Once again the quickest and fastest race track in America has presented itself to the racers and they have been throwing everything they have at South Georgia Motorsports Park. On Thursday, March 21, qualifying the two classes of racing, Radial Vs the World and X-275 went through four rounds and the racers crushed it. The results: wrecked records at the end of day one at Donald “Duck” Long’s Sweet 16 2.0 event.

After the dust, the flames, and the metal carnage settled down at 11 p.m. Thursday night, the records for both classes were in tatters, as predicted. In Radial Vs the World class racing, Kevin Rivenbark, of Clinton, NC, brought the RvW class faithful to their feet with a stunning 3.587 pass during Q-4 and in doing so brought the RvW world into the 3.50’s as many predicted would happen at this event.

At the end of day 1 qualifying in the PTC sponsored Radial vs the World class, Rivenbark’s 3.58 was the quickest of the day and Jamie Hancock of Opelika, AL is on the bump with a 3.731 for the top sixteen thus far. There are 46 contestants on the property currently entered in RvW.

In KBX Precision sponsored X-275 class racing, Rich Bruder, of Edison, NJ, is sitting in the #1 qualifier position after a jaw dropping, 4.268 pass he unleashed during Q-4 in the evening hours on Thursday night. At the end of day one qualifying, Kenny Hubbard of Montgomery, Texas, sits on the #16 bump spot with a 4.38. Over 90 entrants signed up for X-275 and 82 of them made passes in competition on Thursday.  (Tom McCarthy photos) [03/22/19]

Drag Racers Larry Ormsby and the late Eddie Thomas were among 13 new inductees into the prestigious Australian Motor Racing Hall of Fame.

In 1968 Thomas ran his career-quickest pass of 8.55 in “Old No. 17.”  (photo courtesy Dave Cook/Street Machine)

Thomas, who passed away in late 2017 aged 99, was affectionately known as Australia’s”Big Daddy.” In a short, four-year career in the 1960s, Thomas recorded an impressive series of firsts, including the first nine- and eight-second passes, and the first run over 150 mph, while he also introduced Australian drag racing to flame-proof driving suits and parachutes.

After posting a career-best 8.55-second run at the 1968 Nationals at Calder, Thomas retired from competition shortly after to concentrate on his Eddie Thomas Speed Equipment business, which transformed the performance market in Australia.

Ormsby’s impressive career began in early 1968, driving his family Ford XR GT Falcon during the height of the muscle car era. Setting new standards of professionalism, quickly established himself as the “Big O” and earned Ford’s factory support, campaigning a series of GT-HO Falcons, winning Australia’s inaugural Pro Stock Nationals title in 1971.

Overall, Ormsby won five Nationals titles in four different categories – Stock (1970), Pro Stock (1971), Competition (1976), and Top Fuel (1979, ’84) – in addition to claiming the 1984 Australian Top Fuel Championship.

He was also instrumental in establishing the Australian National Drag Racing Association (ANDRA) and managed major venues Calder Park, Adelaide, and Heathcote, as well as leading the Winfield Pro Series. Two books, “Larry Ormsby Scrapbook – The Ford Years” and “351 Limited Edition” are available at www.larryormsby.com.

Ormsby and Thomas join Ash Marshall (2016), Jim Read (2017), and Graeme Cowin (2018) as Drag Racing’s representatives in the Hall of Fame. [03/22/19]

Well, it was the Gatornationals, after all. Here’s ace photographer Ron Lewis holding the appropriate animal while visiting Terry McMillen’s pit.

While Adam Cranmer caught sight of this one we could have done without.  [03/22/19]

Edelbrock has announced the AVS2, a high-performance carburetor that delivers drivability with near EFI-like smoothness. The new series is based on the popular Thunder Series AVS utilizing the innovative Qwik-Tune Secondary Air Valve that provides unlimited calibration of the secondary circuit for the most precise tuning across the entire RPM range. Edelbrock engineers managed to make the AVS design even better by adding Annular Flow Booster technology. The AVS2 Series boasts new calibration and delivers superior atomization. This is provided by eight equally spaced orifices in the annular booster rings that replace the standard down-leg boosters that simply dump raw fuel into the venturi. With down-leg boosters, atomization doesn’t happen until after the butterflies, but with AVS2 annular flow boosters, atomization occurs instantly. AVS2 features two-piece aluminum construction with an ease-of-tuning design that lets you change jets, metering rods, springs, or make float level adjustments without draining the fuel from the carburetor or even removing it from the engine.  [03/22/19]