The naturally aspirated Hot Street racers had the most to gain thanks to the mild weekend weather in Columbus, and as a result, an eight-eighty was the price of admission to the top six in the 16-car field in qualifying. Justin Curry did that, and a little more with a ladder-topping 8.797 at 151.29 mph.
After three rounds of eliminations on Sunday, the field had narrowed to Mike DeMayo, who had qualified third and eliminated Curry in the semis, against Tim Eichhorn, who ran mid-pack in eighth spot during qualifying but used a combination of luck, quick reactions, and straight-out speed to get to the deciding round. DeMayo was away first, .020 to .054, and it was all over before half-track, with DeMayo running out to an 8.917 to Eichhorn’s limping 12.868.
While the focus this year in Drag Radial has been on the battle between John Kolivas and Chris Tuten, Kevin Fiscus has been steadily improving his combination and consistently trapping faster than anyone else in the class. In Columbus, Fiscus was able to translate some of that top end into an ET advantage, claiming his first top qualifier award with an 8.296 at 173.65 mph. Kolivas followed at 8.307, with Tony Akins, Chris Tuten, and Joey Bridge rounding out the top five in the 13-car class.
On Sunday, the stars had finally aligned for Fiscus, who climbed through three rounds of competition to the finals, where he’d face his biggest threat, John Kolivas. Normally unbeatable on the tree, the Iceman actually lost the leave to Fiscus, .063 to .049, and a picture-perfect 8.347-second pass against Kolivas’ 8.608 carried Fiscus all the way to the winner’s circle for his first Drag Radial victory.
Nitrous-injected Real Street racer Bruce Hemminger has been a lightning rod for controversy this year, and added to his already fearsome reputation with another top qualifying position at National Trail, running 9.805 at 136.63. Tim Matherly and Mike Washington also found single-digit speed on Saturday, with the rest of the dozen-car field stretching out to the high tens. Eliminations narrowed the field to Matherly and Hemminger after three rounds, and when the tree dropped there was just .004 seconds between the pair. On the short end, Matherly’s blower car caught an early lead, and he was able to hold off a last-second charge from Hemminger, who ran a 10.040 but wasn’t able to catch up to Matherly’s 9.905 despite his huge 139.07 mph trap speed.
Pure Street drew a deep field of 17 racers at National Trail, with Rocky Mason the cream of the crop in qualifying thanks to his 10.347 at 129.62 in the second round. Sunday’s eliminations took four rounds to narrow the field to the final pair, seventh-qualified “Grandpa” Ron Anderson versus eighth seed Jimmy Wilson. Showing that experience and guile are a match for youth and vigor, Grandpa Ron put the move on Wilson, .046 to .100, and it was just enough to eke out a win despite running a slower 10.368 to Wilson’s 10.366. In a true holeshot victory, Anderson’s MOV at the stripe was a scant .052 seconds, or less than a car-length.
In Columbus, Factory Stock was all about Steve Gifford. In qualifying, Farmer Steve served notice on the seven-car field with a potentially record-setting 11.329-second pass at 118.49 mph. With number two qualifier Jeff Schmell more than a tenth and a half behind, Gifford cruised through eliminations, backing up the thirty two with a thirty nine in his first round single pass and putting away third-qualified Tommy Godfrey in the second. In the finals, he faced Schmell, and knowing he’d have to let it all hang out to keep up, Schmell pulled a .091-to-.200 holeshot on Farmer Steve. It wasn’t enough, though – Schmell had faded to the mid 11.70’s, while Gifford laid down another 40-even, adding the event win to his list of accomplishments that included setting the record, qualifying first, and earning a teardown all in one weekend.
Modular Muscle pulled a 20-car field in Columbus, including John Brooks, who came all the way from Kanata, Ontario, to earn top qualifier honors with a .005-second light in the second round. With so many cars in the lanes, it took four rounds to get down to the last two, and those two would be class all-stars Tom Motycka and Roxanne Shepard. With a slower index, Motycka got the tree first and was away with a .040 light, and when Shepard’s side came down two and a half seconds later, she notched a .077. Down-track, Motycka held on to his lead, running 12.574-on-12.48 to Shepard’s 10.258 on her 10-flat index.
As always, Open Comp proved to be the most popular class, with two score cars taking a hit in qualifying. Troy Lee of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, had the lone perfect light in qualifying, earning him the top spot on the ladder. With so many cars in the mix, it took five full rounds to winnow the field to the final pair, where Redline Randy Conway took on Michael Buczynski. Indexed at a slower 11.97 to Buczynski’s 9.95, Conway got the green first and was away with a .057 reaction. When Buczynski’s side came down, a heartbreaking -.009 redlight ended the race before it began, but both racers ran it out anyway, with Conway posting an 11.979-on-11.97, while Buczynski was right there with him, going 9.952 on his 9.95 dial.
Truck & Lightning was on the upswing in Ohio, with a dozen trucks in the game by the end of qualifying. Dave Cole was in the lead at the close of quals, posting a .011 light in his ’84 Ranger. On Sunday, eliminations came down to an all-F-100 final, with Mike Motycka’s ‘79 against Bob Cochran’s vintage ’48. With near-identical indexes, Cochran would get the green first, or not, as it turned out – a -.018 redlight handed the race to Motycka unopposed, putting the second Motycka of the day into the winner’s circle.