Fun Ford Weekend In Orlando - In Your Face In Orlando

Florida spring break-hot girls, fast cars, and the scent of racing gas. It's an easy way to sum up the action on and off the track at the '07 Fun Ford Weekend season opener at Orlando. After recuperating from the MM&FF Hooters party (see photo coverage on page 254), racers and fans alike flocked to the quarter-mile for even more fun. While Saturday dawned overcast and the event was called due to rain, Sunday morning promised blue sky, sunshine, and great racing.

A few changes were made during the off-season. One of the most notable was in the heads-up classes, which saw the Drag Radial, Street Bandit, and Street Renegade cars being run together in one category, that being Street Renegade. Street Bandit was kept around, though it's now a 10.60-index category.

While defending Pro champ David Schorr secured the number-one spot in qualifying, he came up one round short of running the event from wire to wire. In the Pro Final, it was all Chuck Samuel, who scored a slight holeshot and then ripped off a 6.47-second blast at 222 mph to secure the win. Schorr gave it his all, but his 6.62 wasn't enough to down Samuel. The final round of Street Outlaw was anticlimactic, but thanks to Tim Lynch, the fireworks were seen in the semifinals. After Brad Brand gunned down Jimmy Keen in the semifinals, Lynch took the easy win over Conrad Scarry in his semifinal match-up. Unfortunately for Lynch, his Proline Race Engines-built big-block Ford kicked out the rods, spewing oil on the headers and causing Lynch to get into the fire bottles. Lynch was OK but unable to get the car ready for the final, allowing Brand to solo to the win with a 7.41 at 206.

Street Renegade saw Dan Schondeck square off against Samuel Vincent for the cash. After swapping blowers in his '04 Cobra before eliminations, Schondeck used a string of 7.7- and 7.8-second runs to get into the final. The final was over as soon as it began, however, as Vincent broke, and Schondeck cruised to a 7.73 at 177 mph for the victory. The Street Bandit final consisted of James Colley's '95 Mustang and the orange Fox-body of Willie Waddy. Waddy took this race from start to finish, as he won the battle on the starting line and then motored to a 10.84, besting Colley's 10.87-second effort.

Charlie McCulloch and Reggie Burnette lined up to do battle in the trophy dash of Mod Comp. After both drivers recorded nearly identical reac-tion times, it was up to the stripe, where Burnette's 12.81 (12.79 dial) was a mere 0.038-second better overall than McCulloch's 10.90-second (10.86 dial) try. James Meredith gunned down Tom Conrad Jr. in the final round of Street Stang, while first-time racer Chris Matters drove his '06 Saleen to victory over Michael Sulzbach in Ultra Stang. The Tough Truck win went to the Ranger of Micah Monteleone.

And who can forget the MM&FF Spring Break Shootout class? For the first time in the category's history, there was a repeat winner. Spurgeon Adkins qualified number one and then ripped off a 9.11-second pass to down John Walker in Round 1 before taking out the challenge of Chris Derojas in the final with a safe 9.64-second shot. Bracket racing action saw Ted Payne take home the cash in Fast Ford, Scott Deluca triumph in Quick Ford, and Mark Anderson and Robert O'Brien victorious in the dual Street Ford races.