Billington Banks First OFAA Win
at Thunder Valley Raceway Park

The Outlaw Fuel Altered Association, presented by Lone Star Forklift, packed the pits at Thunder Valley Raceway Park for the third points race of the six race season. Entering this halfway point of the tour, Nick Poloson and Tom Wood's "Sundown" nitro burner sat atop the points standings with back to back final round appearances and a win in Shreveport to start the season. With fierce competition from a twelve car field of fuel altereds, the pressure was on along with the heat on a sunny summer afternoon in Noble, Oklahoma.

Qualifying Highlights:

(Raymond Dawson)

(Mary Reep)

After two rounds of qualifying, Donny McSwain, winner of the season opener at North Star Dragway in May, found himself atop the pack in the "Wild One" blown alcohol entry with a 4.002. Defending series Champion Jimmy Jones and the "Texas Tremor" team slid in the number two spot with a 4.004. Mark Billington, Raymond Dawson, Nick Poloson and Eric Buchanan rounded out the top half of the field heading into eliminations. The sun had set and the teams were back in the pits preparing for first round eliminations under the lights at Thunder Valley.

(Mark Billington)

(Jimmy Jones)

(Mark Bowman)

Final Qualifying Order:

1. Donny McSwain (Rockwall, TX) - 4.002 @ 179
2. Jimmy Jones (Cleburne, TX) - 4.004 @ 178
3. Mark Billington (Prosper, TX) - 4.10 @ 140
4. Raymond Dawson (Nevada, TX) - 4.113 @ 171
5. Nick Poloson (Bulverde, TX) - 4.118 @ 156
6. Eric Buchanan (Justin, TX) - 4.15 @ 178
7. Mark Bowman (Oklahoma City, OK) - 4.18 @ 174
8. Ken Singleton (Chickasha, OK) - 4.23 @ 154
9. Mark Hunter (Tyler, TX) - 4.24 @ 155
10. Clint Cross (Crossroads, TX) - 4.49 @ 174
11. John Broussard (Lake Charles, LA) - 4.53 @ 154
12. Mary Reep (Austin, TX) - No Time

(Mark Hunter)

(Ken Singleton)

Eliminations:

Opening up the first round of eliminations was points leader Poloson up against John Broussard's "Purple Haze" from Louisiana. The two quickest winners from this round would advance to the final in this Chicago style affair. During the burnout, rods made a quick exit from the side of the block in Broussard's entry which left a trail of oil across the right lane and clearly ended their weekend on a bad note. Broussard climbed out of the car and over the wall and could do nothing but watch Poloson blast to a header flaming 3.92 at 186 mph to take the win. After a brief clean up, Mark Billington's "Magic Dragon" and Mark Hunter were up for battle. Hunter struck the tires at the hit, while Billington ripped off a stout 3.86 at 189 mph for the win. Mark Bowman's "Blown Income" was up next alongside top qualifier McSwain. Bowman went red at the hit and both cars struggled for traction as McSwain took the win with a 5.08.

(Donny McSwain)

(John Broussard)

As eliminations continued, Raymond Dawson's "High Octane" laid down a clean and smooth 4.00 at 182 to defeat a tire smoking Clint Cross. Next up was Ken Singleton's "High Risk" ready for his bout with Jimmy Jones. Jones was off the line first and both cars were battling down the eighth mile as Jones took the win with a massive holeshot. Jones' 4.46 at 168 held off Singleton's quicker but loosing 4.24 at 180 mph. In the final pair, Mary Reep's "Grim Reeper" and Eric Buchanan in Terry Darby's "Nitro Relapse" came to the line. At this point, the winner of the final pair would have to run better than Poloson's 3.92 to earn a spot in the final round against Billington, who was guaranteed a spot in the final with the quickest winning elapsed time so far with only one pair to go. Both drivers were sleepy on the line but Buchanan was out first, flaming down the strip to a 4.09 at 183 mph to take a holeshot win over Reep's 4.07 at 163. Poloson and Billington were final round bound in Oklahoma.

(Clint Cross)

(Eric Buchanan)

First Round Results:

(W) Nick Poloson (.159 rt) 3.92 @ 186 vs. (L) John Broussard (No Time - Broke)
(W) Mark Billington (.180 rt) 3.86 @ 189 vs. (L) Mark Hunter (.281 rt) 11.10 @ 57
(W) Donny McSwain (.093 rt) 5.08 @ 107 vs. (L) Mark Bowman (-.377 rt) 4.71 @ 109
(W) Raymond Dawson (.116 rt) 4.00 @ 182 vs. (L) Clint Cross (.219 rt) 7.14 @ 67
(W) Jimmy Jones (.076 rt) 4.46 @ 168 vs. (L) Ken Singleton (.324 rt) 4.24 @ 180
(W) Eric Buchanan (.247 rt) 4.09 @ 183 vs. (L) Mary Reep (.513 rt) 4.07 @ 163

(Nick Poloson)

It was an all nitro burning final round and time to fire em' up. Billington and Poloson brought their ground pounding machines to the line and were given the go ahead from their crew chiefs. In one of the closest final rounds in OFAA history, Mark Billington's 3.92 at 185 narrowly defeated Poloson's 3.93 at 186 mph. Do the math on the starting line and you'll see a .006 margin of victory at the stripe as Mark Billington, Raymond & Jody Austin and the rest of the "Magic Dragon" team scored their first ever OFAA event win in a great drag race to close the night.

Final Round Results:

(W) Mark Billington (.145 rt) 3.92 @ 185 vs. (L) Nick Poloson (.139 rt) 3.93 @ 186

(Winner - Team "Magic Dragon")

The OFAA would like to thank Lone Star Forklift, Good Vibrations Motorsports, Meyer Enterprises and Grim Reeper Racing for their support of the series this season. Additional thanks goes out to Larry Croft, Nick Duty and the entire staff at Thunder Valley Raceway Park who suffered a lightning strike Thursday night which fried every electrical component across the entire facility. Hours and hours of non stop repairs were made to get the Oklahoma Nostlagia Nationals completed and the track was rewarded with a great crowd and very entertaining racing from the OFAA teams. Nick Poloson now has three straight final round appearances and will remain atop the Lone Star Forklift points standings heading into the next event, September 3rd at Ardmore Dragway in Ardmore, Oklahoma.

Click Here to see photos from Shreveport!

Shreveport Bonus Winners:

Good Vibrations Quick Reaction Time - Jimmy Jones

Meyer Enterprises
"You Lift, You Lose" - Raymond Dawson