The ADRL staff had the VMP track prepped to perfection and it showed as Chuck Ulsch drove his 10.5-tire equipped, thinly disguised ’68 Camaro, supercharged Hemi-powered Pro Mod to the number one qualifying slot with a stellar 3.958/200.65 lap. Ulsch had almost 15 mph but only a hundredth of a second over number-two qualifier Gary White in the turbocharged six-cylinder-powered Scion. Still, only two cars broke the three-second barrier at this event and nearly a half-second of ET separated the number-one qualifier and the 16th qualifier.

The 16-car bump was a respectable 4.385/159 held by Sandy Wilkens from Mooresville, NC.

Chuck Ulsch (Jeff Burk photo)

Once the Eliminations got underway you could basically throw away the qualifying sheet if you were using it to handicap the race. Ulsch got by the first round despite slowing to a 4.734/164. In the second round he lost traction and slowed to a 9-second pass against eventual finals contender Todd Moyer and his turbocharged Cavalier.

Glidden used up both of the 498-inch Hemi/Fords he brought and bowed out in the second round to Bill Brown, the number-12 qualifier who was the upset winner of the event with that win over Glidden.

On the other side of the ladder Gary White and the Scion lived up to their billing by recording a string of sub-four-second passes including a 3.952/186.74 in the final against Moyer. That pass not only got him the win but he stole the Low ET honors away from Ulsch.

Number-three qualifier Jeff Naizer then looked like a lock to make the final round, but he fell victim to White, who put a 3.956 up on the board in the semifinals and Naizer had nothing to answer with.
In the finals Moyer was late on the light and simply didn’t have the steam in his turbocharged engine to chase Alabama driver White. A pair of turbocharged cars in the final was a bit of a shock when it appeared earlier that supercharged cars would rule the class.

It should also be noted that two of the four doorslammer classes were won by drivers that call Alabama home, Gary White and Shannon Jenkins.