John Gullett launching to...
John Gullett launching to his record breaking run.
Thirty-thousand dollars to win. Has a nice sound to it, doesn't it? That was the payday for Probe Industries Pro category at the Fun Ford Weekend in Commerce, Georgia. With that kind of loot up for grabs, some of the more serious IHRA hitters and other quick doorslammer Fords from other series showed up. It was a 15-car slugfest that gave the fans mid-six-second action.
When the Pro cars weren't dropping 6.40 runs at around 220 mph, there were other classes that competed: heads up, index/Open Comp, and in the usual bracket racing format. Couple those race cars with 80 MM&FF/Tremec True Street entries and a show-car field that had some of coolest modern and vintage Ford vehicles, and it was an action-packed weekend for Blue Oval enthusiasts.
Winner John Gullett needed...
Winner
John Gullett needed a Brinks Security truck to help carry the winnings from the Atlanta event. OK, that's a bit overstated, as Gullett received a single piece of paper that was made out to the Florida resident in the sum of $30,000. Using an Al Moody-built twin-turbo engine and a car built by Parker Chassis, Gullett set the record with a 6.36 at 224 and beat 14 tough competitors.
With IHRA's toughest racers and regular FFW hitters on the property, John Gullett and his crew had the twin-turbocharged monster set on kill. The record books were set on Sunday when the turbo Stang clocked a jaw-dropping 6.36 at 224 mph during the second round of eliminations. It was the quickest pass ever in the Pro category. The hits kept coming as five other Pro drivers went sub 6.50s, including Chuck Samuel (big-block/nitrous), Robert Patrick (mountain motor), Tony Gillig (mountain motor), John Nobile (mountain motor), and Jeff Dobbins (mountain motor). The rest of field was strung out in the 6.60s and slower--not to say running in the 6s is slow by any means. With $30,000 on the line, none of these guys (and gal) was leaving anything on the table. Not only was it the quickest field ever in class history, but it was also one of the tightest in terms of performance. At the end of the day, Gullett was the one who took home the grand prize.
ProCharger Street Outlaw saw Chip Havemann victorious at his first race of the '06 season. The twin-turbo '03 Cobra had electrical gremlins that plagued his team, but the low-seven-second runs were enough to take the win. Matt Jones continued his domination of the CFE Racing Street Bandit class with a victory over the lone challenger, D.R. Bott II. Precision Turbo Street Renegade had defending series champion Ronnie Wilson grab a holeshot victory over record-holder Dan Schoneck. Phil Clemmons started off his season great, with a victory in BFGoodrich Drag Radial. Darrell Peterson claimed the Borla Street Warrior victory. The Sean Hyland Motorsports Mod Comp eliminator saw a familiar face in the winner's circle as Gary "Hollywood" Parker went home with the trophy and cash.
Chris Parisi was the victor with his F-150 pickup in JDM Engineering Tough Truck, while S.D. Wheeler grabbed his second win in Ford Racing/RPM Outlet Ultra Stang. Bama Chips Four-Six Frenzy saw Tonya McCoyle rise to the top with her Focus, while Mark Anderson was victorious in Superchips Street Stang.
A bigger ProCharger blower...
A bigger ProCharger blower and a week's worth of testing was all Don Walsh Jr. of D&D Performance needed to run 6.43 at 216. We make it sound easy, but it wasn't that simple. He and his crew (led by Chris Tumpkin) made it look easy. That kind of performance netted him the honor of being the quickest and fastest centrifugally blown Pro car.
Winner Ronnie Wilson grabbed...
Winner
Ronnie Wilson grabbed his second win in as many races in the Street Renegade category. The small-block Ford features a set of Edelbrock Victor-Glidden cylinder heads and a nitrous system by Nitrous Pro Flow. Wilson spent the winter getting the lead out, literally. He tipped the scales near the class-legal 2,600-pound minimum weight. The result was the quickest nitrous pass in the history of the category with a 7.78. He then took the class win over Dan Schoneck on a holeshot 7.81 to Schoneck's 7.80.
Twisted-Up launches like this...
Twisted-Up launches like this one were the norm for Denis Lugo. The verdict was a broken antisway bar and bent four-link brackets. dan Parker welded up/Band-Aided the pieces as best as possible for the final round of eliminations. It was all for naught as the engine lost oil pressure on the starting line, and Lugo wisely shut the engine down instead of taking the green light.
Conrad Scarry was the number-one...
Conrad Scarry was the number-one qualifier in Street Outlaw, but fell short in the eliminations. The blue twin-turbocharged Stang blasted a 7.07 to qualify number one.
Winner Texas' Chip Havemann...
Winner
Texas' Chip Havemann overcame an electrical gremlin and took home the Street Outlaw class title. The twice-turbocharged beast ran 7.18 at 198 in the finals to beat Dennis Lugo.
Jeff Dobbins entered the Pro...
Jeff Dobbins entered the Pro category with an Escort sporting an 812ci engine. Dobbins normally follows the IHRA Pro Stock circuit and surprised a lot of people with his performances in Atlanta. The mountain motor'd car ran as quick as 6.41 in eliminations and walked away with the runner-up cash.