Schwarz cattle race day at Memphis Motorsports worked on gray and rainy but by mid-morning the NHRA track dryers were out grooming the quarter-mile [Music] as the sky cleared loyal Memphis drag racing fans began to fill the pits and drain stands they knew that the drivers in the sportsman classes were poised to put on a spectacular show here at the Auto light sports nationals top alcohol drinkers are not only the longest car you'll find in NHRA sportsman racing they often provide the closest side-by-side competition you'll find on the drag strip today this beautiful car belongs to Roger prim from Nevada and Roger will tell you the most important and abused part on the engine is that supercharger right up there on top hello everyone I'm Steve Evans and welcome to our coverage of the Auto light-sports nationals from Memphis Tennessee now Roger and Groo have been nice enough to unload their spare bar put it over here so we can have a good luck drag racers started using superchargers about the mid 50s they were right off of GMC diesel trucks they were called as 671 that met 6-cylinder engine 71 cubic inches per cylinder and they were about myrrh so long drag race has always want more six two and eight seventy one to ten 71 to at 12 71 to a 14 71 NHRA said stop that's it no bigger blowers now originally they were Stockport these are all custom made for racing here's what's interesting though they spend the supercharger 40% faster than the engine so at the finish line those employees are whirring around in there at about 16 thousand rpms that's the high-pitched whine you hear when these cars race and you've got to have one of these right rockets to be competitive in Top Alcohol dragster in Funny Car well Steve you're absolutely right it's standard issue on Pat Austen's Top Alcohol funny car that was champ the champion car last year and win some competition but a lot of other guys have tried to run without blowers and alcohol competences and it just doesn't work really that successful you got to have a blower but the interesting part about the blower is that it's obviously connected to the engine it's driven by the engine off a crankshaft pulley up through this drive belt in fact it takes about 200 horsepower to run a roots-type blower as you see on this automobile and the key component here is this drive belt now this drive belts built by gates rubber it's actually an over-the-counter item used in all kinds of industrial applications this particular belt is enormous ly strong it's got a Kevlar lining in it and these unbelievably powerful engines drive these belts and sometimes you'll see them break but not so much because of the failure of the belt that because of the tensioning that sometimes is put on them and then enormous power impulses that go through these engines this pulley up here on top of this blower for example is gets about 3,000 pounds of downforce on it when this engines running that means it's like kind of hanging a small Buick on the front of this pulley so this 2300 horsepower engine is really hard on belt so you want to have this setup just right and it can be mighty expensive when it doesn't work but that isn't the only thing in drag racing it is expensive and for more on the cost and another kind of race that we're gonna see here let's go to our pal Vic daddy Don Garlits well Brock the third class that we're going to cover today is competition eliminator and you are absolutely correct about the cost of alcohol racing let me give you a little history alcohol racing was conceived because of the high cost of fuel racing guys that wanted to run dragsters well it didn't take them long to raise the price of that class to astronomical levels so they conceived competition Eliminator we're here in David Rama's pit and we're looking at a car that costs about eighty thousand dollars to build of which 40,000 of that is in the engine compartment alone these cars perform almost as well as pro stocks turning the quarter in about a second and a half less then we have the body and this body is called an altered it's a fiberglass body and it's a very expensive time they put all the computers and all the stuff in it now if you want to go racing in this class and you want to save a little money you can get a roadster they only cost about 40,000 and beyond that a little less expensive and econo dragster and today we're going to see all of these cars that roadsters the dragsters the altars all competing side-by-side and we'll see how they fare well it's getting time for Alcohol dragster let's go back to Steve Roger Prem of veteran versus Tony Pedregon who is pretty much a rookie we're looking at Prem over there who won the Arizona Nationals earlier this year that was his first national event victory and the fella he's racing Tony Pentagon well he may be fairly new but I'll tell you what it definitely runs in his family his father Frank his late father Frank was a terrific nitro racer his older brother Cruz Pedregon has races alcohol directors and nitro directors as well that is young Tony Pedregon backing up in the newer line and you can see that orange band around the supercharger that's required by NHRA in case there's an explosion to keep all the parts and pieces inside that bag Tony Pedregon from Gardena California he qualified number six at a six 16th maybe mike burns in round number one down Gardena poker is legal where Roger premise from anything's legal in fact one of his sponsors is a casino just outside of Las Vegas where I've occasionally made it donation so Roger friend is not a gambler they'll pick daddy up the starting line he likes to see green for these cars they're almost as fast as the Fuel dragsters and faster than they were a few years ago oh you bet it it's a terrific race here the youngster on the near side not quite up to the challenge of roger bream bream drops dead dragon with