Massey Masters North Star Opener
North Star Dragway - Denton, TX
April 18, 2009
Event #1 of 9
Report & Photos: Chris Graves
The highly anticipated season opener for the Royal Purple Outlaw Fuel Altered Association brought fifteen blown hot rods to North Star Dragway in Denton, Texas. Dodging morning showers, the racers had time to get reacquainted after a long off season and it was all smiles in the pits as the skies opened up in early afternoon and teams went to work preparing for the first session of qualifying.
The new season always brings new faces to the OFAA group. Terry Anglin of Terrell, Texas made his debut in the magnificent “Psychotic Express” blown alcohol Fiat (former Bunny Burkett car) and hoped to repeat on his great pre-season testing performance here at North Star. Another new team on the grounds was the brand new Darby and Trussell 1923 T bodied blown alcohol machine, branded the “Assassin”, which will be driven by Chris Trussell. The team took advantage of the NHRA Tech Inspection being held at the track and will be out in competition very soon.
(Terry Anglin's "Psychotic Express")
A number of familiar faces could be spotted in the strong crowd in Denton including altered pilots Tim Hay, Brad Rigler, Clint Cross, Howard Knowles and Mark Jones who all have active racecars, but for various reasons weren’t able to compete at this event. With a good turnout of Top Gas Motorcycles and 5.80 door slammers along with live music by Dallas based country rock band Somebody’s Darling, it was going to be an action packed evening of drag racing. North Star Dragway announcer Nic Duty made the call to “bring ‘em to the lanes” and anticipation turned to focus as the teams prepared to battle for a spot in the ten car field.
(Nick Poloson warming up the "Sundown")
Yorba Linda, California runner Rich Howell lined up with nineteen year old Louisiana based John Broussard to start off the session. Howell’s “Power Play” fueler went 4.35 at 172 mph with some damage through the traps while Broussard shook early and went 4.50 at 171 mph in the “Purple Haze” Chevrolet powered machine. Next up was Mary Reep making her competition debut in the “Grim Reeper” Austin based ride. In doing so, she became the second female to compete in the OFAA series. She lined up with Nick Poloson, who battled for the championship all season last season in Tom Wood’s “Sundown” altered. Both teams had good results in pre-season testing and both clicked off nice 4.27 elapsed times in first session. A quick shower blew through the grounds at North Star Dragway following that pair which put almost an hour delay on the action, but Mother Nature decided to cooperate and let the nitro burn as racing resumed.
(Rich Howell's "Power Play")
(John Broussard's "Purple Haze")
(Mary Reep's "Grim Reeper")
A massive rainbow stretched over the staging lanes as Terry Anglin clicked off a 4.31 at 167 mph in a nice opening lap with Elk City, Kansas runner Anthony Whitfield along side at 4.56 at 121 mph in “Mighty Mouse”. Donnie Massey, who had the hottest car at the end of last season, went 4.20 at 151 mph and debuted a brand new Tom Hoover inspired paint job on the “Showtime” fueler. David Purifoy laid down a 4.37 at 160 mph in the opposing lane in Herb Whisnant’s “Thrill Factor” out of Texarkana, Texas. Bobby Marriott’s team “Shockwave” rolled out along side the Iowa based “Nitro Madness” machine owned and tuned by Scott Gaulter and driven by Sean Belt. Marriott blasted to a solid 4.11 at 177 mph while Belt smoked the tires at the hit. Donny McSwain blasted down the strip to a strong 4.08 at only 158 mph to grab the top spot early, but with power comes a price and engine damage sidelined three heavy hitters in McSwain, Heslink and Howell after their first run. To put icing on the fuel altered carnage cake, the “Grim Reeper” team discovered an issue in the transmission which couldn’t be repaired in time to compete so they were also forced to watch from the stands, which now looked like an OFAA drivers meeting with all the pilots playing spectator.
