Jim Daniels, of Bristol, Pa., drove his Ray Barton Racing 1968 Dodge Dart to the provisional No. 1 spot after two qualifying sessions today in the Mopar® HEMI® Challenge Race Series event at the JEGS Northern SPORTSnationals. Daniels posted an elapsed time (ET) of 8.540 in the first qualifying session to claim the top spot at National Trail Raceway and then defended his position in the second qualifying round with a Super Stock class-best ET of 8.511.

“I’ve worked really hard for this,” said Daniels, who will aim for his first career Mopar HEMI Challenge pole and second career HEMI Challenge win tomorrow. “Ray and David [Barton] have put some really long hours in preparing the car and the motor. We’re really pleased with the car and we’re looking forward to tomorrow.

Jim Daniels, of Bristol, Pa., drove his Ray Barton Racing 1968 Dodge Dart to the provisional No. 1 spot after two qualifying sessions today in the Mopar® HEMI® Challenge Race Series event at the JEGS Northern SPORTSnationals. Daniels posted an elapsed time (ET) of 8.540 in the first qualifying session to claim the top spot at National Trail Raceway and then defended his position in the second qualifying round with a Super Stock class-best ET of 8.511.

“I’ve worked really hard for this,” said Daniels, who will aim for his first career Mopar HEMI Challenge pole and second career HEMI Challenge win tomorrow. “Ray and David [Barton] have put some really long hours in preparing the car and the motor. We’re really pleased with the car and we’re looking forward to tomorrow.

“I did a pretty lousy job of driving at the Mopar HEMI Challenge event at Indy. Hopefully I can redeem myself tomorrow.”

Daniels was closely trailed by a pack of Mopar-powered Super Stock A/HEMI (SS/AH) Dodge Darts and Plymouth Barracudas, led by Charlie Westcott Jr., of Parma, Mich. Westcott Jr. was No. 2 after today’s qualifying sessions, posting an ET of 8.533 paired with a class-best speed of 157.25 mph.

“The second run held some potential,” said Westcott Jr., driver of the 1968 “Warfish” Barracuda and owner of numerous Mopar HEMI Challenge event wins. “We’ll see what tomorrow holds.”

Rounding out the preliminary Mopar HEMI Challenge JEGS Northern SPORTSnationals field, in order, were David Barton, Gary Wolkwitz, Stephen Herbert, John Rains, Jim Pancake, John Baughman, Don Bales, Russ Campbell and Jerry Daily.

In the Stock Eliminator class, Charlestown, Ind., native Irv Johns steered his Dodge Challenger Drag Pak by Mopar to the provisional No. 1 spot. Johns posted an ET of 9.976, the quickest run ever by a Drag Pak by Mopar vehicle, during the second qualifying session of the day. Johns also earned the top speed of the class with a run clocked at 134.46 mph.

“We have the fastest Drag Pak on the strip,” said Johns. “I love it. It’s really an easy car to drive. The car rode the lights on me, which took some off our time. We can go in the low nines.” 

Daniels and his fellow Mopar HEMI Challenge Race Series competitors have a final qualifying session scheduled for tomorrow morning, Sept. 26. Final eliminations for the Mopar HEMI Challenge are tentatively scheduled for 1 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.

Advertisement