a 609 - a 617 and a speed of 220 6.18 miles an hour through losing 2:22 let's go down to Don Garlits on the starting line with a winning crew chief Terry man sir do bad on this surface out here today yeah I don't think the surface is quite as tricky as we're faking it out to be just all the conditions together the weather and everything's making it real touchy but we'll try in replay I think you noticed as Roger Prem by no means was gambling on the lights in fact at the sink Bubba red light he left the young Tony Pedregon give a bit of a starting line advantage confident in his power and he had all he needed that 609 to 617 indeed proved that now according to national dragster the drag stats column Rajat Prem has the highest average top speed of any alcohol drugs from the country and there we saw it pay off 226 miles an hour well Roger looked good from here a 609 and how's that sound to you it's picking up a little bit we have to see what that while learn thought we were gonna do what's that well we'll see how quick they're gonna go they might go a little quicker than that the nice thing about the alcohol director class to it you'll see a variety of engine primarily you finds a Hemi dedication you'll run into a big-block Chevrolet and there's one right there for Bill McCrory neck of Lexington Kentucky also you find a lot of those who feels out here and some of those have a nice new hitman manufactured for alcohol racism makes it throw that Wyler had a single in round one a me vault couldn't go in the staging Lane some kind of mechanical problems and the cornet was qualified number seven at a 624 and Eddie Ballman in round number one based on that while as qualifying number a 6.08 get dots to like the yellow and black car in the for Elena and this would be you sure do means mccormick is gonna have to really get after that starting line and squeeze that tree to try to get into advantage if he's gonna hold him off well they got a little bit of an advantage and he's running right with a blue who that water got a real scare there and it wasn't a case of McCormack stepping up and running better that water slowed down to a 6:23 the losing number from Corning is six point two seven let's go to down with a winning crew chief Todd Detweiler oh yeah in there but it's a 623 you got to pick that thing up side yeah it looked like it shook tires a little bit there first gear so we'll have to figure that out and go after for next round well thanks our next pair fired and ready burnouts completed done Blackshear versus Tom Conway bike-share you know he had a single in the first round and he didn't run all that good 17 so you can bet they're working on trying to get this car performance so they can face people that are running these six hoes I'll tell you Tom Conway's out a heck of a story son weighs a lot like you Big Daddy he's an auto mechanic he could weld his own chassis together builds his own engines he and his wife about everything done they have to throughout a Seminole Oklahoma and this guy who's looks more like a linebacker that a drag race was done last year he had a fire running around everyone that he qualified with a very strong 614 in fact on on paper these two guys if you compare their qualifying number are four thousands of a second apart well that'll mean a good race they'll also be both drives with the very sharp on the tree oh and they were terrific reaction time by both drivers but it is black sheer you'd have to call that of the minor upset black should 606 228 miles an hour based on the times Conway had a serious problem a 622 to only 201 let's go to Don with bill black shoe well 606 very good well we've been struggling all weekend we put the rods out in the first qualifying session so we've been sneaking up on it but that's pretty good we'll keep running that all day that's about the worst thing that can happen to any engine and any form of motorsports when you put the rods up that means you have completely flown up an engine if you have knocked the size of a block out you probably room the crankshaft maybe the cam kept the most expensive thing that can happen sit here everything stayed together and black sheer defeats Conway in round number two that'll be good news to the other competitors who did whoops by Conway so much over the last couple years Don we got a little bit sideways right there big that hurt he sure did he just barely kept that car under control but that was all it needed for flex year to move out in front and take the win so the pairings the final four among the alcohol drex's we'll find bill barney racing Blackshear and flat sir has the lane choice over Ronnie is 606 to a 1992 second pair is Detweiller versa brem has the lane choice with his fine 609 elapsed time [Music] we're looking head on at the Terry Mullins Oldsmobile bodies are his the traders proven back him up making sure he's in those pots to keep rubber tracks Terry Mullins remote rich Tennessee has not yet stored on the name three national events ignore the divisional savings looking for up breakthrough same to be set of burn modes from Des Moines Iowa burn has been around drag racing as long as I have been aware of this activity both of these cars ran six sixteen winning their first round so that means very very close competition and in that first round it was Bowens over Jerry gulley wall of burn most disposed of burl brown right now they're just worried about each other's moats and mullet the Oldsmobile bunny car bodies very popular for aerodynamics off a lot of team is in both Nigel and advantage for Mullins but here comes votes whoa we got him burn mode Des Moines Iowa 617 dumb ball at 6:29 mullets probably didn't see moats until about 3/4 of the way down the track here's Don with coogee Bob Messi well pretty good little smoke on them tires a little smoke but not bad for that Lane we're awful happy with