WORDS AND PHOTOS BY IAN TOCHER
As it turned out, the one driver who had never before entered
a Pro Mod race secured the team victory for the AMS All-Stars
at the inaugural Dragstock, an impressive festival of speed
and music staged Oct. 8-10, 2004 at Carolina Dragway in Jackson,
South Carolina. Unexpectedly subbing for his famous father,
who was nursing a back injury, Scott Cannon Jr. entered the
final round of racing just needing a win over number-one qualifier
John Lynam to seal victory for the All-Stars.
At the green, Cannon left first with a .091 holeshot over
Lynam's .171 reaction, his worst of the weekend, then tripped
the lights in 4.178 seconds to Lynam's quicker but losing
4.026-second pass. That made the final score 21-18 in favor
of the AMS gang, earning each member a $2,500 payday, while
each member of the Flowmaster Outlaws took $1,000 home for
their efforts.
Although the rules for Dragstock allowed the AMS
drivers to run very liberal outlaw set-ups, Cannon Sr.
said he was just running his car's blower at 25 percent
overdrive (20 percent is legal in NHRA-sanctioned AMS action)
and he'd taken "all the weight out," leaving
the 1953 Studebaker about 2,650 pounds on the scales.
Dragstock's unique raceday format featured three sessions
of 11 pairings each, with team members from the All-Stars
and Outlaws repeatedly racing each other. No one was eliminated
by a loss, but the winner of each race received one point
for his or her team, plus one point was awarded for both
low e.t. and top speed following each session, making a total
of 39 points available.
By defeating John Lynam
on a hole shot Scott Cannon Jr., son of Pro Mod legend
Scotty Cannon sealed the victory for the AMS All-Stars
on the final race of the final round of the unique
ADRL Team Challenge. |
Fan voting before the event established three members on
each team, broken down by those drivers who had previously
raced in an NHRA AMS Pro Mod event and all others. Three
qualifying sessions on Saturday determined the remaining
eight positions on each team, as well as set the field for
the $10k-to-win Didicom Clash that night, a Quick 8 race
for the top qualifiers, regardless of team affiliation.
A 3.98 qualifying effort at more than 188 mph by Jason Scruggs
was disallowed after race officials determined that Scruggs,
one of the three voted-in Outlaw team members, must race
the first car he sent down the track.
In the final pairing, John Lynam needed not only to
win the round, but also earn the bonus points available
for setting low e.t. and top speed marks of the session
for the Outlaws to pull off the team victory at Dragstock. |
Scruggs previously made a low four-second pass early
in the session with his blown small-block Chevy-powered
'63 'Vette, then made the three-second run in his newer
hemi-powered Corvette. "I thought that since I was guaranteed a spot
[on the team] I could qualify both, then withdraw one for
racing," Scruggs explained. "I wasn't trying to
take away a place from anyone, that's for sure."
No matter, Scruggs said he knew the small-block car was
better and proved it with a 3.990 at 180.48 mph win over
Mike Ashley (4.022/182.01) in the first round of the Quick
8 race. He fell in the second round, however, to eventual
race winner John Lynam.
The first Dragstock proved to be popular both with
the racers and the fans and the ADRL event is sure to be
the "happening" place
to be in the future.
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