ORLANDO WORLD STREET NATIONALS - SAME DAY COVERAGE
 |
||||||
 |
||||||
 |
||||||
MONDAY FINAL
Mike Hill (Super Pro Street) headlined the winners at the rain-delayed Orlando Speedworld Dragway’s Real World Street Nationals in Orlando, Fla.
Joining Hill on the winner’s podium Monday were Bill Futch (Outlaw 10.5), Scott Husted (Heavy Street), and Paul Major (Drag Radial).
Hill, of Lithonia, Ga., drove his 1963 Corvette to a 6.381 elapsed time at 220.15 miles per hour to stop Vinny Budano of Long Island, N.Y. in the final round.
Futch, of Leigh Acres, Fla., took out Outlaw 10.5 No. 1 qualifier Chuck Ulsch in the final round of eliminations. Futch’s twin turbo Camaro recorded a winning 6.853-second run at 198.90 miles per hour.
Husted, of Safety Harbor, Fla., easily distanced himself from fellow Heavy Street finalist Michael Hupp, who made the tow to Florida from Indiana.
Major won the Drag Radial division in a nitrous versus turbo battle with Scott Bitzer.
Major, from Ft. Salonga, WVa., drove his turbo Corvette to the victory with a 7.442-second run at 202.18 miles per hour. He qualified No. 1 in the class and won with a .008 reaction time in the final round.
SUNDAY NOTEBOOK
SPECTATOR COUNT WAY UP - Despite the sentiment that the Orlando World Street Nationals had lost some of its luster with last year’s rained out event and the growing competition across the country, reports from race control are that Saturday’s spectator count was the largest single day crowd in Speedworld Dragway history. The track opened in 1966.
That monster crowd was treated to a day of great weather and great racing, with awesome runs thrown down in all classes.
2007 DEJA VU? - After five Super Pro Street pairs were sent down the track Sunday morning, the infamous rain that has plagued this event over the last couple years struck again. A heavy downpour soaked the track at about 11:30, then another small shower hit again about an hour later. Track drying efforts started shortly thereafter, then rain hit again. The tropical Florida weather has its pros and its cons!
“We get a lot of practice drying the track down here in Florida,” said track manager Randy Weisinger. “We moved the race back a few weeks to try to get it a little further into the dry season. We were feeling like geniuses up to this point in the weekend, but here we are once again.”
The rain delay was a long one, but it was nothing according to Carl Weisinger, the granddaddy of the Street Nationals. “This isn’t even close to the longest rain delay we’ve had. The longest one went for about 9 hours several years ago. We’ll stick it out a little longer and see what happens.”
What happened is the rain lingered around long enough for the Weisingers to pull the plug on Sunday’s action. Racing will resume Monday morning at 9 AM.
SUPER PRO STREET
KEEN DOUBLES UP - Vinny Budano, Mark Micke, Mike Hill, Jimmy Keen. Those are the top four qualifiers in Orlando, but one of those names is perhaps less well known than the others. Jimmy Keen from Parrish, FL put his ex-Chuck Samuel ’04 Mustang in the 4th spot in Super Pro Street. The car has been converted from an IHRA Pro Stock car to a nitrous Pro Street car to now a single-turbo 400-inch small block Ford.
“We bought the car from Chuck a few months ago, and it’s been running really well,” said Keen, a fertilizer company co-owner with his brother and crew chief.
The car’s looks can be deceiving to the uninformed. The car was originally a naturally aspirated car so it was built with a hood scoop. The new turbo system was designed with that in mind, and the car still sports the scoop and takes the air in for the turbo there.
Keen’s car has been incredibly consistent, making solid passes down the track all five runs in qualifying.
In addition to the Super Pro Street car, Keen is also competing in Outlaw 10.5 with Tom Moore’s beautiful ’04 Mustang. The 10.5 car sports a 412 cubic inch turbo Ford, and is solidly in the field at #13.
