Massey Masters North Star Opener
North Star Dragway - Denton, TX
May 30th, 2009
Event #3 of 9
Report & Photos: Chris Graves
The second leg of the back to back OFAA race weekends concluded in Denton, Texas at North Star Dragway on Saturday, May 30th with a spectacular show featuring the Outlaw Fuel Altereds, Southwest Junior Fuelers and Outlaw Top Gas Motorcycles. OFAA points leader Bobby Marriott and team “Shockwave” took the win over Donny McSwain in the final round the week before at Dallas Raceway and fourteen cars showed up the following Saturday to do battle in the third of nine events scheduled in 2009.
Long time OFAA members, Howard and Melody Knowles of Carthage, Missouri, made their first appearance of the season in the “Cheaper Than Therapy” machine along with Tim and Candy Hay in their “High Voltage Hayride” hailing from Burleson, Texas. At the last event held at North Star Dragway, Donnie Massey and Bobby Marriott squared off in the final with Massey taking the win, but after a mechanical issue at Dallas Raceway, Massey lost the points lead to Marriott and hoped to get back in the game here tonight. Massey and company have advanced to the past two straight final rounds in Denton but there were plenty of other hungry teams ready to kick the tires and light the fires under a capacity crowd ready for wall to wall altered racing action.
(Bobby Marriott warming up the "Shockwave")
(Team "Showtime" prepare to fire up)
Donnie Massey and DoDad Burton were the first pair out to start qualifying with Massey laying down a 4.18 at 166 mph in the “Showtime” along side Burton’s 4.23 at 170 mph in the “Free Spirit” ride. Marriott and Hay lined up next in a hard thumping pair of fuel burners. Marriott laid down a nice 4.04 at 185 mph while Hay fell off to a 4.88 at 153 mph. Mary Reep put down a strong 4.01 at 179 mph in the “Grim Reeper” machine to claim the top spot early. Terry Anglin’s “Psychotic Express” clicked off a nice 4.27 at 168 mph and David Purifoy followed up with a 4.23 at 170 mph in the “Thrill Factor.” The Wood and Poloson “Sundown” machine came hot off the trailer with a strong 4.05 at 172 mph but Donny McSwain stole the show on a single pass to close the session with a 3.96 at 180 mph to lead the field with one session remaining and John Broussard, Tim Hay and Jack Hodgson outside looking in.
(DoDad Burton in "Free Spirit")
(Chris Trussell in the "Assassin")
(Mary Reep - 4.01!)
(Jack Hodgson blazing the hides)
(Nick Poloson - 4.06!)
Second session gave the teams a chance to narrow down their tune-ups for the all important first round where the two quickest winners would advance to the final round. David Purifoy stepped up to a 4.22 which would qualify him sixth. Terry Anglin also stepped up to a 4.25 at 166 mph to secure his spot in the field. The cars in the top half of the field did not improve from first session, but the bottom half was heavy in a series of bumping in and out as the session progressed. John Broussard and the “Purple Haze” team were plagued with transmission issues and missed the show for the first time since the spring of 2007 in his Lake Charles, Louisiana based Chevrolet. That didn’t damper the team spirit as the pit party could just start a little earlier here in Denton for Broussard and company. Broussard got his first win and also joined the OFAA 3 Second Club during the last half of last season and will look to get back on track at the next stop.
(Howard Knowles in second session of qualifying)
Howard Knowles stepped up to a 4.56 at 163 mph to put him eighth at the moment, then Jack Hodgson went from the bottom of the pack to number eight with a 4.48 at 145 mph. Chris Trussell, now outside looking in, failed to improve on his 4.69 from first session in the “Assassin” and just missed the cut. Tim Hay followed that up in the “High Voltage Hayride” and bumped in with a 4.45 at 169 mph, knocking out Knowles. With one car left to run, Rich Howell’s “Power Play” fueler, Jack Hodgson was on the bump with his 4.48. Howell launched hard and clicked off a 4.34 at 155 mph lifting a bit early. Howell would qualify ninth and make his first career OFAA start, while Hodgson and the “Southern Outlaw” gang would watch from the fence with a proven car that laid down monster runs in pre-season testing. Mary Reep would notch her first number one qualifying position in only her third start with Tim Hay on the bump. Note: The top four qualifiers in Denton matched the top four qualifiers from last week’s event at Dallas Raceway.
