The Outlaw Fuel Altereds held their third event of 2005 at Wichita Raceway in Wichita Falls, TX on June 18th and set a circuit record when nineteen altereds came to let the wheels turn and the nitro burn on this hot and humid Texas summer afternoon. Eric Buchanan held a twelve-point lead over Travis Bouchey but there were seventeen big bad altereds who had something to say about that. Donnie Massey, Larry Reep, Sean Belt, and Jim Kelly all were making their well-anticipated first appearances of the season at Wichita and Matt Hill debuted his brand new "Altered Attitude." The call went out at seven o'clock to get the action underway and the first pairs fired up to battle down the eighth mile. It was on!

Donnie Massey made a solid first pass in a brand new pearl orange colored car when he clicked off a 4.38 at 142 mph along side Brad Rigler's quicker 4.32 at 155 mph. The session continued with Pruett, Knowles, Belt, Wheeler, Marriott, Tappan and Hodgson all making nice passes in the 4.50's and 4.60's. Then came the Reeper! Larry Reep debuted his brand new 1929 Model A bodied "Grim Reeper" and went straight to the top spot with a wild 4.30 at 159 mph. At the top end Reep had his hands full (as did many others) when he car began to bounce as it came to a stop on the very bumpy shutdown area. Matt Hill, in the first pass of his career, tripped the clocks with an early shutoff 6.00 at 90 mph. This event was just a shakedown for the team so look for more from him in the future. Scott Essmeier, who was filling in for LaDonna Caulk who was out due to medical reasons, drove the "American Graffiti" to a 4.75 at 131 mph but ran into exhaust valve issues on his nitro burner and was forced to load up after first session. Jimmy Todd ran into transmission troubles after his burnout and was also forced to load up early.

The sun had set by the time the second qualifying session began and the weather conditions were getting better by the minute. The second qualifying session got underway quickly and Marriott and Pruett kicked things off in the first pair. Marriott improved to a 4.41 at 158 mph while Pruett jumped into the number three spot with a 4.33 at 166 mph. Tim Hay took his nitro burner to a flame throwing and almost guardrail grazing 4.44 at 158, which bumped him into his first Outlaw Fuel Altered field, but there were two more pairs behind him who could do the same. In an all Kansas pair, Knowles blasted to a 4.36 at 159 mph ahead of Kelly's 4.57 at 154 mph. Hodgson and Bouchey were the only two cars left in the staging lanes before the field would be set. Hodgson came out and laid down a career best 4.25 at 169 mph and kicked Reep off the pole while in the other lane Travis Bouchey also jumped into the field with a 4.37 at 153 mph bumping out Hay who still had an impressive outing. Belt, Butherus, Wheeler and Kelly all also improved but didn't run quick enough to make field's 4.41 bump spot. Hodgson took his first career Meyer Enterprises low qualifier award and the Waco boys of the "Southern Outlaw" team were stoked heading into eliminations from the top spot. Buchanan broke the rear end on his altered and unfortunately missed the field. That opened the door wide open for the competition to make up ground on his points lead.

Final Qualifying Order:

1) Jack Hodgson - 4.25
2) Larry Reep - 4.30
3) Brad Rigler - 4.32
4) Jim Pruett - 4.33
5) Howard Knowles - 4.36
6) Travis Bouchey - 4.37
7) Donnie Massey - 4.38
8) Bobby Marriott - 4.41
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9) Tim Hay - 4.44
10) Sean Belt - 4.53
11) Jim Kelly - 4.57
12) Gary Wheeler - 4.59
13) John Tappan - 4.67
14) Scott Essmeier - 4.75
15) Tom Butherus - 4.77
16) Paul Wells - 5.34
17) Matt Hill - 6.00
18) Eric Buchanan - 11.98
19) Jimmy Todd - Broke

The call went out to fire up the first pair between Rigler and Massey. Rigler absolutely thundered to a jaw dropping 4.25 at 164 mph while Massey fell off to a 4.57 at 122 mph but still had a great comeback weekend after a horrible crash at Lone Star Raceway last season. In a Texas vs. Oklahoma battle, Marriott improved yet again as he defeated Pruett with a 4.33 at 160 mph to Pruett's 4.42 at 163 mph. Reep then took care of Bouchey with a 4.33 at 160 mph to Bouchey's 4.48 at 144 mph. Hodgson threw up another 4.25 at 166 mph in first round to defeat Knowles who clicked off a solid 4.35 at 151 mph. Rigler and Hodgson were the two quickest winners of first round and gladly accepted their invitation to the finals. This would be Rigler's second final round appearance in a row.

First Round Results:

(W) Brad Rigler (4.259 at 164) vs. (L) Donnie Massey (4.574 at 122)
(W) Bobby Marriott (4.335 at 160) vs. (L) Jim Pruett (4.421 at 163)
(W) Larry Reep (4.333 at 160) vs. (L) Travis Bouchey (4.485 at 154)
(W) Jack Hodgson (4.252 at 166) vs. (L) Howard Knowles (4.359 at 151)

The final round saw two of the best looking cars in the circuit lined up to do battle. Rigler won his first Outlaw Fuel Altered event in last year's Memorial Day weekend classic at Mo-Kan Dragway. Hodgson lost in his only trip to the finals in 2001 at Lena, Mississippi. The cars were serviced and it was time to crown a champion. Side by side burnouts got this nail biting final round underway. Hodgson got a slight advantage on the tree and wrestled his altered through the traps to his first Outlaw Fuel Altered victory with a low elapsed time of the event 4.23 at 165 mph to Rigler's no slouch 4.27 at 164 mph. The starting line erupted in celebration on this very hard earned and well deserved victory for Hodgson and his team.

With their victory the boys from Waco jumped from sixth to third in points while Rigler's final round effort shot him to the top spot bumping Buchanan to second. Allen Meyer and Meyer Enterprises would like to congratulate Jack Hodgson on his low qualifying effort. The next stop for the Outlaw Fuel Altereds is at Temple Academy Dragway on July 2nd in Temple, TX. For photos from this event or more information on the Outlaw Fuel Altered Association please visit us online at www.outlawfuelaltereds.com

Low Elapsed Time - Jack Hodgson, 4.23
Top Speed - Jack Hodgson, 169 mph