“I’ve known Tom for a long time, and when he built this car about three years ago, he was looking for a driver and a crew chief, so my brother and I stepped in while we were between cars of our own,” said Keen, the winner of the Street Nationals 10.5 class here at Orlando in ‘96.
Driving two different cars, one right behind the other, is quite an impressive feat. The cars, while similar models with similar engines, have a completely different feel and attitude.
“The 10.5 car’s got a Lenco and clutch in it, but it’s got a Liberty shifter in it,” said Keen. “The Super Pro car has a traditional five-speed Liberty in it. You shift the Super Pro car one more time than the 10.5 car, so that’s the main difference.”
“They’re both fun, whichever one wins is always the most fun though,” Keen joked.
Car owner Tom Moore couldn’t be more pleased with his double-duty driver. “I wouldn’t have anyone else in the car in a million years. Jimmy and his brother do a great job. We’ve been running great, and we’re gonna take it across country to the Street Car Supernationals in Vegas in a couple weeks,” said the local plumbing contractor.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
 |
Click to visit our sponsor's website
SATURDAY NOTEBOOK
BEST ORLANDO SURFACE YET? - Saturday’s racing provided lots of incredible numbers in all classes, and got even better in the final session. NOS technical services rep and freelance tuning consultant Monte Smith thinks this is easily the best condition in which he has ever seen the Speedworld Dragway surface. Smith is tuning a handful of cars in Drag Radial and Heavy Street this weekend, and he is pleased with the traction VP Racing Fuel’s Jason Reuckert has provided.
“Jason has this track prepped really, really well,” said Smith, who can be seen calling the shots on ADRL Pro Nitrous standout Thomas Meyers’ ’63 Corvette. “They are using VP’s track prep compound, and it’s really good. It’s especially good during the day, when most tracks get a little greasy and loose.” Reuckert has been a fixture on the starting line all weekend, watching each and every car down the track and making adjustments to the surface as needed.
Many drivers were underestimating the track, and that, combined with a density altitude averaging around 900 feet above sea level during the final session, created a fair amount of tire shake. But when they were able to get ahold of the track and apply the power, stellar runs like Mike Hill’s 6.409 resulted.
“I’d say the track is top notch today,” said Vinny Budano. “I think it took a lot of us by surprise today, and that’s why you saw a lot of guys shake. It really came around, and we missed it as well.”
SUPER PRO STREET
BUDANO BACK IN FAMILIAR TERRITORY - After struggling uncharacteristically through both sessions of Friday qualifying and 
the first shot today, Hicksville, NY’s Vinny Budano got back on track in a big way when he unloaded a 6.363 at 219.58 during the second session.
That number would hold through the final session as well. Budano nor anyone else was able to top that run, though Mark Micke came extremely close with a 6.382. Budano’s turnaround from the bottom to the top of the ladder is another line on the resume of one of the top Pro Street racers over the last three or four seasons.
“We decided to soften it up and go back to some small nitrous patterns that we actually ran here last year,” said the NMCA Pro Street champ. “We turned the second and third nitrous stages on a little later as well, and it just went. Obviously, we got a little greedy during the last session. We tried to turn those timers on a little earlier and it just wouldn’t take it.”
Though Budano has his first round opponent, Jimmy Strobel, covered by seven tenths of a second on paper, Budano doesn’t think he and the Scott Shafiroff team will back the car down too far for tomorrow’s eliminations.
“I think if I tried to back it down, my crew would back me down,” Budano joked. “We’ll just go back to the setup that ran the 6.36 and try to repeat it all day long.”
“This track is the great equalizer. That’s why we all come here. You can slay giants here.”
AIM FOR THE HAY - Tony Christian, “The King of Pro Street”, is here in Orlando in a Reher-Morrison powered ’02 Grand Am 
after taking a short hiatus from the event the last few years. He has made his presence felt this weekend with arguably the best performing car in the front half of the track, recording a 1.00 sixty-foot and going 2.77 to the 330 in his last pass. He hit the traps with a 6.452 at 216.58 MPH on that run, but that’s where the fun ended.
