Brown Wins First TOPMA Race!

Text by Danny and Gena White ~ Photos by Gena White

The Twistd Lemon 63 Corvette of Mike Calanga

Redline Raceway held its first Texas Outlaw Pro Mod Association of the year Saturday night. A total of 13 cars tried to make the tough eight-car field. After two rounds of qualifying and a long delay due to fire ant inflicted attack on the startling line wiring, a bump of 4.352 was set. The number one qualifier was Jeremy Brown in Mike Calanga’s Twisted Lemon 63 Corvette with a 4.067. That reset the team’s record from last year. The 4.067 did not last long with the air getting cooler as the night went along.

Ken Thomas's Bad Bird Firebird

Frankie Taylor followed Jeremy Brown in the number two spot with a 4.14. Taylor’s new body looked slick, fresh from Jeffer’s race shop. Bobby Booth’s spinning and shaking 4.18 got the number three spot. Thomas Myers ran a slightly slower 4.18 for the number four spot. Jackie Deaver ran a best ever time in the new “Underdawg II” Camaro with a 4.23. Wes Johnson followed 4.27 in “Wild West Wes” Napa Corvette. Heath Harvey ran 4.28 for the number seven spot. Landing on the bump with his best ever run was Greg Green with a 4.35.

Bobby Booth was runner-up and set the track record at 4.003.

Chuck Nuytten ran 4.50 for the number nine spot in his nitrous Corvette. Chuck Poindexter laid down one of his best runs with a 4.90 in the little LUV. Having new engine blues was Ken Thomas and the Bad Bird. Thomas could only run a troubled 4.98. Thomas later made a solid test run but had an invalid ET due to a timer problem.

Greg Green's 57 Chevy went his best ever at 4.35.

Also having a bad night was Gaylen Smith who broke on the first run and ran a 5.12 on the second run. Rick Cate had the misfortune to end up in the last spot with a troubled 6.57. Cate had a new Lenco in the car that had the team struggling. Cate had a major explosion after the car bogged in the second round of qualifying.

It's Tom Slick! Thomas Myers found the teens with a 4.18 and a semi-final finish.

The first round began with Booby Booth setting a new track record with a 4.04 to Wes Johnson’s invalid ET of 3.75. Jeremy Brown won his first round with a late leaving 4.13 that defeated Greg Green’s shutoff 5.80. Heath Harvey pulled off an upset when he beat Frankie Taylor 4.27 to Taylor’s all over the track 4.29. Thomas Myers laid a nice 4.18 to beat the troubled 11.39 of Jackie Deaver.

Frankie Taylor's new Corvette body next to Jackie Deaver's new Camaro.

The semifinal round began with Bobby Booth again resetting the track record with an amazing 4.003 to beat Harvey’s 4.31. On the next pair, Jeremy Brown ran a great 4.03 to beat the shutoff 9.88 of Thomas Myer. The final would be good, pairing the two cars that had reset the track record tonight.

Harry Hronas, Redline’s track owner and former Pro Stock racer, announced that a cool grand would be the bonus for a three second run. The final was anti-climatic as Booth had trouble and shut off with a 6.42 while Jeremy raced to a 4.08 for the win. It was the team’s first ever win in TOPMA racing.