SHOOTING GALLERY
Keith Sexton, 23, made his ORSCA debut at Montgomery after earning his competition license earlier this year in a Super Gas car at Frank Hawley’s Drag racing School in Gainesville, FL. “That was the only thing I’d ever driven down a track other than a Jr. Dragster eight years earlier. That was it, so I went from there and jumped into the 10.5 car,” Sexton said after qualifying second in Montgomery behind his father, Richard, and just ahead of teammate and eventual race winner Chuck Ulsch.
Jack Barfield, Tim Lynch and eventual semi-finalist Ken Rainwater (shown), were testing Mickey Thompson’s new 16-inch (inside diameter) 10.5W tires at Montgomery, while another pair waited in 6.0 competitor David Harvey’s pit for delivery to Outlaw 10.5 star Craig Miller, who didn’t make the trip due to family responsibilities at home in Savannah, GA. “We were very impressed,” Rainwater said of the new tire. “We had to move the four-link and change a few things with the shocks, but we really like it. I really don’t think (the tire) had anything to do with those guys going out early (Barfield and Lynch); this track is just so hot and so slick that if you were off just a little it was all over. I feel very fortunate to have got as far as we did.”
Rockmart, GA’s Jimmy Blackmon reached the semis from the 15th-place starting spot, but his twin-turbocharged ’92 Trans Am lost traction against Todd Moyer. “It just shook the tires there. It had too much power in it, got crossed up, and we just lost,” he explained later.