Christian hit the chutes, but had no help stopping as both chutes failed. A driver with any less experience than the Pro Street pioneer would have surely barrel rolled the car, but Christian was able to bring the car to a stop without hitting anything but the grass.
“I almost needed a change of shorts after that,” said Christian. “Neither chute came out and I remembered something (track owner) Carl Weisinger had told me. He said to crash into the hay bails if you run off the end of the track. I didn’t really want to do that because I knew it would hurt my hot rod. I got lucky and was able to spin it out in the grass.”
“Anytime you can get one to spin out like that and not flip it over, you’re just plain lucky,” Christian admitted. “God’s good to good people! Everyone keeps coming over and telling me what a great driving job I did, but I was just plain lucky.
“We’ve only been running it on two systems all weekend,” said Christian. “I’m gonna light up the third tomorrow and hit it hard. That’s the first good run we’ve made all weekend, and if I can keep my head out of my butt and drive tomorrow, I think we have a good shot at this thing. We’ve got a good baseline, but I keep screwing up. On two runs, I forgot to shift it into second gear. On another run, we had plug wires crossed up. I don’t know how fast it will go if we get it all together. I’m happy though.”
On the way out of Christian’s pits, we noticed a concerted effort by several of Tony’s crew members to dissect and correct exactly what went wrong with the chutes so they don’t have another incident like the one today.
OUTLAW 10.5
TEMPERS FLARING - An interesting chain of events went down during the fifth and final qualifying session. Jake Carlton had 
his nitrous-assisted ’69 Camaro staged up and ready to go while running against Spiro Pappas and his evil turbo Camaro. Pappas took his time rolling into stage, and infuriated Hank Hill in the process. Hill, a tuning consultant for a multitude of cars on the grounds this weekend, walked over in front of Pappas’ car and signaled for him to hurry up, among other things.
The drama didn’t stop there. Pappas was riding the centerline on a nice run and didn’t want to lift, but clipped one of the top end blocks. The foam block shot across into Carlton’s lane, throwing a 6.61 onto the board before Carlton had even crossed the line. That negated Carlton’s run, and rumor has it there is no love lost between these two camps headed into tomorrow’s eliminations.
Carlton was allowed a re-run following the final Drag Radial session, and used it to bump his way into the field in the 15th spot with a 7.02.
ULSCH & LYNCH SIDE BY SIDE - The run of the night, perhaps of the entire weekend, came midway through the Outlaw 10.5 session when Chuck Ulsch and Tim Lynch lined up together and ripped off a 6.56 and 6.58 respectively. The two have been paired up all day in qualifying, which is probably no coincidence. The two camps see one another as the main opponent standing in the other’s path to a World Street Nationals championship.
This one got the message boards and the entire fast street car community buzzing immediately, and is a great example of the things people look to Orlando for year in and year out: great matchups between the big hitters, even if it’s not eliminations quite yet.
If these two guys do see each other on Sunday, it won’t be until the final round.
DRAG RADIAL
MAJOR COVERS THE FIELD - We normally like to spread the love around and cover as many different teams and drivers as 
possible, but sometimes we can’t help it if we can peg who will wind up at the top of ladder as early as Friday afternoon. That holds true for the story of Paul Major, a true low to high story as he goes from a severely damaged racecar to #1 qualifier at the World Street Nationals in a matter of weeks.
“Maybe I’ll be talking to you tomorrow night for being #1 instead of burning my car up.” Major said those words last night when he spoke with CompetitionPlus. Little did he know how true they would end up being after Saturday’s final qualifying sessions. With each pass on Saturday, Major improved both his ET and speed, and in the final session he lit the boards with a 7.33 at over 207 MPH.
