Danny Perry

Words and photos by Greg Burrow

Points, points, points. It’s crunch time, boys, and everyone came to play on August 2, on a humid, hot night that ended with the ex-Rickie Smith Camaro, now driven by Danny Perry, in the winner’s circle. Even with the ADRL close by at ZMAX Dragway in Concord, a total of 15 cars took a time run for the CV Products Big Dog Shootout. Not only did the points become a clearer picture for the title, the points for the CV Products Qualifying Challenge also became more clear.

Qualifying was a slip slide affair, with several cars making in on the second and final pass. Andy Beal took the pole position with 3.956 at 188 mph, in the heat. Also in the 3’s were Todd Howard at 3.984 and Todd Tutterow close behind at 3.989. Fourth was Ed Hoover at a 4.011, then Danny Perry at 4.025 in the Boone Motorsports 2012 Camaro. Sixth was Rick Moore at a 4.048 with Chris Rini in at a 4.057 and Matt Giangrande in at a 4.073. How close was the 9th car? Travis Harvey put the Carolina Kid Camaro in at a 4.077. How’s that for close.

Former champ, Danny Perry put on a driving clinic on the slick track with a 3.982 over Ed Hoover’s foul in the first round. A 3.980 in the semi over Travis, subbing for a broken Matt Giangrande put him in the final to run a 3.989 over Chris Rini. Rini got to the final with a 4.06 over Todd Howard’s 4.13 in the first round. A 4.04 single over a broken Rick Moore put Chris in the final where he drew a very unusual foul and wasted a 4.02 but put points on the board for the end of the year.

Points now look like this: Rini first, with Todd Howard second, Ed Hoover third, Andy Beal fourth and Matt Giangrande, fifth. Rini has 26 points over Howard with Hoover only four points behind Howard. Confused? Well, stay awake because the CV Qualifying Challenge points are just as close with Hoover and Howard tied for first with Rini only three points behind and Beal only one point back in fourth. Should provide great competition for the final two events.