(Tim Hay and Sean Belt chatting before the session)
There was still plenty of action happening on the strip, Bobby Marriott clicked off three’s in pre-season testing and threw down a 4.04 at 175 mph along side Poloson’s nice 4.17 at 163 mph to kick off the second session of qualifying. Jack Hodgson blew the tires off at the hit for the second time and pedaled his way to a 5.68 at 143 mph to qualify 14th which actually got him in as an alternate. Hodgson and company out of Waco, Texas also ran in the three second zone in testing and always bring a lot of horsepower to the table and although struggling through qualifying, they earned a spot in eliminations. Massey improved to a 4.14 at 165 mph to qualify fourth and Purifoy also stepped up to a 4.30 at 163 mph which qualified him seventh. Whitfield had a nice lap going, but the car shook hard in second gear and broke the throttle cable. DoDad Burton wheeled the “Free Spirit” to a nice 4.22 at 168 mph to earn him the fifth position, his best OFAA start to date. Sean Belt also struggled to find traction at the line and pedaled his way to a 5.37 at 164 mph to get in the show and laid down the best burnouts of the night hands down! Marriott’s 4.04 held up for the number one spot to lead the field into eliminations.
Final Qualifying Order:
1) Bobby Marriott (Pilot Point, Texas) – 4.04 at 175 mph
2) Donny McSwain (Rockwall, Texas) – 4.08 at 158 mph*
3) Donnie Massey (Little Elm, Texas) – 4.14 at 165 mph
4) Nick Poloson (San Antonio, Texas) – 4.17 at 163 mph
5) DoDad Burton (Tyler, Texas) – 4.22 at 168 mph
6) Mary Reep (Austin, Texas) – 4.27 at 166 mph*
7) David Purifoy (Texarkana, Texas) – 4.30 at 163 mph
8) Terry Anglin (Terrell, Texas) – 4.31 at 167 mph
9) Rich Howell (Yorba Linda, California) – 4.35 at 172 mph*
10) J.T. Heslink (San Antonio, Texas) – 4.41 at 154 mph*
11) John Broussard (Lake Charles, Louisiana) – 4.50 at 171 mph
12) Anthony Whitfield (Elk City, Kansas) – 4.56 at 121 mph
13) Sean Belt (Shawnee, Kansas) – 5.37 at 164 mph
14) Jack Hodgson (Waco, Texas) – 5.68 at 143 mph
15) Mark Jones (Tampa, Florida) – No Time*
(* broke)
(DoDad Burton's "Free Spirit")
(David Purifoy in "Thrill Factor")
Lightning strikes were surrounding the track as showers were playing hide and seek all around north central Texas. With a corrected altitude of 2,400 feet, water grains at 89 and a chilly track temperature the teams had their hands full applying the horsepower in first round. The top three points finishers in the 2008 standings were the top three qualifiers heading into eliminations in Denton (Marriott, Massey and Poloson). Nick Poloson got the advantage on the tree against Anthony Whitfield in the first pair, then both drivers had their issues with tire shake. Whitfield got the job done and drove around Poloson by only a few feet at the stripe, his 4.57 at 154 mph took out Poloson’s 4.68 at 150 mph.
“That’s the hardest I’ve ever been shook behind the wheel of a racecar. My wife doesn’t even shake me that hard when she is mad at me! We knew we had to run hard to be one of the quickest two winners, but the track just didn’t hold it. The car was everywhere, I lost vision so I had to lift to gain my whereabouts. Then I stabbed it and he came around me in the lights. We still had a great time, we are still in one piece and we are looking forward to Crandall,” said Poloson.
(Anthony Whitfield's "Mighty Mouse")
(Terry Anglin's "Psychotic Express")
David Purifoy lined up with Jack Hodgson and Purifoy owned this one leaving first and running his best pass of the night, 4.28 at 164 mph to take out Hodgson who just couldn’t get his “Southern Outlaw” power to the ground. Bobby Marriott rolled through the water along side Terry Anglin in his first official OFAA start. Marriott made it look easy with a 4.13 at 176 mph while Anglin had rear end issues at the hit and coasted to a stop. The next pair was a dandy as Sean Belt and DoDad Burton squared off in a race for bragging rights. These two had been at each other on the www.ofaa.net message board prior to the event and it turned out to be a very exciting race. Belt got a good advantage at the line but went immediately into tire shake. Burton had his own problems in the other lane and both were fighting for traction. Belt eased back into the throttle and got hooked up just enough to take the win. Belt’s 5.69 at 157 mph defeated Burton’s quicker 5.68 at 132 mph. This one was You Tube worthy and Sean actually uploaded the on board camera video!
