HOT AUGUST NIGHTS, BIG DOG STYLE

Crunch time for Piedmont Dragway's Big Dog series has arrived and never was it more evident than the August 2 event.

On a hot and humid night outside of Greensboro, NC, Danny Perry in an ex-Rickie Smith Camaro,  reached the winners circle. Even with the ADRL close by at ZMAX Dragway in Concord, a total of 15 cars took a time run for the CV Products Big Dog Shootout.

Qualifying was with several of the series frontrunners qualifying on the final pass. Andy Beal took the pole position with 3.956 at 188 mph. Also in the three-second range were Todd Howard at 3.984 and Todd Tutterow close behind at 3.989. Fourth was Ed Hoover at a 4.011, then  Danny Perry at 4.025 in the Boone Motorsports 2012 Camaro. Sixth  was Rick Moore at a 4.048 with Chris Rini in at a 4.057 and Matt Giangrande in at a 4.073. Travis Harvey missed the cut with a 4.077.

The past champion Perry put on a driving clinic on the slick track with a 3.982 over Hoover’s foul in the first round. A 3.980 in the semi over alternate Travis, subbing for a broken Giangrande put him in the final to run a 3.989 over Chris Rini. Rini got to the final with a 4.06 over Todd Howard’s 4.13 in the first round. A 4.04 single over a broken Rick Moore put Chris in the final where he drew a very unusual foul and wasted a 4.02 but put points on the board for the end of the year.

The point standings are now led by Rini, followed by Howard, Hoover, Beal and Giangrande, fifth. Rini has 26 points over Howard with Hoover only 4 points behind Howard. The CV Qualifying Challenge points are just as close with Hoover and Howard tied for first with Rini only 3 points behind and Beal only 1 point back in fourth. Should provide great competition for the final two events.

As there were 15 cars for this eliminator, track management held a consolation race which was won by Chris Cline, in the Christine ’57 Plymouth over RB Smith.

Nesbitt Competition Engines Renegades are led by John Lassiter over Jay Cox by 39 points, and Jamie Chappell is in third.

Renegade Eliminator resulted in a long overdue win for Jamie and Gina Chappell’s beautiful Tommy Mauney ’63 Vette with Gene Fulton power. After qualifying first, Chappell  ripped off a 4.23 for a single in the first round. A 4.20 in the semis over Charles Richards, who broke. But it took a holeshot 4.20 with a .027 light to defeat Jay Cox, who ran a quicker 4.18 but with an .062 light.

Other winners included Tommy Plott over Chris Plott in OReilly Outlaw Door Slammers.  Tim Hess won the Southern Automotive 6.00 eliminator.

Deep Creek Motors 7.49 had a new winner in a door car with Robert Vogler, Jr. winning. This young man had just won a junior dragster race at Piedmont last month and went on the win Pro Extreme Jr. Dragster two days later in Concord at the ADRL Dragstock event.

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