TSA RESULTS AT BOWLING GREEN- 19 OCT 2012.
The day started out with the temperature in the low 50's, high humidity and winds of 15 to 20 mph. Not very nice. Five cars showed up for Richard Clark's TSA shootout. They were Red Armstrong from Ohio, Bill Thompson from Kentucky, Clay Arnold from Indiana, John Tubbs from Wisconsin, and Kip Asplund also from Indiana. Tech inspections started at 1 PM and all vehicles were subject to a 113 point checklist. All vehicles passed tech inspection.
All vehicles must qualify with an ET of at least 13.2, in order to be eligible to participate. There were three qualification runs during Friday afternoon. In the first qualification event, the following times were posted:
Clay 11.77
Red 11.55
Bill 11.135
John 12.738
Kip 11.672
The second qualifying event was:
Clay 11.485
Red 11.02
Bill 10.914 *** Bill Thompson breaks the 11 second barrier!!! What a blast! Outstanding!
John 11.20
Kip 12.326
The third and last qualifying event of the day recorded:
Clay 11.028 @ 115.13 mph
Red 10.966 @ 122.48 mph *** Now Red Armstrong breaks the barrier!!! WOW!!!
Bill 11.154 @ 121.55 mph
John 11.111 @ 120.0 mph
Kip 13.177 @ 112.69 mph (This ended qualifying events on Friday)
Saturday started out sunny and warmer in the morning but as the day wore on it got very cloudy and colder. Almost a repeat of Friday with, again, high humidity. Final eliminations commenced with Clay being paired with John, and Clay broke an axel!! Really tough luck. John cruised to an ET of 11.038 and 119.67 mph. Next, Red was paired with Kip, and Red posted an ET of 11.034 @ 122.72 mph while Kip hit an 11.839 at 114.70 mph. That left Bill with a bye and he cruised to an ET of 11.405 at 120.14 mph. That wrapped up the action on the first round of eliminations.
The second round of eliminations paired Bill with John and Bill took the win with an ET of 11.175 @ 119.84 to John's ET of 10.985!!! at 120.87 mph. But Bill's reaction time was .266 seconds to John's time of .462. Thus, Bill got to the traps first even though John now also broke the 11 second barrier!! Bill's win was only .0062 seconds (62 thousandths of a second) over John!!! Another cliff hanger! And another 10+ second run. In two days of racing in TSA Class, three different cars break the 11 second barrier. What an achievement! What great racing, and with full bodied Regals with plush interiors and all with functioning AC!!! The top three cars all weighed within 15 pounds of each other (3525 to 3540 pounds).
Now, as they say, the pressure was really on in the third round of eliminations. It was Red paired with Bill. Both cars weighed within five pounds of each other at launch on the line. When the smoke cleared, Red had the win with an ET of 11.076 at 121.91 mph to Bill's 11.093 at 119.23 mph. Only 17 thousandths of a second separated the two cars! Talk about close! Also, Reds reaction time was .278 to Bill's rt of .275! What a race!
(At the end of each elimination event, all cars were weighed and checked under the hood for any unauthorized items, and those with a second O2 cat bung were checked for required plugs).
For their efforts, Red's share of the prize for winning was $5,000, with Bill cashing in with $2,500, John with $1,250 and Kip with $600. Not bad for two days work! In addition, Bill's car earned a Gold Certificate in the Concours judging event. Thats worth another $1,000! Congratulations to all!
On another note, if you pick up a copy of the Nov 2012 issue of Road & Track magazine, they have a table that compares 1/4 mile times of all U.S. made
performance cars and some exotic foreign machinery. No U.S made vehicle matches what the above '86/'87 Regals (24 and 25 year old cars) did at Bowling Green last week! Now thats something, but we really already knew that, didn't we. What a show, three Regals in full street trim breaking into the 10's! Awesome! Unbelievable! Except for Richard. He knew that it could be done. And now three guys just go out and do it!
Richard expresses his thanks to all TSA participants for their ingenuity, dedication, knowledge and perseverance in going after the 10+ second goal! You have done an amazing thing here. Congratulations to all and another tip of my hat to Red, Clay, Bill, John, and Kip for their participation and sportsmanship. Great competitors and great cars! Remember, John's car could not pass tech two years ago. So, what does he do? Last year he came back and not only passed tech, but he took second place! Then this year he blasts into the tens! What is this guy going to do next! I can't wait!
The Colonel