Casey Tehle (far lane) gets the final round win over Woodie O’Connell.

Rocky Mountain Superchargers at Billings, Montana

Words and photos by Brian Losness

Perseverance: Noun - Steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement. -- This is Webster’s definition of the word.

This word is perfect to describe both Yellowstone Drag Strip owner C.W. McCarthy and his crew, along with the Ed Arcuri and his team at the Rocky Mountain Superchargers.

The Rocky Mountain Superchargers is a group who believe in racing cars that have -- you guessed it -- superchargers on them. It doesn’t matter what type or what kind of car as long as it has a blower on it, it is good to go.

The show is based on a Chicago style event, all based on a target Elapsed Time of 7.50. After two rounds of qualifying the two closest cars to the 7.50 mark (either above or below) will meet in the finals.

The finalists are then given two options: either first one to the stripe wins or, more like a bracket race, first one to the stripe who doesn’t go under 7.50 wins. Their choice.

Ed Arcuri has come up with a very interesting and exciting concept in drag racing.

This is where the perseverance comes into play. First off, the last RMS event in Kearney, Nebraska, was successful, but costly as a number of cars sustained some engine damage that precluded them from making the short turnaround and heading to Yellowstone Drag Strip in Billings.

Arcuri had to get creative and recruit some local racers in the Billings market who could run the 7.50 number and who wanted to be part of the RMS show. There was one change that needed to be made, however: A couple of the cars were sans the supercharger. Yes, it took perseverance to make sure the show would go on.

The other more dramatic event took place just before the first round of racing as track owner McCarthy’s father, Dennis, suffered a heart attack in the tower at the track. Luckily, local paramedics assigned to work the race had just checked in and were on hand to render medical attention. McCarthy was airlifted to a Billing hospital and was in stable condition.

Therefore, a great deal of perseverance was required on all to pull this event off. After all that excitement died down then the action on the track got underway.