Dirt
Battle of the Alamo
Outlaw Funny Cars shake up Alamo City Dragway at Funny Car Chaos ’ World Finals By Van Abernethy
The exciting 2020 season finale
of Funny Car Chaos came to a close in early October with a final stop at Alamo City Dragway , just outside San Antonio , Texas . The points battle was fierce this year with a total of 55 teams competing in the eight-race Red Line Shirt Club Championship Tour presented by Mears Mazda Volvo .
Things got kicked off on Friday evening with the first of three qualifying runs . After each team gave it their best shot , Allan Middendorf was sitting atop the pack with a stunning 3.387-second ,
234.13 mph blast to the eighth-mile mark , which was a Funny Car Chaos elapsed time record , and came within a half-mile-per-hour of eclipsing Terry Haddock ’ s record run set earlier in the year right here at Alamo City Motorplex when he ripped off a 234.74 mph blast .
Track officials were so impressed they named Middendorf “ Entertainer of the Race ,” which was a bonus award in memory of Raymond Beadle , courtesy of Blue Max Racing and Performax Custom Trailers . Alamo City also put up a $ 1,000 bounty on Middendorf and his nimble hot rod known as “ American Outlaw ,” the sum to be paid to anyone who could beat the Illinois wheelman in eliminations .
A huge crowd gathered on Saturday , energized by the added drama of seeing if anyone could take down the No . 1 qualifier and collect the bounty . In the opening round of the Rodak ’ s Custom Roasted
Coffee “ A ” field , Middendorf picked up where he left off in qualifying , blistering the track on a string , dispatching No . 8 qualifier Keith Jackson , whose 4.216 at 180 mph came up short against Middendorf ’ s 3.491 at 218 mph .
In the semifinals , Middendorf escaped a holeshot from Mark Billington , who lead in the early moments of the race , although the “ American Outlaw ” machine thundered past him and through the traps with a 3.50 at 217 to Billington ’ s game but losing 3.78 at 201 .
As the thrilling final round was about to unfold , Middendorf was considered a huge favorite to win the race and collect his own bounty , when suddenly the improbable happened during an otherwise perfect-picture burnout : the car experienced a mechanical failure , which popped the blower and deployed the parachutes all in one disastrous sweep .
His competition , Ken Singleton , received the hand signals from his crew that Middendorf was broke , and so the show was his . Singleton , being guided by his crew lined his car into the hot tracks of rubber he ’ d just laid down and began to inch
PHOTOGRAPHS BY VAN ABERNETHY AND CHRIS GRAVES
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