That set up the a classic Ford vs. Chevy, turbo vs. nitrous, Florida vs. North Carolina final against Hoyle and his 762-equipped ’69 Camaro after Hoyle had a first-round bye, took care of former Outlaw 10.5 star Marcus Birt in round two and rebounded from a .026 holeshot by longtime foe Szabo in the semis.
The final saw Thompson leave with a .046 reaction to Hoyle’s .055, but within a hundred feet Hoyle’s Chevy had overcome the deficit. Unfortunately for Hoyle, that’s about the same time his tires lost their bite, allowing Thompson to surge ahead and win with a 5.19 at 146.91 in the right lane.
 Carlton Thompson (far lane) actually had an advantage over Darrin Hoyle off the start of the Limited Street final, but Hoyle quickly reeled him in before losing traction and handing the lead back to Thompson for the event win. |
“I took a little power out because I knew the track was going to be slippery. I knew what I’d done the round before and thought I’d taken enough out to get down it, but obviously not,” Hoyle said. “It was just a tough track all weekend, but of course it was a bad track for everybody so it was fair for everybody, but it makes for a tough day of racing.”
Although the Montgomery event marked his third final this year (at ORSCA-sanctioned and non-sanctioned events), Thompson said he hadn’t tasted victory in about five years, so it was a huge relief to reach the win column.
“I cannot begin to describe it. I really cannot believe we’re here,” he exclaimed just before entering MMP’s winner’s circle. “We qualified fifth, got by a couple of good cars, and we’re here! I can’t believe it; every round we went I couldn’t believe we made it past again, but we just took it one round at a time and then, Bam! We done won!”
He may have looked cool, calm and collected before the Limited Street final, but race winner Carlton Thompson later said he kept waiting for his bubble to burst in each round of eliminations.
Getting down the hot pavement had been challenging all day, Thompson said, but with the track temperature dropping a good 20 degrees between the semis and final round, he was determined not to let another one slip away. “Every time we go in a final we spin, so this time instead of going up (in power) we went down and it worked. I still cannot believe it; this is a great way to spend Father’s Day.”
EZ STREET
With $10 grand on the line to win EZ Street, ORSCA president and race promoter Johnny Fenn was disappointed to see only 14 names on the qualifying list. “If that doesn’t get them out here I don’t know what will,” he said. “Especially on a hot track like this, you really didn’t need a ton of power, so I would’ve thought there’d be tons of cars here.”
Regardless, 2005 ORSCA champ Shane Stack led the way after three rounds of qualifying with a 5.03/150.15 in his turbocharged ’86 Monte Carlo. Reese was second at 5.09 in his alcohol-fueled and supercharged ’93 Mustang and Mississippi’s Shane Crowden went 5.17 to start third with his nitrous-assisted ’89 Mustang.