Paul makes a "Major Spray" for his First Vette Doctors Pro 8 Shootout win
| The Vette Doctors Pro 8 Qualifiers
| | No. | Driver | ET | MPH
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| 1. | Paul Major | 10.310 | 133.46
| | 2. | Mike Romain | 10.346 | 131.06
| | 3. | John Carter | 10.489 | 132.84
| | 4. | Bill Maloney | 10.514 | 139.14
| | 5. | Brent Grigsby | 10.775 | 126.08
| | 6. | Michael Conway | 10.901 | 124.53
| | 7. | Edgar Perez | 11.300 | 118.32
| | 8. | Rob Zona | 11.511 | 119.81
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04/13/04 -
The much awaited return of heads-up Corvette drag racing at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park was here and now. The Vette Doctors Pro 8 Shootout is back in action! With the field now at 8 cars instead four in the previously known Quick 4 class, excitement was in the air. More drivers were hopeful of getting into the field. This race is truly the tuner shootout when it comes to drag racing as it is open to all racers/tuners to showcase their wildest and quickest packages. The Vette Doctors, Amityville NY, sponsors of the Pro 8 Shootout class, had three cars in the field while cross-state rival, Cartek, Garwood, NJ, had the other five cars in the field. The bump spot was the talk prior to the event and it was 11.511 with the number one qualifier, Paul Major, coming in at 10.310 @ 133.46.
Butterflies-be-gone with Round 1 Action
Round 1 of the P8S came just before the second round of brackets. With just over a second separating the eight cars, the ladder was set pro-style where 1 races 8 and 2 races 7 and so on. The last pair to come under the tower, the 4 v. 5 race, with Bill Maloney and Brent Grigsby (read Maloney's recap of the race on the forum), promised to be the closest based on qualifying times being only .2 seconds apart.
The first pair to the line was John Carter, Rockville, MD, vs. Michael Conway, Howell, NJ. Both drivers feature Cartek stroked motors but with Carter holding a 200 shot in his Cartek 388 cubic inch motor to keep him ahead of the pack. Both cars left the line with similar reaction times with Carter having an advantage of .275 to .293. Carter pulled away and took the win by a half second at 10.486 to Conway's 10.920
Next pair to heat them up was number two qualifier, Mike Romain, Ft Lauderdale, with a Cartek C5R block 4.125 bore with Lunati 4.125 stroke and Cartek 5X custom grind hydraulic roller cam motor (recently dynoed 543 RWHP /516 RWTQ against Edgar Perez, Howell, NJ in a The Vette Doctor's "REDGAR" cammed car recently dynoed at 403 RWHP. Perez was seriously under powered for the match but up for the challenge anyway. Both driver's went "deep" to ensure the best possible light. Perez took a tree advantage of .197 to .341 but fell behind quickly. Romain crossed the line well ahead with a 10.468 to Perez's 11.455.
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| Winner Paul Major
| Group picture
| Runner-up Mike Romain
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The following pair was our 1 vs. 8 pair with Paul Major, Fortsolango, NY, Vette Doctors 422 cubic inch motor, nitrous enhanced, against Rob Zona, Jackson, NJ running a Cartek cammed Z06. Reaction times for both driver were similar but the number one qualifier should have over second on his opponent and the race was over very quickly. Major lit the scoreboards first with a 10.280 to Zona's 11.396.
The last pair of the round was the key match up. Bill Maloney, Toms River, NJ with a Vette Doctors 422 motor, also nitrous enhanced, against Brent Grigsby, Sewell, NJ, with Cartek 3X Heads and Cam package. Maloney's qualifying time of 10.514 was a little concerning (the car has run 9's), but on paper looked to be a close race with Grigsby's 10.775 qualifying. Grigsby cut the best light of the round with an amazing .068 (this is a .400 pro tree)and Maloney left late at .376. The puffs off smoke were flying at every shift of Maloney's car, as usual, and it all clicked as he ripped off the first 9-second pass of the day, clicking the lights at 9.955 @ 141.95 to Grigsby's 10.801. Grigsby was happy to make the Pro 8 with his 346 cubic inch motor and is looking forward to getting his new 427 cube motor installed in two weeks. He will run the new motor without a power added and hopes to make a return in the next Pro 8.
Now we are gettin' Serious with Round 2 Action
Now left with four cars we were ready to see some classic heads-up battles. First out was Romain vs. Carter in the battle of the two remaining Cartek cars. This one should have been close with Romain sporting a NA C5R block to Carters 388 + 200 shot convertible. Romain left first with a better reaction time so Carter would have to play catch-up. But Carter never caught him as when you play with nitrous, you always have a risk something goes wrong and that it did. Carter's nitrous never came on, letting Romain’s NA 10.465 take a half second win over Carter's 11.288.
