Massey Masters North Star Aniv. Race
Event 5 of 8 – North Star Dragway – Denton, TX – July 7th, 2012
Report: Chris Graves - Photos: Gena White, Bill Glover, Max Cackle Photography
The Painless Performance Products Outlaw Fuel Altered Association brought fifteen blown altereds to the grounds of North Star Dragway in Denton, Texas to headline their 6th Annual Anniversary Event under a capacity crowd and spectacular weather. A brief shower blew through North Texas in the early afternoon, cooling track and air temperatures and bringing a comfortable setting to what has been one of the hottest and driest years on record. These conditions were welcomed by the thousands of spectators and eager racers who were ready to entertain the crowd on a special night under the lights at North Star Dragway.
(John Broussard warming up)
The OFAA series has reached the halfway point of the 2012 racing season and the points chase is as expected, tight! Coming into this event, Jimmy Jones had a slight lead over Terry Brian with a handful of strong cars filling out the Top 10, all fully capable and with plenty of time to make a move to the top. John Broussard, currently number four in points, took home the first win of 2012 here at North Star Dragway in April and looked to re-peat that effort as the call went out to bring em’ to the lanes.
First Qualifying Session:
(Donnie Massey & Nick Poloson)
Opening the action in the first of two qualifying sessions was Nick Polson’s “Sundown” and Donnie Massey in the “Showtime”. Poloson carried the front wheels off the line and posted a solid 4.05 at 173 mph with Massey along side with a 4.24 at 158 mph. John Broussard wheeled the “Purple Haze” entry to a clean 4.06 at 172 mph while Roger Hennen had some internal engine troubles coasting to a 4.95 at 98 mph in the “Nitro Junkie”. Terry Brian posted a strong 4.05 at 180 mph in the “II N’Tense” entry and Howard Farris also joined the ever growing trend of 4.0’s with a 4.04 at 170 mph in the “War Wagon” nitro burner.
(John Broussard & Roger Hennen)
(Howard Farris)
(Terry Brian)
(Raymond Dawson)
As qualifying continued, Raymond Dawson clicked off a clean 4.29 at 171 mph in “High Octane” and Brad Rigler moved to the top of the pack in the “Toxic” entry with a 4.01 at 176 mph. Points leader Jimmy Jones posted a 4.26 at 142 mph and Mary Reep closed the session with the first three second pass of the event with a stout 3.93 at 175 mph in the “Grim Reeper”, showin’ the boys how it’s done.
(Mary Reep & Mark Bowman)
Second Qualifying Session:
(DoDad Burton)
With the bump set at Roger Hennen’s 4.95 coming into the final qualifying session, DoDad Burton, Mark Bowman and Jim Overly were outside looking in and hoping to secure a spot in the show. Burton clicked off a 4.61 in the “Free Spirit” machine, good enough to grab the number twelve spot in the twelve car field. Mike Wheeler post a 4.53 at 156 mph in the “Rapture” to slide into the number eleven qualifying position and Bobby Marriott’s best of a 4.37 in the “Shockwave” entry qualified him number ten.
(Mike Wheeler)
(Bobby Marriott)
Donnie Massey stepped up to a 4.06 at 176 mph to earn a spot in the top half of the field. Nick Poloson and Terry Brian also improved in the second qualifier, both posting a 4.03 elapsed time and looking good heading into eliminations. Raymond Dawson laid down a 4.23 to improve his qualifying effort and Jimmy Jones stepped it up to a 4.14 to qualify number eight.
(Jim Overly)
Jim Overly had mechanical issues and didn’t make the field in the “Fuelish Habit” nitro burner. Engine damage unfortunately ended the event early for Roger Hennen, Howard Farris and number one qualifier Brad Rigler. With a surprising number of cars out of the count for first round, alternate Mark Bowman was inserted into the field as the remaining eleven entries now began preparations for the first round of eliminations.
Roger Hennen claimed the B&J Transmissions “Outside Looking In” bonus, DoDad Burton took home the Fuelish Habit Racing “Final Cut” bonus and Mark Bowman was awarded the Lone Wolf Custom Machining “Luck of the Draw DNQ” bonus based on the final qualifying order.
(Brad Rigler)
Final Qualifying Order:
1) Brad Rigler (Heath, Texas) – 4.01 @ 176
2) Nick Poloson (San Antonio, Texas) – 4.035 @ 173
3) Terry Brian (New London, Texas) – 4.037 @ 183
4) Howard Farris (Tyler, Texas) – 4.04 @ 170
5) John Broussard (Lake Charles, Louisiana) – 4.065 @ 172
6) Donnie Massey (Little Elm, Texas) - 4.066 @ 176
7) Mary Reep (Austin, Texas) – 4.069 (3.930) @ 176
8) Jimmy Jones (Cleburne, Texas) – 4.14 @ 144
9) Raymond Dawson (Nevada, Texas) – 4.23 @ 170
10) Bobby Marriott (Pilot Point, Texas) – 4.37 @ 171
11) Mike Wheeler (Paradise, Texas) – 4.53 @ 156
12) DoDad Burton (Tyler, Texas) – 4.61 @ 155
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13) Roger Hennen (Denton, Texas) – 4.95 @ 98
14) Mark Bowman (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) - 5.19 @ 97
15) Jim Overly (Oyster Creek, Texas) – No Time
With number one qualifier Brad Rigler sidelined coupled with an odd number of first round entries, the competition bye run was awarded to the number two qualifier Nick Poloson and the “Sundown” team. With the round win in the bag, now it was time to post one of the two quickest winning runs of the round and advance to the final. Poloson was off the line hard with the front wheels in the air but they never settled back down and Poloson was forced to use a quick pedal job and that cost them some time on the clock, posting a 4.07 at 169 mph to take the round win, impressively their slowest time of the night.
