In Comp Eliminator, Adam Hickey of Hammond, La., qualified in the top spot with an 8.14, driving a C/SMA Chevy Cobalt.
Self, of Caddo, Okla., raced from the No. 10 qualifying position to the win in Comp, driving his ’32 Bantam to a win over Scott Benham’s Pontiac Sunfire in the final round. Self had the quicker reaction time at the start and held on for the win, even though Benham had a slight performance advantage.
In the Super Comp final both drivers ran quicker than the 8.90-second index but Roth, of nearby Baton Rouge, La., ran closer to the number by five-thousandths of a second, holding on to defeat Jeff Bobo of Walnut, Miss.,
The Super Gas final was decided in a similar manner as Waxahatchie, Texas-based Anderson posted a 9.886 elapsed time against the 9.90 index in his ’63 Corvette to defeat former NHRA world champion Steve Cohen, who ran just a thousandth of a second quicker with a 9.885 in his ’04 Grand Am.
Land, a resident of West Monroe, La., claimed the biggest win of his career when he took the Super Street title over Brian Funderburk of Clinton, Ala., Land drove his ’82 Mustang to a 10.95 in the final round to secure the win.
Leerkamp, who made the long trip to Belle Rose from his home base in Olympia, Wash., was rewarded with the Top Dragster title after stopping Kurt Damron Jr., of Fruitland, Park, Fla., in the final. Leerkamp ran a 7.25 on his dial-in time of 7.23-seconds to win over Damron, who ran a 6.96 on his dial-in of 6.93 seconds.
Keith Raftery of Lake Charles, La., earned the No. 1 spot in Top Sportsman with a 6.51 elapsed time while Joey Marcotte of Denham Springs, La., captured the No. 1 qualifying spot in Top Dragster with a 6.22-second best. Marcotte went on to win the Vicari/Undercover Chassis Top Dragster Shootout over Michael Kile while Mike Manners claimed the Top Sportsman Shootout with a final round win over Raftery.
The Top Sportsman final featured a re-match of the 2007 JEGS Cajun SPORTSnationals final with a different result as Keith Raftery, of Lake Charles, La., earned a measure of revenge against T.J. Tracey of Eads, Tenn. Raftery started with an almost perfect reaction time and held on for the win over Tracey’s ’63 Corvette. Raftery also earned the Best Engineered Car award for his ’07 Pontiac GTO.
Finally, McCullah, of Houston, Texas, earned the win in the Sportsman Motorcycle division by beating fellow Texan Jerry Pomilla of Conroe in the final round. The Sportsman Motorcycle field also included NHRA Pro Craig Treble, who was defeated in the early rounds.
The JEGS Cajun SPORTSnationals winners in Comp, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Top Dragster and Top Sportsman will now be eligible to claim the coveted JEGS Crown trophy, a special award that is bestowed on any racer who can win two of the three JEGS Crown events held in 2008. In addition to the Belle Rose race, the other events are the JEGS NHRA Northern SPORTSnationals at National Trail Raceway in Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 19-21, and the JEGS NHRA Pacific SPORTSnationals, at Auto Club Dragway in Fontana, Calif., Oct. 3-5.