Words and photos by Ian Tocher
8/21/04

utlaw 10.5 ace Jack Barfield demonstrated yet again at Silver Dollar Raceway Aug. 14-15, why some people are beginning to compare him to NHRA Pro Stock dominator Greg Anderson. Starting from the number-two position in the third of five TFRA races this season, Barfield laid down a steady stream of 4.70s on his way to a final-round victory over Rob Hale at the Reynolds, GA, strip.

Jack Barfield confers with his crew just before making another 4.70 assault on the 1/8-mile at Silver Dollar Raceway.

Barfield, from Pembroke, GA, said he spent the week before the Silver Dollar race freshening up the engine in his ‘68 Camaro, as well as changing the springs, shocks, ride height, gears, and torque converter. “We actually planned to [come here] just as a test session for the points race next week at Macon (GA),” he said, “so I was surprised to win.”

How it ran was like a bracket car, as Barfield went 4.74 in Sunday’s last-chance qualifying session, then 4.76 against Bryan Goethe, 4.79 over Tim West, 4.78 against Mike Calvert, and finally 4.77 in the big money round. Hale, meanwhile, raced through Randy Petet in the opener, got a bye in round two when Marcus Birt couldn’t answer the call to stage, and beat TFRA promoter Ronnie Davis in the semis.

Event runner-up Rob Hale placed his 1967 Chevy II fifth on the qualifying sheet with a 4.808-second blast at 153.42 mph.

Barfield left first with a .032 light in the final, then stormed through the eighth-mile in 4.772 seconds at 152.23 mph against the 4.806/153.09 combo put together by Hale.

“I’m very surprised,” Barfield repeated afterward. “Usually with these 10.5 cars, when you make as many changes as we did, you’ve got a full weekend of work ahead of you. But everything went real smooth. It was like it was on a string every pass.”

Also winning at Reynolds were Billy Vaughn in Top Sportsman, Ringgold, GA’s Jerry Bryant in 6.0, and Dennis Smith, from Dalton, GA, in the 7.0 index class.