Taylor Wins TOPMA Race at HMP

Text by Celeste Smith ~ Photo by Gena White

Nothing was falling out of the sky but it felt like it was raining. The humidity was soooo bad it was hard to cool down. After two rounds of qualifying, here's how everything unfolded.

#1 Frankie Taylor - 3.774 at 197 mph **Top MPH**
#2 Gaylen Smith - 4.149 at 143 mph
#3 Eric Stubbs - 4.286 at 168 mph
#4 Jim Brinkerhoff - 4.413 at 161 mph
#5 Eric Clark - 4.471 at 149 mph
#6 Jeff Cummings - 4.510 at 159 mph
#7 Chuck Poindexter - 4.705 at 145 mph
#8 Randy Rencher - 4.802 at 151 mph
#9 Wesley "Cowboy" Woods - 5.038 at 134 mph **New Member**

First Round:

Frankie Taylor (W) 3.781 at 177 mph (.103 RT)
Wesley Woods (RU) 5.419 at 127 mph (.0005 RT) **Best Reaction Time**

Cowboy filled in for Randy Rencher who kicked the rods out in qualifying and was unable to make first round. He drilled Frankie on the tree but didn't have enough horsepower to overcome the hard charging Taylor/Haning Vette.

Jeff Cummings (W) 4.601 at 152 mph (.042 RT)
Eric Stubbs (RU) No Time

Eric had trouble starting the car in the staging lanes giving the competition bye run to Jeff Cummings.

Eric Clark (W) 4.448 at 159 mph (.043 RT) **Upset Win**
Jim Brinkerhoff (RU) 4.486 at 143 mph (.033 RT)

Despite having the holeshot advantage, Brinkerhoff came up short at the stripe where it counted and Eric steals the win.

Gaylen Smith (W) 3.953 at 163 mph (.145 RT)
Chuck Poindexter (RU) 4.980 at 128 mph (.116 RT)

Team TBH fixed the gremlins they had during qualifying and laid down a nice run. Chuck was on an off-paced lap.

Semi-Finals:

Frankie Taylor (W) 3.767 at 190 mph (.107 RT) **Low ET**
Eric Clark (RU) 4.628 at 123 mph (-.001 RT) Red Light

What do you do when your running the fastest car on the property? You try to cut the tree down and hope for the best, unfortunately Eric cut the tree a little too close giving the automatic win to Frankie on his low et of the night run.

Gaylen Smith (W) 3.987 at 155 mph (.166 RT)
Jeff Cummings (RU) 4.521 at 155 mph (.099 RT)

The Hell Fish was waddling all the way down track clicking off early and getting the win.

Finals:

Frankie Taylor (W) 3.769 at 195 mph (.113 RT)
Gaylen Smith (RU) 9.959 at 43 mph (.093 RT)

Despite having a slight holeshot advantage, it was all over after Gaylen unclutched the Hell Fish. He went up into immediate tire smoke and darted towards Frankie's lane just crossing the center line but corraled it back into his own lane to coast down track. Meanwhile Frankie was on yet another very consistent run claiming the win.

Congratulations to Frankie Taylor and a skeleton crew for Team Taylor/Haning for your victory. Congratulations to Little Paul on your graduation. I know you're proud Big Paul!

Congratulations to Gaylen Smith and Team TBH on your runner-up as well. That one didn't come easy.