Back when the weather was hot, humid, and sticky in Atlanta, Georgia, the 22nd annual Hayes Southeastern Mopar Meet was held at Atlanta Dragway. In addition to the "Mopar versus the World," Junior Dragster and SRT Shootout races, Diesel Performance Motorsports snuck in a full-blown diesel drag race to show the gas guys what diesel power is all about.
DHRA points leader Philip Palmer of Stuckey Racing defeated Jeff Garmon in the final round to repeat as event winner. Palmer's first race happened to be in Atlanta in 2005, where he won his first DHRA race. Congrats to Stuckey Racing. Jeff Garmon proved, once again, you gotta finish to win.
Buck Spruill set another performance record with his Duramax truck running a 10.49-second pass.
The Quick Diesel class was the best we'd seen yet. It was a field of nine racers that were all capable of running the index.
Brandon Meyers competed in his fist ever Quick Diesel race and came home with the win. Meyers also secured the Garmon award for best package and top trap speed (114.35 mph).
The finals had Meyers facing points leader Jim Layden in a close fight to the finish. Both trucks had been running consistent all day, but Meyers' 0.029-second reaction time on a 12.143-second pass was enough to cover Layden's 12.10-second run. Both trucks trapped at 114 mph and change.
This class was fun to watch. Great reaction times and close elapsed times from all drivers meant there was side-by-side action all day. Truly a racer's class!
Bracket was another big class. Billy Counts pulled out the victory as second-place-winner John Tallant went red. Counts bought back in after a first-round loss, which paid off as his reaction times and elapsed times were dead on the rest of the day.
Will Harris repeated as winner for the Manual Transmission class for the second time. Harris' '02 Dodge 2500 recorded a best pass of 14.15 seconds at 95 mph for the $250 certificate from South Bend Clutch and $200 DPM cash.
In the Top Diesel class, Keating Shelly reached a new best of 8.81 seconds in his Cummins-powered Chevy. Greg Hogue also drove the Dr. Performance Dodge to a new best pass of 8.62 seconds.
Eric McBride worked the Scheid Cummins-powered dragster all day. On the last pass he ended up slipping the transmission as he ran a 1.17-second 60-foot time and a 3.16-second 330-foot, trying to better the already awesome 7.70-second pass at 181 mph.