SHADYSIDE DRAGWAY SPORTSMAN RESULTS
The 6th annual Garland Buff Memorial, hosted Mar. 10-11, by Shadyside Dragway, near Shelby, NC, featured several bracket and index classes in addition to the headlining Outlaw 10.5 and Outlaw Real Street races (featured elsewhere in DRO).
Under the leadership of track operator Ronnie Buff, Shadyside has been a longtime supporter and promoter of heads-up index racing, so not surprisingly, local racers predominantly filled the fields of six supporting classes, including footbrake and electronics bracket classes.
Running opposite Jeff Plemmons, who suffered a devastating crash in the Outlaw Real Street final, Kevin “Superman” Dalton took the win home to Marion, NC, despite also losing control of his 632 big-block Chevy powered ’89 Mustang in the shutdown area. “We were side-by-side and I saw him (Plemmons) get sideways and his rear end came over and crossed the center line and was coming toward my car,” Dalton said. “So I got out of the fuel because I knew he was going to hit the wall and I was afraid he was going to come back out in front of me, but I couldn’t get stopped in time so I got back in the gas and drove to the right beside the wall. Then the nitrous came back on and it got sideways. I just barely bumped the wall on the left side there and tore the nose piece and the fender off a bit, but it didn’t hurt any inner structure so it should be fine.”
Wayne Montgomery of Rock Hill, SC, drove his big Buick to the 5.49 index class win at the 6th annual Garland Buff Memorial, defeating Jonathan Sanders, who broke out in his late-‘80s Mustang. Also earning index wins were Floyd Sanders of Clover, SC, with his Fox Mustang in 6.99 and Amada Owenby, who drove to the 7.99 title with her Marion, NC-based ’70 Camaro.
Terry Floyd successfully defended his 2006 5.99 index title at the Garland Buff Memorial. Driving an all-steel ’55 Chevy originally built in 1985 by Floyd and master chassis man Wally Stroupe, the Gastonia, NC-based racer left first in the final with a .023 light against the .041 by Luddie Woods in his ’91 S-10 pick-up. Floyd then put together a 6.002-secs pass at 110.98 mph to nip the 6.000/114.26 combo by Woods. “We were all over each other at the top end, but that’s what makes it fun. It was that close,” Floyd said.