Ozark Mountain Super Shifters: Our Story

For the last five years the final points race held at Cordova during their Octoberfest (or should we say Carnage Fest) has been wild to say the least and this year was no exception.

Bobby Ince started it Saturday with a broken ring and pinion. Like the Shafers, his team changed it between rounds. River's clutch was so goofed up he took it home to fix it on the hoist.

Sunday the breakage got violent. Jerry Campbell, while doing a burn-out, spit big chunks out of the pan and ran over them with the spinning slicks. A chunk of rubber coated connecting rod flew out behind the Chevelle and hit a golf cart. Luckily, no one was injured. Jerry's big 555 got along fine without that rod and piston he had to reach up and shut the motor off - IT WAS STILL RUNNING! Jerry had just two weeks to get his 468 out of Scott's Nova for the Comp. Eliminator final race, in which he was currently 1 round out of 1st place.

The breakage continued in eliminations. Chuck's Vega broke the ring and pinion. Rob broke Gary Hughs' motor in the Studebaker. Guy broke his 555 in the Monte, then Scott broke Jerry's 468. Believe it or not there is more damage. Rumor has it one of our cars had its parachute grab Pastor Floyd's water stand on the return road and knocked the water jug, cups, and the stand all over the place.

One thing that did go right that day was the big feed headed up by the Klavon group. Plenty of chops and all the food was great down to Rob's dad's cherry cheesecake. Over 150 people were fed.

Adding to the fun that weekend was a visit from the folks at U.S. 36 Raceway. Mike and Ruthie Franks along with Dwight and his wife came up in the motor home for all 3 days. Mr. Energy, Mike got involved with everything from track cleanups to helping W.R.

The championship was still mathematically possible for 7 guys. After 1st round, W.R., Klavon, Linder, and Mike Schmitz were still alive. Mike's win over Troy was the biggest of the 1st round match-ups. Dave Keeling had an .01 red against Rob to end his season's points chase. 2nd Round W.R. beat "James Bond" - that's what we called Sak after his .007 RT. Klavon's Cinderella chance of going from 7th to 1st ended when Danny beat him. Linder broke against Ralph. That's 2 motors in a row at the Octoberfest for Scott Linder - OUCH!

In the 3rd round, it was up to Mike to derail W.R. himself or it was all over. Mike went red and W.R. didn't cross the center line like Don Clark did 2 yrs before. So W.R. won the championship. He didn't stop there as he beat Ralph in finals. Tazz put it best "W.R. Buck runs a 7.40 on a 7.40 and that ladies and gentlemen is why he is the 2007 OMSS champion."

Earlier in the day, Mike Schmitz won the $100 from Magic Photos for the best 1st round wheelie.