Pro Mod Semi Finals

The semi final pairings presented great promise. First up were Thomas and “The Bad Bird” Firebird against Smith in the “Bounty Hunter” ‘70 Cuda. The Bird was flying high in the night as Thomas left on Smith with a miniscule .04 edge at the light but ran away from the Cuda and posted a statement run of 3.87 at 187.58 to Smith’s trailing and off pace 4.34 at 127.80.

The next pair had the crowd’s attention squarely on Frankie Taylor (shown) as he matched up against Cate. Cate cut a great .040 light and Taylor was napping with a .165 RT. Despite being spotted a .125-second holeshot, the Mad Man drove around the Chevy II for the win, crossing the line with a 3.92 at 191.33 to 5.29 at 93.87.

Pro Mod Final

The final was a rematch of the season opener at Texas Raceway, which Frankie Taylor won. There was an I-45 rivalry feel to it and more than one fan was heard calling the matchup a Houston vs. Dallas affair. The venue may suggest that Taylor had a home court advantage, but Mt. Pleasant, Texas’ Ken Thomas has a loyal following of Gulf Coast supporters that more than equalized the cheers. Both camps came to the line loaded for bear and staged with a hanging fog of smoke from the burnouts left in the air.

At the flash of amber, the Firebird of Thomas jumped out first with an RT of .084 to Taylor’s late RT of .168. Thomas never looked back and the Mad Man didn’t have the charge to chase him down. At the line, Thomas turned on the win light with a consistent 3.904 at 186.06 mph to Taylor’s game effort of 3.960 at 171.10. If the first two events of the TOPMA season are any indication, this is going to be a great year with great racing.

S&S Racing Index Series

Once again Gary Sangster’s S&S Racing Index Series was an integral part of the eighth-mile action. Over 100 entries competed in seven index classes ranging from 5.00 to 7.50 all utilizing a .400 pro tree with no throttle stops or delay boxes allowed – just good old-fashioned racing to the line action.

The variety and range of machines had to be seen to be believed. Everything from a small block 1977 Chevy LUV to a four-door Volvo powered by a blown Chevy. There were two qualifying sessions to set the order and then the pairings for each round were selected by a random draw to insure a level playing field.