ATLANTA DRAGWAY REGULARS SWEEP INDEX CLASSES AT INAUGURAL NHRA UNLEASHED EVENT
By Tim Glover
(Commerce, GA – June 11-13) - Atlanta Dragway had the honor of hosting the inaugural NHRA Unleashed event, a televised four event series for 2010 featuring ten classes of racing for all makes of automobiles, an interactive manufacturer's midway, car show, car corral, swap meet, kid zone, autocross course, and even a "Beat the Heat" program, pairing anyone who wanted to race an actual police officer on the track. The interactive portion of the midway featured a regulation autocross course, a go-kart booth, and even a Kid Zone play area featuring rides and inflatable slides. The midway had many performance oriented goodies from manufacturers like B&M, McLeod, Hurst, Edelbrock, MSD, Quick Fuel and more.
Another program being recorded for play in November and December was the "Who Wants to be a Race Car Driver" series. Sixteen contestants will be selected from entrants at all four 2010 events. The finalist will win a full year NHRA Super Comp ride, complete with truck, trailer, race car, and enough cash to cover the costs of competition for a year. The casting tent remained busy for the entire weekend.
The fastest cars on the grounds were the Pro Modifieds, running the eighth mile course in just over four seconds, at speeds over 180mph. The 10.5 Outlaw class wowed the crowd with mid four second passes in the 170mph range on 10.5 inch wide tires. Limited, Modified and Easy Street classes were also contested, with elapsed times ranging from the high four second to low five second range.
All ten racing class winners were awarded a coveted NHRA "Wally" trophy.
Atlanta Dragway regulars had a field day in the Index classes, sweeping all five. Although three of the five Index finals were against out of state competitors, the Atlanta Dragway crew hung tough, taking their respective wins by mere thousandths of a second in the ultra close racing. 8.50 Index winner Dan Bytnar normally just builds fast race cars, and today was his turn to take the wheel and the win. When asked about winning his first "Wally", he said "This is as sweet as it gets." Stan Sinack has been racing his '69 Dart for over 25 years, and has owned it since 1979. He earned his first "Wally" during the 2009 running of the National Dragster Challenge, and gave it some company on the mantel with another for his 10.0 Index win. Due to time constraints, everyone remaining in the 12.0 Index class was interviewed in the lanes at eight cars except for the eventual winner, Howard Warren. He then said to himself, "Man, I'm going to have to win this race to get any camera time." Jacob Rutledge's trusty Capri is still undergoing construction, so he ended up driving the '66 Chevelle belonging to owner/tuner Kevin Davis to the 13.0 Index win. "This win is awesome; feels cool," added the happy Rutledge.
Whitfield County Sheriff's deputy Gerald Cooley Jr. raced his Malibu "police car" against winners of a drawing, along with his father Gerald Sr., of the New Salem Fire Department, in the "Beat The Heat" event. Jr. ran his car against Ike Heckler, who took the win handily. The senior Cooley fared no better, getting beat by the other two contestants.
Six NHRA Unleashed awards were given to car show contestants. The top winners were Greg and Martha Stiles, who collected both the Best of Show and Best Mopar honors for his '70 Dodge Challenger, featuring a 440 Six Pack engine and four speed transmission. Stiles, who used to drive this car to high school, said he has owned it for 29 years. David Briles took home Best GM with his '71 Corvette and Robert Preston's refrigerator white '67 Fairlane won Best Ford. Lamar Howell and David Parker tied for Best Truck, with their immaculate '71 Chevrolet pickups.
RACE DATE: June 11-13, 2010
FROM: Tim Glover
EVENT: Inaugural NHRA Unleashed event at Atlanta Dragway in 2010
DIXIE PRO MOD CAR HOMETOWN ET MPH
Win: Robert Mathis '68 Camaro Baker, FL 4.13 179.92
R/U: Keith Baker '63 Corvette Dothan, AL 4.15 176.53
10.5 OUTLAW CAR HOMETOWN ET MPH
Win: Tim Lynch '10 Corvette ZR1 Woodstock, GA 4.60 168.53
R/U: Dave Cox '04 Mustang Conway, SC 4.97 156.83
LIMITED STREET CAR HOMETOWN ET MPH
Win: Keith Szabo '93 Mustang Gainesville, GA 4.89 161.54
R/U: Eric Dillard '91 Mustang Dothan, AL 4.89 162.74
EASY STREET CAR HOMETOWN ET MPH
Win: Jimmy Martin '93 Mustang Flovilla, GA 5.31 137.30
R/U: Wes Whittle '00 Mustang Mt Pleasant, SC 12.97 38.14
MODIFIED STREET CAR HOMETOWN ET MPH
Win: Jody Voyles '92 Camaro Douglasville, GA 5.35 135.40
R/U: Charles Hawkins '05 Mustang Pinson, AL 6.99 70.49
8.50 INDEX CAR HOMETOWN ET MPH INDEX
Win: Dan Bytnar '09 Mustang Cumming, GA 8.55 157.59 (8.50)
R/U: Brian Farrar '57 Chevy Oak Ridge, TN 8.53 156.35 (8.50)
10.00 INDEX CAR HOMETOWN ET MPH INDEX
Win: Stan Sinack '69 Dart Lilburn, GA 10.05 124.38 (10.00)
R/U: David Lee '70 Nova Suwanee, GA 10.04 137.81 (10.00)
11.00 INDEX CAR HOMETOWN ET MPH INDEX
Win: Mark Young '04 Mustang Kennesaw, GA 11.02 117.87 (11.00)
R/U: Ricky Pennington '64 Chevelle Calera, AL 10.98 117.38 (11.00)
12.00 INDEX CAR HOMETOWN ET MPH INDEX
Win: Howard Warren '72 Maverick Douglasville, GA 12.00 109.72 (12.00)
R/U: Shane Williams '99 Mustang Knoxville, TN 12.04 108.91 (12.00)
13.00 INDEX CAR HOMETOWN ET MPH INDEX
Win: Jacob Rutledge '66 Chevelle Hoschton, GA 13.03 96.13 (13.00)
R/U: Jeff Wagner '71 Duster Braselton, GA 13.02 97.91 (13.00)