Major is the only Drag Radial car over the 200 MPH mark, and he’s well over it at that. The power displayed by his silver Z06 with orange racing stripes is something the other competitors, starting with Angelo Graham, will have to deal with all day on Sunday if Major had his way.
“We were shooting for 7.20s, but we’re happy,” said Major.
HARD LANDING - Jacksonville, FL’s Danny Griffin launched his ’89 Mustang in the final qualifying session and went into a classic “moonshot”, the type of huge wheelstand the fans line the fence in Orlando to see.
The spectacle quickly turned into a disaster when the car came back to earth extremely hard, busting a hole in the oil pan and dumping quarts of oil down 3/4 of the Speedworld strip.
The resulting cleanup took well over an hour. When racing resumed, the dew point had already been reached and the track was a tough beast to tame for all but a handful of the remaining cars.
HEAVY STREET
DOAK, NAUGHTON FIELD PRETTIEST PERFORMERS - Kenny Doak from Pipersville, PA fields what is without a doubt one of 
the cleanest looking cars on the grounds at the World Street Nationals. His green ’69 Camaro is decal-free and features the nicest paint you’ll see anywhere. “They’re as close to street cars as anything out here,” said Doak.
Doak posted a stout 7.235 at 202.52 MPH to take the #1 spot in Heavy Street during the first qualifying sessions Saturday. But like many of the competitors we talk to at this race, he believes there is more in it. Much more ET, and Doak will eclipse Monty Burney’s 2-year-old Heavy Street record, which stands at a 7.19.
“That run was in the right lane, and we think the left is better,” said Doak, a machine shop owner. “That was just a real easy pass, just hoping to get down the right lane to be honest with you.”
Doak’s stock bodied (the only fiberglass is the decklid and the hood, and all the windows are glass), chromed out ride has plenty of Oddy power for motivation. The original chassis was built by Montana Bros. Race Cars, but Doak turned to Gary Naughton and the guys at Vanishing Point Race Cars for the final tweaking and tuning.
“I teamed up with Gary about a year ago, and it’s really helped our program out,” said Doak. “Since working with Gary I’ve run a best of 6.89, and that was on 10.5’s. We just have it backed down from that this weekend.”
Doak owns both the car he is driving and the equally stunning gold ’67 Camaro that Naughton pilots. The “slower” of the two according to the duo, the gold car is currently sitting in the 4th spot with a 7.371 at 194.66.
“My car’s got the 540 Chevy in it, the green car’s got the 526 Hemi and makes all kinds of power,” said Naughton, the shop foreman at Vanishing Point. “My car’s running great, but we really want the record in Kenny’s car.”
Is a six-second pass out of the question for these heavy Chevys?
“It depends,” said Naughton. “We’re shooting for it. If we can apply the power in Kenny’s car, it will do it.”
After all three sessions were completed, Doak and Naughton remained 1st and 4th, respectively, but Doak was able to drop his elapsed time mark just a little, going a 7.225 to lay claim to the pole for tomorrow.
No record, no six-second pass, but we’ve got a sneaking suspicion Doak and Naughton are still ecstatic with their showing thus far at the World Street Nationals.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
 |
Click to visit our sponsor's website
FRIDAY CARNAGE
Chris Simmons of BME Photography captured the essence of the Orlando World Street Nationals with a collection of carnage photos from Friday's qualifying,
GINO BIA'S CRASH
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
 |
Click to visit our sponsor's website
FRIDAY NOTEBOOK -
TRACK WOES TURN TO TRACK “WHOA’S” – As bright sunshine and moderate temperatures greeted the competitors Friday
morning, so did an extremely “green” racetrack. It’s safe to say that less than half of the competitors made full passes during the first session of Super Pro Street, with the majority of those that didn’t make a full pull going into tire shake immediately off the line.
By the time Outlaw 10.5 rolled around for their first session,
the track was worked in and ready to go. Tim Lynch proved it when he ripped off a 6.670 at 216.41 MPH in the first pair out.
