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When you think of Thunder Valley , you somehow seem to think of rain, right? Well not this year. The 13th Annual O'Reilly Thunder Valley Fun Ford Weekend was all about the thunder on the track. Let's get right to the action.
In the Mr. Gasket Pro class, we had nine cars entered. Chuck Samuel blasted off a 6.646 to take the #1 Qualifier spot. The #2 spot was Brit Floyd with a 6.692@213.13. Next was Randy Eakins at 6.721@210.34, followed by IHRA Pro Stock driver Doug Kirk at 6.768@206.51, Dan Parker at 6.855@205.98, Joe DaSilva at 6.866@219.15, Chuck Simons at 6.931@205.16, John Mihovetz and his turbo powered mod motor Cougar at 7.008@198.44, and Frank Snellings at 7.456@206.48.
In the first round of eliminations, Doug Kirk took the win over John Mihovetz with a 6.694@208.41 to John's 8.109. Brit Floyd took out Canada 's Joe DaSilva with a 6.844@210.57 to Joe's 6.980@218.76. Chuck Simons ran a 6.714@208.26 against a Randy Eakins who was a little too anxious and red lit. Dan Parker had an easy run against Frank Snellings who was a no-show and already on the trailer. Chuck Samuel had a bye run of 6.590@214.42.
 Round #2 had Chuck Simons take out Dan Parker with a 6.739@210.37 to Dan's 6.854@213.70. Chuck Samuel ran 6.665@214.55 to defeat IHRA driver Doug Kirk. And Brit Floyd ran a 6.923@211.93 for his bye run.
In round #3, Chuck Samuel ran a 6.688@213.94 to defeat Brit Floyd who ran a 7.415@162.29 and had a small fire due to an oil leak. Chuck Simons coasted through his bye run with a 8.848@106.34.
In the finals, it was a battle of the Chuck's. The #1 qualifier, Chuck Samuel against the #7 qualifier Chuck Simons. In a very close run to the finish, Samuels edged out Simons with a 6.896@211.89 to a losing 6.901@209.59.
In the ProCharger Street Outlaw class, it was Billy Glidden leading the pack as the #1 qualifier with a 7.332 in a field of 11 cars. The #2 qualifier was Brad Brand of Loganville , GA making his first Outlaw appearance of the year. Travis Franklin back from an extended absence qualified #3 with a 7.492@184.47. To round out the Top 5 were Duke Alley with a 7.520 and Randy Leavy with a 7.533.
 In the final round it was "Turbo" Chip Havemann (who took out Billy Glidden in round 3) against the #5 qualifier Randy Leavy. Randy was too much for Chip as he powered to a winning 7.746@188.17 to Chip's 7.944@180.91.
Now on to ProCharger Street Renegade. Another large field in this class, with 11 competitors. The #1 qualifier was Joe Robinson with a 8.116@171.42 and he had it going on all weekend. In the finals Joe Robinson was paired up against the #5 qualifier Terry Cain. Joe got a big jump off the line and motored to a 8.600@165.33 to Terry's 9.446@121.70.
In the BFGoodrich Drag Radial class, Big Daddy returned to take back his crown. After qualifying #1 with a blistering 8.199@177.95, he took back the spotlight by beating Florida 's Michael Dees in the finals.
 The Edelbrock Street Bandit class "regulars" were at it again. Although Kevin Toothman who wrecked in Atlanta earlier in the year was back to join in, it was all Rod Houck, Ken Compton and Matt Jones....again. Rod qualified #1 with an 8.835 but lost in the third round to Ken Compton. In the finals Matthew Jones bested Ken Compton with a 8.994@152.81 to a slower 9.467@131.95.
In the Probe Forged Piston Street Warrior class, points leader Darrell Peterson qualified #1 with a 10.163 but lost to Rob Mollett in the finals. Rob clicked off a 10.318@130.91 to defeat Darrell who ran a 10.470@131.79.
And in the "new and improved" Superchips Street Stang class, newcomer Todd Conrad Jr. of Maryland took the top qualifier spot with a 12.636. Todd then defeated another newcomer, Mark Anderson in the finals with a 12.917@90.16 to a losing 13.549@105.02
The Steeda/Hyland Mod Motor class is always a tough class, especially when you have 37 other cars trying to take home the bacon. This year it has been all about Robert Hindman, the best of the best...but this time someone was better. Robert was taken out in round 4 by Patrick O'Gorman who was on his way to the finals. Once there, he was matched up against another tough competitor, Stacy Estel. But Stacy was too much for Patrick in a very close race.
Another tough class is the JDM Tough Truck class. It's not the fastest who wins, it all about consistency. Dusty Olinger of New Market, VA proved to be the most consistent one by going through a field of 23 on his way to the finals. Dusty took down veteran Chris Parisi in the finals.
 In the Vortech Focus Frenzy class, nine cars filled the class for Sunday's eliminations. In the end it was last year's champ Owen Spry who beat Brandon Hedges to claim the victory.
The UPR All-Ford car show was again fanastic. The beautiful weather brought out some of the best looking vehicles around. With the Bristol Motor Speedway as a backdrop, over 130 vehicles of all varieties packed car show area. Some of the winners from the weekend included David Evans for Best Engine, Ed & Mary Randall for Best Paint, Chad Noel for Best Interior, and Chris Francis won the UPR's Choice with his '00 Atlantic Blue GT. The show's best honor, the Best of Show award went to an awesome 1963 red Falcon/Sprint owned by Ricky Widner.
In the Roush Performance Bracket classes, Saturday's winners were Danny Towe in Street Ford, Tommy Hussey in Quick Ford and Robert Hindman in Fast Ford. Sunday's winners were Danny Towe in Street Ford, Randy Boyd in Quick Ford and Shane Williams in Fast Ford. The True Street backet winner on Sunday was Mike Ingram.
The Tremec Transmission True Street class had 86 cars to start the cruise. The fastest ET went to Baron Yarber with a 9.486 average. The 2nd fastest was Owen Spry with a 9.558 average. The top finishers were Shelly Smith (Top 10 sec) 10.107 avg., David Bartley (Top 11 sec) 11.027 avg., Gary Sanders (Top 12 sec) 12.000 avg., Jeff Demlimbreum (Top 13 sec) 13.037 avg., Jamie Lester (Top 14 sec) 14.162 avg. and Steve Marcum (Top 15 sec) 15.032 avg.
Thanks to all the racers, spectators, sponsors and track personnal that make these events happen. And special thanks to our event sponsor O'Reilly Auto Parts.
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