Sat, 4 Sep 2010, 11:12 AM Super Stock Standouts

by Kelly Wade Photo copyright 2010 Auto Imagery, Inc.

CLERMONT, Ind. --

The third round of SS/B class eliminations pitted a pair of Thunderbolts: Paul Adams beat Ray Paquet for the title.

The Super Stockers were very much the stars of the show on Friday at the 56th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis; in addition to the thrilling competition of the highly anticipated NHRA Mopar Hemi Challenge, 58 winners were crowned in Super Stock class eliminations.

Dave Layer drove his Heads Up! Cylinder Heads GT/FA Cobalt to the class win over Todd Frantz.

SS/B driver Paul Adams wheeled his 427-powered '64 Fairlane to a first round victory over Ralph Porpora before taking on the No. 1 qualifier, Todd Patterson, in round two. Patterson, who was a very quick and fast 8.675 at 156.12 mph in his first-round single, was in for trouble from the get-go; Adams was a perfect triple-zero on the launch to his opponent's tardy .129, and when Patterson came down on the front two wheels, his '10 Mustang broke. Adams then took his super cool Thunderbolt to a third and final round match with the Ray Paquet-driven Thunderbolt. Paquet was way quicker off the starting line, .023 to .194, but Adams was first to the finish line by just over a car length to claim the SS/B crown, 8.837 to 9.103.

In one of the closer first-round matches, SS/JA driver Don O'Malley and his '64 Corvette beat James Caro and his '78 Volare off the starting line, .044 to .069, but O'Malley missed the round win by just eight-thousandths with his 10.140 to Caro's quicker 10.107. In another standout first-round match, SS/IA competitors Steve Wann (9.830) and Michael Lund (9.831) were just a thousandth apart at the top end, but Lund's .006-second reaction to Wann's .058 was the decider. Wann finished the day empty-handed, and Lund went on to pick up the trophy when Fred Bartoli, who was a near-perfect .001 in the first round, red-lighted by a thousandth in the final.

Lincoln Morehead drove his GT/GA '90 Camaro past Matt Lund and Doug Engels before earning the title on Michael Volkman's too quick launch.

Mark Nowicki and Gary Stinnett left the starting line .002 apart in the GT/EA final, but Nowicki was first to the finish for the trophy.

Veteran racer and drag racing instructor Roy Hill, piloting an SS/BA '10 Mustang, was second off the starting line by a bunch in the first round, .224 to Ray Skillman's .096, but he had the power to run his opponent down for the round win, 8.775 to 8.923. In round two, Hill earned the class title when PB Candies, son of drag racing icon Paul Candies, fouled by .107. Candies advanced from the first round when David Thomas illuminated a .049 red light.

Other noteworthy matches included a pair of double-oh lights in the first pair of the second round, a set of SS/AAs. John Armstrong advanced with a .009 and an 8.843 to Ken Schindler's .002 and 9.987. Jerry Silveus won his second round GT/DA match over Chris Chaney by just five-thousandths, overcoming Chaney's .003 reaction to his own .047 with a strong 9.604 to 9.653.

Jim Daniels was awesome on the tree throughout the Hemi Challenge, also known as SS/AH class eliminations, and overcame an early mishap when flames suddenly lapped from the engine compartment just before the first round began. Daniels squelched the flames, quickly addressed an intake issue, and then made his way to the final round on a string of holeshot wins to earn the coveted Mopar Hemi Challenge crown with a final round defeat of David Barton.

Jim Daniels played the startingline well and had a consistentlyimproving car to win the Mopar Hemi Challenge.

Super Stock teardowns and tech inspections will take place on Saturday, with the first round of Super Stock kicking off on Sunday morning.