As the track came around at the end of the night, it appeared many teams underestimated the conditions, evidenced by Annette Summers’ lackluster 7.07 and Vinny Budano’s
continued struggles with tireshake. With so many combinations on the grounds, we are seeing the gamut as far as what the track will and will not take. Some racers think the track is great, others terrible. The vast range of opinions and combinations is one of the things that sets the World Street Nationals and this breed of racing apart from everything else.
One thing that everyone is in agreement on: at least it’s not raining.
SUPER PRO STREET
KILLER INSTINCT LEADS THE WAY – It appears Frank Cersosimo and the Killer Instinct team have learned a little something
from hanging around ADRL Pro Nitrous front runners Billy Harper and Dennis Radford. Using a Buck 738 cubic inch motor that Radford ran in his famous Viper a few seasons back, Cersosimo, a regular crew member for Harper/Radford, thundered to the provisional pole in Friday’s qualifying with a 6.476 at 218.30 MPH.
That pass put him nearly a tenth of a second in front of then-polesitter Tony Christian. After Matt Dietsch leapfrogged Christian to take the #2 position with a 6.510, Cersosimo was still five hundredths ahead of the pack. According to him, the run could have been even quicker.
“I had been watching everyone go up there and shake the tires, so I was over-anticipating shake of my own and blipped the throttle before it even got to 60 feet,” said the Lehigh, FL native. “We feel good about tomorrow, & we should step it up just based on that mistake I made. If I hadn’t pedaled it, it would have gone a low 40 or high 30 on that pass. I’ve got to thank Monte from NOS, Auto Machine Racing Engines, Buck Racing Engines, and CDP.”
Ironically, Cersosimo has gone from the proverbial outhouse to the penthouse. At last year’s World Street Nationals, he qualified on the bubble in the #32 spot.
INCREDIBLE PEDAL JOB – When you take a look at the qualifying sheet from the first Super Pro Street qualifying session, you’ll see Craig Miller’s ’02 Grand Am in the ninth spot with a 6.99 at over 215 MPH. What you won’t see is the incredible pedal job Miller performed when the car went into violent tire shake from the launch to about sixty feet. The driving job was so smooth and timely, one would think think Miller’s car is equipped with a traction control device.
“No traction control, just a quick foot,” said Miller. “We only ran a 4.71 to the eighth-mile on that pass.”
Look for Miller to be a force this weekend if he can get the car hooked up off the launch.
ONE IN THE WALL - The World Street Nationals are never short on one thing: carnage. This year’s event, at least in this
writer’s opinion, has been relatively catastrophe-free compared to the last several annual gatherings.
Just don’t tell that to Pete Demos.
Demos, in the left lane, had traction issues from the hit of the throttle in his Tim McAmis-built ’68 Camaro, “We tried to tame it down with a little less nitrous,” said Demos. “The track was bad for us and it went into pretty hard shake.”
“It shook and went towards the left wall,” Demos explained. “I got out of the gas and pulled it towards the right. When I did that it tried to roll over. I hit the brakes and turned to the left so it would come back down, and when I did it was facing head on with the right wall.”
Demos hit the wall with a minimal amount of speed, and surmised that things could have certainly been a lot worse.
“If I would have had two more feet, I could have pulled it away from the wall and not hit anything,” said Demos. “It can be fixed, and will be headed to the chassis shop in about two weeks.”
NOW THAT’S PRO STREET - With the ever-increasing popularity of Pro Street racing across the country over the last decade,
some could argue the class has lost its original identity. What started as a class for the baddest street-legal monsters on the planet has morphed into nothing short of Pro Modified with a little extra weight.
That original flavor is not all the way gone though. Charlie Sikes from Pulaski, WI has what is arguably the most impressive machine on the grounds. He sits tenth in the order after two qualifying sessions with a 6.76 at over 210 MPH, but what that sheet won’t tell you is that his ’62 Impala is the real thing. A full size, steel roof and quarters bubble top with a hungry turbo underneath the hood.
