Pro Stock Showdown at Las Vegas
Words by Darr Hawthorne
Photos by James Drew
2/8/06
Moving
the Pontiac Pro Stock Showdown to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
brought 23 competitors, including the top players in the game. But everything
old is new again and judging by the results of the current Pro Stock youth
movement in NHRA competition, there’s still a lot for the newcomers
to learn.
Two rounds of qualifying was all Richie Stevens (shown left)) needed to
grab the No.1 spot driving his Bob Glidden-prepared Dodge Stratus to a
6.757 at 203.19 mph. Sporting a deep blue paint job this season, Stevens
lost on a red light in the semi-final round to eventual winner, veteran
Mopar driver Larry Morgan. Morgan had qualified 4th and outran Erica Enders
and Mark Pawuk on the way to taking the Pontiac trophy.
Newly
announced Mopar Pro Stock driver Shaun Carlson (seen here with Bob Glidden)
was precluded from competing in the Showdown since he’s been on
the road for the past two weeks and was unable to complete a mandatory
physical back home in Southern California to renew his competition license.
Carlson continued to get seat time in the red Dodge SRT prepped by Glidden
as he makes the move out of sport compact front-wheel driving, running
a best 6.815/201.70 mph for the weekend.
A rash of red light starts settled five of the first round matches, as
drivers with rusty reaction times got ready for the new season. Un-retired
six-time champ Warren Johnson managed to cut a pair of .001 reaction times
in rounds one and two, but gave the final round win to Morgan with a red
light. WJ also had the big mile per hour of the event, 203.95 against
Dave Connolly in the semis. Connolly’s team had worked non-stop
to rebuild the Skull Gear-sponsored Cobalt after he crashed in January
at Valdosta, GA. Both Connolly and Stevens red-lighted in the semis.
Pontiac gave away official caps to the first 1,000 spectators on Saturday,
but may have taken a few back to Detroit as an enthusiastic but small
crowd saw their favorites take to the track for the first time this season.
Greg Anderson, 2005 Pro Stock Champ, ran a best
of 6.765/203.40, but had problems in the quarterfinals.