October 20
Lebanon Valley Dragway

The weather was looking iffy once again as the SuperCar crew motored into the gates at Lebanon Valley Dragway on Saturday morning. Reguardless of that a full feild of quick and quality musclecars are in the pits. Not enough can be said about how well done these race cars are turned out. Many of these cars would be consistent show winners I their owners chose to sit in parking lots and fields on Sunday afternoons. The cars racing at the SuperCar Shootout need to be seen to be believed. Then you will be agaste at the performance of them. Saturday bring a few new faces to the season. Mark Bowman, who brought one of those 'could be show cars' to Lebanon Valley to run some twelve second times and put competitors on trailers.

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Mark Bowman prepping for a 12 second run

Another familiar name in SuperCars is Dan Lyons. Dan broke out his gun metal, billboard, shaker 440/6 Bbl 71 'Cuda. Visually this car checks all the boxes and isn't a slouch on the track either.

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Dan Lyons 440/6 street car

Tim Fredricks showed up, not in his usual strong running 340 Dart but in a bright yellow 383 1970 Super Bee. The super bee isn't new and has run very near the 11's in the past.

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Tim Fredricks running a stout 383 Bee

The rain did come but after a full qualifying session. It was decided to award points based on qualifying possition. Tom Tarzwell, Rhett Moody, Bill DiCicco, Kevin Davies, and James Warthman all qualified in the quick 8 and received 26 points. Ralph Barbagallo, Billy Atwood, and Ted Daros also made the top of the order but by rule with their quicker cars received 24 points each. Twelve points were awarded to Mark Sikora, Mark Bowman, Tim Fredricks and Dan Lyons.

As the season nears the end, racers are mandated to drop the points of one race from the season. This helps even the chances for a devoted racer that is forced to miss a race for any reason. Racers who have attended each race can drop thier worst point total, those that missed will only be dropping the zero points from their missed event. As these are applied you will see the points total get even tighter... More exciting.


Points standings Top 10

1. Ralph Barbagallo........................269
1. Rhett Moody,..............................269
3. Billy Atwood...............................262
4. Bill DiCicco.................................250
5. Tom Tarzwell..............................237
6. Ted Daros....................................174
7. Hal Oaks......................................159
8. Kevin Davies................................132
9. Mark Sikora.................................. 94
10. Steve Tate.................................. 91

October 21
Lebanon Valley Dragway

Race twelve of 2018 brought 12 high powered cars from the musclecar era to do battle. It's also the first appearance of the hard running Buick GS of Rhett True. Rhett is no newbie to SuperCar racing owning and racing the 71 455 powered Skylark he brought today a 73 Buick GS and a 65 GS convertible. Rhett has an amazing ability to not run quicker than 13.00. It's quite impressive.

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You can never have enough Rhetts

The three runs to set the ladder once again put the Green Nova of Ted Daros looking down at the feild. Ted sptinted down the tarmac in just 10.89 seconds terminating at 127.82 miles per hour. Four tenth back is the three Holley Topped 440 of Ralph Barbagallo. Billy Atwood slid to the third rung and Rhett Moody again put his 340 on the top half of the ladder. Making the fourth spot is important for matchups. The number four qualifier races the number eight whereas if you can only qualify fifth you must race the top seat. Moody's consistent number four qualifying has kept him alive in the very important points total. To wage a points battle with Ralph Barbagallo's Road Runner that's been nearly unbeatable this season, Moody will need to continue his streak.

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Qualifying domination continues

Ted Daros starts racing by dealing Tom Tarzwell a full second loss, beating the slick Hemi car 10.89 to 11.87.
Bill Atwood is the next racer to advance to the second round beating the Road Runner of Bill DiCicco 11.93 to a trailing 12.40.
The 6 Bbl of Ralph Barbagallo is next up looking to send the 6Pack Challenger of Kevin Davies into the consolation rounds. Kevin rows through the gears putting up a 12.30 while the orange Road Runner streaks ahead with an11.40.
The last pairing of cars looking to get into the semi finals are the A12 Plymouth of Gunther Catral and the overachieving A Body of Rhett Moody. Gunthers's Road Runner has a ton of power and potential but Moody has experience and it's the experience that gets the win. Moody hooking up and driving to a 12.00 while Gunther struggled to a 13.28.

