Many of you will try to fast forward through the news and try and find the results below, and get frustrated figuring out.. who won?? Well, unfortunately for us, mother nature had alternative plans that did not include the race getting finished. It wasn’t at all due to the Cecil County staff not trying, because they did absolutely everything they could to move the program along and get the race in. We had random rainstorms off and on and there was just no chance the surface could be dried in time before the next rain came along.
This race will not be continued on a later date, the money was split and points were earned as-is. We are excited to be back next month on Labor Day Weekend for the Second Annual YellowBullet.com Nationals, where we have signed on yet again to be a sponsor for the 10.0 Index and 11.50 Index classes.
August 6th, 2011 – Cecil County Dragway / Finishline Performance Outlaw Street Car Shootout Photo Galleries (Skip to the end of the gallery for Run Sheets)
11.50 Index
Another strong outing from the 11.50 guys, with the top half of the field in the 11.50’s. Rounding up the top three were Keith Huffman, recent winner, with a 11.565. Number two was John Stankunas, with an 11.557. Taking the top honors was Mark Marsico, with a stout 11.531.
During eliminations, the first pair out was Steve Gurnick and Keith Reis Jr. Reis leaves with a solid .019 r/t, Gurnick is able to drive around and take the win with a 11.547, a very nice pass. Fred Heidel gets a small jump on John Stankunas, the #2 qualifier. Stankunas makes up the difference and wins with a 11.612 to Heidel’s 11.823. In the middle of the field, #6 and #7 qualifiers faced off, Dan Moore and John Secor. They both left about even and were side by side until Moore took the stripe and the win with a 11.628. Keith Huffman was left behind at the line by John Faddis, lucky for Huffman he has the power and was able to make up the difference for a win with a 11.652. Jim Schmidt nails a .003 light against Donna Garrett, Garrett wins with a 11.751. #1 qualifier honors took a first round bye, Mark Marsico takes the single.
In round 2, Keith Huffman had a huge advantage over Donna Garrett, a .099 light to Garrett’s .276. Keith got on the brakes way too late and his 11.118 was way too quick to Garrett’s 11.418. Steve Gurnick takes out the #2 John Stankunas, Stankunas breaks out by .009 and Gurnick goes 11.557. Marsico goes 11.610 on the single.
10.0 Index
Always a dice roll where the 10.0 Pro’s will end up in qualifying, as everyone in this class is dangerous and impossible to predict the outcome. For example, reigning champ Mike Romeo was in the #12 spot with a 10.128, not a typical qualifying spot for Mike. Nicole Worthington, sporting the new Tony Luke’s sponsorship, who has been killer lately, was in the #8 spot with a 10.054. CJ Ungaro, no stranger to the winner’s circle, in the #11 spot with a 10.113. #9 and up were all in the 10.0x range, something we are definitely used to seeing. Rounding up the top three was Mark Plucinski, the family team and sweet looking Mustang, with a 10.017. Mike Colo ran a 10.002, which would usually net a number one spot, but not today. Lee Grinnell had other plans, running dead on the index with a 10.000 and the number one honors. I hope he can repeat this next month at the Yellow Bullet Nationals, as that would net him the $250 bonus money from GDR (with a good reaction time, of course!).
In the first round of eliminations, we saw Mike Romeo line up against Brandon Dirmicke. Dirmicke left second, and did his best to run down Romeo but it was not enough. Mike took the holeshot win with a 10.093 to Dirmicke’s 10.081. Rob Ward had a great light, a .014, to Nicole Worthington’s also good .030. The reaction time did the trick, as Ward also wins on a holeshot with a 10.056 to Nicole’s 10.045. CJ Ungaro was first to leave against Carey Cable, and also first to the stripe, unfortunately for Carl he was .001 seconds too fast, his losing 9.999 to Carey’s 10.041. William Gibbs takes out Ray Branden with a 10.100 to Branden’s 10.138. Not sure what happened with Gordon Martin, but he was half a second late. Mike Colo was watching his mirros well, he lets off and takes a win with a 10.259 pass. Dave Camp goes red against Mark Plucinski, Plucinski stays in it and runs a great 10.036 with the win light on before he even left. Aaron Preston was a little off the pace, Christian Benedict saw this and let off, winning with a 10.286. Lee Grinnell earned his first round bye, and made a nice 10.053 pass – he was certainly dialed in.
Lee continued his great day of racing in the second round, leaving with a .048 advantage over Rob Ward, which in 10.0 Index might as well be 2 minutes. Lee takes the holeshot win, a 10.077 to Ward’s great 10.045 pass. Christian Benedict has a big jump on Mike Colo, but then breaks out with a 9.990 to Colo’s 10.001 run. Carey Cable has problems, Mark Plucinski goes 10.011. Finishing up the round was Mike Romeo and Billy Gibbs. Romeo takes off first and doesnt look back except to check the mirror, he goes 10.282 to Billy’s 10.401.