that now it's gonna see if we can get by this next one okay well while you're figuring that out we'll take a look at how you got through the last one Carthon near Lane Mullins gets a nice hole shot almost a tenth of a second burn moats there's that little bit of tire smoke that Bob Nancy was talking about it's at this point that a real veteran like Mokes gathers it up and says I'm not beat yet if I do everything right shift this car right steer it right I can still beat this guy and feeding me did a great job by Vern mode down at the bar has brought gates to talk to the veterans from Iowa Auburn onward and upward with a 17 oh that's pretty good for us donors the conditions over there everybody says the racetracks getting a little strange do you find it in that way yeah it has been we've been trying to serve me the car down a little bit to see if we can get it down the track and it did pretty good that I've just seen Austin's one of 20-some so we used to gauge things by them - you're right you're underneath them so that helps okay we'll try to tune her up a little bit more for the next round okay go get him thank you well that nice countenance belies a very tough customer Vern moats survived one of the worst phony car crashes I ever saw up to race again here we're looking at the pits of ruled that Wyler as he it's his dragster ready to face another tough customer bill Barney the top alcohol director quantal for stay with us from them [Applause] [Music] we're back in Memphis for the NHRA autolite sports Nationals I'm Steve Evans with sick daddy Don Garlits and Brock gate we're about to see you have another alcohol funny car race between Chuck Cheeseman and Jackie stood up now children I know I planted to a story earlier and I never disappoint why they don't Paul Chuck's easement lucky Chucky is because even though two car collisions on the drag strip are pretty rare Chuck has had two of them neither one his fault recently that's tough he needs a break done you bet and you know having two accidents like that up and wonder if somebody's Huntly all the years you race how many times did you have a two-car accident I know I did have one it was Big Daddy I bet it's not in the bluff here's chat cheeks with head he's from Columbus Ohio and he didn't see by his expression he's about added Jackie sit up from a town I can't pronounce in Oklahoma there's a very quiet young guy that carries an awful big stick when he gets in his funny car but she's been out fetch easement is the number one qualifier the car over in the Far Lane at 603 he had a five running round one now let's hope the Cheeseman doesn't have the same misfortune that the number one qualifier now Halldor accident remember Bubba big red light win that car just rock on the tires big so spies don't help you either that's right you don't really take advantage of all the opportunities you might have raising somebody but Chuck Cheeseman whence this one in a lot at 6:06 that's only 300 soft his best at the event and the weather was far better than a big speed 228 miles an hour to these divisions that is mighty mighty fast here's the pairings for alcohol funny car final fort it will be burned most versus Chuck Cheeseman Cheeseman has the lane choice and how he does the second parent well it's really not a pair it's a single for Pat Austin just to do an odd number of cars being in the class of the start of eliminations if this kind of works out that way well all the guys still in competition back behind the drain stands over there look for aside in the pit area vlogging these things trying to find just a little bit more performance a hundred here under there that's all you can ask for in these kind of classes right now let's go down to the far end rocky eight who has found a bin might be we'll have you down okay Chuck an O six which is not bad low et for this round at least and sets you up pretty well yeah we just took a new blower on it and after yesterday shook his brains out so he's really we stepped are pretty good with stems pretty good so everything's coming together I'll tell you what maybe an O six might win this deal well you know that kid in that green car you never can count him out absolutely true you got some serious players up against you but race car no shake grant rent free well uh right lanes a little little bounce if we didn't have Lane choice that time the right lane with little bounce either had left lane but it you know a little bit shake but it was okay we'll have Lane choice nature I think congratulate all right here is the third sportsman category golf competition eliminator and believe me it will live up to its name it is highly competitive and it features a wide variety of cars like David nickens right there with his C altered Oldsmobile he is up against Wayne Henderson Henderson has an a he'd Cana me dragster you say that olds can't run for that dragster well it can when NHRA gets to handicapping I'm Don Garlits that's right Steve NHRA is calculated and index for each one of these classes and the start is staggered accordingly that's right David nickens from Houston Texas in the engine business a lot of the crop Eliminator runners use his motors he's never won a Winston championship with lots of individual events he won't be too intimidating Duane Henderson to the dregs are he qualified number five all right now here's the tale of the tape the see all it has an index of 8:45 the director of Henderson 765 do the subtraction and you have a handicap head start for nickens of exactly eight tenths of a second and that is about a light and a half on the Christmas tree they are half a second apart and it even goes beyond that that car gets so far out in front of you it's terribly intimidating to leave ahead of your green light oh absolutely and here reaction times just as important the driver who runs it closest to his index has Lane