Smith & Hawkins Go Big In Bowling Green
Holley Hot Rod Reunion - Beech Bend Raceway Park

The second stop on the Lubrication Engineers Inc., Southwest Junior Fuel Association tour landed the series in Bowling Green, Kentucky for the 12th Annual Holley Hot Rod Reunion at Beech Bend Raceway Park. In past seasons, the SWJFA series cars competed in a non-points format but this year's event was for series points and the pressure was on to see who could take home the pride of winning such a prestigious event. Six cars composed the junior fuel field and after two qualifying sessions, Ken Hawkins wheeled the "Whiz Kids" injected slingshot owned and tuned by Charlie Smith to the top spot with a strong 7.355 at 179 mph. Points leader and defending event and series Champion Odie Coker clicked off a 7.357 at 179 mph to qualify second in the Ron Ussery owned and tuned Hemi powered dragster. Brian Briggs made his first appearance in Bowling Green all the way from Lake Charles, Louisiana and rounded out the top half of the field heading into eliminations with a 7.52 at 175 mph.

(Ken Hawkins)

(Odie Coker)

Final Qualifying Order:

Final Qualifying Order: 1. Ken Hawkins (Pooleville, TX) - 7.355 @ 179
2. Odie Coker (Dallas, TX) - 7.357 @ 179
3. Brian Briggs (Lake Charles, LA) - 7.52 @ 175
4. Steve Dunkin (Aledo, TX) - 7.54 @ 175
5. Mike Millsap (Sachse, TX) - 7.58 @ 173
6. Mike Buchanan (Wichita, KS) 8.66 @ 157

(Mike Buchanan)

(Brian Briggs)

Eliminations:

Saturday's first round of eliminations brought some great racing to the line in front of a capacity crowd. Ken Hawkins was set to match-up with Mike Buchanan, but mechanical issues kept the Kansan from making the call as Hawkins clicked off a 7.43 at 177 mph to advance. Brian Briggs came to the line next along side Steve Dunkin. Dunkin stepped up to a 7.44 at 176 mph to take the nod over Briggs' red lighting 7.48 at 176 mph. In the final pair, Mike Millsap pulled the upset win over Odie Coker as Coker lost traction at the hit, pedaled it, but wasn't able to run down Millsap's 7.56 at 173 mph.

(Millsap Vs. Coker)

First Round Results

(W) Ken Hawkins (.038 rt) 7.43 @ 177 vs. (L) Mike Buchanan (No Time - Broke)
(W) Steve Dunkin (.056 rt) 7.44 @ 176 vs. (L) Brian Briggs (-.177 rt) 7.48 @ 176
(W) Mike Millsap (.040 rt) 7.56 @ 173 vs. (L) Odie Coker (.069 rt) 7.69 @ 180

In semi-final action, Steve Dunkin and Mike Millsap crept into the beams. At the flash of amber, Millsap was off the line first but at half-track Dunkin had closed the gap. At the quarter mile stripe, Dunkin's 7.48 at 177 drove around Millsap's 7.54 at 174 mph (.036 MOV). Ken Hawkins benefitted from the bye run and soloed to a 7.30 at 181 mph holding the performance advantage heading into the finals against Dunkin.

Semi-Final Results

(W) Steve Dunkin (.070 rt) 7.48 @ 177 vs. (L) Mike Millsap (.012 rt) 7.54 @ 174
(W) Ken Hawkins (.043 rt) 7.30 @ 181 vs. (L) Bye Run

(Steve Dunkin)

Hawkins and Dunkin brought their cars to life as the three day event was winding down to the final rounds of all classes. Dunkin knew he had to step it up to complete with Hawkins who had been living in the 7.30 zone on raceday. Dunkin and company laid down their career best pass with a 7.38 at 179 mph but it simply wasn't enough as in the other lane, Hawkins laid down his career best pass with a 7.29 at 182 mph, good for low elapsed time and top speed of the meet.

(Final Round)

Final Round Results

(W) Ken Hawkins (.036 rt) 7.29 @ 182 vs. (L) Steve Dunkin (.070 rt) 7.38 @ 179

(Smith & Hawkins - Bowling Green Winners)

"First and foremost I would like to thank my wife Robin, without her support for this crazy hobby, none of this would be possible. I also want to thank Charlie and Patsy Smith for the ride in their awesome digger. The car responded well, and we were thrilled to break the team records multiple times this weekend. It's always a tough race at Bowling Green, and I was thrilled to get my second win in five finals in a row, and to bring home a Bowling Green win for the Whiz Kids!" said Hawkins.

The next stop on the SWJFA tour takes the series to Thunder Valley Raceway in Noble, Oklahoma on Saturday, June 21st. The SWJFA would like to thank Lubrication Engineers Inc., Hayden Enterprises, Champion Spark Plugs and Hilborn Fuel Injection for their support of the 2014 racing season.