Bill and Cheryle Alexander threw a little party after qualifying on Saturday night, at the local watering hole (at the track) and the booze flowed and jumbo gulf shrimp and crawfish were there for the eating. "The eats" are just a little different around these parts. At the local restaurants you can get gumbo, catfish, crab cakes, turducken, jambalaya, alligator filets, beignets, and coffee about as thick as STP oil treatment. Come Sunday morning and there were some mighty blood shot eyeballs. Let the good times roll.

Back to the actual race, starting out with the Tremec Transmission True Street results. Owen Spry was the #1 qualifier with a 3-run average of 9.452. Not far behind and in the runner-up category was Chris Escobar with a 9.661 average. Bryan Broomley was the top 10-second winner (10.358). The 11-second winner was Vaden Brewer (11.412).

In the 12-second category it was Joel Smith at 12.017. Kevin Hayden took the 13-second award at 13.069. J.E. Jackson was credited with the 14-second winner at a 14.050 and Daniel Conley ran a 15.030 to capture the 15-second position.

In the True Street Brackets on Sunday, Owen Spry was the winner over Uriah Parish.

No Problem with the UPR All- Ford Car Show on Saturday and Sunday. Alot of cars and plenty of people to appreciate them too. The People's Choice award went to Todd Schexnayder. Mike Sharon snagged the MM&FF Editor's Choice for the early Mustangs and Ray Harrison picked up the award for the later Mustangs. The Best Interior award went to Mike West. The UPR award for the Best '94 and up Mustang went to Cody Cutforth. Best Paint went to Pete Gervais and the Best of Show award was won by Justin Bordelon.

Now, on to the Showdown Classes. In the Mr. Gasket Pro 5.0 category, Chuck Samuel qualified #1 with a 6.51 at 216.24. Mike Herring, the Orlando winner was right behind at 6.53, 212.79. Ben Hopko's Probe (clearly the most intense paint award at every event in this class) was next at 6.56, 215.93. Dan Saitz ran a 6.60, 213.64 in his all black Probe. Chuck Simons qualified next with his Cougar at 6.60, 213.50. Rounding out the field was Doug Mangrum, Randy Eakins and Brit Floyd.

In eliminations in round #1 it was Herring over a red-lighting Eakins, Simons over Saitz, Mangrum over Hopko and Samuel over Floyd. In the semis it was Samuel over Simons (6.54 vs. the losing 6.57) and Herring over Mangrum (6.55 to a shutting off Mangrum). In the finals it was Samuel over Herring. Chuck ran a 6.60, 215.48 as Mike had problems right off the line. And as the winner and also the low qualifier, Chuck Samuel was eligible for the Pro Challenge Lottery and took home some extra money from Mickey Thompson Performance tires.

The ProCharger Street Outlaw class had some surprises. Travis Franklin was the #1 qualifier with his best run ever, at 7.256. Unfortunately, he hurt the engine in the process. Billy Glidden ran a close 7.281 for the 2nd spot. Carlton Thompson ran a 7.315, 189.87 for the 3rd position. Chris Derrick and Mike McCullough's beautiful new Outlaw car ran a more than respectable 7.338, for their first time out. Then Mike Brown made it in with a 7.403. Tim Lynch had a lot of work done to their 6-second 10.5" Mustang over the last several months. Steve Petty, Tim and the team worked day and night just getting everything back together to make the event. They had some engine issues but were able to qualify for the field.

Prior to eliminations, we had a serious oil clean-up problem on the track and most of the Pro and Outlaw racers returned to their pit area to wait out the delay. Unfortunately for Chris Derrick, he missed the call when everyone else returned to the lanes, and so, missed the first round of eliminations. Because of this and because the #1 qualifier couldn't make it up to the line, we had some bye runs, putting Billy Glidden and Tim Lynch into the finals. Of course, on paper, this would have been a race to watch but Tim's car was still down for the count and Billy singled for the win. Maybe next time. The Aeromotive Outlaw Challenge will now roll over to an even $1000 for Atlanta.

In the Borla Performance Industries Street Renegade class, eight racers made the cut. And the UPR 7-Second Club has it's first member. Joe Robinson qualified with a 7.867. Joe must have hurt something in the engine or in the blower because he went down in eliminations. In the finals it was Ronnie Wilson and Crede Young. A little drama in the staging lanes just before the finals as a fuel line wiggled loose on Crede's car causing a fire under the hood. Fortunately, Ronnie Wilson waited until Crede's car was fixed, and then beat him in the finals.

More drama occurred in the BFGoodrich Tire Drag Radial class too. In the finals, low qualifier Adam Lauramore got loose at mid track, crossed the center line and plowed into Dennis Lugo's Mustang. Both cars stayed upright (great driving particularly on Lugo's part) and Dennis coasted through the traps for the win. Neither driver was hurt but there was a bunch of bent tin.

On Friday evening, there was a special bracket challenge in honor of this being the first FFW event held at No Problem Raceway. 95 cars took part in the 3-class event, which was open to any brand of cars. In the Fast Challenge category, it was Perry Comeaux over James Granier. In the Quick Challenge class it was Justin Smith over Karen Smith (mom) and in the Street Challenge class it was Blake Brady over Linton Cheramine.

On Saturday, the regular FFW bracket classes went like this. In Fast Ford it was Clay Fuselier over Mark Denis. Quick Ford saw Lacey Gassaway take the win over Peter Agnelly and in Street Ford it was Suzanne Towe over Jim McCuhlough.

On Sunday, it was Les Klotz the winner over James Granier in Fast Ford, Brian Warwas over Larry Holley in Quick Ford and Blake Brady over Greg Bourgeois in Street Ford.

Images courtesy of Keplinger Designs

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