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A brief nitrous backfire preceded event winner Joe Baker’s first qualifying attempt, but a quick timing adjustment set his Neon back in tune.
Words and photos by Ian Tocher
3/21/06
he CSR Performance Products Automatic Pro Mod Association (APMA) took to the eighth-mile at Huntsville (AL) Dragway Mar. 18, for its first ever event, with Joe Baker and his 2002 Dodge Neon taking the trophy home to Milton, FL, after prevailing over series promoter Ronnie Davis in the final round.
APMA founder Ronnie Davis also races in the series and had his ’63 ‘Vette on a string all day, qualifying number one, setting low E.T., and making it to the final round. “A lot of these guys probably weren’t ready yet, whereas I was testing in January and I’ve already been to two NHRA divisional races and won one of them,” the Suwanee, GA-based racer/promoter said. “This is our fourth race this year, plus we’ve tested, so that gives us an advantage.”
Davis put the APMA together to provide an outlet for heads-up competition between automatic transmission-equipped Pro Mods, many of which currently compete in theNHRA/IHRA Top Sportsman ranks. Ten cars showed up at Huntsville to contest an eight-car field, with Davis securing the number-one slot in his TracStar-backed ’63 Corvette with a 4.33-seconds pass at 168.48 mph and Paul Gibbs rounding out the field at 5.28/144.56 in his blown hemi-powered ’72 ‘Cuda.
Gibbs withdrew after bending the upper attachment tabs for his car’s wheelie bars, however, allowing first alternate Lee Adkins to enter eliminations with his 1957 Chevy and leaving only Bubba Stanton, who battled gremlins all day in his Pontiac Grand Am, outside of the main show.
Baker, the IHRA Division II Top Sportsman champion, defeated a tire-shaking David Helton in round one, then took out Stephan Stringer in the semis. On the other side of the ladder, Davis easily handled Jim Pauckner and his ’41 Willys in his opening bout, then beat Stringer’s younger brother, Tom Stringer, who also suffered tire shake in his 1968 Camaro.