After a couple of repeat winners emerged this summer in both the 4.70 Door Slammer and 4.50 Dragster classes for the first time ever, some wondered if the parity of the classes would fade away and the door for dominance would open. In the group’s August event held at beautiful Beech Bend Dragway in Bowling Green, Ky, first-time winners Ryan Gibson and Brian Jones proved that is not the case.

Ryan, driving his turbo-powered Firebird, defeated a field of 46 cars to claim his $10,000 check for the G-Tech Cleaners 4.70 Class win over Ron Barnhill’s Ohio-based Mustang. His .006 reaction time (4.76) was all he needed as Barnhill was tardy on the tree and broke out (4.68) trying to make up the difference. Gibson took a bye run into the finals while Barnhill and Jerry Duke raced to a near dead heat. Both drivers were .015 on the tree and ran 4.707 ET for a margin of victory of .000.

Seth Garrison was the No. 1 qualifier with a 4.7000 148.01 mph pass. A total of 9 drivers qualified with a 4.70 elapsed time.

In Outlaw Trailers 4.50 action, Brian Jones and runner-up Cody Wiggins both recorded .024 reaction times but Jones ran dead on 4.500 to defeat Wiggins 4.516. In the semi-finals, Jones defeated past winner Aaron Roberts while Wiggins won over Ron Stayer Jr.

Derrick Laney was the No. 1 qualifier with his 4.500 156.12 mph shot in the opening qualifying session. After the second and final qualifier, no less than four drivers had run 4.500, and a total of 19 of the 51 entries had qualified with a 4.50 elapsed time. Unbelievably, the aforementioned Aaron Roberts qualified #20 with a 4.510.