SS/AH at Columbus Sports Nationals
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Well the U.S. Nationals and the Mopar, Hemi Challenge have come and gone and the trophy and bragging rights went back to California with the DeFrank & Houser crew. During the Labor Day week of Indy, there was plenty of carnage. Blown motors dropped valves and just a lot of broken parts happened during a week of racing. Right off the bat Fred Henson destroyed a motor. He did come back to run strong during the shootout. Not so lucky were five other entries including Bill Brooks, Al Smyth, Geoff Turk, John Gillford and Tony DePillo. Speaking of Tony DePillo, many of you know him from the “Honkin’ Hemi” 1964 Plymouth Savoy. He has hooked up with the Huttons (Wayne & Scott) and has a beautiful race car. It’s a 1968 Barracuda, and get this, it has the right vin tag and everything. Tony ran a best of 9.09 during the event but like four others, he didn’t see round one of action. (I’ll talk about Tony more later in this column). The War Fish looked like the car to beat, but Jr & Sr both had the misfortune of dropping valves in during their wins in round two. Great show at Indy for sure for the Hemis. See the whole story right here in MoparMax.com.
Two weeks after Indy I ventured up the road about 45 minutes from my house to Norwalk, Ohio for the Chrysler Classic event that was being run there. At this event they had an independent Hemi Shootout that paid five grand to win. Well the only problem I saw was only four cars showed up for it. It was a heck of a race for four cars. The field consisted of the Westcott Cudas, the beautiful Barracuda of Larry Woo, and the lone Dodge Dart of the foursome was Jim Pancake’s. Charlie Westcott Jr. qualified number one and took out his father in
round one while Jim Pancake was number two qualifier and took out Larry Woo in round one. The final for a cool five grand went to Charlie Westcott and the War Fish Barracuda running 8.59 with Jim Pancake right there with an 8.64 for runner up. Hopefully they will get a better car count if they do this race next year. You couldn’t have asked for any better cars that were there to carry the Hemi colors for Mopar at that event.
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Two weeks later at the JEGS Northern SportsNationals. The Mopar Hemi Challenge at National Trails starts the points for the 2008 Hemi championship which will end it at the US Nationals 2008.
Eleven cars showed up for the shootout. After qualifying was over Charlie Westcott Jr again showed who is making good power currently as he stopped the clocks with an 8.615. His father, with the four-speed SS/A ‘Cuda, was right behind at an 8.653. Third was Texan Fred Henson’s 8.673 followed by Larry Woo’s 8.676. Rounding out the top five was John Raines and his California Heli Hemi Dart, 8.700. Here’s the real kicker, the top five were all from the Westcott owned Jackson Engine Tech operation. Rounding out the field was Tony DePillo with an 8.84. Round one action saw some upsets right off of the bat. Bucky Hess was taken out by the good driving Larry Woo, with a .002 RT 8.67-151 to Bucky’s .042 Rt 8.71-153. The other big upset in round one was Matt Hensley’s Tennessee based Cuda out running John Raines in the Heli Hemi Dart after John spun the tires hard right off of the line. Round two actions consisted of Charlie Westcott Sr. cutting a perfect reaction time against a red lighting Matt Hensley. The battle between Jackson Engine Tech engine builder and customer was next. Larry Woo once again showed he is a player and took out Charlie Westcott Jr. 8.70 to a 8.80. The last pair of round two would be the battle of the dealership owners. Fred Henson and the Henson Family Dealerships owned Dodge Dart and Jim Pancake and the Carriage Town Dealership Dodge Dart. It was Henson picking up the win as Pancake had problems during the whole run. Semi-finals featured three JET motored cars as CW Sr. received the bye and Woo would cut a perfect reaction time himself against a red lighting Henson. Well, what looked like it was going to be a great final was not going to happen. My information is that Woo had wounded his power plant in the semi-finals and was just hoping to pull off an upset in the finals. Woo left really early giving Charlie Westcott Sr getting his first Mopar Hemi Challenge win ever in the JET Camo-painted Barracuda.
Now just for a few notes on race day Sunday at the JEGS Northern SportsNationals. Westcott ran an 8.59 in round one of Super stock, and won the round. Now back to Tony DePillo whose brand new car only had 6 passes on it. The new Gary Jennings built Cuda stepped up in round one of super stock eliminator to run a great 8.74. It’s a stick, so beware of those sticks as they are starting to talk. The Dutch Classic is next race and we will cover it in the next issue of the Elephant Cage.
Click here to see pictures from the race.
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