Meanwhile, one of drag racing’s most prolific champions was on a mission to meet Drew Skillman in the championship round. Jimmy DeFrank, at the helm of his supercharged Cobra Jet, was making an impressive debut in the SuperCar Showdown series. The owner of the California Car Cover Company clocked two consecutive runs of 5.82 seconds in eliminations, including a semi-final defeat of Drew’s father, Bill. Most importantly, DeFrank had better reaction times than each of his initial opponents.

“I was more nervous before the final round than in any race in my life… including those NHRA races”, confided Skillman. “Jimmy DeFrank is one of the best drivers in this sport and I knew his reaction times were excellent all through eliminations. I was sure we had a horsepower advantage but, because the ADRL races us on a professional starting system, I knew my reaction times would be critical against him”.

The championship match found DeFrank producing the quickest reaction time to the green light starting signal of any driver in eliminations and the Chatsworth, Californian, led Skillman for the first third of the race. Halfway down the Gateway Motorsports Park strip, Skillman pulled alongside DeFrank and then barely nosed his opponent at the finish line by a mere 5.99 feet to win the quickest and fastest race in SCS history. Skillman recorded a victorious 5.72/120.90 to DeFrank’s 5.78/120.03 which, ironically, was a career-best effort for the Mustang.

“We’ve been lucky to have won so many titles this year”, said Skillman after passing a post-race technical inspection to verify his Mustang’s compliance with SCS rules which mandate the engines, chassis, and even tires of all entries remain in factory production trim. “This race was special, though. To make a clean sweep of the event as the low qualifier while setting both the elapsed time and speed records and beating Jimmy in such a close race, it was really a dream weekend. My dad and our crew are elated and I’m sure my grandfather will be, too. Our sponsors Kendall Oil, DuPont Paint and, most of all, the Indianapolis Car Exchange make it possible to do this and to keep winning for them is our priority. Of course, Jesse Kershaw of Ford and our engine builder, Patterson Racing Engines, are going to be thrilled, too. This Ford Mustang made six straight runs over two days between 5.70 seconds and 5.75 seconds and every run was quicker than the World Record coming into this race! We’re going to ride this wave as long as we can and I already can’t wait for the next SuperCar Showdown!”

The next event in the 2012 SuperCar Showdown Series will be the American Drag Racing League’s U.S. Drags V at Virginia Motorsports Park in Petersburg, Virginia, on June 22-23.