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A12 four speed

The semis start with the familiar paing of Ted Daros' SS Nova and the upscale Plymouth of Billy Atwood. The Mopar ran a bit off it's ability posting an 11.70 compared to the 10.96 of the Chevy of Daros.
Meeting the Nova I the final again will be the 1970 Road Runner of Ralph Barbagallo. Ralph drove to an 11.36 which is outside the ability of Moody's Barracuda. Rhett posted another 12.0 this time with a 5 on the end.

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Moody staying on Ralph's tail

There's an old saying and it certainly applies to drag racing and that's" it's better to be lucky than good" and when your racing against Ted Daros and his Nova, well you need lots of luck. Ralph pulled to the tree in his Plymouth, pockets full of rabbits feet and four leaf clovers besides the 10 second Chevrolet. He then watched Ted turn on the red light before pulling an 11.09 to the Plymouth's winning 11.44.

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Rabbit foot is strong

Down in the kiddie pool,Tom Tarzwell got a battle from the 383 of Bill DiCicco. The Road Runner got out first and tried to hang on but the power of the Hemi was too great passing the fleeing Plymouth with a 12.13 to DiCicco's losing 12.38.
On the other side of the ladder the pair of three carbbed 440's staged up. Gunther Catral slowly getting the handle on his four speed beast and Kevin Davies whose been years practicing the art. The practiced hand was the winning hand when Kevin's Challenger lit the boards with a 12.34 while the A12 could only muster a 13.7. I'm sure we'll see more if Gunther and much quicker times next year. You've been warned.

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Vanishing Point

With one more point on offer for the day the bright red Charger of Tom Tarzwell pulls into the beams next to the Challenger of Kevin Davies. The two Mopars leave together and are side by side early. But if your even with a hemi early your going to lose. And Tom's HEMI did what Hemi's do, pulling big mph and driving away from the E body 11.77 to 12.29.

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Showing promise

In the pair of match races, Rhett True watched the black 69 Road Runner of Mark Sikora drive away from him 2 strait and Frank Hoefling had the same fate getting ousted twice by the 71 'Cuda of Dan Lyons.

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383 vs 383

Point standings. Top 10.

1. Ralph Barbagallo..................297
2. Rhett Moody..........................296
3. Billy Atwood..........................287
4. Bill DiCicco............................276
5. Tom Tarzwell.........................264
6. Ted Daros..............................200
7. Hal Oaks................................159
8. Kevin Davies...........................158
9. Mark Sikora............................108
10. Steve Tate...............................91

November 3
ATCO DRAGWAY

The penultimate race weekend has been the SuperCars record runs weekend for several years and it's called that for good reason. Before the racers pack up Sunday night most of them will have run new personal best. The November air is cool dry and dense at Atco new Jersey and the track prep was the best we've raced on all season. Saturday morning starts with eight drivers in the pits talking about the air, the track and what they'd need to happen to move up the standings. Eaight drivers but only seven cars. Tom's aero nosed 1969 Hemi cCharger was not present, Tom having found issues in the big 426 that has been making his car under perform and that could cause more problems. So Tom will be drafted to photographer duty. The dark green GTX of Bill Atwood was in the pits but there were no Atwoods in sight. Driving the 6Bbl Plymouth will be Gary Castagna. Gary codrkve the 1973 Duster with Tom Tarzwell last year to the SuperCar Shootout championship, so yeah, he knows what he's doing.
Steve Hracs has returned with nothing less than a 426 Hemi four speed 1964 Fury to have at the SuperCar guys.