choice in the following round gorgeous light by nickens a disaster for Henderson Anderson tried to one-up with a hole shot and waste away this particular run so Nixon's advances on that red light he runs an 8 on 9 on his index of 845 so you can see how bad they punished it index is what NHRA field a car in the class broccoli driven properly built should run a lot can run way under it lighten engines until I can't even get close to it if they're not correctly prepared there you can clearly see that Henderson that was a calculated risk on his part you figured that was the only way to beat nickens well David that can a little bit easy there a red light did you know did you see it on the other side well when I left the starting line I looked up and saw you'd red lighted but we're working on our performance down the track car has been on a string this weekend fortunately qualified number one and what we're trying to do this weekend is win this race for the world championship and hopefully the power we've got from the shop and forecaster all we can do that go get them thank you very much now if you in a car light Scott Wilcox a stock modified you say wait a minute smoke in the rear wheels that's a front-wheel drive car it was from Detroit the a stock modified rules allow you to make a rear-wheel driver out of it and that is the most inexpensive way to go competition Eliminator racing if that's what you want to do well John Pullum sells Oklahoma's chosen another rod and that is a six cylinder deep economy director a v6 neat little car that will close out of Fort Lauderdale horrible challenging was the Detroit iron greatly modified now Wilcox a super modified you can see the index 935 is a bone of the naked 55 so Wilcox will get exactly the same Head Start as David nickens did eight tenths of a second for in the sport of drag racing eight tenths of a second you need a calendar well it's like light-years Oh unbelievable look at that gorgeous little director that's the kind of machine I was always partial to and I was dabbling around with these hot rods lightweight underpowered little drivers didn't scare me to death got a big wide front track on it for good control all right now the equalizer here I know it's punishing to have to wait the other guy red light you want that not the case it appears that mr. Wilcox not going to give it away that is Lee's gonna make John Paul turn it if he can yes it is pulk and he wanted on reaction times he Martin was his opponent at 8:48 at odds at 61 miles an hour tricycle faster than I thought it was the fights going to death there we see it what patients for John Polk he was not intimidated by that agents on the second head starts at Scot Wilcox has he just waited for his green and went down there and ran him down it was close at the end he needed that good reaction time that he has to start hiring fight not a beating well I'm sure that as a boy stares got will talk said I got this one in the bag not so right track well John you worked the lights really perfectly and the little Buick v6 worked perfect too well we had a good smooth around that time and just real like he'd be here you got a great tall shot well I didn't know what he'd run I saw we was running him down so just kept hoping it was real close to the end good job all right round three of competition Eliminator continues you can see they do those stationary burnouts using a line lock to hold the front wheels of a drove just sit there and burn rubber get the tires good hot and that procedure works fine if you've got a stock bodied car with a dragster and those little front wheels and no front brakes on it you do kind of a burnout did anyway these are two beautiful cars hospital from Mansfield Texas qualified in the number-4 position but he's got an awfully good shot as far as David Ramsey is concerned while he's the big noise and conversation eliminator the defending Winston champion and he will get the head start based on the index this is 9 10 2008 25 8560 difference and it goes to Randy who was a little off his feet in qualifying the Winston champion only got the eighth spot but with Randy that doesn't necessarily mean an awful lot some days a lot stronger on race day that he might have been in the earlier qualifying so let's see if the Dexter driver can stand the pressure wait yes he does he waits it out almost identical lights no big advantage there weaving his way down the first comes butyl and I think he got it yes he did The Winston champ is on the tray pistol' 779 on an 825 index boy he hammered in 171 miles an hour David Randy's departed shot an 8 16 15 156 miles per hour not even used to be even harder done to do this kind of racing before NHRA puts a divider into the tree now you can't see the light for the other driver until just a few years ago you had all this clutter of lights and it was really something yeah they divided those lights up seat for two weeks someone you couldn't take an advantage of the other guys light if it was real close and also the other guys light if it was far away from yours didn't confuse you or there's a nice finish in comp just knows the amount you stole over crampy and here's a real for it a tan colored Chevy lumina that is Todd Patterson in the near lines will be up against Randy Shepherd over on the far side of the racetrack this competition Eliminator continues let's go down with rakia that's good show car ran sounded great you ran great thank you very much it was it was a pretty close run I got a little off to the right out of the groove and I got it back in there and it was real close at the end and at the right one yeah it sure did all right the blue car we're looking at there in the bar line that is Randy shepherd and shepherdess really got his work cut out for he qualified at the number 22 spot and he's up against Patterson Todd Patterson from Augusta Kansas