Ford Fun Weekend Drag Race - Sunshine State Showdown

While his new car nears completion, John Gullett dusted off his '01 twin-turbocharged Mustang and nearly set low qualifier. He beat David Schorr in the first round of Probe Industries Pro and Robert Patrick in Round 2, but even more impressive was his final-round run. Though he left early and redlit, Gullett sped to a 6.45 elapsed time at 221mph.

With his visits to the 6-second zone now a regular occurrence, it was no surprise to see Woodstock, Georgia's Tim Lynch qualify number one with a 6.92 at a suspicious 220 mph. Tim's twin-turbo, Steve Petty-powered Cobra took a bye run in the first round, and took out Dennis Lugo and Randy Leavy for the victory.

Robert Patrick entered his IHRA Pro Stock, 815ci, mountain motor SVT Cobra Mustang, and qualified in a strong third position with a 6.54 at 215 mph. After skating past the '97 twin-turbo Probe of Dan Saitz, Patrick fell to Gullett's turbocharged Mustang in Round 2.

Cooper City, Florida's Randy Leavy was hot on the heels of Tim Lynch, qualifying Second with a 7.19 in ProCharger Street Outlaw. In Round 1 action, Leavy's 406ci, turbocharged Stang made quick work of Terris Hicks and then sailed past Cale Aronson who had to lift when his car got out of the groove in Round 2. Problems in the final against Lynch prevented a full assault and handed Lynch the win, who was on his game anyway with a 0.025 light and a 7.01 e.t.

Having almost written off the weekend, North Lauderdale, Florida's, Ronnie Wilson stuck it out for the win in Precision Turbo Street Renegade. After a bye in the first round, Wilson's Nitrous Pro-Flow '00 Mustang escaped a collision with Steve Angel in Round 2 and narrowly defeated James Black in a nail-biting 8.04 to 8.15 final.

Cale Aronson's naturally aspirated, Jon Kaase-built 698 is hammering out low elapsed times far more consistently than last year when Aronson was sorting out new-car bugs. The '05 Mustang qualified Third with a 7.29 and was set to go to the final when it made a hard move to the left in the second round against Randy Leavy. Aronson let out of the throttle to straighten it out, and Leavy sailed past.

The ProCharger-blown '04 Cobra of Dan Schoneck qualified in the top spot with an 8.01 run. Unfortunately, he fell in the first round to Newborn, Georgia's Tommy Smith, after his aftercooler imploded.

Dennis Lugo's trick, teal coupe qualified Fifth behind James Keen, but it had the power to jump up a few spots if it could put it to the ground. Built largely at Excessive Engineering in Apopka, Florida, the former Pro 5.0 notchback was updated to 25.2 specs, and uses twin 88mm Innovative turbos pressurizing a 388ci, Yates-headed mill.

Saturday morning found the '05 Street Renegade champ swapping engines. Ronnie Wilson had predicted 7.70-7.90 elapsed times with his new powerplant until it annihilated some valves. Drag Radial champ Adam Louramore offered up the motor he used last year, and Wilson used it to produce several event winning 8.0s.

Noted Pro racer Joe DaSilva trekked from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, not with his 6-second Pro car, but with his 16-year-old son Matthew, who is breaking into heads-up racing in the Street Renegade ranks. Papa Joe dusted off his '86 vintage Pro 5.0 coupe and dropped in a supercharged 306. Matthew qualified Eighth with an 11.20 at 132mph. "Once he gets used to this combination and driving the car, we've got faster engines waiting for him," Joe says.

BFGoodrich Drag Radial has seemingly been dominated by black Mustangs from the likes of "Big Daddy" Dwayne Gutridge, Adam Louramore, and now Hale Camerman, who took the Orlando win with his '02 Mustang GT. The Davie, Florida, resident put the car on the pole with a stunning 7.87 elapsed time, and went 7.86 at 183 mph on his first-round bye. Built by AC Car Craft in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the Mustang sports a Job Spetter Jr.-tuned 360 with a 106mm turbo (88mm reducer), Victor Jr. heads, and a Powerglide transmission.

Fun Ford '05 Drag Radial champ Adam Louramore often put his flamed GT up on its wheelie bars, forcing him to pedal it on several occasions. This photo is about 100 feet out, after getting out and then back in the throttle, and lifting the front end again. Louramore eased pass Josh Klugger in Round 1 and faced a tough Manny Alvarez in Round 2. Alvarez went red for the second time in a row (he was the lesser of two red lights in the first round) with his modular-powered ride, giving Louramore the bye into the final where the race went down to the stripe. Louramore was a hair quicker on the tree, but fell with an 8.59 to Camerman's 8.50.