8.50 Index
Again we saw a tight field in 8.50 Index, with the top half in the 8.50s. Outside looking in and having some driveline problems today was Angelo Valla, we’ll be seeing him soon I am sure as he has one of the harder working crews at the Shootout Series. John Goss was also outside of the field today in an uncharacteristic set of events, we are not sure what happened but we didn’t expect it! Rounding up the top part of the field was a nice representation from the naturally aspirated crowd. ‘Lil Man’ Marty Brown Jr. was in the #5 spot with a 8.525, fresh off a win at MIR last week and trying to carry the momentum. Al Jr from the Fonse Performance team was in the #4 spot, with an 8.514. Harry Gerb, back on the premesis with his full crew, went #3 with a 8.510. Brian Ferrari, always a tough competitor, goes 8.509. Number one honors today go to the wheelstanding Mustang, driven by Delon Pleasants. Delon has been doing great this year in the 8.50 series both at Cecil as well as Englishtown. Lurking lower in the field is Adam Sailor, who is undefeated in eliminations so far at Cecil. Mike Pyott was also battling some issues with a new carb, he did not qualify as high as he liked.
Mike Pyott and Brian Ferrari came out first, both racers leaving with almost identical reaction times. Pyott was poppin the entire way down, problems still evident, as Ferrari takes the win with a 8.571 to Pyott’s 8.654. Mike O’Sullivan and the ADD team takes a win with a 8.576 as Lee Rocchio has problems and is unable to go down. John Goss, in the field as an alternate, has to face the #1 qualifier Delon Pleasants. Delon was late leaving but able to catch up to Goss, and wins with a 8.606. Al Fonse runs it out the back on a single as Craig Cusamano cannot make the call, Fonse goes 8.487. Lil’ Man smokes Luis Martinez on the tree and goes 8.541 to Martinez’ 8.677. Harry Gerb, on point today, goes 8.503 as Rob Poochigian breaks out with a 8.446, was nice to see Rob’s program in order and him go A to B, as he has been struggling for a while. Mike Good makes quick work of Al Davidowski, a 8.667 to Al’s 8.843. Finishing up the round was Guppy, and he remained undefeated as Rodger Purdy sat at the line for a few minutes. Guppy went 8.610 as he arrived to the stripe before Purdy even left the line.
Guppy continued his undefeated streak, killing Harry Gerb on reaction time, and beating out Gerb’s near perfect 8.501 pass on a holeshot, with a 8.513. Mike Good had an awesome .004 light but then had issues down track, Brian Ferrari ran it out anyways and went 8.536. Al Fonse goes red against Lil’ Man, Marty Brown Jr. running a nice 8.518. Finishing up competition was Mike O’Sullivan and Delon Pleasants. O’Sullivan takes out the #1 qualifier with a clutch 8.532 pass to Pleasants’ 8.552.
Outlaw Big Tire
A great showing in Big Tire today, as more teams are getting their combinations together and also some race teams traveling far to support the exciting Outlaw Big Tire class. We had 11 cars in total battling to make the 8 car show. In a qualifying order reminiscent of the Shakedown, we saw Sam Gottier at the top with a 4.539 @ 158mph qualifying run. Right behind him was Mitch George, with a 4.578 @ 156, ready to give Gottier a run for his money.
Geneva Williams-Sanders pulled off a win in the first round as Jimmy Reutter continued to battle the track, Williams-Sanders going 4.755 to Reutter’s 5.750 @ 104. Mitch George met #7 qualifier James Houston. Houston gets a small lead leaving the beams, but Mitch is no slouch and easily takes the win with a 4.604 to Houston’s 5.280. Sam Gottier, #1 qualifier, moves on with a 4.576 as Mike Ingrossio is not able to get down. Rick Righter rins a nice 4.846 on a single.
Righter would not have the luxury of an open lane next to him in the second round, as he met up against Sam Gottier. Righter did all he could but Gottier’s got the power, he had the juice kicked up and goes a 4.544 @ 158mph. Geneva Williams-Sanders took out the better qualified Mitch George with a 4.723, as Mitch was off pace with a 4.813.
Outlaw Drag Radial
We had 11 cars battle for the 8 car show in Outlaw Drag Radial. Frank Soldridge ended up in the #5 spot overall, but with the second fastest qualified MPH at 158.69. Paul Major was having some transmission problems and the twin turbo Vette took #4 with a 5.099. Vinnie Fiore in the absolutely gorgeous ’04 Cobra came out in the brand new PSI Motorsports combination and took the #3 spot with a light 5.039 pass. Sal Patel brought his Viper back out and literally blew the rust out of the exhaust on the first pass, went straight A to B and took the #2 spot with a 4.907. ‘Wild Bill’ Dutka kept the front end down and made some clean passes, a little sashaying towards the end, but solid enough to take the #1 spot with a 4.881 @ 164, courtesy of J&E Power.
