Drag Illustrated Issue 149, October 2019 | Page 112

WORLD SERIES OF PRO MOD 2019
SPORTSMAN
GREG LAIR
QUICK STAR SHOOTOUT WINNER
■
A betting man proba-
bly wouldn’t have put his
money on a naturally aspirated,
clutch-equipped entry to win
the $10,000-to-win MagnaFuel
Quick Star 16 Shootout present-
ed by Menholt Auto Group. Such
a combination isn’t ideal for the
high-altitude conditions of Ban-
dimere Speedway, but Greg Lair
in his monster-motor ’15 Camaro
persisted through the challenges
he faced to take the big check back
home to Canyon, Texas.
Lair, who owns a Buick and
GMC dealership in the Amaril-
lo area, qualified No. 8 in the
Quick Star field, which saw 33
cars attempt to qualify for the
main shootout. That alone is an
accomplishment, as Lair’s Son-
ny’s Racing Engines-built 903ci
powerplant utilizes four carbu-
retors without a power adder,
while many of his competitors
run nitrous-assisted or boosted
engines. Plus, Lair uses a tri-
ple-disc Ram clutch hooked up
to a Lenco transmission whereas
the rest of the field uses torque
converters.
“We run a big motor with no
water in the block,” Lair said.
“We have to chill the motor and
do the clutch and set the air gap
between rounds. We were taking
weight off between rounds. It’s
a lot more challenging than just
checking the weather.
“We had to take the Lenco out
and change gear ratios in the
transmission,” Lair continued,
“and gears in the back end to
get everything to where the mo-
tor would work up here on this
mountain just because that’s the
only way we can make it work. We
have nothing to add to it. What
we’ve got is what we’ve got.”
The 2018 and 2019 Dodge
Mile-High NHRA Nationals
Top Sportsman event champion
was on his game in eliminations,
cutting the better light in all four
pairings. He ran a 6.915 on a 6.91
dial over JJ Heber, a 6.894 on a
6.89 dial against No. 1 qualifier
Mick Snyder, and a 6.963 on a
6.89 dial to defeat Mark McDon-
ald in the semifinals. He upset
local favorite Mike Candelairo in
the final round, running a 6.883
at 200.44 on a 6.90 dial-in along-
side Candelairo’s supercharged ’57
Chevy and its 6.283 at 227.50 on
a 6.33 dial.
“That’s the fastest it’s ever run up
here,” Lair said of his final-round
performance. “Every run we’re just
trying to run as fast as we can. Last
night we had a 1.02 60-foot, which
is probably the best it’s ever run
here. We’re just racing. We’re speed
freaks.” – NATE VAN WAGNEN
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MIKE CANDELAIRO
QUICK STAR SHOOTOUT RUNNER-UP
TONY
STARK
ONE CURE
SHOOTOUT
WINNER
■
After winning the five-
round Top Dragster portion
of the Dodge Mile-High NHRA
Nationals at Bandimere Speedway
just a few weeks before the World
Series of Pro Mod, Lakewood,
Colorado’s Tony Stark was feeling
confident going into the weekend.
He knew he would need a solid
performance to qualify for what
was shaping up to be a stout field
in MagnaFuel Pro Star, but he felt
like his supercharged, OnTrack
Performance-backed Undercover
dragster was up for the challenge.
Over the course of three qualify-
ing sessions, Stark worked his way
down to a 6.687 at 180.40, putting
him four spots shy of the incredi-
ble 6.511 bump spot for the 16-car
MagnaFuel Pro Star 16 Shootout
presented by Menholt Auto Group.
That wasn’t the end of Stark’s
WSOPM weekend, though. Stark
raced in the One Cure Shootout,
which was added to the event line-up
to accommodate the No. 17-43 qual-
ifiers in Pro Star and the No. 17-33
qualifiers in Quick Star. Stark started
eliminations with a first-round vic-
tory over his wife, Kari Stark, before
defeating Adam Chioda, Sammy
Gonzales and Mitch Mustard on his
way to the final round. He also had
a single in the third round.
In the final round, Stark watched
as Ethan Conyers took off first in his
8.08-dialed ’62 Corvette Super Gas
car. Stark had the better light - .019
to Conyers’ .036 – and ran a 6.716
at 185.97 on his 6.70 dial-in. Mean-
while, Conyers posted an 8.107 at
166.31 in his runner-up effort.
“I was a little disappointed that I
didn’t quite have enough to get into
the main deal, but I’m pretty happy
that I was able to get triumph in
the ‘B’ field, per se,” said Stark, who
thanked his friends for pitching in
to help and offering parts to bor-
row. “We did nothing but work on
this car all day. It was a hard-fought
win – taking valve covers off every
lap, breaking parts – it was rough,
but this has been a heck of a month
so far.” – NATE VAN WAGNEN
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