Patrick did the deed in just over a minute (1.07.43), which is really flying. Dennis Olthoff, a Superformance dealer from North Carolina, was first in his big-block class with a 1.07.99, while Jeff Schwartz, piloting the bright yellow Ultima he drove to the event from his home in Illinois, completed the course in 1.09.12, and that was with street tires! There were a few cars in the 70-second range, but most got around the track in the 73- to 83-second range.
The next day saw everyone move to the autocross section of the facility-a large parking lot adjacent to the quarter-mile track where a local SCCA club set up a series of cones and drivers needed to maneuver around them without knocking them down (if you did, then extra time was added to your time slip). Speeds only reached 60 mph or so, but since the course was tight and flat, it seemed like you were going 100!
Dennis Olthoff again put on his party hat as he pushed his red Superformance coupe through the traps in 43.723 seconds. No one else was able to get in the sub-44 range except Dennis, though one, Chuck Spera in his World Class Motorsports Ultralite, cranked out a 44.025-second run. To put that into perspective, Olthoff hit a 43.7 with his big-block coupe while Spera recorded a 44 with his 2-liter Honda-powered car! (The Honda and motorcycle-powered vehicles really made a good showing this year.) Most in the Prepared class had 45- to 50-second runs, while most in the Street class were running between 50- and 58-seconds on the course. Luckily, not too many mishaps occurred during the Autocross portion of the event-just a few spinouts and a couple of oil-downs slowed things up.
The final day is left for drag racing because, if you're going to break something, it's gonna be here! That's little consolation for the participants who drove their cars from home, but that's the breaks (literally). Practice runs took a few competitors out early and, once underway, the drags went quickly (no pun intended!). Most of the Street class racers were running in the 12s and 13s, which is good for around 110 mph in the quarter. Jeff Schwartz tested his Ultima with and without the large foil over the rear of his vehicle to see what kind of difference it made between down force and drag. He recorded his best time, an 11.447 run (the only Street class entrant to run in the 11s) and snatched both the Top Dog and Overall Top Dog trophies in his class.
In the Prepped class, racing was in the 10- and 12-second range, with top speeds reaching 120 mph. Bill Scholl, Rich Pickles, and Bill Belcher (all driving Cobras) were all in the 10s with their rides, but it was Scholl who would record not only the lowest e.t. of the Prepped class at 10.887, but the low e.t. for the meet (and that included the big-block guys). Though Scholl blasted everybody off the quartermile track, his times on the road course and autocross placed him out of the running in the Overall Top Dog race, though he did pick up a First in the Prepped Drag Top Dog class. Belcher had lowest e.t. of his group with a 10.919, and went on to win a handful of awards later that day, including King of the Hill and Third in his class for Overall Top Dog.
The Pro class saw the Olthoff machine up and running hard on the track, and he clicked off an 11.131 to be the fastest in his Pro big-block group. It was also the fastest in all of the Pro classes, with everyone else running in the mid-12s and slower. Olthoff went on to win the most awards at this year's event, taking First in the Pro big-block Autocross, First in the Pro Autocross Top Dog, First in the Pro big-block Road Course, Second in the Road Course Top Dog Pro class, First in the Pro Quick 8 drags, Fourth in the King of the Hill competition, and First in the Pro Drag Top Dog. With all those First Place finishes, it's easy to see how Dennis also got First in the Pro Overall Top Dog standings.