MAD DAWG FINALS from August 15tho First and Takes "Bounty Hunter" Award

 Chris Rini Takes Second Mad Dawg Win of the Season; Ronnie Gardner Runner-Up

 If you weren’t at the Mad Dawg finals last weekend, then you missed one of the best dawg races yet at Mooresville Dragway.  A record number entries was on hand, trying to make the final quick 8 Mad Dawg field of the season. Special thanks to the racers and crews as the show (and it was a darn GOOD one, was completed by 12 o’ clock!

  At all Mad Dawg races this year the number 1 and 2 qualifiers going into the final round of qualifying race of in the “Dawg Shootout”. Darrin Hoyle of Taylorsville, NC in his ’68 Camaro and Rocky Raynor of Greensboro, NC in his ’63 Corvette made up the “finals” dawg shootout. Taking the Low ET and shootout win was Darrin Hoyle with a 4.142 blast down the dirty mo 1/8^th, as the “We Fly Together” team experienced troubles off the start.

 If you weren’t at the Mad Dawg finals last weekend, then you missed one of the best dawg races yet at Mooresville Dragway.  A record number entries was on hand, trying to make the final quick 8 Mad Dawg field of the season. Special thanks to the racers and crews as the show (and it was a darn GOOD one, was completed by 12 o’ clock!

  At all Mad Dawg races this year the number 1 and 2 qualifiers going into the final round of qualifying race of in the “Dawg Shootout”. Darrin Hoyle of Taylorsville, NC in his ’68 Camaro and Rocky Raynor of Greensboro, NC in his ’63 Corvette made up the “finals” dawg shootout. Taking the Low ET and shootout win was Darrin Hoyle with a 4.142 blast down the dirty mo 1/8^th, as the “We Fly Together” team experienced troubles off the start.

Grudge of Statesville Finals from August 14th

Bunton Takes Grudge of Statesville finals over Dap  

  Folks its all about the good time and fun.....that's what was had last weekend down @ the Dirty Mo. James Bunton and Dap Morrison squared off in the final Grudge of Statesville this past Friday night in the game of "Blind Mans Draw". Bunton driving David Sherrill's '82 Chevy Truck and Dap in the Freddie Rush Chevy Nova. Both drivers made three time (qualifying) runs and was dial-in on their quickest run. Round 1- Well we forgot to put the blinder up on the tree...anyway, Bunton red-lighted and the Dapster took the win.  Round 2- through a mix up in dial-in's and Dap hitting the shifter by mistake, Bunton took win two. Round 3 the finals- it was Dap a little too early off the tree to Bunton's green. So, now what are we going to do.......stay tune for mo at the Dirty Mo. Note: the Dapster and  Bunton ran each third round Saturday night and guess who won that and got runner-up in the race?   Any questions? Call JB @ Bunton-Lebe Tires.......are sh@t man just watch the lil red truck go!  anyway....race straight and GO Fast!

Mad Dawg finals Qualifying Order

 NO.    Driver                          TIME

1          Darrin Hoyle               4.142

2          Ronnie Gardner          4.162

3          Robbie Keziah            4.188

4          Rocky Raynor            4.201

5          Todd Howard              4.203

6          Gilmer Hinshaw          4.203

7          Jim Teachman            4.215

8          Chris Rini                   4.216

9          David Campbell           4.220

10        Sambo Price               4.238

11        Chris Groom               4.261

12        “Baby Boy” McCauley  4.274

13        Mike Heath                 4.286

14        Jamie Chappell            4.287

15        Brian Shrader              4.310

16        Charles Terrell             4.423

17        Chris Cline                  4.552

18        Donnie Gibbs, Sr.        4.880

19        Andy Beal                   Broke

The final Mad Dawg of the ‘09 season was held at the Mooresville Dragway on August 15^th 2009. The driver that gets to take the bragging rights into the off season is the New Yorker Chris Rini. It was a worst to first night for Chris. He qualified his ATI Performance Dodge in the number eight position but quickly showed he would be the man to beat.

"We struggled in qualifying, and we had a hard time with the race track." Exclaimed Chris "We had to make some changes so before the first round of eliminations we made a four-link change. I called Jerry Bickel and told him what the situation was and he told what to do and obviously it worked. My crew chief Scott Cozalli took some horsepower out of it because that Charlie Buck motor is making some serious power."

