Drag Illustrated Issue 129, January / February 2018 | Page 82

THE
CHAMPIONS
ISSUE
B ig D og
Tim Lawrence
A
This was in no small part due to the reliable
power from Billy Albert’s 4.84 bore space motor.
At 706 ci, there were larger motors in compe-
tition, but the consistency of the power plant
with expert chassis set up by Dane Wood of 660
Racecar Technology led to the title. Lawrence
went on to win in May and August, securing the
championship.
Lawrence’s 2013 Camaro, built by Rick Jones,
finished one spot ahead of Brett Nesbitt in his RJ
car, followed by Brian Schrader in third, John
Lassiter in fourth, and Cam Clark rounding out
the top five. The second five consisted of Jason
Harris, Bubba Turner, Ronnie Gardner, Scott
Lang, and Larry Pierce, respectively. A total of
17 drivers attempted to qualify for the series, run
on the first Thursday of the month from April
to October.
The title was Lawrence’s first Big Dog cham-
pionship, having won two titles in the former
Renegade series. With no rule changes coming
in 2018, Tim looks to defend his title while
running the entire PDRA series, where he ran
a career best of 3.996 seconds at 179.82 mph
last October.
Other Piedmont points champions included
Travis Harvey in Outlaw Doorslammers, Ray
Anderson in 6.00, Ken Myrick in 7.49, Jordan
Wike in Top ET, Scott Macy in Footbrake, and
Jessee Snuffer in Jr. Dragster. Lawrence, as well
as all the other eliminator points champions,
will be honored at the Piedmont awards ban-
quet to be held immediately following the 16th
annual Shriners’ Hot Rod and Drag Expo on
February 17th at the Greensboro Coliseum, in
Greensboro, North Carolina. –GREG BURROW
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
NHRA TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR SHANE WESTERFIELD
82 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 129
s the 2017 season of the fa-
mous Big Dog Shootout began to
unfold at historic Piedmont Drag-
way, drivers and crews were testing
the water for the upcoming season.
One of those drivers was Tim Law-
rence, who along with his wife, Tracey, Tim’s dad,
and his crew chief, Dane Wood, made the five-
hour trip from their home in West Virginia with
high hopes for the year. They arrived that evening
in April and the rest, as they say, is history.
“We went to the first Big Dog race of the year
to see if we could even be competitive, and that
would determine if we would run all the races.
Well, we qualified No. 2 at the first event and
lost in the finals (to Ronnie Gardner). The sec-
ond event, we qualified No. 1 and won the event.
Staying consistent is what lead us to the Big Dog
championship.”