As any of you who follow fast doorslammer racing in the Carolinas knows, there are several drivers that will put a holeshot on you in a second. One of the best is Travis “The Carolina Kid” Harvey. With the season finally underway, Harvey has already had much success with the Vaughn Myles-owned, Sonny Leonard-powered, nitrous Corvette, starting with a win at the April Big Dog Shootout, rain-delayed to April 13.
However, the gentleman he would meet in the final, Jamie Chappell, winner of the Big Dog vs. the World event from last September, is no slouch. With the team of Justin Carmack, Terry Coyle, Eli Moore, Chuck Ford, and Robbie Matthews prepping the Tommy Mauney-built “War Eagle” ’63 Corvette, this group has let it be known that they have come to play in the Big Dog sandbox. But there were six other cars there, and qualifying was a show in itself.
Jamie Chappell
Low qualifier was the aforementioned “Carolina Kid” with Jason Harris second, the “War Eagle” group in third, and another TM Corvette, driven by Robbie Keziah, in fourth. Fifth was the 2022 champ, Brian Shrader, with Chevy Floyd in the third TM Corvette with a Big Dog best in sixth. Michael Dawkins landed in the No. 7 spot, and Bubba Turner in the Scarlette Performance Firebird ended up in the eighth position.
Eliminations began with Harvey over Turner, Keziah over Shrader, Harris over Dawkins, and Chappell over Floyd.
The semis resulted in a 3.79 win for Harvey’s Corvette over Keziah’s crossed-up Corvette. The other pair had Chappell putting a shot on Jason Harris.
This set up the final for Jamie and Gina Chappell’s War Eagle Corvette to meet Harvey in the Corvette tuned by Jeff Miller. Nitrous versus blower. The final would be won by a .002 light paired with a 3.756 at 201.16 from Harvey over a 3.781 at 199.46 with a .050 light from the Chappell group. It was the quickest and fastest side-by-side run in Big Dog history.
All in all, a great start to the 2023 season that was watched by a huge crowd and set the stage for the next event on May 4. If you missed the April event, be there on May 4. It will be epic.
Michael Paschal
Other winners included Michael Paschal in his dad’s Falcon over the Malibu of the Stanley family, driven by Justin Stanley, for the win in Outlaw DoorSlammer action.
This story was originally published on May 2, 2023. 
