SHRA Racers Rock Little River Dragway

Sept 12, 2015 - Temple, TX

The MalloryPrint.com Southwest Heritage Racing Association packed the pits with old school hot rods as all six series classes returned to action at Little River Dragway in Temple, Texas. Coming into this event, tight points battles were underway especially in the Nostalgia Eliminator 1 4.65 index class and Old School Electronics bracket class. With over eighty cars in the house eager for some track time the call went out for the first of two time trials in each class and as the staging lanes and grandstands filled, it was time to go drag racing.

(SHRA staffer Justin Haas greets racers at the drivers meeting)

NOSTALGIA ELIMINATOR 1

A four way battle in Nostalgia Eliminator 1 provided some high pressure scenarios as every possible point would prove crucial in the Championship hunt. Points leader Chris Graves in the "Blown Inheritance" slingshot dragster was able to nab the top qualifying spot with a 4.672 at 151 mph. Nipping at his heels was Jason O'Neill in the "Bad Behavior" blown altered who came into the event fourth in points, slid into the number two qualifying spot with a 4.679 at 139 mph. Richard Brady and Clay Cunningham rounded out the top half of the field heading into eliminations.

(Chris Graves)

Leonard Ament and Richard Brady kicked off the first round of NE 1 as both cars struggled off the line, but Ament was able to gather it up and take the stripe with a 5.48 at 120 mph. Tera W. Graves entered the event in the third points position, but ran under the index in qualifying and qualified seventh, earning her a first round match up with Clay Cunningham in the "Still Crazy II" blown altered, who was second in points and looking to make a move to the top. Cunningham was .007 on the tree (earning him the Good Vibrations Motorsports "Quick Light" bonus) and never trailed, while W. Graves had her hands full fighting for traction and getting her dragster wildly out of shape until Cunningham's 4.82 at 126 mph took the win. Jason O'Neill and Tommy Drozd were out next as Drozd rolled through the beams with an apparent trans-brake issue, while O'Neill lost traction at the hit but moved to the next round with a 7.27 at 54 mph. Chris Graves benefitted greatly from the odd numbered seven car field and earned a bye run in first round. Like several others, traction was a problem as Graves blew the tires off at the hit and idled to the win light with three of the top four in the standings moving into the semis.

(Clay Cunningham)

Jason O'Neill and Leonard Ament kicked off the semi-final as the teams continued to struggle to get a hard launch off the line. Ament went red, giving O'Neill a clean trip to the finals as he idled down to a 10.15 at 45 mph. Cunningham and Graves were up next in a pivotal points match up. If Cunningham could win this round, the door would open to make up ground in the standings. At the hit, Cunningham was off first and Graves again blew the tires off. A quick pedal job from Graves got him back in action but it was too little too late as Cunningham lit the scoreboards with a nice 4.74 at 128 mph to advance to the finals to battle with Jason O'Neill.

(Jason O'Neill)

By this point, O'Neill had passed Tera W. Graves in the standings to move into third and Cunningham was just a few points from stealing the lead from C. Graves. At the flash of amber, both cars made clean launches and the race was on. Cunningham was .009 on the tree and held a wheel on O'Neill as the cars blasted towards the finish line. At the stripe, Cunningham's 4.67 at 131 mph took the win light over O'Neill's 4.69 at 145 in a great side by side finale. After it was all said and done, Cunningham moved into a tie with Chris Graves for the top spot in NE 1 with just two events remaining in the 2015 season. O'Neill sits two rounds up in third place over Tera W. Graves who still holds a mathematical chance at defending her 2014 title. Boy will this Championship bout be fun to watch as the season concludes this fall!

(Clay Cunningham - NE 1 Winner)

NOSTALGIA ELIMINATOR 2

Equal entertainment was found in the 5.00 Nostalgia Eliminator 2 category as the top two in the standings (Thomas Hixson and Bee Godwin) were unable to attend this event, opening a huge door for Bruce Dodson, Joel Kelton and Gary Ballard to make a move to the top pending their success in Temple. Bill Tumlinson made his first SHRA appearance of the season in his injected front engine dragster and proved he came to play spoiler by qualifying number one with a 5.03 at 133 mph, followed by Jason Scott's altered which qualified number two with a 5.05 at 134 mph. Dodson, Kelton and Ballard followed to round out the top five heading into eliminations.

(Bruce Dodson & Joel Kelton)

Joel Kelton in the "Scarecrow" injected altered lined up with the "Dooley & Sons" 1948 Austin of Jeff Cameron to kick off the first round. Cameron took the starting line advantage but Kelton closed the gap and took the lead through the finish line with a nice 5.02 at 135 mph. Gary Ballard had issues on the starting line and was left standing by Jason Scott, Ballard tried to run him down but in doing so, ran well under the index as Scott's 5.22 at 133 mph moved into the semis. Bruce Dodson was .009 on the tree, earning him the Good Vibrations Motorsports "Quick Light" bonus in his 5.16 at 114 mph effort, which eliminated Shawn McKibben's 5.36 at 129 mph in the "Altered Addiction" blown entry. Bill Tumlinson took the bye run in the odd numbered field and laid down a solid 5.04 at 133 mph to advance.

