Alex Ross was so excited when his turn came that he forgot to wait for Les Bidrawn's signal on his first, and perhaps best, pass. We'll never know, because the radar wasn't ready. Still, Alex reigned in his Monkey Tronic excitement and got down to business with that 11.13-sec. pass. These were the only owners who drove their own cars, the others preferring to let Cort Wagner do the job.
That's the last nine cars. The first car was Protomotive's entry, which had the power to crush the other kids. It ran a 10.74-sec. pass with 131.74-mph speed, showing itself to be in a completely different class than the rest of the field. Todd Knighton, the car's builder, received congratulatory E-mail from as far away as Saudi Arabia the next morning.
Final Standings
Protomotive's car dominated this shootout, with first-place finishes in two of the four events and excellent performances in the others, capturing 91 of 100 possible points. It is a well-used, daily-driven car that's been under development for 2 years. All the bugs have been sorted. It's incredibly fast and, by all evidence, utterly bomb-proof. It is the car that should have won.
The second place car was exactly the opposite. Purists might call it an abomination if it hadn't come from the factory: a Turbo Cabriolet. With well under 1,000 miles on the clock, it rolled into By Design's shop completely stock just 6 days before the event began. With the exception of a small brake-b-que, it surprised us with its speed and never missed a beat. Whether that was because it was so new there hadn't been time for anything to break, or because it was actually done right at the very last minute, we can only guess. With only 74 points of 100 for the Cab, the margin of victory was huge.
There was definitely a winner, but there really are no losers in this bunch of cars. The last-place finisher, Axis Sport Tuning's entry, is still more car than most people will ever ride in, let alone drive. It ran the quarter mile in 11.78 sec. Even a little Rottweiler is big when it's trying to climb on the couch and sit on your lap.