2006 Pure Stock Musclecar Drag Race - Clash Of The Titans

Letting It Fly
The Pure Stock Drags has a racing format all its own. Run your best time on Friday or Saturday morning, then on Saturday afternoon you're paired against the car running closest to your times in a best-two-out-of-three, heads-up shootout. It's a simple formula that guarantees you the most competitive race possible. This clash of the titans promised to be that.

Round One. Showtime. Jimmy, one of the Pure Stock Drags' burnout kings, burned his Polyglas GTs into a near-molten state, then rolled into the staging beams. Julie, sticking with her game plan, did a dry burnout and pulled forward. The lights ticked down and they were off. The two moved as if one car. Reaction times were nearly identical: 0.13 for Jimmy; 0.11 for Julie. As they cleared the Christmas tree and moved toward midtrack, they were dead even. The 60-foot times were also virtually identical: 1.90 for Jimmy; 1.88 for Julie. It was a spectacular sight and sound to watch this pair catapulting forward with 1,000-plus combined horsepower. At the traps, Julie flashed by first, just a tenth ahead of Jimmy: 11.68 at 120.75 versus 11.79 at 120.36.

Round Two. One more like before and Julie could wrap this one up. Jimmy exploded off the line with a spectacular 0.086 reaction time and left Julie in the dust. She redlighted and casually sauntered down the track. Jimmy poured it on and speed-shifted his way to his best e.t. of the weekend: an 11.69 at 121.72. That evened it up at one apiece. That run just might have beat Julie's Round One pass. If he could run one more just like that or even quicker, he just might pull off a huge win.

Round Three. It was all coming down to the wire. It's the final winner-take-all run of the Pure Stock Drags, and nobody was leaving the stands. You would guess that after Julie's Round Two redlight, she's probably going to be conservative on the launch, so Jimmy had the momentum here.

Jimmy had his engine idled up to 1,800 rpm to get a consistent load for the clutch. In the near lane, that was the same rpm Julie was powerbraking to. The lights come down and at the last yellow, they pulled the trigger. Sure enough, Julie started late, but Jimmy redlighted! Julie doesn't want the handout. Instead she puts the spurs to the L88 and lets it fly. It all comes together on this run as Julie rockets through the big end, setting one more record with a red hot 11.54 at 120.75.

"I knew I had to cut a good light because the car was a tenth faster," Jimmy said afterwards. "She redlighted the time before, so I knew she would be timid on pushing the tree. My redlight didn't really matter anyway because it lost traction in second gear, and I just about hit the wall. All is good. I'll get her next year."

Tech Teardown
Meanwhile, there was still one last objective. When the Corvette coasted to a stop back in the pits, Terry and a team of mechanics popped the hood and began disassembling the engine. All weekend Terry was getting wind of comments that his car was a cheat. He intended to put a stop to that. Out came the radiator and off came the intake and heads. Out came the cam.

Standing by with micrometers in hand was Scott Tiemann, Pure Stock Drags chief tech inspector. Scott had also been getting an earful from other racers who found the L88's e.t.'s very suspect. He measured everything in sight and went so far as to cc the heads. All checked out. Exhaust manifolds were untouched, Thermactor bosses and all. Not the first grinder mark in the heads or intake. Compression was within spec. Terry didn't even gasket match the ports. Scott took the cam home and checked it against a N.O.S. L88 cam. It was completely legit. Looks like the Brand-Xers just had a bad case of L88 envy. It happens.

The Clash of the Titans was now complete. And who would be a more unlikely prospect for conquering the fastest field ever at the Pure Stock Drags than a rookie girl? Never underestimate the power of a long shot, especially when it's powered by an L88.