Round two got a little humor in it. Griffith, who had parked his street Viper next to his race car most of the weekend, and when the crew could not repair a damaged engine in time, instead of not showing up, here comes Griffith in the street Viper. He staged against arch rival Ed Thornton. Thornton’s crew chief, Shane Tecklenburg, was beginning to get his base line for the weekend at 6.716, 223.56 mph and the ’57 took the win. Griffith’s street Viper didn’t look too bad at 14.38, 89 mph but the Cinderella weekend was over for his Lenore and company.
Bowman’s bright red Monte Carlo left the starting line hard (.047 RT) and Mihovetz looked like he forgot to leave period, but he just did pass the turbo Monte as both cars had major traction problems, 6.914, 179.37 to a losing 7.93, 166, shutting down wisely.
In the semi finals Big Ed and Shane got the bye run and made good use of it with a stellar 6.658/229.20 run for Top Speed of the event! It had cooled down 10 to 15 degrees by that time so that did help the problems of the day.
It was a great race on the other side of the ladder as the turbo 2002 Cougar of Mihovetz straightened out whatever was ailing it in the previous pairing, and John cut a nice light (.069 RT) to Jeremy’s off pace (.186 RT) and it was all over when both cars finally went straight and true 6.691, 208.46 to a trailing 6.794, 211.76 mph for the bright green Studebaker.
Shane Tecklenburg gave the nod to both his drivers as the Accufab Pro Street team was once again double winners in the final round at Auto Club Dragway in Fontana. Mighty Mouse once again was not to be denied. Mihovetz left a little better than Big Ed, and held on to the trophy, money and points with a beautiful side by side pass of 6.509, 216.90 mph to Thornton’s extremely close 6.630, 227.00 mph.
OUTLAW STREET
Once again a kind of short field of Outlaws was on hand but there were nine of the best in the country. Surprisingly neither Rich Zehring nor 2007 Champion Ron Weems led the qualifying. Barstow, California’s Doug Sikora, who recent returned to the drag racing scene after a brief layoff of a couple of years, drove his immaculate show car quality Mustang to an outstanding 7.314/188.70 for the top spot in Outlaw. San Jose’s Rich Zehring was the fastest Outlaw on the property, though, at a fine 196.90 mph, as he and Weems are still the guys to beat in this class.
So wouldn’t you know that the final three competitors would be just that, Sikora (turbo Ford), Zehring (turbo Chevy big block) and Weems (nitrous Pontiac Grand Am with Outlaw Racing Engines big block). Zehring drew the odd lot single and laid down a strong 7.385, 196.90 mph, only to be out-classed by Mr. Consistent, Doug Sikora, and his Jason Pettis Racing Engine-prepared turbo Mustang, which looked like a Bracket One car with another 7.30, this time a 7.341/186.93 over Weems, Sonny Andy and all the guys and gals in his team’s effort of 7.591, 183.81 mph.
The final of Outlaw Street was as good as any as Sikora left slightly on Zehring’s ‘70 Nova and it looked to be anyone’s race till Sikora’s win light flashed first, at 7.331/186.20 while the Chevy was coming on at 6.433, 196.90 mph. Great race!