During the first two weeks of August, circumstances arose that caused the actual Big Dog Shootout to be held on the 15th. A national event and then a hurricane dominated the first two Thursdays, therefore relegating racing to be held on the third Thursday, with the event finishing the next day on a Friday. More on this later.
A great field of 13 cars were on the property to take a time and try to qualify for the eight-car show. This included past winners Barry Mitchell, Dale Brinsfield, and Travis Harvey looking to become repeat winners. Also included were the 4.70 Outlaws presented by Gibbs Race Cars. As usual, the Outlaw DoorSlammers and 7.49 Rico’s Real Street were competing.
Qualifying for Big Dog was, however, to take place over two days as a bad crash took out part of the lower guard rail down-track, which was repaired overnight. Unfortunately, it left the Camaro of Eddie Brown, a longtime competitor in 4.70, on the rollback and Brown in the hospital, where he has made it through two surgeries to repair a badly damaged left arm. Miraculously, Brown is recovering well and will have several more surgeries but has a chance to regain use of his left arm. Remember Eddie in your prayers and please contribute to his Go Fund Me page.
After three qualifying shots, one Thursday and two Friday, the qualified field looked like this: Low qualifier Harvey went 3.766 to be on the pole with Mitchell and Cuda Time having top MPH at 199.95. Second was Cam Clark at a 3.794, third was Cuda Time at 3.803, and fourth was teammate Robbie Keziah at 3.833. Fifth was the Viper of Dan Ferguson at 3.973 and Tim Lawrence in sixth at 3.988. Seventh was Brinsfield at a 4.129 and Mike Graham at 4.366. The cars of Zach Houser, Wayne Chambers, and Bubba Turner returned but did not make the cut.
First round saw Harvey defeat the Chevelle of Graham, Keziah’s Corvette defeat the Ferguson Viper, Clark defeat previous winner Brinsfield, and Mitchell defeat the Camaro of Lawrence. The semis were incredible with Harvey running a 3.74 at 202 to defeat Keziah’s 3.88. The other pair saw Clark use a 3.77 to defeat Mitchell’s 3.79. In the final, Harvey in the H & H Racing Corvette, fresh from a trip to Robert Hayes’ chassis shop, had a severe “POP” at the finish line, still going a 3.77 at 200 MPH to defeat a .001 red light of Clark, giving us the first repeat winner.
Outlaw DoorSlammer had the second repeat winner of Tanner Miller in the crowd-favorite ’66 Nova Wagon defeating a large field, and in 7.49 Rico’s Real Street, the Camaro of Melvin Watlington won again, giving all classes repeat winners. The 4.70 group left for a previously scheduled event in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Be sure to be at historic Piedmont Dragway, the “Doorslammer Capital of the World,” on September 5th for the next event and see if anyone can become a three-time winner. See you there.
This story was originally published on August 30, 2024. 