The other pair was the two remaining Vette Doctors 422 C5's. Major and Maloney have had to battle each other in the past and this promised to be exciting with similar motors but varying nitrous systems. At this point, Maloney had run the quickest and only 9-second ET of the day. Maloney got the tree advantage with a .155 to Major's .403. At the top end, Paul made a "Major" charge to catch and pass Maloney and post the second 9-second pass of the event. Major crossed the finish line with an event overall best 9.557 to send Maloney packing with his oil pressure warning light blinking and a 10.155 time slip. Maloney's motor goes back to The Vette Doctors to be freshened up this week as well. "The ole girl" has gone through 200 nitrous passes. Who knows what he will return with?
Top Qualifiers square off in the Final Round
With only two drivers left, Major and Romain, the number one and number two qualifiers, one representing The Vette Doctors and the other Cartek, the stage was set. Once again, Major was second on the tree with Romain cutting a .326 light to his .566. Major's silver C5 with the black stripe needed it all to work to catch Romain. These two competitors have been squaring off since the inception of the heads-up racing Corvettes at Raceway Park. Major turned it all one and crossed the line with his second consecutive 9-second pass at 9.789 with an event high 149.31 MPH to Romain's 10.449 @ 129.58. This was the first time we have had one car make two 9-second passes in an event and the also the first with two drivers in the 9s. After the event, Romain thanked Cartek for getting his car ready and said he "had a blast" at the event with the great competition. This was Major's first Pro 8 Shootout win (including Quick 4) and it was ever so sweet! Running these ET's is never easy and keeping the car together through an event is as much a goal as winning. Today, Paul Major did both.
Major is our points leader for the championship and $500 gift certificate
Starting this year we are tracking points for Pro 8 Shootout cars as the drivers work toward the Championship of the heads-up cars. Points are assigned as follows; one point for staging the car and one point per win. Winning the first race puts Paul Major in first place with 4 points followed by runner-up, Mike Romain with 3, Bill Maloney and John Carter tied with 2 and Mike Conway, Rob Zona, Brent Grigsby and Edger Perez tied with 1 each. The points champion will be awarded a $500 gift certificate from  .
Points Standings
The Vette Doctors Pro 8 racers are competing not just for fun, pride and trophies but also a $500 gift certificate provided provided by Furnakit.com.
| 2004 Vette Doctors Pro 8 Shootout Points Standings
| | First | Last | Total | Wins
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| Mike | Mitchell | 8 | **
| | Paul | Major | 8 | *
| | Bill | Maloney | 7 |
| | Mike | Romain | 6 |
| | John | Carter | 5 |
| | Ketith | Valone | 4 | *
| | Phil | DeJohn | 3 |
| | Angelo | Valla | 3 |
| | Michael | Conway | 2 |
| | Edgar | Perez | 2 |
| | Rob | Zona | 2 |
| | Brent | Grigsby | 2 |
| | Kenny | Sforza | 2 |
| | Brian | Miller | 2 |
| | Doug | Ring | 1 |
| | Tommy | Michalkowski | 1 |
| | Mark | Jansen | 1 |
| | Thomas | Sabolevsky | 1 |
| | 2004 Race 1
| | 2004 Race 2
| | 2004 Race 3
| | 2004 Race 4
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John Carter wins Team Panuzzo bonus Best Winning Reaction time award
Team Panuzzo sponsors the John Panuzzo Jr. Memorial award given to the bracket racer with the best winning reaction time. Today Team Panuzzo expanded that award to include a separate award for the Pro 8 Shootout driver accomplishing the same feat. John Carter earned the award with his first round win and received the bonus $50 today. Congrats go to John Carter.
In addition, John Panuzzo, team boss of Team Panuzzo, has announced that the $50 payout for best winning reaction time in the first round will continue in the remaining Pro 8 Races this year. Paulie, you better brush up buddy!!
About the bump spot
The Vette Doctors Pro 8 Shootout is open to all Corvette drivers who are points racers. You can join the series at any time. Today's bump spot (ET that has to be beaten to "bump" the number car out of the field) was 11.511. On the outside looking in were Mark Jansen (11.554), Bill Fischer (11.678 and the quickest C4), Chris Young (11.705) and Bob Sebrowski (11.841). There were a few notable drivers missing from today's event such as the last winner of the heads-up race, Chris Coriell, previous winner Brian Miller and Peter Prasnal, who is the new owner of the late Keith Brownlee's car. The next P8S is June 26, 2004 so you have a couple of month's to get those cars ready to go!
Remaining Pro 8 Shootout Races
If you missed this race you want to make sure you don't miss the rest of them. This is a four event series held in conjunction with the East Coast Supercharging Corvette Challenge. The next three dates are
June 26, 2004
September 4, 2004
October 23, 2004
All races begin time trials at 9 AM. Of course the Pro 8 cars are welcomed to race in the regular Corvette Challenge bracket races. Schedule and news can be found at www.corvettechallenge.info.
For more on The Vette Doctors Pro 8 Shootout click here.
To see pictures of the event click on Mike Moran's pictures
To see video of the event click here
To congratulate the drivers click here
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