The debut Small Tire Heads Up Challenge race at Eddyville Raceway Park was a great success with some incredibly close races between the field of competitors. Seven cars entered the no-holds barred Friday night rumble, but in the end it was #3 qualifier Mike Miller in his fox-body Mustang who walked away the victor.
In round 1 of qualifying John Puckett laid down a 5.99 pass in his nitrous assisted small block Mercury Capri, which proved to be the fastest pass in two rounds of qualifying, granting Puckett the number one qualifying position, first round bye, and an hour of dyno time from Lund Motors in Waukee, Iowa.
In the first round of eliminations #3 qualified Mike Miller faced off with #6 qualified Bob Lund. While both cars ran nearly identical 104 mph through the traps, it was Miller’s suspension which proved the difference, netting him a 6.62 to Bob’s 7.10. The highlight of round one came when #5 qualifier Chris Lund faced off against #2 Rob McGee. Lund, who had ran a best of 7.12 in qualifying, found the sweet spot in the setup and blistered the track with a 5.67 at 128 mph and advanced to the second round. RJ Landcaster found some extra power after qualifying, but his 7.34 wasn’t quite enough for Dan Fredregill’s Malibu, the lone Chevy in the field.
Second round could best be described as a Davis vs. Goliath battle, and proved that the fastest cars in the field don’t always win. Mike Miller faced off with John Puckett who had laid down three previous passes in the 5.9 and 6.0 range. Puckett was bitten by the nitrous back-fire bug as the tree came down and Miller was able to capture the round win. Chris Lund who still had the crowd wowed with his previous 5.67 pass had problems staging his Mustang and went red against Dan Fredregill’s Malibu.
In the final it was Mike Miller facing off with Dan Fredregill. The two cars qualified just .02 seconds apart in the #3 and #4 positions, respectively. However, no-one could have guessed how close the finish really would have been. Mike clicked off the timers at 6.37 and Dan at a 6.27, but Mike used a .08 reaction time to Fredregill’s .19 to win on a holeshot. The margin of victory at the stripe was .004 seconds!
A huge thank-you goes out to all of the racers and spectators who came out in support of this event, as well as Eddyville Raceway for giving heads up racing a new breath of life in the area, and Lund Motors in Waukee for the #1 qualifier dyno time award, which will be a feature of each event in the series this summer.
The next race will be held prior to the Midnight Madness Event on June 20th and is sure to be even more exciting! All competitors are invited to stay and make passes during the Midnight Madness event. Spectators are also invited to stay and enjoy some late night grudge racing action!
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