Weekend line up brings full house to Northeast

By Wendy Curling

Fireworks were the only thing missing from the holiday weekend line up at Northeast Dragway that garnered the largest competitor field in track history.

Over two hundred race cars gathered Saturday night vying for top honors in all five regular brackets as well as 4.90, 5.90 and 10.5 Tire classes to the delight of hundreds of spectators.

“I’ve never seen this many cars here” said track operator Tony Trueblood. “It’s crazy; we even have race cars parked over in spectator parking.”

Although the track had not planned July fourth as a race day, it soon became one out of necessity.

“We’re going to do all we can do to run this program out.” added Trueblood making reference to a seldom enforced midnight curfew. “I don’t see us getting through before 3 (a.m.)”

Trueblood’s prediction was dead on as the last of the final rounds tripped the finish line beams just after three o’clock in the morning.

As the late night turned into early morning, winning racers showed no signs of fading (thanks to plenty of adrenaline) and carried on their celebrations with the same gusto had the final rounds been run hours earlier with all winners still taking time for their winner’s circle photos.

Modified winner Roger Rhodes of Pikesville made his celebrations short and sweet with well wishers assuring him that his impending three hour trip should put him home just in time for a victory breakfast.

Rodgers, a high school shop teacher by trade, defeated Bill Haskell of Virginia Beach in a double break out final round run.

Skip Moore of Chesapeake never skipped a beat as he continued his amazing dominance of the 4.90 Index Class by winning four of four races thus far this season.

Moore was especially thankful that his whole family including visiting out of town relatives was there to see him win.

“We’re all leaving in a few hours to go on vacation.” said Moore, indicating that they would then have time to catch up on their rest.

Moore defeated former pro stock racer David White of Suffolk, who had the better elapsed time of 4.92, by posting the best reaction time off the line and running 4.93 at the stripe. Both racers crossed the beams at better than 140 mph.

The 5.90 Index class saw its first repeat winner as Lewis Eure of Suffolk strolled to an easy victory over Johnnie Cobb who had trouble hooking up on the starting line in the final round.

Eure, who leads the points chase, in good humor painted a customary bull’s-eye on the window of his Chevy Nova before heading to the winner’s circle knowing fellow competitors will be aiming for him in upcoming races.

“Might as well give’em something to aim at.” Eure said with a chuckle.

Billy Bell won first place in the 10.5 Tire class over Phil Ange. Ange was best off the line but had trouble getting down the track. Bell took the win with a 5.09 elapsed time at 144 mph.

Last weeks Modified winner Tom Worthington decided to give Top Eliminator a try and won every round except the final where he was bested by David Hall who posted a .011 reaction time and ran 5.80 on his 5.79 dial. Worthington did not give up easy as he had a .029 reaction time and ran 7.66 on his 7.65 dial.

This was Hall’s first win at Northeast.

In the Street class it was Mike Harrell taking the win over Marcus Hughes for his first win of the year. Hughes ran dead on his 7.78 dial but Harrell carried his starting line advantage to the finish line for the win.

Big Kev Richardson collected another win in the Pro Bike class with his final round victory over Bubba Driscoll. Driscoll had earned a bye to the finals but was off his dial in his match against Richardson who was able to run 5.96 on his 5.95 dial for the win.

Junior Dragster drivers were also up past their bedtime with Whitney Harden of Askewville collecting her second win of the year. Harden faced Preston Latimer in the final where she posted a .540 reaction time and ran 7.95 on her 7.91 dial.

The Juniors Dragsters will travel to Maryland International Raceway next weekend and compete as a team against other east coast tracks for top honors in the annual IHRA Junior Dragster Nationals.

As an added attraction local favorite Quick 8 Pro Mod racers Glenn Jones and Mack Copeland fired up their hot rods for non-competitive exhibition runs while William Brown lll and L J Wood matched raced by the ADRL rules with Wood claiming bragging rights by claiming the best two of three runs.

Points and Bracket racing will be held next Saturday with gates opening at 3, time runs starting at 5, followed by eliminations at seven.

Friday night Test and Tune will be held from 7 to 10 p.m.

Log onto www.northeastdragway.net for more details and upcoming events.