Mopar Hemi Challenge, Friday

Words by Jeff Burk - Photos by Chris Haverly

2:00 CST Second Round:

Charlie Westcott father and son continued to dominate the Challenge in the second round. Theirs were the only two cars in the second round to run sub-8.60 laps.

Westcott Jr. made easy work of longshot Kevin Helms with an 8.53 drubbing of Helms’ 8.80 effort. Westcott Sr. got a walkover when Wendell Howes bulbed, as did Darrell Marvel against Bucky Hess. Incidentally, it was reported that Marvel scattered his engine to add insult to injury.

Jim Daniels got the “Lucky Dog” bye run this round.

The closest race was between John Rains (above) and veteran Jim Pancake. Pancake was a tenth slower than Rains and knew he would have to cut a good light to have any chance. He took a guess and it paid off as he recorded a .001 RT. Rains had a decent RT of .052 but when you have your opponent covered by a tenth like Rains had over Pancake you can overcome a bad start. Rains had a 8.632/153.21 winning effort over Pancake’s game but losing 8.719/151.71.