Tom Stringer, driving the ’68 Camaro his brother Stephan campaigned last season, had a Bruno/Lenco transmission installed for the first time at Huntsville after years of racing with a Powerglide handling the shifting chores.
‘To make a long story short, I just threw all my cards on the table and it just didn’t work out,” T. Stringer said later. “But hey,
Ronnie’s been racing all winter and this is our first outing. We’ll see each other again.”
Davis predicted he and number-two qualifier Baker would meet in the final “as long as we don’t make any mistakes,” but no one could’ve predicted what happened once they got there. Davis left first with a .043 light, but the transmission in his car broke on the launch, leaving him to coast only about 100 feet out. Meanwhile, Baker’s 2002 Neon sat on the line for more than 2.6 seconds before finally moving and going on to earn the $2,500 win in 4.87 seconds at 120.51 mph.
“When I went against the transbrake the motor bogged on me and I had to pedal it to get it to come back up,” Baker explained. “That one caught me by surprise. It happened during my shakedown earlier and I thought I had fixed it, but it sneaked back up on me. This time I think the motor cooled off too much. It was just too cold when I left.”
The lights turned green, Davis (near lane) left, but Baker stayed behind … until Davis broke and Baker charged by for the win in the APMA final at Huntsville Dragway.
Before the final, Davis, who had set low E.T. in each previous qualifying and elimination round, said he planned to step it up a bit and “run a high .28 at about 170 [mph].” Instead, his charge lasted no more than 15 feet into the run. “It was there for our taking, but the transmission broke and there ain’t nothing we can do about it,” he said. “I just heard a bang and thought ‘transmission’ right away, but it takes a second to register everything and then I was surprised when he (Baker) didn’t go by right away. Then I saw him go by and disappear down the track. It was just a crazy final.”
The next race in the 10-event 2006 APMA season will be Apr. 15, at Carolina Dragway, near Jackson, SC.