With nineteen doorslammers looking to fight their way into the eight field qualifying was very close. Only seven hundredths separated the number one and eight qualifiers. Darrin Hoyle nabbed the pole position in his ‘68 Camaro with a 4.142. Car owner "Diamond" Jack Gaddy with wheel man Ronnie Gardner ended up second with a 4.165. After arriving late Robbie Keziah had one shot to get into the field and that was he needed. He posted a 4.188 in Tommy Mauney built ‘63 Corvette to take the third spot. Coming out of the fourth position was Rocky Raynor in his Hendrick Auto Mall Corvette. Rocky stopped the clocks with a 4.201.

Leading the bottom half of the field was the lone Ford to qualify. Former Quick 8 Pro Modified Champion Todd Howard driving Jerry Williams’ Ford Probe put a 4.203 on the board to get the fifth spot. "Happy" Gilmer Hinshaw in his Senecal Construction Chevrolet Cobalt was sixth with a 4.203. Jim "Teach" Teachman put his in the field in the seventh spot with a 4.215. Right behind Jim was the eventual winner Chris Rini with a 4.216 that got him in the show and him setting eighth.

The first pair up in round one eliminations was Todd Howard and Rocky Raynor. Rocky and the crew had been battling the car all night and their problems continued. Rocky was forced to lift around the hundred-foot mark because his Corvette kept going left while Todd drove through some tire shake running a 4.262 to get the win. The second pair to pull into the water box was Robbie Keziah and Gilmer Hinshaw. Gilmer had some trouble at the hit of the throttle while Robbie streaked to the finish line and posted the quickest pass of the night running a 4.14.

Next up was Ronnie Gardner and Jim Teachman. This race was over as soon as the tree activated. Gilmer turned on the red light while Ronnie blasted down the 1/8 mile with a 4.154 to turn on the win light. The final pair of the first round was the number one and eight qualifiers, Darrin Hoyle and Chris Rini. This was one of the best races of the night. The two left virtually together and when the race was over the win light came on in Chris’ lane. Chris ran a 4..155 to Darrin’s 4.158. The margin of victory was two hundredths.

When the semi finalists were called back to the lanes the track had cooled off even more but the action on the track didn’t. Ronnie Gardner was supposed to meet up with Robbie Keziah in the first pair of the semi’s. Ronnie got a bye run into the finals when Robbie couldn’t make the call. Ronnie didn’t take it easy though. He ran a 4.154 to get lane choice in the finals. After posting the quickest e.t. of the night in the first round the Fulton power plant in Robbie’s had two burnt pistons. "I don’t know why it burnt those two pistons up. It was a safe tune up. I think we have a nitrous solenoid that is messing up on us." Said Robbie

With one of the finalist set it was time to see who would meet Ronnie. It came down to Todd Howard and Chris Rini. This too was a good race, the two left the line but Chris started to pull away. Chris punched his ticket into the finals with a 4.155 but he missed lane choice by one thousandth of second.

The finals were set. Chris Rini and Ronnie Gardner had both won one Mad Dawg each and they both wanted to the fourth person to win two. After the two did their burnouts, they staged their cars. When the tree activated from amber to green Chris left first with a .012 to Ronnie’s .023. By the time that the two got to sixty foot Ronnie had made up the distance but at half track Chris had pulled back even with him. At about the same time Ronnie’s Cavalier started skating around and Ronnie pedaled it one time and the same time Chris pulled ahead and got the win. Chris ran a 4.147 at 182. Even though Ronnie pedaled it still ran a 4.200 at 180.

"We’ve been doing really good, and the Buck Hemi is running really strong. We set the record last week at Piedmont. The Hemi isn’t hurting itself. Charlie Buck is making real good power for us, and we’re running good laps. We’re running a little heavy. We were 2595 coming across the scales. We’re twenty pounds heavy. We’re not going into it on the edge, we’re playing it safe. We qualified on the tough side of the ladder. We didn’t want to come from the number eight spot, which made it real tough." Said Chris

Chris went on to say, "We ran a 4.155 in the first round to Darrin’s 4.158. Darrin is always tough. We were in the bottom half of the field and had to run the number one qualifier first round. Second round we had Todd Howard, I left on him and never looked back. We made another good lap. We made a couple of small changes and ran 4.151. In the finals I got off the line first with a .012 light to his .023. He beat me in the sixty. I had a .998 to his .973. At the 330 I had a 2.75 to his 2.77 and after that we just pulled away. We had a 182.90 mph in the finals. Ronnie Gardner is tough man to get around. He’s the Big Dog champion. He always puts up a good number. He knows how to tune the race car. He always cuts the tree down. That was a big round, a great final. That was a final that people want to see. People will set on the edge of their seat for that one. I don’t know if anyone heard me but I was screaming at the finish line! I have a lot of respect for Ronnie."

