May 12, 2007 - Opening Race Tech Mad Dawg event at Mooresville
July 28th- 1st annual DOORcarpalooza at Mooresville
September 8th- Mad Dawg at the Dirty MO
October 6th- Fall DOORCARfest '07 at Mooresville
(5-04-08) Mocksville,NC- Until yesterday's season opener, Gilmer Hinshaw had never once qualified for a Mad Dawg event, despite several previous attempts. When he finally did make the show, he flat stole it.
Hinshaw, a 2004 NHRA divisional champion in Top Sportsman, campaigned a Chevy Monte Carlo in years past that was free of modern conveniences like a computer, and other gadgets Hinshaw refers to as "fancy stuff". "I was an old school racer that would just make changes and hoped they work, then until I discovered there was a better way", laughed Hinshaw.
His latest ride, a Don Ness Cobalt, is lacking Tutterow, still fighting to regain control, got the Willys stuck in the groove and was coming on strong as Hinshaw barely broke the beams to activate his win light. "I had him by 40 mph at the finish line, and I thought Inothing in the area of technology or performance, not to mention it's pretty easy on the eyes. Motivated by a Scott Duggins-prepared 763, Hinshaw not only qualified for the season opener, he ran low et during a final session blast of 4.214 @ 174mph.
Fans were standing in the bleachers and lining up along the fence at Farmington yesterday evening as the Outlaw Mad Dawgs rolled to the line for round one eliminations. Hinshaw faced the Pontiac Grand Am of Jamie Chappel in an entertaining dash that could have went either way. Chappel was late out of the gate, and Gilmer's Cobalt was dancing in and out of the groove. Hinshaw was there for the taking with a 4.64, but Chappel had issues of his own, clocking 4.69 at the stripe.
After wounding his motor in the semi finals Andy Beal was unable to compete in the final round.
Hinshaw's semi-final match up with Todd Tutterow was a back and forth chess match that began with a Tutterow hole shot. Tutterow's Willys shook hard and early, and Hinshaw pulled away toward the finish line. Without a hint of warning though, Hinshaw was suddenly in trouble himself as his Cobalt began to break traction and fishtail around 400 ft.
was going to catch him there for a minute", commented Tutterow, after a wild semi-final. Hinshaw stopped the clocks with a 4.47 at a coasting 134mph. Factor in Tutterow's starting line advantage, and his 4.50 @ 170mph made this an incredibly close decision at the 660 mark.
On the other side of the semi-final ladder, Andy Beal made good use of the first alternate position when Darrin Hoyle hurt a piston in round 3 qualifying, preventing him from answering the call for round one eliminations. Beal got past new comer J.D. Goad in round one, then stopped Todd Howard in the semis. Concern begin to mount though as Beal neared the finish line on that semi-final run. Streaking up through the night sky was a visible orange glow, presumably a piece of wounded Big Block Chevy. Back in the pits, a quick look revealed a hurt motor, thus preventing Beal from meeting Gilmer Hinshaw in the finals.
Hinshaw delivered a breath-holding single run for the fans as his Cobalt skated and danced once again on the top end, clocking 4.25 @ 161mph to take his first Mad Dawg victory back home to Burlington, NC. In addition to his
primary sponsor, Kresto, Gilmer Hinshaw wishes to thank Ron Senecal, Larry and Jason Tutterow at Carolina Drilling, PAR Racing Engines, Bruno Racing Transmissions, Hoosier Tires and wife, Debbie Hinshaw.
Mad Dawg action returns to Farmington on June 14, for the second of six scheduled events in 2008. For more information about the Outlaw Mad Dawgs, including sponsorship opportunities, race team members and complete schedule, please visit www.outlawmaddawgs.com
Story and photos by:
Van Abernethy Press Releases
Two former Mad Dawg runner-up’s, Burlington, NC’s Ronnie Gardner and Kannapolis, NC’s David Lambert, made up the “Dawg” finals at Mooresville Dragway in the annual DOORCARpalooza. Both drivers had their hands full in a “funny car” style pedal fest finals. Gardner in “Di
amond” Jack Gaddy’s Chevrolet Camaro hit a .009 reaction time off the start but got out of shape after the 60ft. The “JunkYard Dawg” Lambert Chevy Cavalier moved, but a bad stumble in the rpm’s coming up killed all reaction. That didn’t stop him as he seen an out of shape Gardner out of the gas. That’s when Ronnie got back on the gas of his 762 cu.in. motor with 4 stages of nitrous to stay ahead of Lambert. The finish line margin of victory was .011 thousandths in what was the strangest but closest races of the day. Only at the Mad Dawg!