(Donny McSwain in "II N'Tense")
(Tim Hay's "High Voltage Hayride")
(Rich Howell's "Power Play" gets in the show)
Final Qualifying Order:
1) Mary Reep (Austin, Texas) – 4.017
1) Donny McSwain (Rockwall, Texas) – 4.034 (3.965)
3) Bobby Marriott (Pilot Point, Texas) – 4.042
4) Nick Poloson (San Antonio, Texas) – 4.057
5) Donnie Massey (Little Elm, Texas) – 4.184
6) David Purifoy (Texarkana, Texas) – 4.223
7) DoDad Burton (Tyler, Texas) – 4.233
8) Terry Anglin (Terrell, Texas) – 4.257
9) Rich Howell (Yorba Linda, California) – 4.346
10) Tim Hay (Burleson, Texas) – 4.450
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11) Jack Hodgson (Waco, Texas) – 4.487
12) Howard Knowles (Carthage, Missouri) – 4.562
13) Chris Trussell (Canton, Texas) – 4.655
14) John Broussard (Lake Charles, Louisiana) – 4.742
The first round brought some strong match-ups with Donny McSwain and DoDad Burton getting the action started. Burton was off the line first but ran into tire shake and McSwain drove around to a 4.11 at 173 mph to take the win. Bobby Marriott was out next looking to advance to his third straight final along side Terry Anglin. Anglin was making his third straight first round appearance on his rookie season and has been running consistently quick laps. Marriott showed no mercy with a 4.03 at 182 mph to knock out Anglin who laid down a 4.28 at 166 mph. Next up, David Purifoy rolled through the water along side Mary Reep, who have both been running very well so far this season. Purifoy blasted out of the gate first and ran his best number of the night with a 4.15 at 169 mph to knock out Reep who went red by -.0008 on the tree. Donnie Massey and Tim Hay lined up in an eye burning pair, which Massey took with a 4.19 at 169 mph to Hay’s 4.42 at 169 mph. It appeared to be a repeat final round battle between McSwain and Marriott with one pair waiting in the lanes. Nick Poloson and Rich Howell, both well capable of bumping into the final, staged up in the last pair of the round. The winner had to run better than McSwain’s 4.116. Poloson was out of the gate first and never looked back clicking off a 4.102 at 171 mph to take out Howell and bump McSwain from the final. The “Sundown” machine owned and tuned by Tom Wood would advance to their first final of the season to face off with their 2008 Championship battle rivals team “Shockwave.”
(Mary Reep jumps the tree by .0008 sec vs. Purifoy)
(David Purifoy in the "Thrill Factor")
(Terry Anglin in the "Psychotic Express")
David Purifoy and the “Thrill Factor” team put in another strong effort and currently sit fourth in the standings respectively. Rich Howell improved with every pass and looked good in his first round match-up and it’s always nice when Tim Hay and the “Hayseeds” come to play, but it was down to Poloson and Marriott to decide a winner.
First Round Eliminations:
(W) Donny McSwain (.168 rt) 4.11 at 173 mph vs. (L) DoDad Burton (.125 rt) 7.06 at 63 mph
(W) Bobby Marriott (.141 rt) 4.03 at 182 mph vs. (L) Terry Anglin (.084 rt) 4.28 at 166 mph
(W) David Purifoy (.040 rt) 4.15 at 169 mph vs. (L) Mary Reep (-.0008 rt) 6.19 at 86 mph
(W) Donnie Massey (.111 rt) 4.19 at 169 mph vs. (L) Tim Hay (.082 rt) 4.42 at 169 mph
(W) Nick Poloson (.080 rt) 4.10 at 171 mph vs. (L) Rich Howell (.132 rt) 4.24 at 174 mph
This marked the first time for the “Sundown” and “Shockwave” to face off in the last dance, yet both drivers had been in the final round at previous events in Denton. A half hour before midnight, with the crowd still eagerly anticipating the final round the cars fired up for the final race of the evening. Marriott stepped up his game on the starting line and got a slight advantage over Poloson and blasted to low elapsed time and top speed of the meet with a 3.91 at 193.63 mph.
Final Round Results:
(W) Bobby Marriott (.076 rt) 3.918 at 193.63 mph vs. (L) Nick Poloson (.078 rt) 4.065 at 170.84 mph
(Nick Poloson final round burnout)
(The Final Round)
“With the caliber of cars in our group it’s great to be able to advance to three straight finals and win two of them. We have a consistent all weather tune-up on the “Shockwave” car but we know there are plenty of other teams who can run right there with us. Thanks to my wife Nancy for all her help running the show and crew Ray ‘Snorter’ MacFarland, Allen Friar and Scott Milner for the hard work on back to back weekends,” said Marriott.
Another special thanks goes to Outlaw Fuel Altered statistician Kay Wright for her help announcing and running the event. With his runner-up finish Poloson and team did their job to stay in the hunt with Marriott extending his points lead to 25 over team “Sundown” and McSwain, Purifoy and Massey rounding out the Top Five.
“Tom and I along with the whole ‘Sundown’ team had another fantastic weekend in Denton. We had a strong qualifying effort that resulted in our third in a row #4 starting position. We had just enough to advance in an exciting first round that gave us a spot in the final. We ran great in the final, but just got nipped by Bobby's low elapsed time and top speed of the meet. After the race, a lot of both spectators and racers came up to us and thanked us for an exciting final, with both cars locked together in plain good 'ol drag race. Congratulations to the ‘Shockwave’ team on their win and we look forward to the next outing in Odessa,” said Poloson.
The series takes a few weeks off before heading to the Summer Nationals at Penwell Knights Raceway in Odessa, Texas on June 20th.
Click Here to see photos from this event.
Low Elapsed Time – Bobby Marriott (3.918)
Top Mile Per Hour – Bobby Marriott (193.63)
Bonus Winners:
Marriott "Progressive" Bonus - Bobby Marriott
RSI "Last Man Standing" Bonus - Bobby Marriott
Massey "Top Speed, Non Qualifier" Bonus – Howard Knowles
Max Cackle Photos Best Burnout – Tim Hay
