Text and Photos by Chris and Tera Graves Thu, 2015-10-01 12:00
The sixth event on the Painless Performance Products Outlaw Fuel Altered Association 2015 tour brought the series to San Antonio Raceway to be a part of the headlining show for the IHRA Nitro Jam tour. Fifteen cars came to battle for a spot in the ten car field. Jimmy Jones and the "Texas Tremor" team entered the event with the points lead a few rounds ahead of second place Donnie Massey in the "Showtime" entry. Friday night hosted the first of two qualifying sessions with final qualifying and eliminations on Saturday evening.
Mary Reep in the "Grim Reeper" from Austin, Texas met Massey in the final round. Reep was in her first final round of the season and looking to take home the Ironman, while Massey was in his second straight final round and aimed to close the gap on Jimmy Jones' points lead after Reep took out Jones in round one. At the flash of amber, Massey was out first and never trailed, posting a 3.88 at 187 mph to take the win over Reep's 3.96 at 167 mph. Massey's win brought him from a thirty one point gap to just an eight point gap with two events remaining in the 2015 OFAA season. The Championship battle is on!
Bobby Lee Marriott is a busy man at each and every OFAA event as he not only drives the "Shockwave" AA/Fuel Altered but serves as series president. Marriott qualified number eleven, but slid into the field as an alternate for Eric Buchanan who broke. Marriott's troubles continued when a wire on the starter switch broke in his first round match-up and the team was unable to make the call.Donnie Massey and team "Showtime" came into San Antonio fresh off a win at the previous event in Missouri. Massey qualified fifth and eliminated Ken Singleton and John Broussard to meet Mary Reep in the final round. A quicker reaction time and elapsed time doubled up the damage on Reep as Massey clicked off a 3.88 at 187 to score his second straight OFAA series victory. This win closed Jimmy Jones' point lead from 31 to just 8 with two events remaining this season.
Rockwall, Texas resident Donny McSwain made a semi-final round appearance in the "Wild One" blown alcohol entry. McSwain qualified ninth and snuck past Terry Brian in first round. In the semis, McSwain left the starting line first but Mary Reep had the ponies to drive around with a winning 3.96 to McSwain's 4.37.EricBuchanan.jpg/EricBuchanan2.jpg - Eric Buchanan is enjoying his first year back in OFAA competition after a ten year hiatus, now driving Terry Darby's "Nitro Relapse" entry. Buchanan notched his third top qualifying effort of the season with a 4.00 but kicked the rods out at the top end on his final qualifying pass. Hopefully this significant engine failure won't sideline the team for the rest of the season, but those nitro flames were sweet while they lasted!
In a huge first round match-up, Jimmy Jones (far lane) squared off with Mary Reep (near lane) in a heavy hitting blown alcohol battle. Jones spun the tires with apparent fluid exiting his engine just past sixty foot, which forced him to lift off the throttle and allowed Reep to blast by for the win. Reep's 3.97 at 184 mph advanced over Jones' 4.90 at 105 mph.John Broussard is the youngest driver in the OFAA series and youngest Champion after his impressive title in 2014. The "Purple Haze" team from Lake Charles, Louisiana qualified number eight with a 4.04 and posted a nice 3.98 at 179 to take out Mark Billington in the first round. Semi-final action brought an end to Broussard's day when he was unable to stage the car in his pairing with eventual event winner Donnie Massey.Mark Billington is a name most will recognize from Alcohol Funny Car racing, but recently Billington has been wheeling the Raymond Austin owned "Magic Dragon" AA/Fuel Altered out of Texas in OFAA competition. Billington and company qualified third in a tight field, but met their match in round one when his 4.13 at 188 mph came up short to John Brossard's 3.98 at 179 mph.Oklahoma City's Mark Bowman in "Blown Income" missed the cut in San Antonio, but always lays down those long smoky burnouts the fuel altered fans love to see.Austin, Texas resident Mary Reep had her best outing of the season in San Antonio. Reep qualified the "Grim Reeper" number seven and marched through the field eliminating Jimmy Jones and Donny McSwain to meet Donny Massey in the final. A solid runner-up finish to Massey moved Reep up in the points standings with two events remaining this season.Hometown favorites team "Sundown" with driver Nick Poloson and owner/tuner Tom Wood were in no shortage of header flames in San Antonio. Unfortunately, the team did not qualify for the ten car show and were forced to pack up earlier than expected. Despite not making the show, it was all smiles in their pit area as the team mingled with their many local fans.Raymond Dawson wheeled the "High Octane" blown alcohol entry to the number number six qualifying position in San Antonio. In first round eliminations, Dawson blasted to a 4.06 at 180 mph defeating Bobby Marriott, but was the fifth quickest winner and therefore did not receive a ticket to the semi-finals as only the quickest four winners would advance in the modified Chicago style format.
Terry Brian has made drastic improvements over the last year and a half with his "Nitro Warrior" AA/Fuel Altered. Brian nabbed the number four qualifying position with a 4.01 elapsed time and clicked off a stellar 3.79 elapsed time, just .008 under the 3.80 elimination index, which resulted in a first round loss to Donny McSwain.
