OFAA at Denton, Texas

Dawson Scores Second Straight Win to Lead Points into Finals

Words by Chris Graves
Photos by Steve Scott, Wes Ramsey, Russell Brown

Raymond Dawson

The fifth of six Outlaw Fuel Altered Association points races was held Saturday, October 1, at North Star Dragway in Denton, Texas. The OFAA series, presented by Lone Star Forklift, welcomed eleven fuel altereds to the property for the Chicago-style event.

All eyes were on three particular drivers who found themselves in a heated championship battle for the 2016 OFAA series title. Nick Poloson and team "Sundown" entered this event with just an 8-point lead over Donny McSwain's "Wild One" entry. The most recent winner, Raymond Dawson and team "High Octane," sat comfortably in third just three points behind McSwain as an eleven-point gap separated the top three.

Every round would prove critical to these three drivers but rest assured their competition was focused on nothing but playing the spoiler and no mercy was shown. After two rounds of qualifying Ken Singleton and the "High Risk" team scored the top qualifying spot with a 4.023, with Eric Buchanan a close second with a 4.028. Raymond Dawson's 4.06 qualified third as Mark Billington and Jimmy Jones rounded out the top five heading into eliminations.

In an unexpected turn of events, championship contender Donny McSwain could only muster a 4.53 in the first session and in the second session an oil line leak forced the crew to shut him off on the starting line. The 4.53 simply wasn't enough to make the ten car field as Clint Cross and team "Crossways" slid in on the bump with a 4.44. This DNQ for McSwain all but ended his title chances.