In semi-final action of NE 2, Bruce Dodson and Jason Scott were first to pull into the stage beams. Scott went red with an incredibly close -.0004 red light, while Dodson blasted to a 5.03 at 131 mph to earn a spot in the final round. In the next pair, Tumlinson and Kelton crept into the beams and Tumlinson was off with a stunning .0001 green light, paired with a stellar 5.01 at 134 mph to leave no room for Kelton's 5.03 at 135 mph.

It was Tumlinson and Dodson in the last dance of NE 2 as Tumlinson looked to pull off the impressive sweep, while Dodson had eyes on precious points and needed to win this round to pad the points lead he now had in hand. Tumlinson again took the starting line advantage but went into a wild wheelstand then made a move to the wall forcing him to pedal the throttle. Dodson made a smooth launch and held the lead from sixty foot on as his 5.13 at 122 mph earned the event win over Tumlinson's 5.45 at 127 mph. Dodson is your new points leader in NE 2 with a 27 point lead over Thomas Hixson who is in second. Only 13 points separate second from fifth in the standings, so similar to NE 1, the chase to the Championship is surely on in NE 2 with two events left in the season.

(Bruce Dodson - NE 2 Winner)

NOSTALGIA ELIMINATOR 3

5.50 index Nostalgia Eliminator 3 racing was equally entertaining despite Dusty Rose's commanding points lead in the category. Qualifying proved the competitiveness of this class as the top four qualifiers were separated by .015 of a second with the top three spread by only .0019 of a second. Gary Mitchell claimed the pole position with a 5.501, Dusty Rose scored the number two spot with a 5.502 and Dustin Bradford was number three with a 5.503. Joe Scarlata and Joey Myrick rounded out the top half of the nine car field as teams returned to the pits to prepare for eliminations.

(Joey Myrick)

As teams entered the second round of eliminations, first time SHRA racer Lucky Jones lined up with Dustin Bradford. Bradford was off the line first, but was off pace at the hit and his 5.78 was no match for Jones' strong 5.51 at 113 mph. Doug Morrison and Gary Mitchell were out next in an incredible drag race. Morrison took the starting line advantage and posted a 5.510 at 118 mph, narrowly defeating Mitchell's 5.515 at 121 mph in a nice side by side pairing. Dusty Rose benefitted from the bye run and posted a stellar 5.502 at 119 as he moved to the semi-finals, still undefeated on the entire 2015 season in NE 3.

(Doug Morrison)

In the semis, Rose lined up with Morrison in a battle of former SHRA NE 3 Champions. Rose was off the line first with a stunning .0008 reaction time but spun the tires at the hit, quickly recovered and posted a 5.59 at 119 which fell short to Morrison's nice 5.54 at 114 mph as Morrison was final round bound to take on Lucky Jones, who posted a 7.39 in his bye run to move into his first series final in his first SHRA appearance.

This was Morrison's second final round appearance of the season and it was over quickly when Jones blasted off the starting line too soon. Morrison took the green light with a .008 reaction time and posted a nice 5.52 at 117 mph to score his first SHRA win of the season, which moved him into third place in the points chase behind Gary Mitchell and Dusty Rose.

(Doug Morrison - NE 3 Winner)

OLD SCHOOL ELECTRONICS

Old School Electronics provided some great racing as an intense points battle was quickly developing. Alex Garca had been held from a final round, yet held the points lead heading into Temple by going rounds at each event this season. Just eight points separated Garca from the most recent winner and defending class Champion Russell Cook.

(Russell Cook)

In second round, Garca fouled out with a -.019 reaction time, unfortunate for him but Cook saw this as an opportunity to move into the lead and that's just what he did. Cook blasted through the opening rounds into the semi-finals where he met Kevin Wendland's 1927 Ford Roadster. Wendland got the starting line advantage and dialed 6.18 to Cook's 5.66. At the stripe it was close and Cook's dead dial 5.66 at 121 mph advanced over Wendland's 6.24 at 101 mph. Wayne Pratt was in his first SHRA appearance and was final round bound with the bye run in his 1967 Camaro, running a 6.19 on a 6.17.

(Kevin Wendland)

(Wayne Pratt wheels up!)

