TJ Pruitt
After a night of racing that saw Gary Williams earn his second win in two days, trying to add his name to John Labbous Jr. who won three K&N Spring Fling races back in 2010, FTI Competition Converters Thursday opened with another 388 racers taking part in the action. Twenty-thousand dollars to win along with more prizes and awards were on the line today.
The first door car and first dragster during the one and only time trial session to record a perfect (.000) reaction time was to be awarded $500 in cash each from Mitch Clary and OK Motorsports. As it turned out, no door car managed the feat so the $500 rolled over to the dragster and it was Rachel Henderson and Jim Onda walking away with five “Ben Franklins” of OK’s money.
Round eight brought about five competitors left, Tommy Cable, looking to avenge his last night’s runner-up finish; the door cars of Kevin Brannon and Dennis Mitchell; Jamie Bridge; and John Myers. For the semifinals, Brannon received the bye run, Cable defeated Myers and Mitchell took out Bridge. That left two door cars against the dragster of Cable. Should a door car win any night here, Steve Schmidt Competition Engines will kick in an extra $1,000 to the winner. And it’s looking pretty good that we’d at least have a door car in the final.
For the semis, the two door cars of Brannon and Mitchell squared off for the chance to face Cable who received the bye to the final, his second final round in two days. In the other half, Brannon survived a double-breakout win over Mitchell to face Cable for $20,000 to win.
For the final, Cable used a .012 package to fully avenge his last night’s runner-up performance. “When you get to the final, you always want to win,” Cable said, “and I’m happy I got the chance to get back here and make up for last night’s loss.”
The current points leader now, he said, “To win on the big stage here at a great race and a great facility it’s feels really good. But it’s really because I have great people helping me out starting with my boys, car owner Anthony Bertozzi, Rodnut, everyone. Thank you. It’s pretty humbling.”
With eliminations complete for the main event of the day, the Steve Schmidt Competition Engines Door Car Shootout took place. Thirty-two randomly selected door car racers were invited to compete for a $10,000 to win event. In the final, “Disco Dean” Karns and Jeff Verdi faced off with Karns taking home the $10Gs.
Nitroplate-sponsored Friday will open up with the patented $20,000 ‘Fling Reaction Time Challenge. Twenty randomly selected racers will stage up to the starting line in the hopes of a perfect triple-zero reaction time. Triple-zero earns that driver $1,000 while a double-“0” light gets $100.