(Nick Poloson)
Donnie Massey lined up with Mike Wheeler in the first pairing of the opening round. Wheeler cut a .011 reaction time and took a big advantage off the line but Massey’s nitro powered machine drove around posting a strong 3.97 at 182 mph to take the win over Wheeler’s 4.52.
(Donnie Massey)
John Broussard lined up next along side Bobby Marriott. Broussard has been one of the most consistently strong running cars in recent months and his performance continued as his 4.01 at 179 coupled with a.015 reaction time took out Marriott’s best run of the night, a 4.10 at 176 mph after Marriott went red on the tree.
Mary Reep and DoDad Burton crept into the beams as eliminations continued and Burton had a tenth of a second advantage off the line as the cars launched. At half track they were side by side, Burton posting his best time of the night with a 4.23 at 166 mph but it was no match for Reep’s career best, a blistering 3.87 at 185 mph, as Reep took the win and made a big statement to the competition.
Mark Bowman and Raymond Dawson were out next and Bowman had this one from start to finish, posting a 4.61 at 166 mph to take the win over Dawson who ran into engine troubles and aborted the run to a 5.19. Bowman and the “Blown Income” team ended up with a solid finish at Denton, claiming a first round win after being inserted into the field as an alternate.
Terry Brian and Jimmy Jones, number one and two in points at the time, were given the signal to fire up in the final pairing of the round. The winner would need to post a time quicker than Donnie Massey’s 3.97 to advance to the final. These two heavy hitting blown alcohol machines lit the stage bulbs and were off the line hard, with Jones taking a slight advantage. Jones was out of shape as he passed halftrack and was forced to lift, while Brian blasted to a 4.02 at 182 mph to take the round win.
(Jimmy Jones)
Mary Reep’s 3.87 and Donnie Massey’s 3.97 advanced to the final as the quickest winners of the round. This marked Reep’s second trip to the finals this season and Massey’s first final since October of last fall. Mike Wheeler claimed the Good Vibrations “Quick Reaction Time” bonus with his .011 light in round one as the final round bound “Grim Reeper” and “Showtime” teams returned to the pits to tune their cars up for the last dance.
First Round Eliminations:
(W) Nick Poloson (.045 rt) 4.07 @ 169 mph vs. (L) Competition Bye Run
(W) Donnie Massey (.096 rt) 3.97 @ 182 mph vs. (L) Mike Wheeler (.011 rt) 4.10 @ 151 mph
(W) John Broussard (.015 rt) 4.01 @ 179 mph vs. (L) Bobby Marriott (.-070 rt) 4.10 @ 176 mph
(W) Mary Reep (.188 rt) 3.87 @ 185 mph vs. (L) DoDad Burton (.082 rt) 4.23 @ 166 mph
(W) Mark Bowman (.0131 rt) 4.61 @ 166 mph vs. (L) Raymond Dawson (.162 rt) 5.12 @ 98 mph
(W) Terry Brian (.087 rt) 4.02 @ 182 mph vs. (L) Jimmy Jones (.040 rt) 4.39 @ 119 mph
The final race of the night brought out the two top performers of the event, Reep’s blown alcohol entry against Massey’s nitro burning machine. After their burnouts the crew made final adjustments and guided the cars into the beams. Reep brought her machine into stage and suddenly was off the line before the tree had flashed amber, automatically giving Donnie Massey the win as he left the line header flames high and posted a 4.00 at 180 mph to secure the win for team “Showtime”!
Final Round Results:
(W) Donnie Massey (-.004 rt) 4.00 @ 180 mph vs. (L) Mary Reep (No Time – Foul)
(Team "Showtime" - North Star Dragway Winners)
For Massey it was a very successful outing at his home town track with many friends and family in attendance. Congratulations to the entire “Showtime” team on a job well done and Massey officially put the nitro cars on the board tallying the first win for a nitro burner this season. Reep would have to wait to claim her first OFAA win but we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, the time is coming soon. Great job to the “Grim Reeper” team posting career best numbers and another strong runner-up finish.
The OFAA would like to thank major series sponsor Painless Performance Products for continuing to support the series as the title sponsor! The series would also like to thank Napa Auto Parts of North Texas, B&J Transmissions, North Texas Diesel, Joe Monden Race Cars, Competition Sales of Dallas, Wizard’s Warehouse, Lone Wolf Machining and Fuelish Habit Racing for their involvement in the 2012 OFAA Bonus Programs at each event this season. Mary Reep claimed the Napa Auto Parts “Top Speed” bonus with her 185 mph lap in the first round. Donnie Massey and Mary Reep both claimed bonuses from Wizard’s Warehouse and North Texas Diesel and Howard Farris claimed the Competition Sales of Dallas “Luck of the Draw” bonus.
The next stop on the OFAA tour brings the series to Mo-Kan Dragway just north-east of Joplin, Missouri as the series headlines the Labor Day Classic for the ninth consecutive season. This event is a two day, true elimination three round program and always a favorite date on the calendar!
Click Here to see photos from this event.
Low Elapsed Time - Mary Reep (3.87)
Top Mile Per Hour - Mary Reep (185 mph)
North Star Dragway Bonus Winners:
Good Vibrations Quick Reaction Time - Mike Wheelier (.011)
DFW Napa Auto Parts Top Speed - Mary Reep (185)
B&J Transmissions "Outside Looking In" - Terry Anglin
Competition Sales of Dallas "Luck of the Draw" - John Broussard
Lone Wolf Custom Machining "Luck Of The Draw DNQ" - Donnie Massey
Wizards Warehouse Finalists - John Broussard & Terry Brian
Fuelish Habit Racing's "Final Cut" - Howard Farris
North Texas Diesel's Finalists - Donnie Massey & Mary Reep