During eliminations, we saw Bill Dutka take on John Keesey. Bill posed for a picture for a bit before taking off, a lazy .222 reaction time, but when the power came on he left Keesey in the dust. Dutka went 5.224 over Keesey’s 5.928. Sal Patel gave Robert George no chance, Sal with a great .014 light and the day’s quickest pass with a 4.874 @ 151mph. Paul Major took the win over Frank Soldridge, Major missing a gear but able to get down nonetheless with a 4.996, Soldridge went 5.007. Finishing up the round was Vinnie Fiore who continued to make progress with the new ride, putting down a 5.002 pass.
X275 Drag Radial
The qualifying ladder does not tell the whole story on X275 today, with folks like Ron Rhodes, Rich Bruder, Andy Manson not in the top 3. Things were sketchy as the 275 guys figured out how to get down today. Bob Clayton would take the top honors for the day, his Mustang going 5.101 @ 138mph. Craig Walls was right behind him with a 5.179 @ 138. Chris Evans ‘Big Green,’ the reigning Ultimate Outlaws X275 champion, goes #3 with a 5.188 @ 140mph. Take a look at the MPH’s put on the board during qualifying – John Ashnault with the DiSomma power continuing to improve in the 140mph+ zone, as well as Rich Bruder putting up top MPH at 143mph! Andy Manson and Brendan Mills were also in the 140s during the day. As for looking good, well, all of these rides in X275 could take home the award at a car show. The crowd was pleased with the wheels up action from Jeff Moyer all day, who is steadily creeping up his SBC nitrous combo higher up in the field as the season progresses.
In eliminations, our first pair out was Andy Manson and Larry Rhodes. Andy Manson caught Larry sleeping, with a .057 advantage Manson was able to take the holeshot win with a 5.424 to Rhodes 5.399, both spinning a little bit. Mike Cerminaro has problems and goes way red, while Ron Rhodes runs the best pass during eliminations with a 5.107 @ 139mph. Rob Harris gave it his best shot but did not have the HP in the bag like Rich Bruder did in his Procharger powered Mustang. Bruder goes 5.127 @ a blistering 145mph. Jeff Moyer lifts the front end up and takes a win over David Cappolina, Cappo battles with traction while Moyer goes 5.403. John Ashnault makes another A to B pass, a 5.297 @ 141 for the win, over Kyle Buonocory who has not as lucky getting down. Bob Clayton goes 5.611 on a single.
Outlaw 10.5
As usual, we had some of the fastest 10.5 cars in the country make it to the monthly series to continue the points battle. A few of the racers spent the day at Cecil, or came at night, to get some test hits in before the big show. Mo Hall made some impressive passes, dipping into the 4.20’s, but would only dip in to the 10th qualifying spot with a 4.679 @ 162mph on Saturday. TJ Kasper, the reigning champ, was also off his game during qualifying with a 4.880 in the number 13 spot. Outside looking in was Billy Gordon, who has been doing extremely well lately at Cecil, not able to get a clean pass during qualifying. Gordon would end up making it to the show as the Caldwell Motorsports team burned it up during Qualifying. Steve Gorman continues to do well, locking up the #7 spot with a 4.555. Michael Martin aka Burt Reynolds, in his Nitrous powered Camaro, goes #6 with a 4.502, wheels up launch. Lou Sciortino with the Musi power, just keeps getting better and better, taking the #5 qualifier spot with a 4.501 pass, just edging out Martin. Buck Jarvis was an inch ahead of Sciortino, running a 4.500. Taking the number 3 spot was the Caldwell Motorsports team Mustang, driven by Charlie Dolbin, with a 4.475. Tommy Kasper, went down broadway for the number two spot, with a 4.438 @ 177mph, thanks to some Proline and Precision Turbo power. We would not be seeing any world records from the Nitrous or Turbo guys today, with the air at 3500 feet for the better part of the day. Taking the #1 spot was Richard Sexton, his combo illegal at just about every other track around, running a 4.28 @ 180mph, making the qualifying ladder a bit lopsided.
Tommy Ferrick continued to work on his staging routine and got left on by Brian Penna, who went 4.617 for the first round win. Steve Gorman got timed out against Mo Hall, not sure what happened, Mo coasted along with his win light on the whole time. Steven Kluepfel with the huge blower hanging out of the hood goes red against Lou Sciortino, Lou had him covered though, improving on his qualifying runs and went a 4.494 @ 163. Brad Harris had a little bit of trouble, going 4.881 on a losing effort to the #2 qualifier Tommy Kasper, who went 4.433 @ 178mph. Mike Decker in the Camaro with the old school blower, looking and sounding mean, did not have the HP to keep up with Michael Martin who made a great 4.430 @ 167.9mph pass for the win. TJ Kasper finally got things figured out and runs a much improved 4.469 @ 176 to take the win over Buck Jarvis, who goes 4.722 after sleeping at the tree. Billy Gordon, in the show after Caldwell broke, just barely throws it away at the tree with an upsetting .003 redlight, to Lewis Jones. Finishing up eliminations was Richard Sexton and Larry Wood. Wood goes red, trying to catch the normally slow to react Sexton, Sexton has a .222 light and runs a 4.278 @ 180.
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