Mark Vinson had an edge to him on Friday, and he was in a racing mood. The owner of the beautiful black 70 Monte Carlo from the picture above, he had every reason to be proud of his ride. An all steel, all chrome, luxury barge with SS 454 emblems and a boosted big block capable of shoving the big brute into the eights usually sets you apart in a crowd. But this is Drag Week, and you can imagine how it feels to quickly have your ride referred to as "the other black Monte Carlo"! To top that off, he had left eight hundredths on the table Wednesday, and his rival James Karger had already used that to slam the door shut on Mark's chance to win the class. So, his only choice was to go side by side with the two guys who were causing him such consternation! Naturally, the crowd enjoyed the first pairing, as Mark squared off with the big brother to his car, George Gallimore's twin turbo Monte. The bull horns exiting the front fenders, a cowl scoop, and slightly more rubber on the back are virtually the only visual cues that sets George's Monte apart from Mark's, but the 7.70 at 190 mph charges are what gives George top billing! The two made solid runs, with George's 7.90-181.4 finishing off his win over Trunkett's Duster in SSBBPA, and Mark's 8.57-163.9 landing right on his weekly average, one hundredth behind Karger's Notch Fox Body.
Later in the evening, with his time slip turned in, and his runner-up spot cemented, Mark sought out an audience with Karger, and James agreed to a gloves off grudge race. The battle didn't disappoint any of us who had hung around in the bleachers to watch. They made their way into the water with only fifteen minutes of track time left and Mark used a slight hole shot to outrun the white LSTuners.com Mustang 8.286-168.24, to a quicker but losing 8.276-165.78. Perhaps the best part was a well lubricated Lohnes yelling at the top of his lungs, proclaiming that match up as easily the best side-by-side drag race we had seen all day! In retrospect, he wasn't wrong.
"Livin' in a powder keg and givin' off sparks"
4 Street cars, 5 Race engines
