Sundown Scores at Thunder Road Raceway Park

The sixth of seven events on the 2015 Painless Performance Products Outlaw Fuel Altered Association tour brought the series to Thunder Road Raceway Park in Gilliam, Louisiana just north of Shreveport. This marked the first appearance back at Thunder Road since 2008. Points implications were heavy for two particular drivers, Jimmy Jones and Donnie Massey, who entered the event in a heated points battle. Every run would be critical to these two teams, but with fifteen cars on the property, win lights would not come easy.

(Nick Poloson Warm Up)

(Shawn Hay warming up "Showtime")

Qualifying Highlights:

Upon the conclusion of two qualifying rounds, Massey and team "Showtime" led the pack with a 4.01 with friendly rival Jones qualifying fourth with a 4.04. Raymond Dawson's "High Octane" and Ken Singleton's "High Risk" squeezed between the points leaders in second and third with Donny McSwain's "Wild One" rounding out the top half of the field. DoDad Burton, Doyle Smith and Jim Phillips unfortunately came up short of a spot in the quick twelve. Elimination pairings were set for the all-important first round where the two quickest winners would advance to the final, it was time to play for keeps in Shreveport under the lights at Thunder Road.

(Doyle Smith)

(Sean Belt)

(John Broussard)

Final Qualifying Order:

1. Donnie Massey (Little Elm, Texas) - 4.01
2. Raymond Dawson (Nevada, Texas) - 4.03
3. Ken Singleton (Chickasha, Oklahoma) - 4.048
4. Jimmy Jones (Cleburne, Texas) - 4.049
5. Donny McSwain (Rockwall, Texas) - 4.07
6. Mary Reep (Austin, Texas) - 4.098
7. Mark Billington (Prosper, Texas) - 4.099
8. Mark Bowman (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) - 4.10
9. Nick Poloson (San Antonio, Texas) - 4.13
10. Bobby Marriott (Pilot Point, Texas) - 4.14
11. Sean Belt (Shawnee, Kansas) - 5.00
12. John Broussard (Lake Charles, Louisiana) - 6.70
13. DoDad Burton (Tyler, Texas) - 7.69
14. Doyle Smith (Paris, Texas) - 8.51
15. Jim Phillips (Evansville, Indiana) - No Time

Eliminations:

(Mark Bowman)

(Raymond Dawson)

A lengthy oil down from a sportsman racer pushed the first round back and during the clean up, temperatures plummeted and the dew started to set in on the racing surface. Conditions went from very good, to very tricky, very fast and both drivers and crew chiefs needed to be on their game in this opening round. First pair out brought Raymond Dawson and Mark Bowman to the starting line. Bowman took a slight starting line advantage in the "Blown Income" entry but by half track Dawson had chased him down and pulled ahead for the win with a nice 3.94 at 181 mph to Bowman's 4.12 at 180 mph. Jimmy Jones was out next in the "Texas Tremor" to take on Bobby Marriott's "Shockwave". With eight OFAA Championships between them, this one was set up to be a dog fight and Jones desperately needed the win light here to keep his spot atop the current points standings. At the hit of the throttle, both cars launched hard and got in trouble with tire spin. Jones and Marriott battled for traction and both hooked back up, but Jones did the better job and his 4.66 at 156 was just enough to hold off Marriott's 4.71 at 182 mph.

(Bobby Marriott)

(Jimmy Jones)

(Nick Poloson)

Nick Poloson was out next in the "Sundown" taking on Ken Singleton. Singleton took the jump at the starting line but struggled for traction off the line, while Poloson posted a header flaming 3.92 at 179 mph to take the stripe. Sean Belt and the "Metal Mafia" entry from Shawnee, Kansas lined up with friendly rival DoDad Burton in "Free Spirit" as eliminations continued. Burton was inserted as the first alternate for Donny McSwain who was unable to make the call. Belt blasted off the line with a huge starting line advantage and never trailed, but all eyes were on Burton as a big flash fire erupted from the engine just past half-track. Burton was able to keep the car under control and despite his 4.22 at 150 mph, lost to Belt's 4.33 at 142 mph in a wild drag race.

(DoDad Burton)

(Mary Reep)

Mary Reep's "Grim Reeper" and John Broussard's "Purple Haze" were set to do battle in the next pair, but Broussard had problems getting the Louisiana based entry fired and the go ahead signal was given to Reep for the competition bye run. Reep posted a 4.24 at 141 mph to take the win. In the final pair, nitro fumes were of no shortage as Donnie Massey and Mark Billington brought their cacklers to the line. Billington went up in smoke shortly after leaving the line and had the best seat in the house to watch Massey blast to a 3.80 at 191 mph shot, easily earning him a spot in the final round to take on the second quickest winner, Nick Poloson, in an all nitro final round bout.

(Mark Billington)

First Round Results:

(W) Raymond Dawson (.140 rt) 3.94 @ 181 vs. (L) Mark Bowman (.095 rt) 4.12 @ 180
(W) Jimmy Jones (.102 rt) 4.66 @ 156 vs. (L) Bobby Marriott (.132 rt) 4.71 @ 182
(W) Nick Poloson (.091 rt) 3.92 @ 179 vs. (L) Ken Singleton (.052 rt) 6.12 @ 75
(W) Sean Belt (.069 rt) 4.33 @ 142 vs. (L) DoDad Burton (.267 rt) 4.22 @ 150
(W) Mary Reep (.104 rt) 4.24 @ 141 vs. (L) John Broussard (No Time)
(W) Donnie Massey (.136 rt) 3.80 @ 191 vs. (L) Mark Billington (.125 rt) 5.64 @ 83

(Donnie Massey)

In what might have been the latest final round in series history as the clock struck 2 am, news came from the pits that Donnie Massey's team had found a broken steering arm on the "Showtime" entry while towing to the staging lanes. With a time crunch and his opponent Nick Poloson patiently waiting in the lanes, Massey and company threw in the towel and were unable to make the call giving Poloson a solo shot to victory in Shreveport. Poloson left the line and was quickly out of the throttle and coasted to a 8.54 win light. A broken ring and pinion told the story and ended up locking the car up at the top end of the track. Thankfully a flatbed trailer was on hand and able to get the car back to the winners circle for photos and then stuffed in the box headed home for San Antonio. A drive Poloson & Wood didn't mind at all as it gave them time to relive their winning weekend.

("Sundown" - Shreveport Winners!)

Final Round Results:

(W) Nick Poloson (.155 rt) 8.54 @ 68 vs. (L) Donnie Massey (No Time)

For Massey it was a great outing that would have only been made better with a final round victory, which would have been his third straight win on the season. Still, Massey sits in striking position on Jimmy Jones as the two are separated by only ten points heading into the OFAA Championship Finals on Saturday, October 31st at North Star Dragway. Team "Sundown" with Nick Poloson and Tom Wood had another solid outing and claimed their first win on their new nitro combination and first trip back to the winners circle since June of 2010. The OFAA series would like to recognize and thank Painless Performance Products, Good Vibrations Motorsports, Competition Sales of Dallas and Wizard's Warehouse for their support of this racing season.

Click Here to see photos from Shreveport!

Shreveport Bonus Winners:

Good Vibrations Quick Reaction Time - Ken Singleton

Competition Sales of Dallas / Brad Penn
"Luck of the Draw" - Bobby Marriott