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Steve returns with the HEMI Stick car

After the third passes down the quarter mile the top four have a familiar look with the Chevrolet of Ted Daros at it's usual spot at the top. Daros racing down the Atco strip in 10.74 seconds doing 130.42 mph. Ralph Barbagallo in the second spot fighting to keep a points gap between himself and the fourth qualified Rhett Moody. Gary Castagna drove the Atwood Plymouth to the third rung.

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Ted goes even faster!

Ted's 396 starts off the racing with a derserved bye run into round two.
The Gary Castagna wheeled 70 GTX had it only slightly more difficult downing the Chevy II of the returning Hal Oaks, 11.36 to 13.27.
Ralph Barbagallo then made short work of Bill DiCicco's Road Runner beating it by a full second 11.30 to 12.30
Rhett Moody then joined the rest of the top seats by putting the Hemi of Steve Hracs into the consolation rounds, 11.92 for the Cuda to the Fury's 14.11.

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Rhett trying to stay within striking distance of Ralph

In the final four Daros used the Atco track prep to power his Nova SS to another 10.74 gapping the Castagna driven Plymouth's 11.41.

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Gary Wheeling the GTX

Barbagallo, going quicker nearly every pass dropped an 11.16 on Moody who could only answer with a 12.19
In the Saturday finals Ralph again drove his Orage bird to another best bringing it down to an 11.15. Daros must have seen that coming and ran his own best with a race winning 10.68!

url=https://flic.kr/p/2d9LkxW][/url]Untitled by cudadude2, on Flickr
Ralph improving personal best

Starting the consolation round Hal Oaks goes straight to the finals by way of a bye run.
Meeting the 327 of Oaks will be Bill DiCicco. DiCicco shot his Road Runner down the strip in 12.19 seconds putting the Hemi of Steve Hracs in the trailer tho he improved to a 13.40.

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Bill making a run for third in points

In the consolation Finals Bill's Plymouth got a bye as the powerglide in Hal's Chevy called it quits.

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Hal unable to make the finals

Points standings top 10

1. Ralph Barbagallo................323
1. Rhett Moody........................323
3. Billy Atwood........................312
4. Bill DiCicco..........................303
5. Tom Tarzwell.......................266
6. Ted Daros.............................228
7. Hal Oaks...............................185
8. Kevin Davey...........................158
9. Mark Sikora...........................108
10Steve Tate.............................. 91

That’s not tire smoke!!!!! Hehehe!

November 4
Atco Dragway

The 2018 SuperCar Shootout season is down to it's last two races, though there's was three scheduled rain will again cancel one. The Championship is still in doubt. Tied at the top of the points is Ralph Barbagallo and Rhett Moody with 323 points. However after the one race mandatory drop Ralph loses two less points giving a corrected score of 299 to 297. For the third possition Billy Atwood comes with 312 to Bill DiCicco's 303. DiCicco has a 14 point drop compared to Atwoods 24 point drop giving the Road Runner a scant 1 point edge, 289 to 288.

Joining the festivities today are two racers, Tom Cannon and Anthony Mauro. Tom came loaded for bear with an amazing 1970 Challenger T/A four speed that is capable of going deep into the 11's. Anthony brought a super clean early Firebird 400. A solid mid 12 second Runner, Anthony made several attempts to make his first SuperCar race before finally making today's Atco event.

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After several attempt, Anthony Mauro finally makes a race

Record runs weekend continued into Sundays qualifying...
1 Ted Daros.............10.63, personal best
2 Ralph Barbagallo..11.22, personal best
3 Gary/Billy...............11.41
4 Bryan Doyle............11.73, personal best
5 Rhett Moody...........11.94, personal best
6 Bill DiCicco..............12.14, personal best
7 Anthony Mauro.......12.66, personal best
8 Mark Sikora.............12.74
9 Tom Cannon............12.75
10Dan Lyons.................12.81


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Moody neck and neck with Barbagallo with 2 races to go

Tom Cannon had trouble coming to grips with the track early making for an interesting battle for the eight spot. Those who didn't manage a personal best in qualifying will do so before the end of racing.