“We weigh in at 3,045 lbs.,” admitted Sikes. “We’re 245 lbs. over our minimum weight. I wish we could shed it; this is an incredibly tough field out here.”
Sikes makes his own power to help motivate all that weight and take on the tough Orlando field. “We’ve got a 480 c.i. Race Shop Chevy for power,” Sikes said. “That’s our shop up in Wisconsin. It’s got twin Precision .88’s on it. It’s pretty old school stuff compared to what everyone is running really.”
“It’s a true Pro Street car,” said Sikes. “It’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight, but this track can be an equalizer. We’ve been doing a lot of testing at our home track, which is very similar to this track. That 6.76 is the best elapsed time we’ve ever had, but we look to step it up tomorrow. It’s all about managing the power.”
OUTLAW 10.5
ULSCH VS. LYNCH BATTLE BREWING - When it comes to true Outlaw 10.5 racing, no name has been more prominent that Tim
Lynch and all the guys at ProLine Racing Engines. Tuned by Steve Petty, Lynch has set the 10.5 universe on its ear over the course of the past 18 months. Gil Mobley and Chuck Ulsch decided to try to do something about it.
Ulsch has recently traded in his nitrous bottles for a big ole helping of boost courtesy of a screw-blown 526 Brand Anderson Hemi. Going one step further, he has enlisted the help of all-around door car guru Todd Tutterow to get the new combination on its feet quickly.
Ulsch and Tutterow seem to be on the right track after unleashing a 6.555 to take the top spot from Lynch, who posted a 6.580. After the first round of qualifying, it looked like Lynch may run away from the competition when he ran a 6.670 off the trailer, nearly two-tenths ahead of the next closest competitor.
But Ulsch’s killer run in the second session gave us a preview of what could be a stellar showdown in Outlaw 10.5.
When CompetitionPlus.com caught up with Ulsch, he and Tutterow were in the midst of a “preventative maintenance” session, dropping the pan and checking all the rods and bearings before tomorrow’s third and fourth qualifying sessions.
“We actaully have to work on this motor more than we did the nitrous motor,” said James Ward, a longtime Ulsch crew member. “We’re still learning it too. Once we get it fine tuned, we shouldn’t have to do all this.”
“This thing just has so much more power than the nitrous combination,” continued Ward. “We had to do something to keep up with all these turbo cars out here. We’ve been doing this for a while, and we’d like to be up front now. Be top dog for a change”
They may be well on their way. It’s astounding to think Ulsch and Lynch would be the second and third qualifiers in Super Pro Street with their elapsed times, but are doing it on 10.5’s at over 3,000 lbs.
DRAG RADIAL
A MAJOR REBUILDING - Fort Salonga, WV’s Paul Major has had perhaps a tougher time than anyone making it to the World
Street Nationals. The Drag Radial standout suffered a devastating fire while running his gorgeous ’01 Corvette in the LSX Shootout in Memphis three weeks ago. Since then, it has been a day and night thrash to get the car rebuilt in time for the biggest race of the year.
“We wasted a transmission in Memphis,” said Major. “The dipstick popped out, the fluid ignited, and it did a lot of damage. I’ve got a lot of people to thank for helping me get it back together in such a short amount of time. Bobby Carroll at Carroll’s Rod & Racecraft, Chris at NRG, Select Transmission, Richie at PCHS, and Joe at Long Island Custom Autocare.”
“Orlando is such a big race, we love it,” Major said. “We missed it last year after breaking in Memphis, and it wasn’t going to happen to us again.”
Major ran a 7.83 at 197.57 MPH to stake his claim on the 10th qualifying position going into Saturday. Having problems with traction and tire shake, Major is a good bit off from his best ETs he recorded at the Shakedown at E-Town several weeks ago.
