In a battle of turbocharged Mustangs, Alabama’s Ken Rainwater (far lane) and New Jersey’s Joe Newsham had identical .016 reaction times in the Outlaw 10.5 final, but it was Newsham’s ride that reached the finish line first with a 4.482 at 169.38 pass over Rainwater’s 4.581/166.35 combo.
Newsham Takes Atlanta Ten-Five Title
It most definitely was not the same ol’ suspects who wound up on top of the ORSCA Outlaw 10.5 heap May 17-18, at Atlanta Dragway, as Miami’s Carlos Zaldivar made his series debut as the number-one qualifier and Joe Newsham took the trophy and $7,000 winner’s purse home to Sicklerville, NJ.
Also winning were Jeff Paulk in Limited Street, Nick Yarber in EZ Street and Stacy Parker in Modified Street. Index wins went to polesitter Israel Deraney in the 5.0 class, Eric Armstrong in 6.0 and Brock Taylor in the 7.0 division.
OUTLAW 10.5
Carlos Zaldivar brought his beautiful 2004 nitrous-assisted Vette up to Atlanta from Miami, FL, and after making a couple of test passes in the mid-4.30s, qualified on top of the 16-car Outlaw 10.5 field with a 4.42 at 169.78 mph. Zaldivar took out Stephen Todd in round one, but ran into traction trouble against Rainwater in the quarter-finals.
ADRL Extreme 10.5 star Bill Jewett qualified his gorgeous Gulf Shores, AL-based ’08 Saleen Mustang eighth at the ORSCA Outlaw 10.5 event but lost to Rainwater in the first pair of the opening round of eliminations.
After qualifying second with a 4.43/168.58 effort, Rockmart, GA’s Jimmy Blackmon was looking strong in his twin-turboed ’92 Firebird. But just as he crossed the finish line to defeat Jack Barfield in round two, the pulley mandrel broke off his engine and bounced under the car, severely damaging the oil pan, transmission pan, several chassis components and even taking out a chunk of the wheelie bar wheel. “I thought the whole engine let go; I could feel the oil under the tires,” Blackmon said later. “So I just hit the chutes because I didn’t dare touch the brakes.” Barfield was subsequently awarded the win and opportunity to advance after he crossed over the post-race scales, while Blackmon bypassed the weigh in and simply towed his wounded ‘Bird back to the trailer. In a great show of sportsmanship, Barfield and Blackmon later agreed to a 50:50 split of all their winnings at Atlanta.