Dirt
SWEET 16
forgotten, either, especially since his blast of 3.642
at 216.20 in the Andrew Alepa-owned C7 Cor-
vette qualified him No. 2. It was a remarkable
run from Pharris, even if his weekend ended with
some surprising tire shake against Haney in the
second round. Still, you couldn’t help but enjoy
the performances all weekend from Pharris in
that striking maroon Corvette.
HANCOCK GETS IT DONE
Jamie Hancock provided another feel-good
moment of the weekend, becoming the first
nitrous-powered radial car to reach the 3.60s
when he went 3.68. Remarkably enough, it was
also the quickest pass ever for Hancock’s Firebird,
as Hancock and his father continue to hold their
own against teams with far bigger budgets.
In the midst of Micke’s first record-breaking
run on Thursday, Frank Soldridge was having a
pass he wishes he could have back. He crashed
violently into the left wall, barrel-rolling several
times. Though pretty beat up, he escaped any
serious injury.
class as they look for any and every advantage for
increased performance and consistency.
LOHNES, SEBRING KEEP
IT ENTERTAINING
Huge kudos to the wildly enjoyable perfor-
mances from announcers Brian Lohnes and Lee
Sebring over the weekend. It’s a real challenge to
keep the excitement and conversation going at
a single-category race, but Lohnes and Sebring
more than pulled it off. From their hysterical
outfits – the Dumb & Dumber look was stupen-
dous – to their interesting back-and-forth, the
duo knocked it out of the park, another big reason
why the weekend was such a success.
MOST UNUSAL ENGINE
COMBINATION
The wild combo award goes to Marty Stinnett,
who made a career-best pass with the small-
block-Chevy-powered combo in his Mustang.
Stinnett also recovered from scuffing the wall on
the first pass of the weekend, returning to qualify
12th with a 3.758.
THE MASTER OF D.I.Y.
CONSISTENCY THE NAME
OF THE GAME FOR GIUST
Paolo Giust wasn’t the quickest, qualifying 13th,
but he rode consistency all the way to the semi-
finals. Running his Jim Salemi-tuned, 5-speed
Liberty-equipped first-gen Camaro “Black Betty,”
the Canadian was impressive doing things his way.
The car had awesome starts, and ran smoothly
from A to B and before being finally ousted by
Micke in the semifinals.
EXTREME MEASURES
SOLDRIDGE THANKFULLY
WALKS AWAY
Can we count this as wacky or will it prove to
be innovative? Bryan Markiewicz brought some
la te-model, circle track technology to the drag-
strip, using some moon-style wheel covers for
his ’69 Chevy Camaro. The concept tested well
in the wind tunnel and Markiewicz followed with
a respectable showing on the track, qualifying
ninth with a 3.740. If nothing else, it shows some
impressive forward-thinking by the drivers in this
MILLER MAKES MIRACULOUS
APPEARANCE
No, Jeff Miller didn’t qualify in the top 16, but
just making it to the event was a feat in itself.
Just a week after crashing into the wall during
a test session at Carolina Dragway, Miller was in
Valdosta, racing the Bumblebee to a career-best
3.81. How it happened made Miller one of the
biggest success stories of the weekend, as the
team worked around the clock to get the car back
together, with Nick Stephens making a 2,000-
mile round trip for a front cap. To then run a
career-best number just 17 hours after the car
was ready, you couldn’t help but have a smile on
your face. This was one more definite feel-good
moment in a weekend filled with them.
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
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Without Jeff Naiser, maybe we wouldn’t have
seen Jamie Hancock going in the 3.60s this week-
end. Naiser, the ultimate do-it-yourselfer, builds
his own engines and always represents himself
well, running a 3.722 on Thursday, proving the
3.60s in a nitrous car were possible. With X275
standout Kenny Hubbard offering assistance,
Naiser was solid, no surprise for anyone who
has watched him compete over the years in a
multitude of classes.