Shannon Ragsdale burned the left head gasket out of his ’94 Corvette’s twin-turboed powerplant in his last qualifying attempt on Saturday night, but it was so cold his team opted out of making an all-night thrash to fix it and withdrew from competition. “We didn’t even take the head off,” Ragsdale said. “We were afraid of what we might find.”
 Todd Moyer and his turbocharged Camaro represented Tim Lynch’s last hope for the 2008 ORSCA Outlaw 10.5 title, but Moyer’s Texas-based team came up just a little short in the final round against Richard Sexton. |
Lynch complained his car had been ill handling all weekend and admitted he probably wouldn’t have stayed in it so long on that pass if championship implications weren’t on the line. “By the time I let off and the car went sideways he (Kirk) was still on the throttle, so he jumped a couple of cars out, so it wasn’t as close as it might’ve looked,” Lynch said. “I’d say that was an easy one compared to the Orlando deal (where he spun 360 degrees in the shutdown area a few weeks earlier).”
Next up was Sexton versus Robbins, who in round one took out 2004 ORSCA champ Jack Barfield in the debut of his dual-turboed ’69 Camaro. “I’m nervous,” Mobley told Barfield and Petty as they all watched and waited between second-round pairings. “My heart’s pounding right now.” He needn’t have worried. After both drivers left with nearly identical reaction times, Sexton’s 4.48 at 164.96 in the 862 c.i., nitrous-fed Goat proved just too much for Robbins’ ’68 Camaro, which slowed to a 4.59/161.23 combo.
Jimmy Blackmon (far lane) suffered a rare DNQ with his twin turbocharged ’92 Trans Am at Huntsville, while Tony Johnson and his supercharged ’69 Camaro qualified 12th, but lost in the opening round on raceday to Chuck Ulsch.
Some quick calculations in the pits eventually determined that with Lynch and Ulsch on the sidelines, Sexton still had a shot at the title—but only if he managed to advance and win the final round. “It was nerve-wracking,” he later revealed. “After the second round they initially said Tim (Lynch) had it locked up, but then they recalculated and said it was four points, then three points and finally two points that would decide it.”
For the semi-finals, Lynch and his crew, along with friends and family members found their way to the top-end bleachers, pulling for Moyer to take out Kirk because Kirk’s team owner John Ferguson has a strong relationship with Mobley and they felt if Kirk reached the final and Sexton made it there, too, “team orders” may very well have come into play. As it happened, Moyer’s twin-turbocharged ’92 Camaro went 4.51 at 168.04 while Kirk slowed to a 4.63 at 160.31 mph. “We burned two pistons in that run against Lynch and we didn’t have enough time to fix them,” Kirk explained. “But we took the two top turbo cars out in the first two rounds, so we still had a good day.”
Jack Barfield brought his ’69 Camaro out at Huntsville for its debut after being fitted with a new twin-turbocharged engine. Barfield also had the nitrous-assisted 2002 Camaro that he’s been racing all year in the trailer, but was so impressed by the turbo car’s performance that he stuck with it for eliminations after qualifying 10th with a 4.52 at 161.29 mph. He had to shut off early on Sunday against Jim Robbins in the first round, but said he was “thrilled” with the car’s new power and potential.