016 green light to Perrone's delayed .117 reaction and quicker 11.353.

It was a wheelstanding standoff in the third round, where Jason McCormack fell to John Calvert.

The third round also saw the spectacular standoff between wheels-up A/S drivers John Calvert and Jason McCormack, who extracted ooohs and aaahs from the spectators as he carried the front wheels of his '66 Plymouth over a hundred feet each round. In their third-round match, though, Calvert, driver of the '64 Fairlane, was more efficient and clocked a winning 10.146 to McCormack's 10.185.

Stock Eliminator competitors will have the day off on Friday as teardowns commence, and eliminations for the category are scheduled to begin Saturday morning at the 56th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.

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