Jones Wins Ardmore White Walls & Drags
Event 2 of 8 – Ardmore Dragway – Ardmore, OK – May 24th, 2014
The Painless Performance Products Outlaw Fuel Altered Association invaded Ardmore Dragway on Saturday, May 24th to headline their annual "White Walls & Drags" event held each spring. This event has featured the OFAA series for the last two seasons and last year Howard Farris obliterated the Ardmore track record with a 3.82 pass in his "War Wagon" fuel altered. Donnie Massey's "Showtime" nitro burner took home the win in last year's event, but both Farris and Massey ran into mechanical issues this year, which left the door open for some heavy hitting blown alcohol cars to strut their stuff.
(DoDad Burton)
Qualifying Highlights:
Mark Bowman's "Blown Income" team clinched their first career OFAA win at the season opener back in April at North Star Dragway and after two qualifying sessions, Bowman sat in the number six qualifying position with a 4.18 at 174. John Broussard, the youngest driver in the series at 25 years old, wheeled his Louisiana based "Purple Haze" entry to the top spot with a 4.02 at 177 mph followed closely by three time defending series Champion Jimmy Jones' 4.04 at 158 mph.
(John Broussard)
Donny McSwain clicked off a 4.04 at 175 mph in the "Wild One" entry to qualify third and Raymond Dawson's "High Octane" machine secured a spot in the top half of the field with a 4.05 at 167 mph. Nick Poloson and Tom Wood's "Sundown" Fiat rounded out the top five with a 4.09 at 169 mph and the OFAA welcomed a new member team in Ardmore as the Singleton & Raber team made their debut in the Ken Singleton driven "High Risk" entry, qualifying tenth with a 4.31 at 150 mph. Terry Brian's brand spankin' new nitro burning "II N'Tense" machine rounding out the twelve car field as the teams prepared for the first round of eliminations.
(Ken Singleton)
(Terry Brian)
(Howard Farris)
Final Qualifying Order:
1. John Broussard (Lake Charles, LA) - 4.02 @ 177
2. Jimmy Jones (Cleburne, TX) - 4.043 @ 158
3. Donny McSwain (Rockwall, TX) - 4.049 @ 175
4. Raymond Dawson (Nevada, TX) - 4.05 @ 167
5. Nick Poloson (San Antonio, TX) - 4.09 @ 169
6. Mark Bowman (Oklahoma City, OK) - 4.18 @ 174
7. Bobby Marriott (Pilot Point, TX) - 4.214 @ 175
8. Mary Reep (Austin, TX) - 4.218 @ 126
9. DoDad Burton (Tyler, TX) - 4.25 @ 167
10. Ken Singleton (Chickasha, OK) - 4.31 @ 150
11. Doyle Smith (Paris, TX) - 5.78 @ 76
12. Terry Brian (New London, TX) - 6.17 @ 85
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
13. Howard Farris (Springtown, TX) - No Time (Broke)
14. Donnie Massey (Little Elm, TX) - No Time (Broke)
Eliminations:
(Raymond Dawson)
Raymond Dawson and Ken Singleton rolled through the waterbox and laid down side by side burnouts to kick off the first round of eliminations, where the two quickest winners would advance to the final round. Singleton had stepped up on every pass throughout the event and made a big step forward here, clicking off a strong 4.16 at 178 mph but a -.001 red light ended their day, while Dawson posted a nice 4.18 at 168 mph to take the round win. Nick Poloson was out next alongside the nitro burning "Chemical Reaction" entry driven by Doyle Smith. Smith was forced to shut off after the burnout as the fire bottles accidently went off, giving Poloson a solo shot in which he posted a 4.23 at 167 mph to earn the round win.
(Doyle Smith)
(Nick Poloson)
Donny McSwain and DoDad Burton crept into the stage beams next as eliminations continued. McSwain was off the line first and never trailed as his 4.09 at 174 mph took the stripe over Burton's close 4.14 at 168 mph. Jimmy Jones rolled out next set to take on Mary Reep's "Grim Reeper" entry. This race had a lot of potential, but was decided on the starting line when Reep jumped the tree and had the best seat in the house to watch Jones go low for the round with a 3.98 at 180 mph.
(Donny McSwain)
(Mary Reep)
Points leader Mark Bowman brought the "Blown Income" entry to life alongside Terry Brian's "II N'Tense" machine. Brian and company were basically using Ardmore as a test session after switching cars and combinations from a blown alcohol to a nitro set-up. Brian made strides and improved on each pass, but his 5.80 at 95 from first round was no match for Bowman's 4.10 at 172 mph. With just one pair left in round one, Jones and McSwain were holding tickets to the final round as the two quickest winners thus far, but John Broussard and Bobby Marriott sat in the staging lanes ready to fire up, both well capable of three second passes. They didn't lay down a three, but John Broussard and team did post a 4.01 at 180 mph to not only take out Marriott's 4.08, but bump McSwain from the final as Broussard and Jones were headed to the money round.
(Mark Bowman)
(Bobby Marriott)
First Round Results:
(W) Raymond Dawson (.079 rt) 4.18 @ 168 vs. (L) Ken Singleton (-.001 rt) 4.16 @ 178
(W) Nick Poloson (.064 rt) 4.23 @ 167 vs. (L) Doyle Smith (No Time - Broke)
(W) Donny McSwain (.108 rt) 4.09 @ 174 vs. (L) DoDad Burton (.171 rt) 4.14 @ 168
(W) Jimmy Jones (.022 rt) 3.98 @ 180 vs. (L) Mary Reep (No Time - Foul)
(W) Mark Bowman (.528 rt) 4.10 @ 172 vs. (L) Terry Brian (.327 rt) 5.80 @ 95
(W) John Broussard (.045 rt) 4.10 @ 172 vs. (L) Bobby Marriott (.094 rt) 4.08 @ 167
(Jimmy Jones)
It was time to crown an event winner in Ardmore under the lights on a Saturday night with two go fast blown alcohol entries left standing. Broussard and Jones crept into the beams and both cars brought up the rpms and bumped in with Broussard taking a slight advantage off the line. Jones closed that gap quickly as Broussard was losing a head gasket all the way down the track and his 4.05 at 168 mph was no match for Jones who laid down the quickest and fastest pass of the event with a 4.89 at 182 mph to take home the Kelly & Jones "Texas Tremor" team's first OFAA event win of the season.
Final Round Results:
(W) Jimmy Jones (.045 rt) 3.89 @ 182 vs. (L) John Broussard (.033 rt) 4.05 @ 168
("Texas Tremor" Winners Circle)
With his win, Jimmy Jones climbed to the top of the Painless Performance Products points standings but only by a slim margin. Mark Bowman sits in second just seven points behind and John Broussard is currently third just eight points back. Bobby Marriott and Nick Poloson round out the top five after two of eight events this season. The OFAA would like to thank Good Vibrations Motorsports, Napa Auto Parts of North Texas, Competition Sales of Dallas and Wizard's Warehouse for their support of the 2014 racing season. The next stop for the OFAA tour takes the series to Noble, Oklahoma's Thunder Valley Raceway Park on Saturday June 21st!
Click Here to see photos from this event.
North Star Dragway Bonus Winners:
Good Vibrations Quick Reaction Time - Jimmy Jones (.022)
Napa Auto Parts "We Got There Fast!" Top MPH Bonus
Jimmy Jones - 182 MPH
Competition Sales of Dallas / Brad Penn
"Luck of the Draw" - Bobby Marriott
Competition Sales of Dallas / Sunoco Race Fuels
"Luck of the Draw" - DoDad Burton