With just three cars in the semifinals, Gillig (shown) couldn’t catch a break as Kelkboom got the bye into the finals. Undaunted, Gillig ran a 6.511 at to overwhelm Assenmacher’s 6.73. With his car slowing down ever so gradually with each successive pass, Gillig knew he would have to cut a light in order to win as Kelkboom appeared to have the power to keep pace. Gillig cut his best light of the day with a .023 and streaked towards the finish with a 6.529/214.48 to lead Kelkboom’s 6.581/213.00. That victory was Gillig’s first on the Fun Ford tour in several years but, more importantly, it meant $10,000 in the bank account along with a lot of back slappin’ and smiles.
The big bucks Pro event sponsored by AMP Performance was rained out earlier in the year at Atlanta and contested at Richmond as a special “race within a race.” Chuck Samuel was the $30,000 winner over Dale Brinsfield, who lost an engine the round before to give Samuel the uncontested win.
Street Renegade was a star-studded affair as the biggest names in the sport showed up battle it out. Sam Vincent (shown) led the way in qualifying with a 7.617, where he was followed by Ron Cox, Travis Franklin, Dan Schoneck and Paul Stroble. Schoneck singled when popular Reggie Burnette couldn’t make the call. Travis Franklin then advanced over
former Drag Radial champ Phil Clemmons while Cox and Vincent advanced on singles. While the first may have been anticlimactic, the second one has an all star feel to it as Vincent took on Franklin and Schoneck squared off against Cox. Franklin took a .022 second advantage off the starting line only to watch Vincent power by him to take a 7.604 to an 7.751 win. Schoneck took advantage of his second single in a row when Cox didn’t appear.
In the finals, Vincent had to drive around his opponent again as he grabbed a 7.667/181.40 win to defeat Schoneck’s 8.020 at 170.28 mph. That left Vincent, who also won the delayed Atlanta finals the day before, in commanding position in the race for the season championship in Renegade.
Street Bandit, which is based off a 10.60 index this year, saw Mac Sibley’s well known 1978 Fairmont police cruiser knock off Tom Conrad, Jr. for the event win. Street Stang, running off a slower 12.50 index, saw James Meredith break out in trying to overcome a starting line deficit as he lost to Tom Conrad. Defending series champ Don Justus had a banner day as he qualified number one with his wheel standing 2001 Lightning. Justus got to the finals to meet a familiar face in Jim D’Amore.
