Texas Automatic Outlaws Pro Mod Association at Evadale, Texas

Chris Gulitti gets first TAO win

Words and photos by Joe McHugh

The Texas Automatic Outlaws series runners contested their third event of the 2015 campaign May 16 at Ben Bruce Memorial Airpark Raceway in Evadale, Texas. Eleven entries were on hand to qualify for the eight-car elimination ladder and included the Top Sportsman finalists from the previous weekend's NHRA O'Reilly Auto Parts Spring Nationals, runner-up Trent Wilson and winner Bob Gulitti. Chris Domino, 2013 TAO series Champion, also was on hand to run for the first time with the series since his championship run. Two qualifying runs would set the field.

Qualifying

Chris Domino

The first qualifying session of the day was a bit strange given the results and considering the quality of machines on hand. The first pair to take a shot at the Texas track matched Chris Gulitti and former champion Domino. At the launch both machines had traction woes with shake and spinning tires resulting in disappointing times of 6.24 at 89.18 for Gulitti and 6.90 at 65.05 for Domino. Domino also had the left side header collector come off at the launch as a result of that tire shake.

Next up, the green machine of Bob Gulitti shook and shut down to a 6.83 at 74.81 while Eddie Roach broke and recorded no time for the first session. J. Shafer, making his TAO debut, had trouble after the burnout and ended up with a burned out starter and no time, while series stalwart Richard Willett ran a trouble-free 4.73 at 148.96.