By J M Hallas
Marion, TX. (July 19th, 2014) It was old school racing as San Antonio Raceway hosted Texas Nostalgia Thunder, featuring the wild and wicked Outlaw Fuel Altered Association (OFAA), Southwest Heritage Racing Association (SHRA) and some old school Non-Electronics Bracket racing for cars 1979 or earlier. While the OFAA and SHRA would run on the 1/8 mile, the Bracket cars would take on the full 1/4 mile.
The OFAA held two qualifying sessions to pair up cars for one round of eliminations. The two top winning times, key word being ‘winning times’, would meet up in the finals. Two racers threw away sub-four second passes in eliminations, one on a red light (Donny McSwain), the second lost on a hole shot (Donnie Massey).
For the SHRA, another two qualifying passes were made in each of the three Nostalgia Eliminator classes, run on an index. (Nostalgia Eliminator 1, 4.65, Nostalgia Eliminator 2, 5.00 and Nostalgia Eliminator 3, 5.50) Complete eliminations were run in each class that was a combination of front engine Dragsters, Altereds, and one Funny Car.
After a lot of test-n-tune time and qualifying, the Bracket racers set their own dial-ins. Also included in the days events were a car show, swap meet and a band playing good ol’ fashioned music from back in the times.
Jones First Repeat Winner in Fuel Altereds
After having four different winners in each of the first four OFAA races this season, Jimmy Jones (Cleburne) became the first repeat winner. Jones (Tremor), in his Painless Performance, Royal Purple, Comp Cams, Brad Anderson powered, ’29 Model A, caught Mary Reep (Grim Reaper) absolutely sleeping at the light then held off her charge at the finish.
Jones was away first with a .021 light, while Heap, in her RCI Safety, Double Tuff Tarps, Precision Machine, Car Crafters, Keith Black Hemi powered, ’29 Model A was dead late with a .483 reaction time. Jones tripped the top end beams with a 4.022, with Reep wasting a 3.982.
Jimmy Jones, 4.022 @ 171.23 defeats Mary Reep, 3.982 @ 182.63
Jones got to the finals putting Raymond Dawson on the trailer, while Reep (Austin) was beneficiary of the hole shot win over Massey.
Nostalgia Eliminator 1 (4.65)
Richard Brady picked up the win in the Nostalgia Eliminator 1 class(4.65) with a hole shot over Tera Wendland-Graves (Carrolton). As the pair of front engine Dragsters left the line it was Brady with nearly a tenth in the bank. Wendland-Graves ran a better number, but came up short at the finish line.
Richard Brady, 4.785 @ 142.77 defeats Tera Wendland-Graves, 4.692 @ 142.86
Brady got past Andy Mears and Chris Stouffer, while Wendland-Graves took out her husband, Chris Graves, and R. Mueller.
Nostalgia Eliminator 2 (5.00)
Tommy Drozd (Lake Dallas) scored the victory in Nostalgia Eliminator 2 after getting the jump on Bee Godwin (Iowa Park) in another hole shot. Drozd, in his Altered, left on Godwin’s Dragster by a tenth then held on at the big end to take home the hardware.
Tommy Drozd, 5.252 @ 117.99 defeats Bee Godwin, 5.204 @ 128.98
Drozd had a bye run in semis with Godwin taking the win over Bruce Bruno jr.
Nostalgia Eliminator 3 (5.50)
Despite giving up 7/100th on the tree, Dusty Rose (Moore, Okla.) ran nearly a perfect number to best Dustin Bradshaw in the finals of Nostalgia Eliminator 3. Bradshaw (San Antonio), in his Altered, left on Rose, but at the top end Rose had run him down without breaking out.
Dusty Rose, 5.503 @ 119.30 defeats Dustin Bradshaw, 5.609 @ 121.52
Rose made it to the finals with wins over Robert Springstead, Ron Walden and a bye in semis, while Bradshaw got the best of Gary Mitchell, Michael Anderson and a round one bye.
Non-Electronics
It was a pair of Camaro’s paired up in the Non-Electrics finals with Gabriel Hernandez (San Antonio) in his 1 Stop Tire Shop, 68 Camaro against Joe Lundquist’s, Buzzy Lipke, 69 Camaro. The two left with nearly identical reaction times, but it was the drag slick shod car of Hernandez beating the drag radial tired car of Lundquist to the finish line.
Gabriel Hernandez (11.99) 12.081 @ 105.51 defeats Joe Lundquist (12.27) 12.370 @ 107.78
Hernandez trailered Wendall Dockery, Laurie Vontour, Harold Simcik and Roy Trevino, with a bye in the semis. Lundquist beat R. Gonzalez, Vic DeIorio, P. Thomas and Dockery, with a round 4 bye.
Photos:
Jimmy Jones getting ready to stage before his finals
Richard Brady focusing before a run
Tommy Drozd gets the front wheels up on launch
Dusty Rose heating up the slicks on a burnout
Gabriel Hernandez gets a little sideways in the burnout box
