INGOLD CLAIMS $10,000 VICTORY; JOHNSON WINS TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP

Results courtesy Rockingham Dragway

Raleigh’s Gary Ingold used a nearly perfect .001 reaction time to take out Saturday winner Chip Johnson in the Top Eliminator quarterfinals and his .034 package was just enough to handle Effingham’s Trinity Cole in the final round of Sunday’s IHRA Ironman Classic at Steve Earwood’s Rockingham Dragway.

Ingold’s steady performance through nine rounds of racing paid big dividends, earning him the biggest share of the holiday weekend purse, a whopping $10,000.
Ingold, driving a big block Nesbitt Racing Engines powered big block Chevy RaceTech Dragster, gave credit to his good friend and mentor Chuck Martin who was severely injured this season in a racing accident.

Ironically, the Ingold-Cole final, decided by just .02 of a second, provided the last real drama of the weekend as rain washed out Monday’s program after just one round of competition with the purse ultimately divided among those still in the field when racing was suspended.

Trying to put a door car in the winners’ circle for the second straight day, Cole had a .001 reaction time in the sixth round and a .002 in the semifinals but was .027 in the final round.

Although he won twice as much money as anyone else, Ingold wasn’t able to claim one of the IHRA Ironman trophies that are one of the major attractions of the Memorial weekend race.  In Sunday’s runoff with Footbrake winner Wesley Roberts of Benson, his dragster encountered problems and slowed to 4.822 seconds, considerably off the 4.64 pace that earned him the cash.

Roberts won an all-Roberts brothers, all-Benson final round to claim Sunday’s Footbrake title.  Wesley beat brother William for the $1,000 first place money after William held off Tommy Duff of Holly Ridge in a classic semifinal by .02 of a second.

Despite his premature exit, Johnson locked up the 2010 Rockingham Dragway Top Eliminator Championship, his fourth.  Raleigh’s Richard Alford Jr. claimed the Footbrake title. 
           
In the Junior Dragster class, Maxton’s Holden Dial was the class of the field on Sunday, earning a free pass to the title when Jacob Goble of Granite Falls was guilty of a foul start in the final.

TOP ELIMINATOR

Round 5 – Chip Johnson, Fayetteville, 1968 Chevrolet Camaro, .032, 6.222 on a 6.210, 108.03 mph, def. Brian Thompson, Sneads Ferry, dragster, .015, 4.653 on a 4.610, 142.81 mph; Trinity Cole, Effingham, S.C., 1996 Chevrolet Camaro, .010, 5.831 on a 5.810, 112.74 mph, def. Jerry Brewer, Lumberton, dragster, .023, 4.767 on a 4.730, 140.53 mph; E.J. Womack, Lillington, dragster, .002, 5.706 on a 5.720, 120.52 mph, def. Bert McBride, Jackson Springs, 1969 Chevrolet Camaro, foul; William Roberts, Benson, dragster, .019, 5.947 on a 5.940, 115.45 mph, def. David Dean, Waxhaw, .022, 4.934 on a 4.900, 139.11 mph; Gary Ingold, Raleigh, dragster, .020, 4.635 on a 4.630, 149.15 mph, def. Crow Locke, Alamo, Ga., dragster, .015, 4.559 breakout on a 4.560, 147.83 mph; Bill Hansen, Ninety Six, S.C., 1969 Chevrolet Camaro, .003, 5.496 on a 5.470, 123.44 mph, def. Chris Dean, Sanford, 1968 Chevrolet Camaro, .067, 6.147 breakout on a 6.160, 112.07 mph; Kenneth McArthur, Mt. Olive, dragster, .030, 7.096 on a 7.100, 93.54 mph, def. Duck Grimsley, Fairmont, 1986 Chevy S-10 truck, .055, 6.581 breakout on a 6.590, 101.62 mph; Tim Thomas, Lumberton, dragster, .020, 4.764 on a 4.760, 142.99 mph, def. Clayton Roberts, Willow Spring, dragster, .043, 5.477 on a 5.470, 127.74 mph; Derrick Sholar, Holly Ridge, dragster, .019, 4.798 on a 4.790, 139.37 mph, def. Unknown #RX11, .027, 4.831 breakout on a 4.850, 141.16 mph; David Spaugh, Advance, bye.

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