Patterson qualified 20 position high head of Shepherd the indexes for the F home of the Patterson 9th wide for the be Oliver Shepherd at 8:15 again Ronni tenths of a second so let's see just how this unfolds in complement is some great racing some close finishes whoo and we have got our red light the red light coming from Patterson Patterson remember we told it was a number two qualifier well dip meaning it in here Shepard the number 22 qualifier wins it with 790 174 mile an hour walking so the be altered Pontiac Trans Am of Randy Shepard moves on and eliminations in fact here are the pairings for the final four it'll be fusil versus Shepherd Shepherd's will have the lane choice even closer to the index than fuse tool.this second paired nickens versus both nipples will have the light enjoy a huge crowd on hand here and join all the action of Memphis Motorsports Park a super multi-purpose facility and at its very far in distraught yet okay good show yeah you have you went ran against the red light don't you know what the other man I've noticed that I got the top end I saw my win light come on but at first I didn't see is red I trying to just look at my side of the tree and not pay attention nothing else but I didn't see his red until that I saw my win light before the pit finish line excuse me everything work well car run well uh we're a little out of shape there I'm not sure reason why but we got out of the groove a little bit and they can pull it back in and then it's straightened out and then we're okay not sure what it ran for et but we've been trying to get it to run faster all weekend and I'm not sure if that was one of them you're back in it though we'll see you in the next round thank you her the pressures in one of these alcohol engines they drive that floor so hard I could present distance the bearings took a real beating in these engines yeah you saw earlier the guy with the vernier calipers checking the width of the bearings that's what he was doing if that bearing was too flat he knows they got to back something down just a little bit and it used to be you could fire the plugs with one magneto you know he's only needed one plug for a cylinder a lot of them now have the dual Magneto's the dual pump two spark plugs per cylinder they're running that much alcohol fuel through these engines all right it is Roger for him in the Far Lane and Earl Detwiler over here in the near Lane the burnout has been completed and it's time to race bream had the lane choice and he selected that right hand side that was not so much a holeshot as that while are not leaving until borrow Roger creme almost a perfect white detwiler about 2500 to the second off the light brim ones it at 611 let's go down to Don Garlits with the crew chief Terry Mainzer he's got to be tickled well a 611 you're in the final yeah we're gonna try to step it up a little bit from down I think the air is gonna be a little bitter in the final tracks looking better all day so I think we'll go a little bit quicker you really need to know don't you yeah we need to know it's gonna take an O to beep lecture he's really doing good well they're already assuming the flexor I guess is gonna be filled Barney but mr. Barney now of Knoxville Tennessee may have something to say about that black chair rolls out and obviously what may be his competition the final round rate Tim as a favorite yeah done that myself I think has more of a slip of the tongue oh yeah absolutely look at the narrow little track on that card black shows card on do you notice it yeah it makes it real slick by putting the wheels together like that there's less wind resistance alright let's go to bracket the bar it with Roger Brown well Roger Hall shot 611 put you into the finals can't be all bad I know I can't that's pretty good we travel a long way for this so uh we'll have to see what black shirt does now I need any changes that setup for the finals I don't know I'm gonna have take a look at the computer and we've been like I said before work on with the humidity and we've been leaning around the motor and it just isn't coming around yet so I think the humidity is backing off a little bit since it front passed through yeah the winds been blowing but I'll tell you it's still pretty high it's an 85 or so so it's still pretty good go get them thank very much well that's too bad that Barney doesn't know that everybody figures Blackshear is gonna win to that really to team up with it oh absolutely he'd have his game face on on the starting line if he doesn't already and I don't really understand that Barney has won two races this year I mean he's leader in the point yeah I guess just looking at the numbers all make sense flexor has been a little bit quicker consistently the past raising and there is the favorite now as established by the racers Don black shirt go Barney the Capitol GTX Drake it is black sir away but not by much Barney's right there where they taupe there's white chair black sir indeed one it indecisively at 6:09 to a 615 227 miles an hour for the winning car and understand under perfect conditions these cars on a regular basis run on the five-second elapse time zone well here we see it black sheer definitely takes the starting line advantage over Barney and then has a better performance on top of so you put those two things together Stephen it's very difficult for lose a quicker car quicker reaction time it's a winner every time absolutely but Barney and about half checker a little more up there to be innocent suddenly kind of slowed a little bit and gave the victory way [Music] well done a 609 and you know as well as I do that gives you Lane choice so that's got to be good news yes it is the things shook pretty bad the top a low gear out there so we got to make a little clutch adjustment trying to soften it up through that area but 609 is still pretty good in this