In the Pro Stock ranks Allen Johnson drove his Mopar-backed ‘06 Stratus to the second qualifying spot with a stout 6.640 just .006 behind number one qualifier and eventual winner, Greg Anderson.
Rookie Rodger Brogdon made his Pro Stock debut in his Alan Patterson-powered, Pro Street appearing '06 Stratus and qualified. He went a couple of rounds.
Now let’s get to the real Mopars at this race and some of my favorite cars. The Mopar Max staff’s nomination for the most impressive car and pass by a Mopar at this event didn’t come from the pro ranks or a nitro burner – no, my fellow Mopar maniacs, that honor belongs to one Bill Howell (lead photo). Remember that name as he will go down in history (as best we can tell) as the first van driver to ever qualify number one in any NHRA category at an NHRA national event. The Aiken, SC, racer drove his ’90 Caravan CF/S stick car to the number one spot in Stock Eliminator with a blistering 14.129 on a 15.45 index to lead the field. Bill, you are the staff’s hero even though you were trailered in the early rounds.
Other Stock Eliminator racers of note include Jeff Jerome’s G/SA ’73 Duster, which qualified with an 11.34 and went five rounds -- the most rounds any Mopar went in Stock
Eliminator.
In Super Stock action the quickest and fastest Mopar was Rick Howser’s SS/AH ’68 Cuda with an 8.704 lap that was a full 1.096 seconds under the index. As far as going rounds, Joe Faherty’s SS/AH went the deepest into eliminations for that class going four rounds, and the deepest any Mopar went was Jeff Durham and his ’72 Duster SS/JA. Durham did take number one qualifier and knocked Chevy driver Jeg Coughlin Jr. out of the competition before getting beat.
Other Mopar racers who did well include the Dave Holmes in his ’63 “Mayflower” who went five rounds in Super Gas and Bryan Downing who went four rounds.
