2006 Finals-Cordova Raceway Park Oktober Fest

The Super Shifters visited Cordova Dragway Park for their final points race September 24th to determine who would win the coveted Jim Tanner Memorial Trophy.  Twenty-one cars showed up to put on the usual wild wheel-standing show.  As usual, the points race was razor thin going into the final event.  When the bell sounded for first round, no less than eight drivers were mathematically in the hunt for the championship.  Of course, it wouldn’t be a normal Super Shifters final race without a fair amount of drama.

Troy Schafer wounded the engine in his beautiful Ford Probe early in the time trials and Jim Sakellaris proved again what a true sportsman he is when he offered up his trusty ‘68 Mustang for Troy to drive.  Though Troy put up a valiant effort, the switch from an 8-second Lenco-equipped car to an unfamiliar 10-second clutch-assisted top-loader transmissioned vehicle proved to be too challenging and he made an uncharacteristic first round exit.  Other racers to leave early were Dave Keeling in his awesome GTO, Jerry Campbell in his big-block powered Chevelle, Carroll Nance in his 8-second Mustang, Bobby Ince in his immaculate ’67 Chevelle, Danny Neldner in the World’s Fastest EXP,  Ralph Conner in his venerable Camaro, Chris Schmitz in his feared ‘81 Camaro, Dave River in his 7-second Firebird, and Kyle Smith in his 8-second Firebird.

Second round brought Rob Pearce in his beautiful new Studebaker up against Craig Hejda’s ever-potent Maverick.  Both 8-second cars put on a great show with Craig posting the win.  Next up were two very popular wheel-standing machines:  Mike Schmitz and Robert Gale in a pair of early Camaros.  Mike’s screaming small-block prevailed over the big-block powered Gale machine.  Local talent Gary Klavon paired up with Billy Leaf in a battle of Chevelle vs. Nova.  Both cars carried the front wheels in fine fashion with Billy taking the stripe first.  Billy Miller brought his early M/P Camaro up against W.R. Buck’s 7-second Camaro and held on for the win as W.R. screamed by at over 180 MPH.  Scott Linder showed he was on a mission with his big-block powered Nova when he took out Don Clark’s ‘64 Fairlane.

Third round saw Hejda take out Schmitz, Leaf defeating Miller and Linder prevailing over Rich Lawson’s ever-popular wheel-standing early Camaro.

The semi’s brought more drama when Hejda put out points leader Leaf.  The bye belonged to Linder, who was now in a position to take the championship.  As the tree came down, Scott nailed the loud pedal and the Steve Schmidt big block went to the moon.  He limped it to the finish line and back to the pits to determine the extent of the damage.  The starting line chip had fallen out of the rev limiter, allowing the engine to explore the upper limits of the valve springs.  An ominous ticking noise came from under the valve covers.  After a brief thrash, a rocker arm adjuster was found to be loose and Scott made the necessary adjustments.  The final round was a tension-filled affair.  If Craig won, he would be the champ and if Scott won there would be a run-off with Leaf.  As Craig left the line, the Maverick moved towards the centerline.  Craig did a great job of driving, but the extra real estate used up enough E.T. to give the win to Linder.  So yet another Super Shifters points championship boiled down to a run-off.  Both cars did awesome burn-outs past the starting line,  and the drivers took their time staging.  Leaf left first and Scott barely tripped the red light, handing the win to Billy.  An enthusiastic crowd of racers and fans welcomed both racers back to the pits as another heart-pounding final event closed out the season.