type of atmospheric conditions out here you think if you want that Lane goodness you're gonna stay with that Lane or pretty much so the right-hand lane has a little bump when it goes off the pad and there's a bump down there about a thousand feet and you kind of won't stay away from that kind of stuff if you can because it kind of stops at the car a little bit well congratulations great pass thank you very much Don isn't it funny some drivers want the right lane some want the left lane that's the best racetrack you can have when nobody can decide what lane they want you bet I used to love them when they were like that here is David nickens pit area and he takes on John Polk in the top final board when we returned to Memphis [Music] welcome back to beautiful Memphis in the NHRA Auto light-sports nationals for watching pet Austin getting ready to take his buy run we had an odd number of cars here today so it was figured out by the NHRA that this would be the round where the pie would take place what a major break in any kind of competition done to not have to raise anybody well sometimes but you know you don't run your car usually as hard when you know you're gonna be on a bye so consequently he may not be getting the tuning experience he wants well they're getting ready to go into the final they know that's where they're going unless they crash the car so it it would be smart to make a very hard run to try to have Lane choice and know what you were going to do let's remember how upset wold Austin was when he saw his young son pet Jake so hard on that car let's recall the Pat was looking for pain relief so if they hope they've eliminated here along with the Pats brother Mike he saw giving the okay sign there is that that that tire shake not only is it using the body it could cost them this event they've got to try to lose it let's watch those rear tire what should we watch Don the whole car yeah you can see the side panel shank on one of these when the tire shake so if the whole car is smooth too bad but pretty smooth to me how certainly better than it was before and a 6/10 1/4 that Austin and the speed is up on that car at 231 miles an hour let's go down to Don Garlits and find out what wall Austin thought about it can you ever remember when you weren't in the final oh yes many of that you can't forget those wait not been in the final you know enough times we're always working for the five ways you're the best thank you well Pat stage is set for number five in a row 610 put you into the final can't be all bad that's a lot better in 627 you can just say that we're on the one-yard line and it's fourth down there's no time left last play of the game we're down by one point this is where it's coming down to it's time to put it in the end zone it's difficult for me to believe you're an underdog going into this deal well that kind of puts a puts a little fever to the to the fire you're a little bit the temperature's rising and we're gonna be there I think we found our problem I hope I'm not gonna say we did but casseroles Dynomax special is really gonna make it to the final okay congratulations thanks okay you can really notice the different attitude of the driver when they've had a smooth run well his brother Mike Boston has an interesting attitude he's the only guy I know of that will lie flat on his back and let you drive a golf ball on a tee in his teeth now that's cool that's cool a Vidalia knocked a old bird knows he's been down the racetrack for more times than that often has he hasn't won as many times but if you compare their individual runs it would be probably ten times more but he's about ten times older up against Cheeseman everybody seems to think Cheeseman has got the big stick here let's find out he's certainly the one to watch he's been running the O's today and if he can hold our consistency he'll be three states already they bring the engines up slide the clutches into the veins good start by both drivers all been getting close to the center line as changement changement shuts it off and burn modes with a 616 at 229 miles an hour will be the opponent for Pat Austin so at least that mystery is now solved for mr. Austin let's have another look at it done you think even could have driven out of this I don't know they had a beautiful start cheese but definitely had the advantage you can see the hit there but he had to get out of it in order to not cross that center line now perhaps he could have got back in it sooner and saved it but he chose not to do that and it may burn votes to winner well they also kept it off the wall and out of the other lane and it's all them one piece something to be said for that the pairings at top alcohol Bunny car finals notes versus Austin has been said Austin will have the lane choice a 6/10 to a 660 right now it's time for the final fourth competition eliminator and it's a terrific contrast between this tire burner of an Oldsmobile David nickens from Texas up against the spindly little lightweight little pocket rocket dragster that we see right here that is John Polk and this will be a very close race as where as a handicap Don Garlits only a tenth of a second almost heads up that's right almost two heads up race but a very big contrast and cause like we got an $80,000 car sitting in the one lane and the Lilin dragster is only 35,000 so it's two different mindsets there and there you can see the index is 855 845 Mickens this time will be the one doing the waiting by a tenth of a second but it's hard to say who's have it's not John Paul he's red lights turning right in the face he has foul started David nickens whether he closes the finish line first or second will be the one repeating twice actually Pickens did 797 for the Oldsmobile at 152 miles per hour David Nexus goes into yet another final round and hurts more points toward what he hopes will be his