"When the car left the line and I heard the sound of the engine I said to myself ‘Man, this thing is on a pass!’ We have struggled since we got this new set-up but our guys have continued to work hard and that pass shows," said a very excited Robbie Matthews.

In the semi finals Matthews and Crosby both fought traction issues with Matthews recovering first and punching his ticket to the final round. Now it was time to see who would face Robbie.

Troy Jordan had the tough task of facing Ric Fleck in the other semi. Jordan and the Blade Runner Team were trying a new combo and they had been fighting it all day. Their troubles continued and Fleck won the race.

With the final round set it looked to be a very good race, but it just wasn’t meant to be. While the two doorslammers sat in the staging lanes, Fleck fired up his Corvette and did his burnout. Meanwhile Matthews and the crew couldn’t get the ‘57 running due to a faulty starter.

"We have been here at Darlington for three weekends in a row," exclaimed Kip Kauffman. "We made thirteen passes and it would sixty foot and on the fourteenth pass everything came together. We made our best pass ever, a 3.84, and our best mph ever with the 194 and the car did perfect.

“Tommy Mauney was here and helped us with the chassis. Robbie did a heck of a job as did everyone on the crew. I want to thank Cameron for Torque Converter Services for the Powerglide. Also, the Quick 8 Outlaws are still alive!"

The driver of the Kauffman Motorsports ‘57 Chevy Robbie Matthews added, "We barely got in the field in the #8 spot. On the fourteenth pass we finally got the car to work. Everything aligned and when it went down the track, it went. We’re still only turning the blower 26 percent. When we get it all figured out it’s, going to be very fast. Everybody is going to know it’s bad but right now it’s kicking my butt. We get the consistency it’s going to be tough. We ain’t got it all figured out yet but we will. We’re going to keep working and get it done. We do all our tuning, and we don’t get any help. We’ll figure it out on our own.”