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Doug Allan

Darrin Hoyle knew he had one last chance in 2010 and decided to go for it.

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Brad Brand of Loganville, GA, qualified number one for Mike Hill’s Automatic Pro Mod race at Carolina Dragway Nov. 5-7, with a track record-setting 3.89 seconds at 197.08-mph pass in his turbocharged ’07 Mustang. Coby Rabon later beat Brand’s time by a hundredth, but since Brand was running 10.5W tires he remains the 10-wide record holder at the Jackson, SC, eighth-mile facility. Brand lasted only until the second round when traction woes did him in against David Partridge and his 1970 Chevelle.


“I’d run four-flat last year; I’d run four-flat this year, and I just couldn’t believe how hard it was to get that three-second run,” he admitted. “Whenever I go to a race I go to win, but this time I knew it was my last chance, so I decided I’d just go and have fun and see if we could get it done.”

The Taylorsville, North Carolina-based car dealer scored on both counts Nov. 5-7, at Carolina Dragway, qualifying his nitrous-boosted ’68 Camaro third in a 24-car Automatic Pro Mod field with a 3.96-seconds effort at 183.19 mph, then went on to win the final in 3.97 seconds at a career-best 183.22 mph.

Qualifying for the eighth-mile event began on Friday with two more rounds of qualifying followed by eliminations on Saturday, however crisp autumn air and low track temperatures convinced organizers to postpone much of the racing to Sunday afternoon.    

“I think with our small motor—we still run the same Fulton 762 I’ve had for the last five years—we didn’t have enough horsepower to overpower the track like some of these other guys were doing in these conditions,” Hoyle said. “I keep thinking we need to upgrade and buy a new motor, but then I think about how good this one still is. It’s a little outdated, but it’s been good to us this year.”

Hoyle caught a break in the opening round of competition when his car initially refused to start, but Tommy Mauney, driving Danny Blankenship’s bright red ’41 Willys, agreed to wait. Hoyle quickly got things sorted out and completed his burnout, only to find out Mauney’s ride also wouldn’t start. So Hoyle shut down and waited for Mauney until it became clear the famed chassis builder was out, and Hoyle made a traction-challenged 4.23 solo pass at 134.50 mph.

He stepped up again in round two, however, going a career-best 3.95 at 182.28 mph against Steve Drummond of Laurel, Delaware, who posted a 4.07 at 184.35 mph in his turbocharged, late-model Mustang. Then came the decision to postpone the completion of the event to the next day.

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With only his wife, Emily, helping as a crew member, Darrin Hoyle capped off his 2010 season at Carolina Dragway with his career-first, three-second pass and a convincing win in his Jerry Bickel-built, Fulton 762-equipped, ’68 Camaro.


“It was still pretty cold on Sunday and I was a little worried about that,” Hoyle recalled after making a pair of tire-shaking passes of 4.34 and 4.31 seconds to get past Kenny Kneece and Bubba Livingston, respectively. “So I did get a little lucky, but luck’s always good. And when it really counted it went right on down there, so I feel good about that.”

Waiting on Hoyle in the final was the Lugoff, South Carolina-based ’68 Camaro of 22nd qualifier Troy Jordan, who previously defeated Ric Fleck, DeWayne Silance and David Partridge before making a 4.91-seconds, semi-final bye run based on the 24-car ladder.

The two Camaros left the line within a thousandth of a second of each other (Hoyle .038; Jordan .039) and remained practically welded together to the 330-foot halfway point. Shortly after, however, Jordan suffered tire shake severe enough to pop a parachute free and he labored through in 4.23 seconds at just over 121 mph while Hoyle streaked ahead to win.

“We were dead even at half track and all of a sudden I started to pull away and that was the last time I saw him,” Hoyle said later.

“That took some work,” he added. “I just kept applying power where I thought it needed it and took it away where it didn’t; I couldn’t leave real hard because the air was so good and I was afraid of overpowering the track. The track was really good, though, they do a great job with it.

“It felt great to finally get that three (second pass) here and it made it one of the more exciting races I’ve ever won.”

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Troy Jordan never managed a good pass in qualifying and started from the 22nd position after a best effort of just 6.29 seconds at 67.75 mph in his supercharged ’68 Camaro. The “Blade Runner” came alive in eliminations, though, making a 4.02 pass at 182.75 to overcome a holeshot by Ric Fleck in round one, then caught a break in round two when his 4.50 at 121.83 was still good enough to beat a traction-challenged Dewayne Silance. Jordan, from Lugoff, SC, made his only three-second pass of the weekend in Sunday’s opening session of racing, going 3.97 at just over 185 mph to beat David Partridge, but faded to a 4.91 in a semi-final bye run, giving up lane choice to eventual race winner Darrin Hoyle.

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Danny Blankenship withdrew his black ’41 Willys from competition after struggling throughout qualifying with an ill-handling race car, giving Ridgeway, SC’s Coby Rabon a free pass in the first round of eliminations. Rabon, who qualified his turbocharged, Pro Line-backed Mustang second, went out and lowered the track record to 3.885 seconds, then doused the hopes of Brian Williams in round two, but came up short after a huge .242 holeshot by Bubba Livingston in Sunday’s cold-postponed quarter-finals.

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In just his first year behind the wheel of a blown, late-model Corvette, Alma, GA’s Colby Barber struggled in qualifying and brought up the rear of the 24-car field at Carolina Dragway, but made a nice 4.08 pass at 176.84 mph in the opening round of eliminations, only to fall to a holeshot by Kenny Kneece.

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Knoxville, TN’s Shay Loveday (near lane) pulled off the upset of the opening round when the 17th-place starter advanced past number-five qualifier Rickie Smith, who was racing for the first time ever with an automatic transmission in his race car. After leaving with a big .095 holeshot, Smith later explained he’d lost all momentum when the car shifted about 700 RPMs too soon. “All I can figure is I hit the shifter by mistake,” the nitrous racing legend admitted. “It was fun, though, and I’ll be doing more of this stuff next year.”

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Todd Tutterow (left), last year’s ADRL Pro Extreme champion, was at Carolina Dragway with his blown, small-block-powered ’01 Mustang, where he qualified sixth and got past Todd Robertson before falling to Kenny Kneece in round two. Tutterow was speaking with fellow North Carolina racer Brian Williams in the staging lanes shortly before number-eight starter Williams and his supercharged ’06 Vette also were eliminated in round two by Coby Rabun.

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The “House of Hook,” as Carolina Dragway is known, delivered a 3.99-seconds pass at 184.57 mph to reigning NMCA Pro Street champ Chris Rini that placed him seventh on the qualifying list. Rini and his Carmel, NY-based ’07 Stratus lost in the opening round of eliminations, however, to the ’70 Chevelle of 19th-place qualifier David Partridge of Hephzibah, GA. “That was a good pass that went bad quickly,” Rini later said of his tire-shaking exit.



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HOYLE HITS FOR 3 IN CAROLINA WIN

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