Click Link to see Video = http://www.spankycuts.com/images/denton_rd_1.wmv
(Scoreboards Tell The Story)
“It was great to get out with the OFAA guys and gals early in the year, it’s always a tough crowd to run with performance wise. The great people and awesome fans make it all worth it to me, but you have to bring your ‘a’ game here. We’re going to keep tuning on the Nitro Madness car and hope to make it back down south more this season,” said Belt.
With the final pair, Massey vs. Broussard, sitting in the water box, Marriott’s 4.14 was guaranteed to advance to the final. Massey or Broussard would have to win with a quicker elapsed time than Purifoy’s 4.28 to advance to the final. Massey had a very consistent car and blistered the strip with low elapsed time of the round, a 4.03 at 175 mph. Broussard cut the best reaction time of the round, no surprise, but his 7.08 at 65 mph was no match.
First Round Eliminations:
(W) Anthony Whitfield (.183 rt) 4.57 at 154 mph vs. (L) Nick Poloson (.095 rt) 4.68 at 150 mph
(W) David Purifoy (.041 rt) 4.28 at 164 mph vs. (L) Jack Hodgson (.091 rt) 5.23 at 120 mph
(W) Bobby Marriott (.122 rt) 4.13 at 176 mph vs. (L) Terry Anglin (.064 rt) (Broke)
(W) Sean Belt (.085 rt) 5.69 at 157 mph vs. (L) DoDad Burton (.183 rt) 5.68 at 132 mph
(W) Donnie Massey (.119 rt) 4.03 at 175 mph vs. (L) John Broussard (.025 rt) 7.08 at 65 mph
(Jack Hodgson's "Southern Outlaw")
(Bobby Marriott's "Shockwave")
(Donnie Massey's "Showtime")
It had been since the Abilene 2006 event since Massey and Marriott had met in a final round, amazing considering their performance in the last dozen events. Together they have 5 OFAA Championships (Marriott 4, Massey 1) and the fans stuck around to see the all nitro final round go down under the lights, and in the dew, at North Star Dragway. With the band still jammin’ in the pits and the fans and fellow OFAA competitors eager to see the final the call went out just after midnight to bring them to the lanes.
The cars crept into the staging beams as the eyes of crew members burned in the thick nitro fumes. Marriott got a slight advantage on the tree and quickly smoked the tires while Massey blasted to a 4.10 at 177 mph to take the win! The new look “Showtime” fueler was the best hot rod on the grounds tonight and they brought home the win to prove it. Massey picked up right where he left off in 2008, with his third straight final round and second win in the last three events.
Final Round Results:
(W) Donnie Massey (.099 rt) 4.10 at 177 mph vs. (L) Bobby Marriott (.063 rt) 6.48 at 63 mph
(Final Round)
(Congratulations to Team Showtime)
Tire shake, broken rods and pistons, rain showers, nitro fumes, rainbows, you name it, we had it at the first event of the 2009 OFAA season. Massey, Marriott, and Purifoy were the only three drivers to get down successfully on every lap proving how tough the conditions were. Hopefully the teams that went out early to engine damage will be back in action soon as the altereds head to the highly anticipated Dallas Raceway, a brand new IHRA facility located in Crandall, Texas on Saturday May 16th. Expect more exciting drag racing action as the season progresses and keep an eye out for some new hot rods to be in action soon.
Click Here to see photos from this event.
Low Elapsed Time – Donnie Massey (4.032)
Top Speed – Donnie Massey (177.58 mph)
Bonus Winners:
Marriott "Progressive" Bonus - Bobby Marriott
RSI "Last Man Standing" Bonus - Donnie Massey
Massey "Top Speed, Non Qualifier" Bonus – John Broussard, 171.10 mph
Max Cackle Photos Best Burnout – Sean Belt
