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Words by Chris
Martin
Photos by Eric Detzel
8/31/04
 he Pro Top Outlaws circuit headlined at
Kil-Kare Dragway’s annual Buckeye Nationals
on Aug. 14, and as an added bonus put on a
16-car qualified show for the only time this
year. Taking the win at the Xenia, Ohio track
in a mild surprise was the circuit’s
youngest driver, 16-year-old Jason Hamstra
aboard a Hemi-powered, Mike Spitzer-built dragster,
a car that was pushed past circuit points leader,
Adam Trauth in the finale.
Trauth didn’t go away empty handed in
this venture as he qualified No. 1 with a sizzling
3.847/184.38 on the Kil-Kare eighth-mile, a
move that allowed him to join brother Anthony
in bookending the field. Anthony was on the
bubble with a 4.515/155.67. Furthermore, Adam
Trauth (below) managed to set both ends of
the track and circuit record when he scored
a 4.820/186.88 win over Tom Mueller in the
second frame.
However, the day belonged to the teenager
from DeMotte, Indiana. He qualified his Hemi-powered
Spitzer dragster just behind the polesitter
with a 3.887/182.91 and then began eliminations
with a full-throttle 3.869/183.64 bye run when
Brandon Booher broke and stuttered to a stop.
A .418 to .562 edge at the lights in round
two allowed to him to slither past Tim Bragg’s
dragster, 3.822 to 4.621, and a .420 to .449
edge over semi-final foe, Mike Kowalski, translated
itself into a 3.837/184.29 to 4.168/167.30
win on the other end, setting up the finale.
In that heat, Trauth was the one who had the
edge at the Tree, but he never hooked up his
Davis-built Hemi-powered dragster, and lost
via a 3.83 to 5.67 count.
As per usual, the
field was almost all dragsters save for crowd
favorite, Paul Molnar (above), in a Chevy-powered ‘48
Anglia. The Hickley, Ohio driver qualified
decently enough, logging in with an 11th best
4.111/175.03, but got drilled in round one
when Terry Coyle’s dragster
rolled him up on a 3.92 to 4.19 count.
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