David Campbell of Oxford, NC lead all the Mad Dawgs with a 4.24 ET at a new speed record of 179 MPH in his Eagle Racing Engines, Campbell Trucking & Repair Pontiac Grand Am. He was up ended in the semi’s by the Gardner and Gaddy Camaro on a hole shot win. “Lil Daddy” Jason Harris of Pittsboro, NC in his 632 Albert Racing Engines Pontiac was five thousandths too quick at the start giving the “Junk Yard” Dawg the easy ride to the finals.
Mad Dawg Highlights: David Campbell Sets New Dawg Speed record at the Dirty Mo! Using Eagle Racing Engine power in the former Greg Anderson Pontiac Grand Am, David Campbell was the “King of Speed’ at Mooresville going 179 MPH three times. Campbell also set low ET of the meet in his Campbell Trucking & Repair Pontiac Grand Am with a 4.22. Using the 1022 Good Year tire (slick) also help Campbell speed down the Mooresville 1/8th mile to a new Mad Dawg record. David lost a heart breaker to the Gardner/Gaddy team in the semi’s. Ronnie used a holeshot to beat him by .022 at the stripe(4.22 ET for Campbell to Gardner’s 4.24 ET). Will Campbell and the “Thunder wolf” be the first dawg into the 180 MPH range? It was a homecoming for the “Junkyard Dawg” David Lambert of Kannapolis, NC as he definitely had the larges group of supporters at the Dirty MO. Saturday night made Lambert’s second Mad Dawg runner-up. J.D. Goad of Lexington, VA picked up the Bunton-Lebe’s Tire & Automotive “Burn Out” Contest award for the most nasty, longest, out of shape burn out during qualifying. Goad the number three qualifier with his Par Racing Engines Chevrolet Lumia lost in round one to Gardner. It was good to see first time Mad Dawg “Dirty MO” racers out at Mooresville Saturday night. Long time drag racers Jason and Bob Harris of Pittsboro, NC, J.D. and W.D. Goad of Lexington, VA, Darrin Hoyle of Taylorsville, NC and Mike Heath of Pfafftown, NC Mark “the Kid” Jones of Rural Hall, NC had a tough day at the track in the first round of Mad Dawg qualifying driving Jim Wheatley’s Chevrolet Camaro. The “Kid” was off to a good run with a 1.03 60 ft, but the car took a hard turn with him, maybe breaking an axle. After that it was all he could do to keep from hitting Darrin Hoyle and keeping it off the guard rail. The car rubbed up against the rail and got off the ground on two wheels, before coming back down to a safe stop. Mad Dawg Official Qualifying from July 19th, 2008 “DoorCarpalooza at Mooresville 2 David Lambert Kannapolis, NC 4.272 170.72 3 J.D. Goad Lexington, VA 4.274 170.72 4 Jason Harris Pittsboro, NC 4.305 169.26 5 Darrin Hoyle Taylorsville, NC 4.309 166.80 6 Andy Beal Thomasville, NC 4.311 171.96 7 Ronnie Gardner Burlington, NC 4.317 169.48 8 Gilmer Hinshaw Burlington, NC 4.339 176.79 9 Jamie Chappell Boonville, NC 4.356 165.95 10 Joel Douglas Statesville, NC 4.364 165.15 11 Tony Dale Wilson Mooresville, NC 4.374 165.63 12 Mike Heath Pfafftown, NC 4.388 169.54 13 Greg Patilio, Jr. Charlotte, NC 4.499 163.03 14 Dap Morrison Statesville, NC 4.537 157.80 15 Mark “kid” Jones Rural Hall, NC 6.058 74.11 16 Chad Tilley Lexington, NC N/T
No. Driver Hometown TIME MPH
1 David Campbell Oxford, NC 4.248 179.11
