Last year, Tri-State allowed the finalists to determine how The Wally would be won. They arrived at a Best Package Shootout, where each driver would make one pass down the track. The driver who came closest to a perfect start at the tree, while also running a time closest to their projected dial-in time, would be declared the winner.
Price raced his 1978 Chevy Monza to the win with a .025-second reaction time, and he came within .008-seconds of his 6.01-second dial-in time. He was 33/1000ths from having a perfect run!
A full regular program of Super Pro, Pro, Street and Junior Dragster divisions will run on Sunday at the Ross Township facility.
Gates open at 9:30 a.m. Sunday with time trial runs set to start at 10 a.m. and the first rounds of eliminations set to begin at 1 p.m.
As always, spectator and crew passes are $10 each, kids 11 and under get in free.
Local Points Leaders: After the recent double-points races two weeks ago, the top of the Tri-State Dragway points standings now has a local feel to it.
West Chester’s John Cook leads by 85 points over Joe Lee of Erlanger, Ky. in the Super Pro division. In a battle of Hamiltonians, Darrell Jones is a scant 10 points ahead of Wayne Adams in the Pro division. Fairfield veteran Jeff Seither is up by 65 points over Norwood veteran Dave Jennings in the Street bracket.
There’s even a local leader in the Junior Dragsters. Fairfield’s Austin Still is ahead by 15 points over Bright, Indiana’s Trey Sizemore.
Another Henderson first: That elusive first NASCAR Whelens Series stock car win remains just that, elusive. But Franklin teenager Sloan Henderson etched her name onto another bit of racing history on June 12, 2010. Henderson became the first female to win a trophy dash event at Columbus Motor Speedway. Trophy dashes pit the four fastest cars from qualifying together for a battle. Henderson won the event against Columbus's fastest of the fast, a feature win can't be too far away.
Local Flavor at Mid-Ohio: When the Grand-AM Rolex Sports Car Series takes to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lebanon-based racing team Doran Racing will be on hand to compete in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) division. The team's No. 77 McDonald's, South African Airways, PR Newswire-sponsored Ford-Dallara is driven by veteran Memo Gidley and rookie Dion von Moltke. They've recorded five top-10 finishes in six races, with a best finish of fourth at Barber Motorsports Park.
Another contending team in the GTP division has Ohio ties. Bill Mullen, the lead mechanic for the No. 10 Sun Trust Ford-Dallara, driven by Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor, hails from Hamilton.
Qualifying for the EMCO Gears Classic will be at 5 p.m. today at Mid-Ohio’s famed 13-turn course.
The race will also be televised live on SPEED Channel at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2851 or jbombatch@coxohio.com.