Mike Hill may not have had the fastest car—that honor clearly went to the 2002 Camaro of Terry Robbins—but he turned on the win lights when they counted, culminating with a holeshot victory over Steve Kirk in ORSCA’s Outlaw 10.5 final Sep. 4, at Atlanta Dragway. It marked Hill’s first win in an ORSCA points-paying event.

“I needed that; I needed to step up in the points,” he said. “We were number six or seven coming in and I’m pretty sure this’ll move us up a couple of spots.”

After three rounds of qualifying on Saturday, with track temperatures reaching as high as 138 degrees, Robbins, from Forest, NC, sat on top of a list of 17 Outlaw 10.5 entries with a 4.571-seconds pass over the eighth mile at 168.33 mph. He was followed by Steve Kirk, Jack Barfield, and Hill, who all ran identical 4.649s in the second session, so their order was set according to speed. Josh McClelland rounded out the top five with a 4.690 at 158.36 mph.

Terry Robbins was clearly the class of the Outlaw 10.5 field in his 2002 Camaro, qualifying .078 ahead of second-place starter Steve Kirk. Robbins, from Forest, NC, also set low E.T. in the first three rounds of eliminations before fouling out with a redlight in the semis against Mike Hill.

Robbins was the only driver to officially dip into the 4.50s at Atlanta, though Barfield managed it twice in test sessions, including one held the morning of the race before eliminations began. ORSCA President Johnny Fenn explained the unorthodox scheduling was the result of a low car count in the street car support series, so they needed some on-track activity to fill the bill for the fans.

Nearly the entire first round of Outlaw 10.5 action consisted of bye runs, with only Marcus Birt and Jerry Gunter, the numbers 16 and 17 qualifiers, squaring off. Birt advanced to face Robbins, who went low for the round with a 4.573-second run.

Robbins slowed to a 4.650 in winning over Birt, but still managed to post low ET for round two, while Hill advanced through Keith Neal and Kirk used a holeshot to get past Ken Rainwater and his blown ’66 Rambler. Round three saw Robbins again set low ET with a 4.647-second win over Jimmy Blackmon, as Hill beat a tire-smoking McClelland and Kirk defeated Rob Hale.

Robbins’ march came to an end in the semis, however, as he left .089 too soon, handing the redlight win to Hill with a 4.718/154.82 combo. Meanwhile, in the other semi-final Kirk took on Craig Miller and his ’92 Camaro, going 4.635 to Miller’s 4.730 and earning lane choice for the final round.