first ever Winston championship so hard to believe with all the one he's done all the legends of David nickens that he's never really won the title it can happen but maybe this will be his lucky year I write a next up it will be Hans pistol versus Randy Shepherd this will determine who races nickens in the final round that'll be a dubious honor the way he's running let's hear from David now so David into the finals 797 red light didn't hurt your hole out in the other lane well it sure didn't I tell you we're real proud of the performance of the car Mike and Buddy and Roberts done a great job this weekend and we've just had tremendous success and the rest of the deal I don't know we'll just have to play it by ear but it's gonna be a pretty tough final and we're gonna give it our best we need two points for the world championship will be watching best along okay thank you very much right David he is possessed thinking about that world championship and the season is still quite young I bought it with that kind of dedication I don't know if they can deny him again sounds like a couple of fuel dragster drivers that I know yeah when I'm working with right here in Memphis this weekend you were a lot of laps that you won that season all right the advantage will go Donn's feels top in the dragster believe it or not he has a slower index than the full bodied car Shepherd again it's only attempt a second tenth of a second you just barely snap your fingers at a tenth of a second for the draggers infinity and eternity especially when you're tuned in on that tree and you're tunneled in on it and you're just sitting there waiting it just takes forever there's what a tenth looks like on the light you can clearly see it though can few still stay out in front a shepherd they're both a little juicy on the racetrack but it is Jews dole buyout full car length or more at 777th that's a good ride 171 miles an eye on that little director now to get your attention Shepard departs with a 785 175 miles per hour you know even though they don't have the big raw horsepower the superchargers down there not easy to drive it looks like they're pretty loose while they are this is exactly what's happening think back to my first rear-engine car it was just about that speed and et and without the wing it moves around the middle of course those tho cars should have wings and of course the the altered car like nickens has got it doesn't have the big back wing like the fine cars got so these cars are actually loose and to centre the course for the new wood thing and especially the small tires on the dresser and you're not gonna convince him to put a wing on that car because it had slowed it down dragging through the air no way he'll just drive it so the only piece of bad news for Hans Bustos we look at the top final round pairings is a David nickens ran closer to his index abuse of it and David will have indeed the lane choice let's look back with all of the other sportsman categories and show you the final round in stock Eliminator was Ronnie card well of Ruston Louisiana and the 82 Firebird of did Sammy pizzolatto from Houma Louisiana a couple of good Cajun boys Pavano in the 71 holes cutlass and as you'll see it was a Firebird in the Far Lane that had the muscle and stock Eliminator on this day the must be stretched [Music] at 1260 106 miles per hour in that silver Firebird okay moving along next up it was super stock eliminator featuring Jeff Taylor the former world champion from Wilmington North Carolina the 19 kawaii up against number seven in the world last year in the category Jets PD of Holi that steely in the Corvette maybe had this was well in hand Jeff Taylor nip team Taylor and the Callay one at 963 534 miles an hour is a mid-south net champion Superstock Eliminator moving along to super gas alone in a run on that 990 index it was at Pinnacle junior of Hollywood Florida in the 67 Dover from Indianapolis Indiana and a 68 Camaro a red light through small vertical went on under the index once the other driver champion at 988 134 miles per hour and behind the super gas final came the one second quicker super top gars have run on an 890 index and in the Far Lane it was Scottie Richardson Arlington Texas in the near Lane Larry Ford the Fort Worth Texas watch Borden in the near lion that's what a perfect light looks like point four zero zero but you know what it still wasn't enough he ran too quick at 886 the winner Richardson who was over the index which you must be in Super Cup at eight point nine to 142 miles an hour well that was all then we're about to go to now and the competition Eliminator final round Don Garlits it'll be David nickens versus Hans Houston and nickens will have two tenths of a second advantage over Hans beutel's drags to the C altered index 8:45 the seat economy dragster index is 825 and that's two-tenths of a second now David nickens has a chance to to become the first repeat winner of the year on the national event seen in competition eliminator there you see all of the numbers that go involved in making these races as close as they are the 2/10 of a second will go not to that man but to David nickens he wishes they went to him you'll have to sit there and wait and be calm and cool oh absolutely let's see what happens here Dickens has has been running further under the index halls of the Houston nick is not that good alight digital much better impact almost perfect little director pulls alongside but can't get the job done talk about a photo finish and competition Eliminator nickens run seven ninety bills to run seven eighty an incredible final round 172 miles an hour for David nickens as he went for those points he's after wooden Dickens didn't make a very good start but he had a lot of power in the middle of the court because you know how can you give up that much of a starting line at page and still