Art Hodges

Roger Holder

The Outlaw 10.5 class has been all about Rod Oxford and Slim Zeinaty. Oxford was already crowned Champion, but Slim reminded him there was a race to win by taking the pole with a 7.446 at 190.37. Oxford was next followed by Steve Paulauskis in Ryan Z’s Nova and Eric Swang. It looked as if Paulauskis was going to make the final first time out when Oxford exploded his oil filter over the car and the track when an errant flexplate bolt punctured it. Oxford was ready to throw in the towel after repairing the damage but finding a supposed problem with the transmission. Just before eliminations the faux pas was discovered and Oxford proceeded to send fellow Phoenix resident Paulauskis home. Zeinaty was determined to take home the final win of the year and did so with a 7.558/190.24 to Oxford’s aborted run.

Roger Holder Jr. sat on the Team Racing Enterprises True 10.5 pole with a 7.788 at 178.28 mph.  Scott Oksas was next up with an 8.171/153.11 followed by Johnny Coleman and his 8.555/160.24. Holder continued with his stranglehold on the series by taking the win over Coleman 7.715/183.00 to a losing 10.190/152.18.

Dee Pfinster	Artis Houston

Dee Pfnister had been making the Drag Radial class his own by winning the last three events. He lagged behind Derrol Hubbard in the championship but was firmly on the pole with an 8.300 at 169.53. Rick Snavely was next up with a 8.352/163.33 followed by Artis Houston’s 8.442 at 169.69. Hubbard was next followed by Paul Bartlett. Houston had the fans on their feet when a cloud of dust rose over the finish line. Thankfully it was only two blown tires and nothing more serious. By the time the final came round it was that man Pfnister again, this time facing off against Snavely. Unfortunately for the fans, Snavely and the Slim Shady Chevelle broke and Pfnister was handed his fourth win.

Anthony Valentino led the Pro Stock qualifying with a 8.614 at 159.19 mph. The 2007 champion, Don Bevers, ran an 8.632/157.57 and WCHRA returnee Vic Brum was third with an 8.758/151.67. John Mitchell rounded out the field with a 9.198 at 149.64. Valentino showed he was playing for keeps by taking the win over Brum with a close 8.522/160.85 to 8.595/157.24 victory.

For the second time this year there was a new look on top of the Modified Production time charts. This time it was chassis builder ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok behind the wheel of Glen Walton’s sweet Ford. The 9.780 at 137.56 put him ahead of Mike Saiki with a 10.077 at 131.83 and Ron Shaw was next with a 10.437 at 129.14. The final was the Hickok - Saiki show with Hickok taking the win 9.679/138.56 over Saiki’s 10.010/133.08. Hickok threw in both the E.T. and speed records to boot.

A.J. Schwichtenberg returned from Alaska and took the A/GAS 7.60 pole with an 8.275/180.00. Frank Merenda followed with an 8.276/162.40, and 2007 Champion Rob Patten was next followed by local racer Clyde Williams. Schwichtenberg took the win 8.811 at 110.58 over a broken Rob Patten.

The B/GAS 8.60 class has been all about three guys, Randy Armstrong, Rick Logsdon and Doug Hampton, and that is the way they qualified. Leonard Perry was next, followed by Casey Treur and Roger Holder. Hampton took another win, running an 8.702 at 160.30 to Armstrong’s losing 8.589 at 149.60 mph.