Russ Crump, who won the previous APMA race at Jackson, SC, in his ’63 ‘Vette, led qualifying with a 4.337-seconds pass at 167.74 mph over the eighth mile, followed by Davis, Baker, and Michael Neece in his 1937 Chevy to set the top half of the field. Number-eight qualifier Joe Morgan, the third-place finisher in NMRA Pro 5.0 points last year, suffered the only accident of the day at the end of his second qualifying attempt, which allowed Stringer’s brother, Tom, to leave the DNQ ranks and move into the final racing slot.
 Joe Morgan, of Sharpsburg, GA, crashed his Engine Systems 632-equiped 2002 Mustang in the second round of qualifying at Valdosta. Fortunately, Morgan was uninjured in the top-end accident and the car sustained mostly cosmetic damage. |
“It just drifted left out of the groove and before I could get it back it got into the ‘mooshy’ stuff,” Morgan explained of his 2002 Mustang’s trip to the right wall. The car sustained significant right, front suspension damage, but other than that most of the carnage was cosmetic. “It’s just part of racing,” Morgan said. “We can fix it.”
Round one saw Davis get past the 1982 Corvette of W.K. Smith, setting top speed of the meet at 170.15 mph in the process, while T. Stringer drove his ’68 Camaro to a win over Michael Reece in a 1937 Chevy. Meanwhile, Crump eliminated Rick Davis and his 2002 Firebird, and as mentioned, Baker took care of S. Stringer and his 1968 Camaro.
In the semis, Crump headed straight for the wall off the launch, allowing Baker to post a 4.376-seconds win at 161.73 mph. “We got a little greedy and just put a little too much power down,” Crump said. “The chassis wasn’t quite right, so it veered off to the left and with the wheels in the air it doesn’t steer too good that way.”
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Next up it was Davis versus T. Stringer, who started with an unreal .000 reaction time. It wasn’t enough, though, as Davis powered through with a winning 4.366/169.89 to Stringer’s 4.456/161.59 package.
“It was really close up there. Ronnie steps out on you real hard about 500 feet out. I mean, you’re right there touching paint with him and I don’t know if he just has a strong tune-up or if he’s hitting another system there, but he sure walks the dog in high gear. Whatever he does, he does it right,” Stringer said later.