Noble Results, indeed!!
Team Buick lined up 82 cars by 2:00 PM today and Team Ford lined up 73. Buick team dominated the competition 54-19 by unoffical results and we had 8 cars that either broke or did not have a Ford to race. Our team was much stronger overall and at the top end where the Fords usually dominant. The #10 qualifier for us this year ran a 9.45 versus last years #10 qualifier running 10.37 if I remember correctly.
I won $10 for consistent 60' and stayed in the tower to watch the races. Got to see several games of light bulb chess and some great drag races. John Plog and his opponent played a great game of light bulb chess with John probably pulling the launch of his life and he ran a 9.41 which Andres form his racing group said made John the 2nd fastest steel headed 109 block car in the country. Jerry Chambers race was so close that he probably would have won if he had gotten a hair cut yesterday. John Schmidt, Jack Cotton and Bones Hayhurst all gave great demonstrations of how to keep it between the white lines at 150 MPH.
I was surprised by low number of Fords that came and we had a fairly large dropout from our committed list. Of course we missed our folks and hope they can make it next year. I also am sad that we had people that busted their butts to get their cars and broke them on Friday. That one that sticks out to me is Will Barnes who not only busted his butt to get ready; he drove the car from West Texas. I haven't heard how he got back yet but I'm confident that he got home.
We also need to say thanks to everyone who came a long distance to be here. It's a long drive from Massachusetts and Ohio to Noble and this was my first chance to see Jack's Pumpkin and John's Riviera in person. Impressive cars.
There are a large number of people who drove anywhere from 100 miles to 500 miles to get to Noble and I would like to thank all of you as group for doing so.
Lastly, we have to thank Dick Walker and all of the members of the Shootout staff that work extremely hard to make this a great event. I'd bet some serious money that Race Director Scott Hetzel has been at home in bed for at least 2 hours.
Hope everybody has a safe and enjoyable trip home.
Looking forward to next year.
Phil Engle
Team Buick lined up 82 cars by 2:00 PM today and Team Ford lined up 73. Buick team dominated the competition 54-19 by unoffical results and we had 8 cars that either broke or did not have a Ford to race. Our team was much stronger overall and at the top end where the Fords usually dominant. The #10 qualifier for us this year ran a 9.45 versus last years #10 qualifier running 10.37 if I remember correctly.
I won $10 for consistent 60' and stayed in the tower to watch the races. Got to see several games of light bulb chess and some great drag races. John Plog and his opponent played a great game of light bulb chess with John probably pulling the launch of his life and he ran a 9.41 which Andres form his racing group said made John the 2nd fastest steel headed 109 block car in the country. Jerry Chambers race was so close that he probably would have won if he had gotten a hair cut yesterday. John Schmidt, Jack Cotton and Bones Hayhurst all gave great demonstrations of how to keep it between the white lines at 150 MPH.
I was surprised by low number of Fords that came and we had a fairly large dropout from our committed list. Of course we missed our folks and hope they can make it next year. I also am sad that we had people that busted their butts to get their cars and broke them on Friday. That one that sticks out to me is Will Barnes who not only busted his butt to get ready; he drove the car from West Texas. I haven't heard how he got back yet but I'm confident that he got home.
We also need to say thanks to everyone who came a long distance to be here. It's a long drive from Massachusetts and Ohio to Noble and this was my first chance to see Jack's Pumpkin and John's Riviera in person. Impressive cars.
There are a large number of people who drove anywhere from 100 miles to 500 miles to get to Noble and I would like to thank all of you as group for doing so.
Lastly, we have to thank Dick Walker and all of the members of the Shootout staff that work extremely hard to make this a great event. I'd bet some serious money that Race Director Scott Hetzel has been at home in bed for at least 2 hours.
Hope everybody has a safe and enjoyable trip home.
Looking forward to next year.
Phil Engle
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