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Tom Cannon brings a flying small block

Dan Lyons made the trip down to Atco but but in his familiar 71 Shaker equipped 'Cuda but in his new modern Challenger T/A. It looks to make for an interesting pairing with Tom's equally red vintage T/A.

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Dan Lyons brings a modern T/A

Matchups determined it's time to do battle, first to the line are the Nova of perrential top qualifier Ted Daros peddling his 10 second Nova and Rhett Moody who did his championship hopes no favores by dropping to the five spot. Ted's 10.63 could've put the Barracuda into the consolation field when it's answer was an11.94. But Ted left a hair too early handing the win and the point to Moody. Getting the win may not have been the best for Moody's Championship hopes however. He would've preferred taking his chances as top seat in the consolation race and letting Ralph deal with Ted's Nova in the big race.
Gary behind the wheel of Billy Atwood's GTX opened the 6Bbls to an 11.41 dropping Anthony Mauro into the kiddie pool with his Pontiac's 12.66.
Ralph Barbagallo working to maintain his points lead dropped an 11.22 on the 383 of Bill DiCicco who mustered a 12.14.
The last race to gain a spot in the semis pits the 71 Challenger of Bryan Doyle against the black Plymouth of Mark Sikora. Mark went a legit 12.74 but the four speed Dodge ran away with an 11.76 on his timeslip.


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Doyal jumps into the deep end of the pool

url=https://flic.kr/p/2cU3hCr][/url]Untitled by cudadude2, on Flickr
Gary filling in for Atwood

Round two is as far as Moody's small block would progress though he ran a new personal best of 11.83, the Gary Castagna driven B body responded with an 11.21.
Ralph and Bryan both improved PB's with Ralph's being the quicker 11.16 to an equally impressive 11.61.

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Mark barely edges out Tom for quick 8 spot

In the all Plymouth B body final, Ralph again stepped up his game dropping down to an 11.11 to the GTX's 11.61, giving Ralph another race victory.


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Ralph heads to another final

Down in the consolation rounds Ted got back on his game taking out the gold Firebird of Anthony Mauro using a 10.66 to to earn his spot in the final round.
A pair of 383 Road Runners pull go the line for he other opening in the final. Mark Sikora's beautiful black 69 pulls even with Bill DiCicco's green 68. At the light the two leave together and stay side by side till mid track where the older bird pulled ahead, 12.15 to 12.64.


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DiCicco trying to stay in top 3

The consolation Finals pair Ted Daros' 10 second Chevrolet and Bill DiCicco's 12 second Plymouth. Ted tried to give the Road Runner a running start by waiting a good one and a half seconds after the green came on, but Bill left too soon on his 12.19 second run. Ted went passed with a 10.75.


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Ted tried to be charitable

Points standings top ten
With points drop

1. Ralph Barbagallo.................327
2. Rhett Moody........................324
3. Bill DiCicco..........................315
4. Billy Atwood........................314
5. Tom Tarzwell......................268
6. Ted Daros...........................253
7. Hal Oaks............................ 185
8. Kevin Davey........................158
9. Mark Sikora........................134
10 Steve Tate.......................... 91

November 11
Atco Dragway

As the top four racers prepair for two days of chasing or defending their possition the weather God's have again played their Trump card forcing Saturday's racing go be called off. With one less race Ralph Barbagallo in his number one possition and Bill DiCicco's third spot will have less defending to do. Rhett Moody and his 340 Barracuda enter the last race down just three points, and the Atwood's GTX just one point out of third.
Sunday finds 17 SuperCar racers on sight, though just 16 racecars. Scott Jerdan came by but without his awesome 1970 W-30 442. John Slavin came with his 1969 Camaro SS 396 in tow. John is a SuperCar veteran whose won his fair share of races.

