|
 While
most of the focus of drag racing in Arizona was on the recent
NHRA National event being held at Chandler's Wild Horse
Pass, the racers of the American DRAGCAR
series filed into Tucson's Southwestern International
Raceway on the morning of Saturday, February 21st
for the Micro Import Service Inc. Southwestern Championship
Series Season IV opening event that was blessed with beautiful
weather and a track that was outstandingly manicured. Some
racers had some snags with their cars during qualifying
but everybody managed to make the first round eliminations
call when all was said and done.
 Jeff
Morgan grabbed the top DragSport qualifier spot with his
8.924 effort while Geanine Ballard settled for 2nd with
her 9.172 performance. Mark Ballard fell to 3rd with a 9.278
and Daryl Amans was close behind in 4th with his 9.287 while
Joe Dominguez in his new Opel GT rounded out the top 5 with
his 9.600 performance.
Eliminations
started out with some interesting pairings as the two Vegas
of the show faced off with one another. Matt Ballard took
a 6 hundredths RT advantage on the line against Marvin Wolfmeier
and held it all the way to the stripe for the round win
with a 10.498 on a 10.50 over a 10 943 on a 10.95. Then
came the 9.30 heads-up pairing of Mark Ballard vs. Daryl
Amans. Amans took a healthy reaction time advantage off
the line but ran an off pace 9.403 as Ballard charged past
with a 9.243 for the round win. Eventually the round closed
out with the 2014 WHCS Rookie Of The Year, Rochelle Smith,
putting the upset on the 2014 DRAGSTAR, Jeff Sefranek. Sefranek
managed the better light but Smith's 12.381 on her  12.35
adjusted index held off the 11.399 on an 11.25 attempt.
So the
stage was already set for a possible Ballard win as the
right side of the ladder consisted only of the 3 Ballard
entries, but they would have to battle with each other for
that spot in the final, and first up for 2nd round was the
father/son battle of Mark Ballard vs. Matt Ballard. Pops
can say that he schooled the boy but it wasn't that clear
at the finish line until the boards lit up with the win
light in his lane. The elder Ballard did take the reaction
time advantage with a nice .017 light but the youngster's
.026 was nothing to wave aside as the big Delray chased
the little Vega down the quarter mile distance. After they
crossed the finish line and the dust settled, Mark's 9.256
on a 9.20 glowed as a win over Matt's 10.557 on a 10.50,
and by a mere 1 hundredth of a second. Then came the battle
of the rookies as Rochelle Smith, 2014's WHCS Rookie Of
The Year faced off with Doug Woods, 2014's SWCS Rookie Of
The Year. Woods  suffered
an index penalty in first round and ran a bit off index
as Smith hammered out a fine .013 light to give chase and
took the win with a 12.42 on her 12.35 over a 14.36 on a
14.20 attempt. Geanine Ballard ran out her bye run to close
the round and lit the boards with a 9.256 performance, matching
exactly to the thousandth what Mark Ballard had run minutes
prior, and these two would meet in the next round. So the
two remaining Ballards would face off in the semifinals
on the same 9.20 adjusted index after both had just run
9.256's. How cool is that?
The
semifinals opened with rookie Rochelle in her Chevelle taking
on the well seasoned Jeff Morgan in his altered T. But you
can never count anybody out in drag racing and Smith pulled
off another upset as she took a 14 thousandths reaction
time advantage off the line and held on for the win with
a 12.370 on her 12.35 over Morgan's 8.928 on an 8.90 charge.
Then came that heads-up Ballard/Ballard showdown which was
reminiscent of a blown gas funny car battle of the '60's
with  both
cars having blown big block Chevy engines spitting fire
through zoomie pipes just behind the front tires. Geanine
did her job by taking a 15 thousandth lead off the line
but her Camaro slowed slightly with a 9.270 performance
while Mark's wagon picked up and drove past to take the
stripe with a solid 9.214 blast.
So there
it was, King Mark would face off with Rookie Rochelle for
the final round and both cars were so evenly matched it
would all likely be up to the drivers to do their jobs.
Mark Ballard actually carried with him a slim 3 thousandths
performance advantage going into the final as he had just
run .017 off his adjusted index while Rochelle Smith had
run .020 off hers but experience could count for some advantage
as well, and that appeared to be the case as Ballard's .087
reaction time advantage was decisive and Smith's 12.303
on her 12.35 was not enough to hold off the charge of the
king size Chavy wagon as it flashed past and took the stripe
and the win by only 26 thousandths of a second with a 9.214
on the 9.20 adjusted index.
So Mark
Ballard took home a cool $400 to help him recoup his recent
drive axle repairs and the Exterminator trophy to help remind
him what it's all about. He also takes the early SWCS season
points lead while Rochelle Smith captured her first final
round trophy ever with her Runner-Up finish. And along with
her 2nd place standings in the points, and her $125 prize,
Smith also earned the Best Reaction Time Of Eliminations
award with her .013 in 2nd round and receives a free race
entry. Matt Ballard also collects a free race entry with
his .083 2nd round Best Losing Package.
Quarter-finals:
W: Mark Ballard, '58 Chevy Delray, Tucson, AZ., Index 9.20,
RT .017, ET 9.256
L: Matt Ballardl, '72 Chevy Vega, Tucson, AZ., Index 10.50,
RT .026, ET 10.557
W: Rochelle
Smith, '69 Chevy Chevelle, Glendale, AZ., Index 12.35, RT
.013, ET 12.424
L: Doug Woods, '86 Chevy Corvette, Tucson, AZ, Index 14.20,
RT .162, ET 14.367
W: Jeff
Morgan, '27 Ford Model T, Tucson, AZ., Index 8.90, RT (-.303),
ET 8.983
L: Scott Niles, '73 Dodge D100, Vail, AZ., Index 11.15,
RT (-.122), ET 11.210
W: Geanine
Ballard, '67 Chevy Camaro, Tucson, AZ., Index 9.20, RT (-.016),
ET 9.156
L: Bye
Semi-finals:
W: Rochelle Smith, Index 12.35, RT .073, ET 12.370
L: Jeff Morgan, Index 8.90, RT .083, ET 8.928
W:
Mark Ballard, Index 9.20, RT .063, ET 9.217
L: Geanine Ballard, Index 9.20, RT .048, ET 9.270
Final:
W: Mark Ballard, Index 9.20, RT .153, ET 9.214
L: Rochelle Smith, Index 12.35, RT .240, ET 12.303 |
