Mears, Hixson & Rose Win Big In Abilene

Big Country Raceway - August 1st, 2015

The fourth event on the MalloryPrint.com Southwest Heritage Racing Association tour brought the series to Abilene, Texas on August 1st for the Big Country Raceway Nostalgia Nationals, presented by Mears Mazda-Volvo and BCA Energy LLC. SHRA racers were eager to return to action in this, the half-way point of the season for the Nostalgia Eliminator teams. Full fields in each class were welcomed by sunny skies as racing got underway at 4 p.m. with the first of two qualifying rounds.

In the 4.65 index Nostalgia Eliminator 1 class, Chris Graves held a slim points lead over Clay Cunningham with Tera W. Graves and Jason O'Neill tied for third coming into Abilene. Amarillo event winner Clay Cunningham sat atop the qualifying charts after two sessions with a 4.6645, followed very closely by Tera W. Graves' 4.6646 as the top two qualifiers were separated by only .0001 of a second. Jason O'Neill, Chris Graves and Carl Johnson rounded out the top five heading into eliminations of the nine car field.

In first round action, Tera W. Graves was upset by Carl Johnson when Graves encountered transmission issues. Johnson usually runs in the Nostalgia Eliminator 3 class, but this weekend was behind the wheel of Richard DeLaMatyr's blown altered normally driven by Leonard Ament and was going rounds in Abilene with a 4.90 at 125 mph to win first round. Tommy Drozd kept the upsets coming when his 5.02 at 132 mph knocked out Jason O'Neill's 5.05 at 119 mph, as both drivers tied for third place in points were out early. Andy Mears got by Steve Dunkin and Chris Graves moved to round two defeating Michael Anderson.

Round two kicked off with points leader Chris Graves' "Blown Inheritance" slingshot dragster taking on Andy Mears' "Dragon Slayer" 1957 Chevy Funny Car. Graves bowed out with a -.007 reaction time while Mears clicked off a nice 4.69 at 146 mph. Carl Johnson moved into the semi-finals on a bye run and Tommy Drozd upset top qualifier Clay Cunningham when Cunningham went -.016 red.

In the semi-finals of Nostalgia Eliminator 1, Carl Johnson laid down a 5.00 at 135 mph to take out a red lighting Tommy Drozd. Drozd's -.003 reaction time sent Johnson and company to their first SHRA final round to take on Andy Mears who posted a 4.69 at 146 mph in his semi-final round bye run. In the final, Johnson and Mears left the line together and Mears quickly pulled ahead and took the win with a 4.72 at 135 mph to Johnson's off pace 6.73 at 73 mph. Congratulations to Mears and the rest of the "Dragon Slayer" team from Lubbock, Texas on their first SHRA win of the 2015 season.

The 5.00 index Nostalgia Eliminator 2 class brought a ten car field to the staging lanes and after two qualifying sessions, Thomas Hixson claimed the top spot with a 5.08 at 134 mph. Bee Godwin scored the second position with a 5.10 at 133 mph with Joel Kelton, Jason Scott and Jeff Cameron rounding out the top half of the field. Bee Godwin entered the event with a four point lead over Bruce Dodson but Dodson ran into mechanical issues and was out of competition after the first qualifying session.

Headlining the first round, Shawn McKibben snuck past points leader Bee Godwin who's -.007 red light ended his chance to increase his points lead. Thomas Hixson, Jason Scott, Gary Ballard and Joel Kelton all advanced to round two action which kicked off with Kelton and Ballard pulling to the starting line. Kelton used a massive holeshot advantage and 5.09 at 129 mph to defeat Ballard's break out 4.94 at 133 mph. McKibben's luck continued as his 5.33 at 126 mph snuck past a -.001 red light by Jason Scott who clicked off a 5.24 at 123 mph. Hixson soloed into the semi-finals on a bye run as three cars remained in competition.

McKibben went for a wild ride on his bye run to start off the semi-finals when his throttle hung on the burnout, but quick thinking and good driving kept the car in control and the "Altered Addiction" team was able to take the green light under power and move into the finals. Kelton and Hixson were up next as Kelton rolled the beams before the ambers dropped and Hixson's 5.12 at 122 mph was final round bound to take on McKibben.

In the final round, Hixson took the advantage off the starting line and never looked back, blasting down the eighth mile to a 5.14 at 113 mph to send the "One Wild Ride" team to the winners circle for the second time this season. With his win, Hixson moved from fourth to first in the points standings heading into the next event in Temple, Texas.

The 5.50 index Nostalgia Eliminator 3 category welcomed an eight car field to Abilene but during round two of qualifying all eyes were on Ron Muncy. Shortly after he left the line, Muncy's car made a wicked move and tagged the wall then shot across the track making contact with the wall in the opposite lane. Muncy's car stayed upright and he was able to drive the car off the track under power and walk away from this wild ride, but was out of competition with severe damage to the racecar.

Muncy's 5.55 from the first qualifying round would have qualified him on the top, but he chose to withdraw from the event, which moved Dusty Rose to the top with a 5.57 at 120 mph. Doug Morrison qualified second with a 5.58 at 121 mph with Dustin Bradford, Josh Moseley and Joey Myrick rounding out the top five qualifiers heading into eliminations.

Dustin Bradford and Gary Mitchell opened the first round of eliminations and Bradford used a hole shot advantage and 5.56 at 121 mph to take out Mitchell's quicker but losing 5.52 at 111 mph. Josh Moseley, Doug Morrison and Dusty Rose also advanced into the semi-final round. In semi-final action, Rose and Moseley were off the line together but Rose had the ponies to click off a 5.54 at 113 mph to take out Moseley's 5.63 at 120 mph. Morrison blasted off the line with a .001 reaction time and posted a nice 5.51 at 116 mph to knock out Bradford's close 5.54 at 122 mph as Rose and Morrison were final round bound.

Morrison was looking to end an incredible winning streak by Rose, who was hoping to lock down his fourth straight win of the season and remain undefeated in NE 3 competition this season. At the starting line it was over early when Morrison went -.012 red and his 5.51 at 122 mph fell to Rose's 5.47 at 121 mph. The beat goes on for the "Foggy Mountain Special" team as they secured their fourth straight win and increased their points lead heading into the second half of the season.

It was an exciting night of racing in Abilene with an unusual amount of red lights, which mixed up the points standings and sent a handful of racers to their first SHRA final rounds. The SHRA would like to congratulate the event winners and thank Mears Mazda-Volvo and BCA Energy for their sponsorship of the event at Big Country Raceway. The SHRA would also like to recognize marketing partners Mallory Screen Print & Embroidery, AlkyDigger.com, Good Vibrations Motorsports, Neil & Parks Racing Enterprises, Equipment Sales and Service of Texas, Bad Behavior Racing, Lenamond Auto Supply, Gary's Muffler, Bubba's Tow, Harry's Hot Rod, Competition Sales of Dallas, Howards Cams, Competition Products, Hayden Enterprises and SafetyBoost.com for their support of the 2015 racing season.

Nostalgia Eliminator 1 Results:

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Nostalgia Eliminator 2 Results:

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Nostalgia Eliminator 3 Results:

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Click Here to see photos from Abilene!