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John Slavin brings a Camaro to play

Dan Lyons is back and this time with a 1979 360 powered Plymouth Road Runner. Dan tryed to make a go of it but he couldn't get the bird to fly right and called it quits having not made any qualifying sessions. Jack Anderson has one of the most unique and surprising cars in the series. A full size tri_power four speed Pontiac 2+2. Jack's Pontiac has a strong top end charge and can hang with many lighter cars.

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Jack Anderson, tri-power and four speed

During qualifying Jacob Marquis put his 1979 Trans Am into the 11 second club, quite an accomplishment. Considering where he was at the beginning of the season Jacob has done some amazing work on his sticker SuperCar.
Like clockwork, Ted Daros claimed the top of the ladder in qualifying, Ted's 10.52 @ 132.37 puts him a full six tenths ahead of number two qualifier Ralph Barbagallo. Another three tenths back is the four speed Challenger of Bryan Doyle and filling out the top half of the ladder is Gary Castagna in the Atwood GTX.

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Ted Daros 10.48!

In the battle for the last podium possition Bill DiCicco could only run a best in qualifying of 12.22. This left him out of the quick eight and handing the spot to the Plymouth of Billy Atwood.

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Gary keeping the GTX competitive

The first race of the day brings the Nova of Ted Daros to the line verses the 6 Pack small block of Tom Connon. Tom blasted down the quarter mile with a personal best of 11.43. But Ted was feeling the personal best vibe to and printed a 10.48 on his timeslip.
Bryan Doyle having watched the two cars in front of him run tests decided to try that too, going an 11.40
The team up of Gary Castagna/Billy Atwood come up next. Doing battle with the gleaming GTX will be the equally gorgeous 1970 AAR of the returning Steve Tate. Gary romps on the big block putting an 11.59 in the books while Steve shifted to a respectable 12.42.
In the last of the first round pairings, Rhett Moody and his small block stage up beside the 1970 Road Runner of Ralph Barbagallo. Ralph litterally just needs to break the beams to win the championship over Moody. The Barracuda went hard down track with an 11.94 but Ralph liked seeing all those personal best and wanted another of his own. The Road Runner goes through the traps in 11.05 winning the round and the Championship!

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A champion is crowned

Fresh off a quick Championship fiesta Ralph and his orange Road Runner are back on track looking for wins. In the opposite lane is the equally engined Plymouth of Billy Atwood, Gary Castagna behind the wheel. Both cars were near the top of their game with the GTX running an 11.26 just a fender behind the 11.14 Barbagallo posted
Ted Daros is back on track looking to drop his personal best even lower, maybe even run the fastest SuperCar run ever. But it was the Challenger of Bryan Doyle who would improve his best dropping it to an 11.35 while Ted tryed a tad too hard and slowed to an 11.57 giving the Mopar a pass to the finals.

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Bryan goes faster still

In an all 6 pack Mopar finals both Ralph Barbagallo and Bryan Doyle slowed as the track was going away. The Road Runner slowed less staying in the 11's with a 75. Giving up the win Doyle's Challenger could only go a mid 13.


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Winner winner

The first consolation match had Tom Cannon running another personal best dropping his to an 11.46. Not to be left out Jacob Marquis took his Trans Am down the track in just 11.83 seconds for his own best ever! Tom does go to he finals however.
Steve Tate clutches his 1970 Plymouth to meet the 68 of Rhett Moody. Moody slows to a 12.12 while Steve wowwed the boys in the pits by finally putting up the vaunted 11 second ET. Steve Tate runs an 11.92 but maybe spent too much time in prepping for that launch and let Moody get out ahead and couldn't close the whole gap.

url=https://flic.kr/p/ScXhDy][/url]Untitled by cudadude2, on Flickr
Steve returns and goes 11's

In an all 340 consolation final Tom Cannon had one more personal best to use dropping his best to an 11.35. Moody's Barracuda ran nearly his best putting an 11.85 on the board but the Challenger was just too quick.

