Williams said he was unaware of Russo’s problems, but his run was far from perfect, too, with his car getting loose after hitting second gear. “It didn’t really shake the tires, but
started kind of going out in real wide loops. I stayed with it as it just kind of swung back and forth down the track, sashaying down through there,” he said.
“I was thinking, ‘lift’ a little bit, but it wasn’t quite that bad. It was getting there; I was considering it, but you don’t want to let off in that situation unless you really have to. I just didn’t think it was quite there yet and we got the win light, so that’s what’s important.”
The next stop for the Super Chevy tour is this weekend (June 9-11), at Virginia Motorsports Park. The series then takes a couple of weeks off before visiting Bristol Dragway, June 23-25.
SHOOTING GALLERY
The 1937 Chevy of Tucker GA’s Joe Yarini carries a Rodeck 526 incher up front in its unique H&S Race Cars chassis, apparently the first double-framerail car built (1997) specifically for Pro Mod competition. Yarini qualified seventh at Atlanta and despite running his best pass of the weekend in the Nitro Coupe opening round, he came up a little short to Tommy Howes.
Tommy Howes brought his Suncoast-built ’69 Camaro down from Laytonsville, MD, and qualified second in the Nitro Coupe field with a 6.626/210.67 pass. Howes beat Joe Yarini in round one, but lost in the semis against Tony Williams because he was unaware the auto-start was in use at Atlanta Dragway and it counted him out just as he brought the RPMs up and was about to light the stage bulb.
At the Atlanta event, Cathy Belcher became the first female Nitro Coupe driver in history, steering her 1990 Camaro to a fifth-place start, but losing with a redlight start in round one against Chris Russo. The car was originally constructed by G Force Chassis, but was updated last year with a new front half by Chris Duncan Race Cars and carries a Rob Adler-built 540 c.i. engine.
