Nostalgia AA Gassers at Martin, Mich.

Oddy, Ward win at U.S. 131 and three-peat as series champs  

Words and photos by Jeff Burk

Junior Ward in the “Junkyard Dog.”

Car owner and tuner Jim Oddy and his driver Junior Ward continued their domination of the Nostalgia AA Gasser series at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan. Nine of the period-correct AA/GS cars towed from all over the East Coast and Midwest for the final race of the Series’ season.

The championship was not mathematically locked up going into the race. Although they led the points, if Oddy and Ward failed miserably and one of the racers behind them in the points would had a career race, they could have been out of the top spot. Unfortunately for the rest of the field, Oddy and Ward had a career race and ended up winning the event and the 2015 Nostalgia AA/Gasser Series Championship for the third straight year.

Ward defeated the blown rat-motored powered ’48 Anglia belonged to Al Borowski, who qualified in the bottom half of the field but drove his way to a final round against the defending champs, turning in the quickest ET in the history of the series a 4.750/147.78!

In that final round Borowski put a huge holeshot on Ward with a .019 bulb to Ward’s catatonic .172 RT. Unfortunately for Borowski, despite taking a tenth and a half edge at the green he was already trailing by a second at half track and either had engine problems or just lifted and resignation and Ward zoomed to the win while Borowski coasted through the beams at a 5.99/98.81 lap.

The win plus the points for re-setting both ends of the national record (4.750 and 147.98 mph) allowed the team to collect every championship point in the table at this race, clinching the championship.

The teams pulled into the beautifully groomed Martin, Mich., track Friday afternoon and were greeted by great racing weather with cool temps and a smooth well-prepped track. Track manager Jason Peterson and his crew kept the track immaculate throughout the two-day race on Sept. 11-12 and record-setting and often personal best performance numbers from the supercharged gassers were the result.