With Scruggs out of the picture, Hernandez gained a massive advantage. New crewchief Jim Oddy was giggling like a school girl as the National Guard Bel-Air responded to every adjustment while making good his decision to return from retirement to wrench Lipar’s rig. After tuning Frankie Taylor’s Texas Corvette to a 3.817/197.05 at the ’07 World Finals, few had doubts of Oddy’s abilities. With Hernandez gaining a slight holeshot, Oddy’s restraint enabled a 3.95/190.41 victory over Swearingen’s 4.00/176.40 in the semi-finals when the Willys, despite incredible 0.954-second sixty-feet and 2.583-second 330-feet ETs, simply spun its tires through the last three hundred feet of the track. Moments later, Wiley had a final-round berth dropped right in his lap when Hector’s small block ‘Vette fouled by three hundredths of a second. Staging for the championship round on a fifty-five degree surface, Wiley fulfilled his obligation by launching first by seven hundredths of a second. Tire spin quickly ended his bid, however, and Hernandez delivered to his new sponsor their first ADRL Minuteman trophy in 3.96 seconds with yet another 191.57 mph charge. Including the Battle For the Belts, either Scruggs or Hernandez has won the last four ADRL event titles.
PRO NITROUS ELIMINATOR
History’s quickest nitrous oxide-aided eighth-mile performance doesn’t appear in the final results of the event but Kentuckian Billy Harper quickly laid claim to the event’s most shocking performance. Entering two black Dodge Vipers, indistinguishable other than a lack of decals on the newest of the pair, Harper intended to compete in both the Pro Extreme division, (which permits any induction combination), and the Pro Nitrous category. After a tire-shaking effort in his PN entry, Harper’s second racer was actually the first car to stage in the initial PX qualifying session. In fact, as all eyes were on opponent Wesley Jones when his supercharged ‘68 Camaro careened all over its lane on the burnout, few fans even noticed Harper’s comparatively quiet Viper launching on a single run when Jones failed to leave the line. With a blistering 0.984-second sixty-feet ET and the quickest 330-feet run ever for a carbureted car, a 2.609-second bomb, most hardcore fans just stared in disbelief at the HRP scoreboard when it posted a 3.929-second, 187.13 mph result.
Now two hundredths of a second quicker than Doug Reisterer’s 3.94 clocked at Dragstock ‘07, Harper’s team suddenly found itself in a quandary. They quickly elected to remove the both Vipers from their respective categories and reclassify the quicker of the two into Pro Nitrous Eliminator. The switch, however, nullified the previous performances of both cars and Harper could only coax a 4.19/177.42 from the World’s Quickest Nitrous Car to qualify thirteenth. Harper’s bizarre day came to an end in the first round when the Dodge crossed the centerline while leading Randy Weatherford’s outrageous new ‘68 Camaro which coughed a hefty fireball through the air scoop just off the starting line.
In fact, only one official three-second eighth came up in PN qualifying; Pat Stoken’s Montana ‘68 Camaro hit a best-ever 3.98/186.56 in the first session to lead the field by six hundredths. In the second session, Stoken ran a 4.01 at a huge 188.07 mph speed and was only surpassed by National Guard team member Harold Martin’s ‘05 Grand Am, (4.005/187.60), and ‘07 Dragstock winner Jim Halsey’s ‘68 Camaro, (4.009/186.98). Ironically, the only driver to clock a sixty-feet ET under one second during qualifying was Harper on his all-over-the-place 4.19, (0.984)!
Rickie Smith, now displaying CapCo Contractors and Bailey Trucking signage to compliment his long-standing relationship with Carolina Drillers, achieved a personal goal with a 3.994/183.82 in the opening round of eliminations against Missourian Delon Joseph’s ‘63 Stingray and Dennis Radford’s Oregon-based ‘70 ‘Cuda hit a 3.991/182.90 over Tim Savell’s Mississippi ‘68 Camaro. Halsey stopped Burton Auxier’s ‘53 Corvette with a 4.004/185.74 in a battle during which the worst RT was Halsey’s 0.016 and Martin advanced with a 4.05/184.55 over defending ADRL World Champ Jamie Hancock’s ‘04 Corvette.
Weatherford, reinstated after Harper’s boundary disqualification, improved to a 4.03/180.50 to drop Radford in round two and Halsey maintained his consistent pace with a 4.02/184.77 over Smith. However, both Stoken and Martin barely survived tire-spinning duels with Louisiana’s Stan Allen and Shannon Jenkins, (at the helm of Mike Castellana’s new ‘67 Firebird), to advance to the semis. The third round saw only one driver hit the finish line under power; Halsey ran 4.03/185.43 over Martin’s shutoff and Weatherford’s WS Construction Camaro used all of a 4.37/160.37 to stay ahead of Stoken’s Camaro.
Despite the concerns of nearly every bystander, however, the final round proved to be the division‘s best race. Weatherford’s North Carolina Chevy left first and was still ahead by one thousandth of a second at the sixty-feet mark. By the 330-feet pylon, Halsey was in the lead by one thousandth and the Maryland track owner stretched that margin to fourteen thousandths at the finish line in a truly classic 4.03/183.62 to 4.04/180.12 battle. The Houston victory was Halsey’s second in the past three ADRL events.