Racing started early at Texas Motorplex during their historic Stampede of Speed, an unparalleled week packed full of drag racing and activities to engage the racer and surrounding community alike. For an assortment of Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series competitors, the Dallas-area facility was host to the weather-delayed Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals. Qualifying and elimination rounds originally scheduled to take place at Houston Raceway were completed mid-week ahead of the Texas NHRA FallNationals as part of the seven-day extravaganza.
Rachel Meyer (Top Alcohol Dragster), Doug Gordon (Top Alcohol Funny Car), Chase Williams (Competition Eliminator), Darian Boesch (Top Sportsman), Ross Laris (Top Dragster), and David Barton (Factory Stock Showdown) secured their respective NHRA SpringNationals titles the week following the originally scheduled event at Houston Raceway Park, but Harvey Emmons III (Super Stock), Jerry Emmons (Stock Eliminator), Christopher Dodd (Super Comp), and Jerry DeBusk (Super Gas) had to wait to complete the SpringNationals just ahead of the FallNationals at the ‘Plex.
It’s been a minute since “Speedy” Emmons saw the inside of the winner’s circle (seven years, to be a bit more precise), but this week he made all the right moves to win the SpringNationals Super Stock final. Speedy, the 1994 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Stock Eliminator world champion, had no easy feat in the final that took place on Wednesday at Texas Motorplex. In the opposite lane was four-time Super Stock champ Greg Stanfield (yes, THAT Greg Stanfield).
Picture this: Speedy got a good glimpse of Stanfield’s perfect .000-second reaction time before launching with an extra-respectable .018 of his own. It was a battle all the way down the quarter-mile, but in the end, Stanfield took a bit too much stripe and clocked a 9.772 on his 9.79 to Speedy’s well-played 9.561 on a 9.55.
DragRaceCentral.com reports this as Speedy’s 12th national event win, and the scorecard shows that this esteemed racer’s most recent victory was at the 2014 Cajun SPORTSnationals in Belle Rose.
It’s been an impressive last few days for Jerry and the Emmons Motorsports Racing team. Jammin’ Jerry just won the D4 race at Noble last weekend to lock down one-half of an Emmons double (brother Terry won Super Stock there in Oklahoma). This week’s SpringNationals trophy paved the way for yet another two-trophy finish for the family.
Jerry, now No. 3 in the Stock Eliminator national standings, got the better of Jeff Lopez in the final round just before big brother Speedy was victorious in Super Stock. The Houston trophy (yes, it still counts for Houston even though it concluded at Dallas) was the 17th national event Wally of Jerry’s career.
The Super Comp final was quite a race, with Christopher Dodd scoring the fifth national event win of his career. Dodd, the reigning Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series champion, was second off the starting line at Texas Motorplex with a .014 light just a smidge after opponent Lyndon Rutland scooted off with a .013. The scoreboards had everyone in the house rubbing their eyes and blinking as the two crossed the most important stripe; Dodd’s lane flashed an 8.916 on the 8.90 target and Rutland’s side was illuminated by an 8.917.
We believe the term you’re looking for is, “What the what?!” Yep, the margin of victory in Dodd’s favor was a teeny-tiny .00006-second.
The Super Gas trophy was claimed by DeBusk with a final-round defeat of Austin Williams. It was the third national event win for the Ford Probe campaigner, who claimed his first Wally at the 2000 U.S. Nationals and second at the 2006 Cajun SPORTSnationals in Belle Rose.
Williams, who picked up the Division 4 title in Noble, Oklahoma, last weekend, had to hustle in the staging lanes ahead of the SpringNationals money round to replace a punctured tire, then went red by .002.
Eliminations are currently underway for the Lucas Oil racers competing at Texas Motorplex for FallNationals trophies, and you can get detailed results at DragRace Central (we always do).
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