Paris Drag Strip Hosts OTS 

    Photos by Gena White ~ Text by Danny White

Chris Dollar came and left with the OTS Points lead.

 

Dollar made it to the finals again, as he had for all the races so far in 2008.

The Outlaw Top Sportsman Association made their 2008 debut at Paris Drag Strip. The track has been leased this year by OTS racer Bart Jetton. Jetton had the facility in tiptop shape for the racers Saturday night. Eight of the finest OTS racers made it to Paris to race, many other racers were awaiting parts so they could race leaving the field at a minimum. 2008 OTS points leader Chris Dollar was there to keep his strangle hold to the points lead in his flamed Firebird. The team of HT and Michele Wilson was there to race and to get some test time in for next weeks ADRL race in Valdosta. David Baldwin brought out the beautiful Butler Motorsports’ 63 Corvette. David Smith had the injected American Car Imports 55 Chevrolet of Paul Smith ready to race. Randy Reschner appeared in the repainted Money Shot Corvette. Ed Roach represented the Red Oak Gang in his Firebird. The only blown car was the Cain's Concrete Co. Trans Am driven tonight by Jerry Cain.

David Baldwin was the number one qualifier on the 4.70 index with a 4.72.

Baldwin runs 4.72 while Ed Roach runs 4.73.

The first round of qualifying began with Michele Wilson taking on Chris Dollar, due to a malfunction with the tree neither racer received a time as both racers shut off down track. Ed Roach and David Baldwin was the next pair to try the track, both racers made exceptional passes. David Baldwin got the top spot with a 4.72 145.15 pass, while Ed Roach got the second spot with a very close 4.73 147.15 run in his Firebird.

David Smith had a bad night at Paris suffering tire shake in both qualifiers.

Paul & David Smith could win best appeearing at any race.

Randy Reschner tested at the Paris Drag Strip the week before and it paid off with his best ever run of 4.81 145.75 in his Money Shot Corvette. David Smith suffered severe tire shake in the family's 55 Chevy on the way to a shut off run of 6.41 81.55. The final pair in the first round of qualifying was Jerry Cain and H.T. Wilson in a battle of blown versus nitrous cars. Wilson got there first to take the fourth spot with a 4.91 135.72 while Cain had problems on the way to a 5.45 140.77 run that landed him in the number five spot.

Randy Reschner ran a best ever of 4.81 in the Money Shot Corvette.

Smith and Reschner leave the line!

First Round of Qualifying (4.70 Index)

1 4.72  David Baldwin
2 4.73  Ed Roach
3 4.81  Randy Reschner
4 4.91  H.T. Wilson
5 5.45  Jerry Cain
6 6.41  David Smith
7 N/T   Chris Dollar
  N/T   Michelle Wilson

HT Wilson and Jerry Cain laid down the rubber at Paris.

Wilson and Cain faced off in both qualifying rounds and in the first round of eliminations.

David Baldwin began the second round of qualifying with a 4.85 140.50 run that was unable to improve on his earlier 4.72 pass. Randy Reschner had problems on his pass, that he was only able to run a 5.70 117.39 in the Money Shot Corvette. Baldwin hung on to the top spot while Reschner remained number three. Michele Wilson and David Smith were the next pair to fire up, both had extreme tire shake problems. Smith got there first with a 6.23 and Wilson trailed with a 6.32. Smith held on to the number six spot and Michele got the number seven spot for the time being.

Michele Wilson and David Smith both suffered problems all night long.

Ed Roach can do a burnout to say the least!

Chris Dollar showed why he is the number one in points with a good 4.76 148.58 run in the beautiful flamed Firebird from Wichita Falls. Ed Roach had problems on his run and shut off to a 5.95 81.76 run. Dollar moved to the number three spot with that 4.76 pass and Roach kept the number two spot. Pairing up for the second time was H.T. Wilson and Jerry Cain, Cain got there first with a great 4.73 147.30 run while Wilson ran a 4.85 that loose on the top end. That put Cain in the number three spot and Wilson number six.

Another hard launch for Ed Roach from Red Oak, Texas.

HT Wilson made it to the finals with holeshots and won the coin toss for the win.

Final Round of Qualifying (4.70 Index)

1 4.72  David Baldwin
2 4.73  Ed Roach
3 4.73  Jerry Cain
4 4.76  Chris Dollar
5 4.81  Randy Reschner
6 4.85  H.T. Wilson
7 6.23  David Smith
8 6.32  Michelle Wilson

Cain and Wilson take two, Cain got there first this time 4.73 to HT's 4.85.

Wilson was getting ready for the Valdosta ADRL race.

The first round pairings were number one David Baldwin racing number eight Michele Wilson. Number two qualifier Ed Roach would face number seven David Smith. Jerry Cain got the number three spot and would face the number six H.T. Wilson. Chris Dollar from the fourth spot would face number five Randy Renner.

Reschner and Dollar in the first round.

Dollar gets the jump on the Crovette of Reschner.

Chris Dollar won his first round race against Randy Reschner with a pedaling 4.84 130.73 win, Reschner again had problem and could only run a distant 5.63 124.60. H.T. Wilson and Jerry Cain faced off for the third time tonight with Wilson getting the holeshot parlaying that to a 4.72 win to Cain's very close 4.72.

Dollar is way out on Reschner at this point as Reschner has problems.

Cain and Wilson take three, Wilson gets the holeshot and the win on side-by-side 4.72 race.

Ed Roach won the third pairing of the first round with a pedaling 4.77 133.32 to beat David Smith in his 55 Chevrolet, who ran his best of the night with a 5.03 124.42. David Baldwin finished the round with a good 4.73 147.92 to defeat the 5.40 100.04 of Michele Wilson, who struggled all evening long.

The Camaro of HT an Michele Wilson used to be owned by Okie Dave Pierce.

Ed Roach getting on the outside of the groove!

H.T. Wilson got another holeshot win with a 4.75 139.42 run that beat the slightly better 4.74 140.31 that Ed Roach ran in his Firebird. The second race of the semi-finals was weird; it took two times to run the race. The first time that Chris Dollar faced off with David Baldwin the tree malfunctioned and did not drop, Baldwin took off while Dollar set on the starting line. The pair was allowed to come back to race again. Chris Dollar chased Baldwin out the backdoor with Baldwin breaking out with a 4.68 146.05 and Dollar winning with a 145.75.

Semifinals Wilson beats Roach with a holeshot 4.75 to Ed's 4.74.

The other Semifinals race take one between Dollar and Baldwin, the tree messed up causing a rerun.

The final was not meant to be as the dew began to set on the track pass midnight and the temperatures dropped into the low 50's. H.T. Wilson and Chris Dollar decided to wisely flip a coin to see who got the win. H.T. Wilson won the coin toss and the race tonight. Chris Dollar has made it to every final this year of OTS racing and left Paris with the Points lead again. For more information about the Outlaw Top Sportsman Association go to www.texasoutlawracing and www.parisdragstrip.com or www.myspace.com/paris dragstrip .

David Baldwin broke out with a 4.68 allowing Dollar to take the win with a 4.70.