In the Old School Electronics final, the new points leader Cook and first timer Pratt brought their hot rods to the line, Cook dialed 5.66 and Pratt dialed 6.19. Cook was .013 on the tree to Pratt's .025 and something caused Pratt to drop off to a losing 6.33 at 109 mph to Cook's winning 5.75 at 111 mph as Cook scored his second straight event victory, took the points lead and now holds a thirty four point lead over Garca with just one event remaining. Number three through number ten in the points are separated by only thirty points, so major battles are on in the fight for a position in the year end payout as a top five finisher.

(Russell Cook - Old School Electronics Winner)

OLD SCHOOL NO-ELECTRONICS

Over thirty cars packed the staging lanes for first round of Old School No Electronics in Temple. As the rounds dwindled down to the semi-finals, Robert Rankin's 1970 Dodge Challenger and Michael White's 1971 Chevy Nova were first out. White took the starting line advantage and dialed an 8.08, but broke out with an 8.04 at 83 mph as Rankin advanced with a dead on 7.25 on a 7.25 at 91 mph. In the final pair of the semis, Joe Elmore's "Old School Special 1963 Chevy II lined up with Kari Garbs' 1979 Chevy Malibu. Elmore was off the line first dialed 7.54, taking the win on a break out 7.53 while Garbs dialed 7.05 and ran a 7.01 at 95 mph breaking out worse.

(Robert Rankin)

(Robert Rankin)

Elmore and Rankin were final round bound in Old School No Electronics while points leader Jim Baughan took an uncharacteristic first round loss. Baughan had won two of three races this season and despite bowing out early, still sits comfortably in the top spot and can only hope for a solid outing at the final race to claim his first SHRA Championship after finishing second last season. Back to Temple, Elmore and Rankin were on the line and ready to crown a winner. Rankin dialed a 7.24 and left the line with the better reaction time and his 7.29 at 87 mph was good enough to hold off Elmore's 7.57 on a 7.53 dial. Elmore moved into second place in the Old School No Electronics standings, 53 points behind Baughan, with Stephen Foster in third.

(Robert Rankin - Old School No-Electronics Winner)

NOSTALGIA SUPER STOCK

In the freshman season for the new Nostalgia Super Stock class, growing fields of competitors looking to join SHRA action has brought some great racing to the starting line in this truly old school class. Vic Corlett sat atop the standings with a comfortable lead, but was unable to attend the Temple event, opening the door for the competition to make up ground.

(Super Stock Time Trial Action)

(Randy Stansbury)

The semi-finals welcomed Doug Watkins and Tony Smith to the line in the first pair. Watkins was coming off a win at the previous event and looking to move into his second straight final, while Smith hoped to lock in his first SHRA win of the season after a runner up finish to start the season back in April. Smith's hopes quickly faded with a -.078 reaction time while Watkins slammed the gears to the win light and ticket to the last dance where he'd face the winner between top qualifier Mark Buchanan and Randy Stansbury. Stansbury's reaction time gave him just enough room to take the win with a 6.75 on a 6.73 dial despite Buchanan's dead on 7.05. Stansbury and Watkins were moving on.

In the final round of Nostalgia Super Stock, a double break out battle ensued but Doug Watkins was the better performer with a 6.38 on a 6.41 at 105 mph to lock in his second straight event win over Stansbury's 6.69 on a 6.73 dial. With his back to back wins, Watkins moved into second place in the standings with 37 points separating him from leader Vic Corlett with two events remaining in the class this season.

(Doug Watkins - Nostalgia Super Stock Winner)

It was a wonderful evening of old school drag racing at Little River Dragway under comfortable late summer temperatures and a capacity crowd. First time SHRA winners were crowned and points battles were intensified. The Nostalgia Eliminator 1-2-3 and Nostalgia Super Stock racers will do battle on Saturday, October 10th at Thunder Road Raceway Park in Shreveport, Louisiana before joining the rest of the SHRA classes at the all-important SHRA Championship Finals on Saturday, October 31st at North Star Dragway in Denton, Texas. The SHRA Finals will also be the site of the AlkyDigger.com Nostalgia Eliminator Shootouts where qualified racers will battle for big bucks in a special race during the qualifying rounds of the final event, adding even more pressure to the points battles in NE 1 and NE 2. The six SHRA class Champions will hoist their respective custom designed trophies provided by Meyer Enterprises and at the banquet this winter, be presented with their custom leather jackets provided by title sponsor Mallory Print.

The SHRA series would like to thank Mallory Screenprint & Embroidery, Good Vibrations Motorsports, AlkyDiggers.com, Neil & Parks Racing Enterprises, Hayden Enterprises, Mears Mazda Volvo, Equipment Sales & Service of Texas, Bubba's Tow, Bad Behavior Racing, Lenamond Auto Supply & Gary's Muffler Shop, Harry's Hot Rod Truck & Accessories, Safety Boost, Competition Sales of Dallas, Howards Cams & Competition Products for their support of the 2015 racing season!

Click Here to see photos from Temple!