Stine (shown) fired the first shot in eliminations, driving his sprayed 572-cube big block Chevy-powered ’71 Chevelle past Hardman’s turbocharged 500-cube big block Chevy packing ’91 Camaro, 5.383 to a losing 5.304 thanks to Stine’s superior reaction time. Huspen ran a 5.253 for low ET of the round to send home Grove’s Cutlass and set up the final. When the tree came down, it was Huspen out first but the front end shot for the moon, forcing Huspen to back pedal his ‘Stang and costing him the $2,000 prize. Stine broke the top end beams with a 5.584 to win the first Goodyear Outlaw Drag Radial Shootout.
Edelbrock Pro Street racer John Stanley rolled into Columbus with a mere seven point lead over Steve King, but the odds seemed to be in his
favor. The second generation blown doorslammer pilot had the most event wins under his belt but King had picked up valuable points by setting both ends of the class record and both drivers had brought everything except the kitchen sink to this war! First round action found No. 1 qualifier King driving his Hemi-powered Viper past an ever improving John Vergotz, 4.435 to a 4.481, while Thompson runner-up John DeCerbo sent home a tire shaking, sideways John Stanley. Stanley’s misfortune was King’s opportunity to take home his first Pro Street championship and he sealed the deal with a final round defeat of DeCerbo’s nitrous-inhaling ’63 Corvette, 4.305 to a losing 4.368.
Scott Merkel dominated Dart Top Sportsman this season and came to Columbus with the championship already in his pocket. With Randy’s Jewell’s championship winning ProCar Corvette now on the way to its new home in Greece, it looked like Merkel would easily complete his freshmen season in the class with another win, but the blower invasion from Ohio began on Saturday. Larry Higgenbotham, Scott Braskett, Tom Agler, and Scott Quesenberry rolled through the gates ready to rumble. Between these four hitters and Jarod Wenrick’s ever-improving sprayed BES 634-powered ’68 Camaro, Merkel had his work cut out for him.
Higgenbotham (shown) scored low ET of qualifying with a 4.355 best in his blown ‘96 Corvette, but Merkel was only a hundredth behind with a 4.367 followed by Wenrick, Braskett, Quesenberry, and Agler. Eliminations found Wenrick picking up the pace to a 4.359 with a little help from the ProCar team, good enough to defeat Braskett, while Higgenbotham punished a struggling Agler and Merkel sent home Quesenberry’s beautiful ’41 Willys.