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Cannon going after the big blocks

In the best of three, Mark Sikora's beautiful 1969 383 Plymouth took one of three from Bill DiCicco giving the win to the 68 Road Runner.
John Slavin was the next winner taking all three rounds from the Pontiac 2+2 of Jack Anderson

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DiCicco drops to fourth

The final pairing of he season has he 327 four speed Impala of Dom D'Alonzo doing battle with the drop top Firebird of Dave Marquis. All three races were close with the Chevy just getting the best of Dave's Pontiac.

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Dom vs Dave

Final points standings

1 Ralph Barbagallo 1970 Road Runner 440+6 Auto 355 Points
2 Rhett Moody 1968 Barracuda S 340 Auto 350 Points.
3 Bill Atwood, Billy Atwood Jr., Gary Castangna 1970 GTX 440+6BBL Auto 339 Points.
4 Bill Dicicco 1968 Road Runner 383 Auto 330 Points
5 Ted Daros 1969 Nova SS396 Auto 302 Points
6 Tom Tarzwell 1969 Charger 500 426 Hemi Auto 270 Points
7 Hal Oaks 1967 Nova 327 Auto 186 Points
8 Mark Sikora 1969 Road Runner 383 Auto 167 Points
9 Kevin Davey 1970 Challenger R/T 440+6 4 Spd. 156 Points
10 Steve Tate 1970 Cuda AAR 340 4Spd. 119 Points
11 Jacob Marquis 1974 Trans Am 455 Auto 93 Points
12 Bryan Doyle 1971 Challenger R/T 440+6 4Spd. 79 Points
13 Jeremy Benson 1969 Lemans 350 HO Auto 64 Points
14 Dominic D’Alonzo 1963 Impala 327 4Spd. 56 Points
15 Tom Cannon 1970 Challenger T/A 340 Six Pack 4Spd 41 Points
16 Steve Hracs 1964 Plymouth Sport Fury 426 Hemi 4Spd 40 Points
17 Frank Hoeffling 1968 Road Runner 383 Auto 39 Points
18 James Warthmann 1968 Nova SS396 Auto 38 Points
19 Daniel Lyons 1971 Cuda 440 Auto 29 Points
20 Ted Daros 1970 Chevelle SS454 Auto 27 Points
21 Dave Marquis 68 Firebird 400/Auto 27 Points
22 Anthony Mauro 1968 Firebird 400 Auto 26 Points
23 Gunther Catral 1969 Road Runner 440+6BBL 4Spd. 26 Points
24 John Slavin 1969 Camaro SS396 Auto 15 Points
25 Will Duffy 1969 Chevelle SS396 Auto 13 Points
26 Rhett True 1970 Buick GSX 455 Auto 13 Points
27 Daniel Lyons 2018 Challenger T/A 6Spd 12 Points
28 Mark Bowman 1969 Chevelle SS396 Auto 12 Points
29 Tim Fredericks 1970 SuperBee 383 Auto 12 Points
30 Jack Anderson 1966 2+2 421 tripower 4spd 12 Points
31 Jamie Montreal 2018 HellCat SRT8 12 Points
32 Scott Jerdan 1970 Olds 442 W30 455 4spd. 2 Points
33 Daniel Lyons 1979 Road Runner 360 Auto 2 Points

CONGRATULATIONS RALPH BARBAGALLO
2018 SUPERCAR SHOOTOUT WORLD CHAMPION

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great thread!! best of luck to everyone for the 2019 season

Great read, and cool pics. Congrats again to Ralph, well deserved. Good luck to Dr. Suess in his retirement.
Hope to see everyone in 2019.

John

Great job bill
Congrats to all, see you soon in april where we start all over again