After 12-Year Absence, Dale Brinsfield Wins June Big Dog Shootout
One of my favorite quotes comes from the great author Earnest Hemingway. He was quoted as saying that there were actually three true sports that exist in the world. “They are mountain climbing, bull fighting, and auto racing.” Now I realize that this was spoken during the golden age of racing when there were few, if any, safety features, and certainly none of the enclosures that drivers enjoy today. That said, the June edition of the famous Big Dog Shootout at Piedmont Dragway harkened back to all three of these.
Of course there was auto racing. But the raging bull of a beast that a Pro Mod car has become is not for a driver who is neither talented or accomplished. The mountain climbing was done by the cars as they reached for the sky during a run, only to set down the front end at the finish line. Enter Dale Brinsfield and the equally talented men who run Big Dog.
In the fall of 2023, Brinsfield purchased a Camaro from Jack Gaddy and a motor from the Jason Harris team. After a brief shakedown, Brinsfield laid down a 3.802-second run and let everyone know that he still had the desire to run one of these cars with the young drivers. Admitting to be around 67 years old, Brinsfield needed only a couple of races to rise to the top.
With runs in the low 3.80s, qualifying at the June Big Dog Shootout found the orange Camaro in the No. 3 spot at 3.811. Low was Barry Mitchell in “Cuda Time” at a 3.785 at 201.4 mph. No. 2 was another young man in the “War Eagle” Corvette. With a fresh repair from Bruce Mullins, Jamie Chappell ran a great 3.797. Fourth was Mike Graham’s Chevelle at a 3.844, with fifth going to the Robbie Keziah Corvette at 3.862. Sixth place went to the Zach Houser Camaro at a 3.88 with a ProCharger. Seventh was the Travis Harvey Corvette at 3.899, and eighth was Cam Clark at 3.968, to produce one of the quickest eight Big Dog groups in quite a while. Others that did not make it were the Corvette of Michael Dawkins, the Pontiac of Ron Whitlock, and the “RodZilla” Camaro of Jayme Thompson.
Jayme Thompson
The field set, eliminations were incredible with runs in the 200-mph range all over the board. Graham defeated Keziah, and Clark defeated Mitchell, running a great 3.761. Chappell ran a 3.77 to defeat Travis Harvey, and Brinsfield ran 3.81 to defeat Houser’s 3.88. The semis were incredible as well, with Clark running a tremendous 3.72 at 205 mph to defeat Graham, while Brinsfield made a 3.80 wheels-up run to defeat the “War Eagle” Corvette, fresh from a scary visit to the edge of the pines at the end of the track. The final was all Camaro with the orange car of the Brinsfield group defeating the Mark Ingle-owned Camaro of Clark. A tremendous showing for both.
Brinsfield was quick to credit the Man upstairs, and his tuner, the one and only Jason Harris. This group of cars was represented by four nitrous cars, three blowers, and one ProCharger. Truly a diverse group and a great show for the fans.
David Lambert
The Donnie Gibbs Race Cars 4.70 Outlaw cars were in the house with Gibbs running a 4.700 to lead the eight-car field. Present were the cars of Todd Garnett, Shane and Mike Westmoreland, TJ Luther, Nick Cline, and David Lambert. The final had Cline and Lambert running a double breakout with Lambert taking the win in the Tommy Mauney-built Oldsmobile.
Other winners were Tanner Miller in Outlaw Door Slammer and Melvin Watlington in Rico’s Reel Street 7.49.
A great show, and if you were not there, you missed it. Be sure to be there July 11 at the “DoorSlammer Capital of the World,” Piedmont Dragway.
This story was originally published on June 26, 2024.
The post After 12-Year Absence, Dale Brinsfield Wins June Big Dog Shootout first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
