Oregon isn't known for its booming import lifestyle. I mean, do you know what comes from Oregon? Steers and, well, more steers. However, as a member of the illustrious Super Street staff, it was my civic duty to volunteer for the trip. And since no one else wanted to go and I drew the short straw, I had no choice. Luckily, it was a lot better than I thought. The hotel I stayed in was only a mile from the track, and many of the pros showed up for the race, so it wasn't half bad. Now if the fans only showed up we would have had a good ol' time. It seems that since this was the first time that the Woodburn Dragstrip was holding such an event, many of the fans didn't know that you were supposed to come back for the second day because that's when the eliminations were going to be held. So on the next day, the stands were pretty much empty. Nevertheless, records were broken, points were scored, and I got a cool new Super Street T-shirt from the shirt cannon guys. I also developed a new-found respect for corn.
Pro V-8The Pro V-8 class looked like an exhibition run as only one of the drivers showed up to this Northwest venue. Matt Scranton and the Turbonetics Celica made bye-runs all day in an effort to stack points onto his already seemingly untouchable lead. Although Matt was running alone, he didn't want to disappoint the handful of spectators that did show up, so he cracked off a couple of 195-plus-mph runs to show love.
ProThe Pro class was looking somewhat thin as well with only five competitors showing up for the showdown. John Lingenfelter and his new Summit Cavalier ended up as Number One qualifier for the weekend after having some issues getting his car to launch straight at the green. Grant Downing and the Venom Tundra were running strong all weekend, but the team's hopes for a win went up in smoke as the truck came apart during Round 2 eliminations. Abel Ibarra didn't get to make a full qualifying run because of a missing engine casing bolt, but was able to come back and run against Number Two qualifier Manny Cruz and his Cougar. In one of the closest and most exiting runs of the weekend, Manny squeaked by Abel at the finish with a 7.334 versus Abel's 7.353 to take the win in eliminations-only to break against Lingenfelter in the final round, giving the Pro class Summit Cavi the title for the weekend.
ModifiedMatt Hartford came to town with one thing on his mind-winning. The new Modified class Summit Cavalier, though controversial in its construction, passed inspection, and passed by the competition, as the Ecotec-powered Cavi took home the distinction of being the first Modified class car in the 7s with a 7.92 in Round 1 qualifying and a 7.88 in eliminations against Stephan Papadakis. Steph, though he went through the traps at 174.08-5mph faster than Matt-just could not match the hard launch of the new rear-drive Chevy. Jimmy O'Connor tried his hardest to be the first to the 6-second club, but mechanical difficulties kept the Venom Performance Supra from gaining admission. The rear-drive versus front-drive battle continued as Nelson Hoyos and Matt met up for an all-Cavalier finals. Once again, Matt took the victory even though Nelson had a better reaction time with a 0.634 versus a 0.692 and a faster run by almost 9mph.