win well he's showing you how to do it just have a good powerful car through the middle and you can make it up and a powerful sir that you personally can take credit for David Nicholson and his associates build those vertical pop engines down in Texas today he was his own best advertisement let's get on the bride congratulations great pass all day long good running good steady running well I appreciate it I tell you our goal was to come in here and set the pace and qualify one and try to win the race and I'm telling you we've done it and not without the help of my crew guys Mike and Buddy and Robert and my girlfriend crane I'll tell you they've done such a job all weekend and it's been flawless our our car set the pace qualified one and we perform well and it's the guys in the shop I'm happy for Castro Lando's Mobil and I tell you we're gonna try to take this lead and go right in to finish the year out as a world champion the alcohol funny car finale already fired up and burned out and the alcohol drugs is waiting just behind them Don Garlits Pat austin looks awful good in this one he sure does and you notice he's chosen that far lane and that's the lane that they made that real nice smooth 6/10 on the previous run so I assume that they've stepped the car up just a little bit in hopes of gaining some performance not shaking well we've said it before but it bears saying again as we look in that emergency hole window it burned most that Austin has won the last three NHRA national this consecutively really would like to make it a quartet so with his dad well very close family they live in Tacoma Washington all understand kind of the same compound I mean not like the Kennedys are big walls around it but all their houses are you can see one from the other and they they play together they work together occasionally wall to tell you they they fight together and do that real well too well let's see if it takes an occasional fight to keep a relationship healthy burn boats on the other hand comes into this round a little bit of the underdog doesn't have Lane choice he's been steady all day but not quite the performance that Pat Austin has displayed here now but burn mode say he can rise to about any occasion he's getting tired of the kids dominating the alcohol bunny car range but this kid is just likely to do it again the Castrol GTX Oh we're boats boats of messy a little bit of an advantage post gets sideways but moats comes back burn notes is one the other lights for its natural 6:13 oh this is gonna hurt that Austin to a quicker 6:12 the difference the margin of victory right this one down three one-thousand of a second back drag racing urn moats takes a 200 starting line advantage and gives up about a hundredth in the 80 and you take it out to the thousands it comes out to three thousandths of a second difference between these two cars now that's what I call competitive and that's what the fans came to see that type of a race nobody really likes to see a walk away they like to see automobiles side by side right to the finish line and that's what we got in this talk fine I'll tell you what moats outside weighs about half track I figured he was all done for uh uh it wasn't about to give up let's go to Brock ok burn great great race holeshot won it for you oh is that right because Pat is really tough and that's what the guys told me they was looking for a good light so I hope we got everyone you squeezed the perfect light and race car just looked like I ran straight and crew the whole way yeah I ran pretty straight there was quite a big shake in the middle of the track but I didn't seem to right at the end so I know it's real close okay congratulations great reminds we appreciate it ok Blackshear and Roger from the folks from the West no doubt rooting for EM from these four Blackshear these alcohol drugs also come from almost every state reunion there is no real hotbed of them they're popular wherever there's NHRA championship drag racing well each team has tried to get just that little bit more horsepower to get an advantage over the competitor let's see if they were able to do just that and these are probably the best conditions we have seen the air is cooled off a little bit while the track remains warm here we go the last race of the day and it's a beautiful start no one will the starting line advantage at the far end it is Roger bream six old five to a 607 good cleaned redfish won by horsepower speed for Prem 228 for black sheer 227 point 10 this one is worthy of another one it certainly is watch these two cars look like they're tied together both cars moved exceptionally well and we're prepared properly we don't see any tire shape they stay side by side as they move down course at the halfway mark they're still pretty much even up but then trim begins to make a little move and takes the wind just bob grip [Music] well Roger a 605 to a 607 you told me all day you're having trouble with you humidity now you can't tell me that you haven't got it figured out a little bit now no I talked to my crew chief I said it's okay to hurt some bearings this past we've been leaning it we have a hair computer tells us pretty much what to do and we've been leaning it 25 thousands more than what the errors telling us to do and it's starting to come around finally it sure is congratulations great thank you very much thanks hey what's pounding the Babbitt out of a few bearings when you can win the NHRA Autolite sports nationals here in Memphis Tennessee ever the sportsman Roger Prem wanders over to console Don black sir the man he beat in the final round our congratulations to all the champions Roger friend Bern moats and David nickens for Big Daddy Don Garlits and Brock gates I'm Steve Evan saying thanks for joining us from Memphis Tennessee the executive producer for American sports cavalcade is our VM polish you
