Event winner, Tim Ortiz

Texas Automatic Outlaws Pro Mod Association at Evadale, Texas

Words and photos by Joe McHugh

The Texas Automatic Outlaws series dodged the all too familiar bad weather plaguing racers everywhere and opened their 2015 campaign on March 7 at Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway in Evadale, Texas. A significant number of regulars, including defending series Champion Paul Brandt, were no-shows due to new rides not being complete and ready to run. Despite missing those regular runners six entries showed up to give the Texas fans a show.

Qualifying

The first pair to roll down the strip for 2105 was Eddie Roach and Bengt Blomberg. Roach left at the green and ran straight and true registering a 4.28 at 168.86 while Bengt logged a 4.99 at 140.12. Next up Chris Gulitti nursed a 5.42 at 118.48 out of his Camaro and watched Tim Ortiz cruise to a low for the session of 4.25 at 160.89. Last up in round 1 of qualifying saw long time runner Richard Willet run 4.87 at 146.72.

Making his competition debut was 19-year-old Chris Benham in Richard Otwell's Team O Chevy II. The young driver launched hard, lifted the wheels, and covered both sides of the lane before wisely shutting off at the 330-foot mark and coasted through with a 6.20 at 124.18.