5.30 INDEX
Phillip Sexton, from McDonough, GA, ran a perfect 5.300 at 129.29 mph to qualify on top of the 24-car 5.30 index field. Sexton and his 1980 Chevy Monza made it as far as the quarter-finals, where he broke out by .006 against Lester Pitts.
Coming from the number-seven starting slot, Newnan, GA’s Kenny Acree advanced to defend his ORSCA win in May at the South Carolina strip. Acree lined up against Roger
McConnell’s 1948 Anglia in the final and automatically won when McConnell was counted out by the seven-second timed starter.
“I went in, put on the top bulb first, I waited on him to put on his bulb, then I started easing in,” Acree recalled after his 5.309-seconds final pass. “He started clearing his nitrous out, but I don’t run nitrous so that helped me in this situation. He just took too long and got timed out.”
The win came on the one-year anniversary date of Acree’s first heads-up race and by the former bracket racer’s calculations also left him atop the ORSCA season points chase. “I knew I had to win the race if I wanted to have a chance (at the championship),” he said. “At four cars left, Lester Pitts was eight points behind me, but he lost oil pressure in the semis against Roger (McConnell), so I got a little lucky break there and I got a break in the final.”
Comin’ at ya’! Vernon “Moose” Russell qualified his split-window Corvette 14th with a 5.34-seconds pass, but the Lexington, SC-based driver lost in round two when he broke out with a 5.27 against Israel Deraney and his 1998 S-10 pick-up.