"I can’t thank Charlie Buck enough. His horsepower really turned our program around. Our ATI transmission is running flawlessly. We take them out after sixty runs just because. We check them out and they are fine. Carquest Auto Parts is always there with their support. Speedtech Nitrous is helping us this year. I want to thank my crew and all the guys that help us. Without these people we couldn’t so what we do. Mad Dawg is a lot of fun, and I can’t wait ‘til next year. I also want to thank Mooresville Dragway and RPM Magazine for all that they do." Noted Chris.

 Chris Groom's First Trip to the Dirty Mo Produces Him a "Lil Dawg" Win Over "Skinny Kid' Heath

 Chris Croom of LaGrange, NC, driving Bob Smith’s B &D Racing Engines powered ‘68 Camaro won the Little Dog race defeating Mike Heath driving Mark "the Kid" Jones Oldsmobile Cutlass. . This special “4 car” race for the competitors who didn’t make the “Big Show” had been won twice by “Skinny” Kid Mike Heath, driving Mark” the Kid” Jones Oldsmobile from Rural Hall, NC. Mike made it to the finals after getting a big hole shot win over David Campbell. Groom clicked off a Dirty Mo best for him 4.21 ET to get by “Mr. Back in Black” Sambo Price of Mt. Holly, NC. In the finals Heath turned it red by .009 and wasted a 4.29 ET, while Chris went into tire shake taking his first Lil Dawg.

Gaston Used Parts/Allied Bearing/Salisbury Cycle Center Points Race #9

Spaugh, Greer, Harkey, Finney and Payne Take Wins

  In the Gaston Used Parts/Allied Bearing race series action David Spaugh of Advance, NC picked his first TOP Eliminator for car owner Tony Owens Chevrolet Camaro. Spaugh used a .001 reaction time to hold the “Grudge of Statesville” winner from the night before James “MF” Bunton in David Sherrill’s lil red ’82 Chevrolet Truck. “It ain’t easy bein greasy” Spaugh ran a 7.63 ET at 86 MPH to Bunton and the boys 6.87 ET @ 98 MPH run. Chris Warren in his Pitts Repair Service Dodge Daytona and Jimmy Rapier in his “Double Nickle” Chevrolet were semi-finalist.

  This was a big night for “Fat Boy” and the G and F Roofing racing team, as it marked the first time victory for Tommy Greer The.young guns “Little Fat Boy” Tommy Greer and Ernie Humes III squared off in the finals of Foot Brake @ the dirty mo. Greer in his Beal Racing Engines ’73 Chevrolet Nova used a better reaction time and ran a 7.22 ET off a 7.19 dial-in @ 91 MPH to “Lil” Ernie’s 7.01 ET off a 7.00 dial-in @95 MPH in his “deadly” ’72 Dodge Demon. David Spaugh was a busy man Saturday night as he got down to the semi-final’s in his Ford Mustang, along with Tim Cowick in his Dodge.

The “mission man” Mitchell Harkey of China Grove, NC picked up his third Allied Bearing Junior Dragster win of the year defeating Noah Strickland of Concord, NC. Harkey the regining Allied Bearing Junior champion used a better starting line reaction time to hold off “lil” Strickland in the finals. Harkey ran a 7.98 ET @ 80 MPH to Noah’s 8.30 ET @ 77 MPH runner-up time. Another “Fat Boy” made a good showing Saturday night, Andrew Greer of Mocksville, NC in his Greer Roofing Dragster was the semi-finalist.

 It was Kevin Finney of Davidson, NC taking the ACE High Performance Real Street win over Shannon Justice of Lexington, NC. Finney in his ’98 Nissan ran closer to his dial-in (11.28 ET off a 11.22 dn) to stop the big Ford diesel Truck of Justice in the finals.

Lamond Payne of Winston-Salem, NC scored his second Salisbury Cycle Center Motorcycle win of the year defeating another fimilar dirty mo rider Chase Sandefur of Mooresville, NC. Payne on his Suzuki ran a 6.42 ET @ 105 MPH to hold off Sandefur’s 7.17 ET @ 102 MPH on his Suzuki.