- Race Coverage
- The Rest of the Story
rawing far more spectators than South Georgia Motorsports Park could seat, the Flowmaster ADRL Drag Racing Series exceeded even its noted 2006 success at Rockingham, NC, in its third stop of the ‘07 tour. Although high spring temperatures surprised even the locals, a magnificent track surface and no less than eighty-seven entries presented exceptionally fast and close racing in the first completed ADRL event to feature four eliminator categories.
The race had its surprises. The Pro Nitrous contingent chuckled when the sixteen-car PN bump spot of 4.11 seconds remained quicker than the Pro Xtreme “bubble” until the last five pairs of blown cars in the final qualifying session; the PX field was eventually anchored at a 4.03. Only one low qualifying entry, Steve Drake’s Pro Xtreme Motorcycle Suzuki Hayabusa, appeared in any final round and the Pro Nitrous field, separated by only seven-hundredths, was the tightest ADRL contest ever.
While the finalists themselves were big news, there was plenty of action among the other entrants in every category. Here, then, is “the rest of the story”.
 Of the four runs he made at the event, only Jason Scruggs’ all-over-the-track 4.21/182 first-round win was NOT newsworthy. An off-the-trailer 3.91/194.94 timed trial was the quickest of Friday afternoon’s test passes and included the best sixty-feet ET of the event, (0.968 seconds), and a 0.004 Reaction Time! His indescribable 3.80/198.67 record-breaker was actually short of the car’s potential on the run; accidentally staging deeper than normal held the sixty-feet ET to 0.980, (even with a blistering 2.554 330-feet ET), forcing Scruggs to admit, “That was definitely a Three-seventy and could very well have been the Two Hundred Mph pass”. In the second round of eliminations while driving away from eventual winner Joe Baker’s Willys, the powerplant in the red Stingray self-destructed resulting in Doorslammer history’s most ridiculous shut-off numbers, a 3.97 at only 164 mph, and a loss by eleven thousandths of a second! |
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Seen during Friday’s test session before it had even been lettered with traditional Lee Boy Paving Equipment signage, Quain Stott’s new screwcharger-equipped Stingray proved it could be the next contender to Scruggs’ performance domination. A 190.24 mph speed on its 4.02 qualifier should have been the tip-off but an incredible 3.85 at only 185.31 mph in the opening round against Josh Hernandez made the popular Tarheel ADRL’s second quickest driver. Incredibly, a broken blower belt before the finish line cut short the car’s top-end charge and tire shake parked Stott after a second round match with Mike Bell’s Mustang. |