“We went a 7.23 at 204 at the Shakedown,” said Major. “We’ve got plenty of power, but this track is slicker so we’ve got to find a tuneup that works. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be talking to you because I’m in the number one spot!”
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
 |
Click to visit our sponsor's website
OWSN FLASHBACK - 2007
FLORIDA IS THE 'SUNSHINE STATE,' REALLY! The rain that plagued the Real World Street Nationals continued to hamper the event on Sunday. On Saturday, the second round of qualifying finally began very late in the night and only three of the four outlaw classes completed their second and final session.
The famous Florida sun was finally shining Sunday morning, but not before a shower soaked the track at 7:30 a.m. It forced a very long early morning track drying session. Brooms, blow dryers and a small street sweeper remained in action all morning, but the fans still flocked into the muddy grandstands and pit areas, ready for large a dose of outlaw action at its best.
Racers in the Drag Radial class finally began their second round of qualifying at 11 a.m. Sunday morning, with eliminations to promptly follow. The grandstands were almost full by time the Drag Radial session ended. But the skies were darkening. Thick, rain-filled thunderclouds circled the track and although not as ominous looking as Saturday's, they still posed a threat for the possibility of more rain.
Eliminations began at approximately 1 p.m. with the Super Pro Street class.
The logo for the Real World Street Nationals is: "Always rained on but never rained out!" Think it's time for new motto, guys!!
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
 |
Click to visit our sponsor's website
2006 - EDDIE TIMAL'S DEVASTATING CRASH
Some accidents can’t be erased at the snap of a finger.
Canadian Outlaw 10.5 racer Eddie Timal will always be reminded of what
could have been a fatal accident during the 2005 World Street Nationals
in Orlando, Florida. Timal’s classic turbocharged GTO struck the Armco
guardrail and became airborne before barrel-rolling violently down the
track sidelines.
Timal can’t seem to shake the memory of that accident. Neither can he shake a desire to return to competition.
Somewhere in the back of Timal’s mind will be the day he became the subject of a violent crash sequence shot by the leading photographers.
“I haven’t forgotten about it by any means, but then again I don’t wake up in a cold sweat either,” Timal said.
Timal, upon request, can recollect the day he left many Orlando spectators nervously awaiting word of his status.
“I knew when the car went sideways that it was going to hit the wall,”
Timal said. “I didn’t expect the car to launch in the air like it did,
though. When it started rolling, I just grabbed on to the wheel tight.
You go into self-preservation mode at that point.”
Timal said he remained conscious throughout the ordeal. He was uninjured.
“It
was scary and it gets scarier when you hear the crunching and
grinding,” Timal said. “You know something is going wrong at that
point.”
Many drivers shy away from watching footage of a devastating crash. One
can consider Timal in the minority. He immediately sought the video
footage.
A frightening reminder of his lucky fortunes was in watching the
footage and glancing over at the remnants of his once-prized race car.
“I was looking at the car in the trailer and it was clearly a pile of
rubble,” Timal said. “It was a devastating crash. To see the video
further amplified that.” (Words by Bobby Bennett, Photos by Kelly Pelrine)
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
 |
Click to visit our sponsor's website
OWSN FLASHBACK 2006
Technically it’s called the Real World Street Nationals, and this year’s version, the 14th annual, was an unqualified success. Well, the racers who crashed, broke, or failed to qualify may have a problem with that assessment, but the vast majority of fans and racers who jammed the tight confines of Orlando Speed World Dragway likely have a positive response if asked to evaluate the event.
The number of race vehicles on hand is even more impressive considering that there are only four classes – Super Pro Street, Outlaw 10.5, Heavy Street, and Radial Tires.
In Super Pro Street, the premier class of the RWSN, 2003 winner Tony Gillig returned to the winner’s circle at the expense of fellow Illinois resident Chuck Samuel, himself a former winner in Orlando.
Gillig, who is stepping away from his team’s 2004 Mustang after this weekend, took the win when Samuel got out of the groove and lifted.
