INAUGURAL WORLD DOORSLAMMER NATIONALS
STEVIE ‘FAST’ JACKSON’S DAY
ENDS IN ROUND-ONE CRASH
AFTER WINNING the 2019 NHRA Pro Mod world championship and
a couple major Radial vs. the World races to start the 2020 season,
Stevie “Fast” Jackson was a heavy favorite to go rounds at the World
Doorslammer Nationals.
But Jackson’s race day at Orlando ended in the first round with a loss
that was compounded by a top-end crash when his parachutes lifted the
rear of the car and pitched it sideways, ultimately sending Jackson into
the left-side wall.
“I’m always typically early on the ‘chutes, and I was this time too,”
Jackson said in the pits just a few hours after the incident. “On the video,
the parachutes look like they hit each other and one of them blossomed.
When it blossomed, it snatched the car up in the air. The driveshaft goes
to basically zero in the back. The car’s bouncing around, got a bunch of
lateral. You’re eating up ground at a rapid rate of speed.”
“I got on the brakes, started sliding a little, come off the brakes, and
at that point the car pitched sideways and was kind of sliding,” Jackson
continued. “Self-preservation takes over and you just hit the brakes. When
something like that happens, the car is either going into the wall or into
the net. You kinda gotta decide your path.”
Jackson reported only minor bruises around the shoulder belts. In
fact, he was back up on the starting line for J&A Service teammate Jim
Whiteley’s pairing around 30 minutes after crashing.
“It was only a negative 8-g impact when it hit the wall, which sounds
like a lot to the people at home,” Jackson said. “But when I crashed in
Charlotte [in 2018] it was negative 80 when it knocked me out. This was
pretty much like a 50-mph fender bender on the highway. No injuries.
Much more mentally injured than I am physically because this is a pretty
bad time of the year for that to happen.”
While clearly dejected, Jackson had an optimistic look at the
big-picture view.
“It’s good to see everybody out here having a good time at this event,”
Jackson said. “The stands were packed both days, Saturday and Sunday.
It’s awesome to race in front of a packed house. Ozzy Moya, Wade Rich,
all the Elite group, with Drag Illustrated promoting this event, it
was awesome.”
“I hate it for everybody who came a great distance to watch us race,”
Jackson added. “I feel more weight on my shoulders from letting them
down than I do from losing myself. But we’ll get it patched back up, and
I wouldn’t bet against us.”
Fortunately for Jackson, NHRA officials canceled the NHRA Gatornationals,
the NHRA Pro Mod season opener, just a few days after the
Orlando race due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It gave Jackson, who made
plans to run Bahrain 1 Racing teammate Jeffrey Barker’s new nitrous car
at Gainesville, time to send his prized ’19 Camaro to Reese Brothers Race
Cars for repairs. Jackson will defend his championship in the car whenever
the NHRA season kicks off. – NATE VAN WAGNEN DI
BO BUTNER’S GAMBLE NETS $25,000 WIN
IN FACTORY STOCK SHOWDOWN
THE WAY HIS weekend had gone up to that point, Bo Butner admitted
it probably wasn’t the most logical decision.
His Pro Stock car broke on the starting line during the first round
of eliminations, while his slated best-of-three Factory Stock Showdown
matchup with Dave Kramer became a best-of-one after a litany of issues
with his Summit Racing Equipment Cobra Jet Ford Mustang.
But with a $25,000, winner-take-all matchup on the line, Butner
finally had everything go his way, leaving
on Kramer and pulling away at the end,
winning the cash and adding a huge bright
spot to his weekend.
“It probably wasn’t smart for me because
we had issues with this car the two times I
tried to make it. We had to do it; we advertised
it, so we did one and done. It was a
gamble, but everything we do is a gamble
in this sport,” Butner said. “We had a lot of
hype and I’m so glad we got to do it. A lot
of people were happy with this. Coming
back to the pits, all the Ford fans were screaming and congratulating us.”
With Kramer campaigning a Chevrolet COPO Camaro that had looked
strong all week during testing, Butner knew it was a risky move.
But feeling the energy of the crowd that had picked their side in a
classic Ford vs. Chevy matchup, Butner’s Mustang came to life, making
the first solid pass since arriving in Orlando. It just happened to be at
the perfect time.
“I changed a lot of the tune-up, just tried to make it go A to B,” Butner
said. “The car’s pretty fast, but it ran way better than what I thought, so
I’m very, very happy. We took the whole car apart — transmission, converters,
rear-end, everything — looking for something. Come to find out,
it was pretty much the dummy on the keyboard right here (pointing to
himself). I threw something totally different at it. Now I think I can go
out and run something a lot faster.”
Running legal NHRA Factory Stock Showdown trim, Butner posted
a quicker .021 reaction time, outrunning Kramer the rest of the way.
It all came together at the perfect time, and Butner was thrilled with
the reaction.
“It was definitely a better way to end the weekend,” Butner said. I’m
very happy. I hope this little grudge race brought some hype to the event,
and I think it did. It’s been very cool.” – JOSH HACHAT DI
72 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated.com Issue 156