I am happy to report that despite early doubts that we would even be able to run the drag racing part of our event, today we had a GREAT day of drag racing at "Coastal Plains Dragway" in Jacksonville, N.C.

I want to start off by SINCERELY thanking Ronnie Humphries (Owner) of "Coastal Plains Dragway" and his Staff for agreeing and then allowing us to run this event today, in spite of the fact that they DO NOT usually run these events on Sunday at this time of the year. And,.....I also want to thank Ronnie and his Staff for giving us a "track rental rate" WAY BELOW what it usually costs. Additionally, my thanks TO ALL OF YOU that showed up and participated in this event. Many of you donated extra money and on behalf of myself, Mike D., Brian Buchanan and Lary Ellis we SINCERELY THANK YOU!!

For those of you that missed this part of the event, the weather cleared up very nicely and we had fairly cool air with a nice breeze all day, although it was somewhat cloudy. I think I can safely say that everyone except maybe Nate Eix (ShakinRedCTD) had a great time. Unfortunately Nate broke his flexplate on his VERY FIRST pass and was out of the event! Nate, I am sorry about your truck!

The winners and "runner-up" for each class are listed below:

UNLIMITED CLASS (1/8th mile):

WINNER: Jess Spruill (kingd)
RUNNER-UP: John Porterfield, Sr. (John_P)

Summary: We had only three racers in this class, myself, Jess Spruill, and Cris Sonnichsen. I had the fastest 1/4 mile qualifying time of 11.42@119.4MPH and drew a "bye" in the first round. That put Jess Spruill up against Cris Sonnichsen in the first round and Jess won that race. In the finals, Jess and I were very close off the line, but he beat me at the traps running a 7.28 against my 7.43. Jess,.....my SINCERE CONGRATULATIONS to you Sir!!

Here is the breakdown off the time slip of our final race:

----------------Jess-----John_P-----------------------------------------
Reaction Time:-.678-----.686--------------------------------------------
60 ft. Time:---1.73------1.75---------------------------------------------
1/8th Mile ET:-7.28------7.43---------------------------------------------
1/8th MPH:----96.1-----94.9----------------------------------------------


QUICK DIESEL (12.50 Index Time):

WINNER: Dustin Mintern
RUNNER-UP: Chris Neis

Summary: I believe we had four racers in this class and the finals came down to the two Chevy Duramaxes of Chris Neis and Dustin Mintern. These guys are very competitive and are out at CPD alot running against each and their trucks are very close E.T. wise. But today in the finals Dustin got the win.
CONGRATULATIONS to Dustin and Chris!!


E.T. BRACKET CLASS:

WINNER: Daniel Zuilles
RUNNER-UP: Alan Osborne

Summary: This was our biggest class and had twelve racers and although Daniel Zilles won this class, our own Alan Osborne gave all of the participants ONE HECK of a run in his old First Gen. Truck!! Alan made it all the way to the finals against Daniel! Daniel,.....CONGRATULATIONS to you for the win and Alan for a great run through the ladder!!

FASTEST MANUAL TRANSMISSION TRUCK:

This class was won by my Son, John Porterfield, Jr. with an E.T. of 12.90@105MPH! Johnner was able to cut a 1.75 60 foot time in his truck today! That is with a NV-5600 (6-speed) in a 2004 Dodge CTD CR equipped with a Dual-Disc Clutch!! Johnner,......a big CONGRATULATIONS to you buddy!!

RACE THE HAT EVENT:

Our own Mark Morton (madhat) ran against the fastest U.S. Marine in our group today, that being, Dustin Mintern. Mark was in his 04' Dodge CTD CR and Dustin was in his 05' Chevy Duramax. Dustin beat Mark and was awarded that the K-Bar Knife by Mark at our awards ceremony.
Dustin,.......CONGRATULATIONS to you Sir!!

I want to SINCERELY thank everyone who helped us out today at the drag race event. My thanks go out to my Son, John Porterfield, Jr. who worked hard putting together the "ladders" for the drag racing classes which went very smoothly. Also, to Brian's Father-In-Law Jerry, his Wife Sandy and his entire Crew who took alot of pictures and helped with the banners, getting things set-up etc. To Keegan Mabe (UnrulyNFS) for the video he took for us. To Lary Ellis and Peggy for the help they gave me on the staging, banners, etc. To Nate Eix for "running drinks" to us! If I missed anybody, I apologize!

Finally,.....my SINCEREST HEARTFELT THANKS to my partners in the organization/chapter for the HUGE "behind the scenes" planning of a large event like this, namely, Mike Dolan (Mike D.) and Brian Buchanan!! Folks,..these two guys worked hard about four months obtaining sponsorship money, contingencies, and giveaways to make this event what it was!
I say it EVERY year,.... that without the help of the sponsors of events like
this THESE EVENTS WOULD NOT HAPPEN!! PLEASE SUPPORT THE SPONSORS I have listed below when you need products for your diesel trucks!! I also want to thank Lary Ellis (Top) and Peggy along with the Founder of "Diesel Truck Resource. Com",... Jack Thorpe, for this website and the support they give the DTR Chapters!

OUR SPONSORS FOR THIS EVENT:

Cummins Atlantic
NAPA
Eaglestar
Sun Coast
Buck's Communication
NADM
F1 Diesel
National Speed
TRE Diesel
L&N Automotive
Advance Auto
Sears
Mr. X
Bob Wagner/Smarty Power
Scheid Diesel
South Bend Clutch
Diesel Truck Resource
RPM Diesel (McMopar)

I had a great time this weekend and it is my sincere hope that all the participants did also!

---------
John_P

 

Great post
I would like the honor of thanking John Porterfield Sr for being THE MAN that made the event happen.

Leigh Ann and I have in the past helped with everything and there could not have been any finer folks then the ones that have stepped up this year.

Thanks to you too. Brian/Sandy and Mike.

I wish I could have stayed but I had a somewhat wet and at times slow ride south. A 8 hour ride turned into a 10 hour ride. But I am home and safe so that is what matters.

Thanks once again
Chris

 

John, a big thanks to you and Mike D for all the hard work that you did for this event. I had a blast!!!!! Can't wait till the next one...

 

Thanks for the great recap as always, John. To all the winners and runner ups in the classes, Congratulations!

I would also like to thank our sponsors, with out them these events would not be possible. I would also like to thank DTR for giving us a place on the www! Lary and Jack ya'll do a great job.

My personal thanks to everyone that helped make this event happen, you guys are the best!

 

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Chris:

It was great to see you again buddy!! Please give my best to your fine Wife, Leigh and your Son Geoffery! I miss you being around here Chris!
Thanks also to your kind words on my involvement in this event,.......but let me say that this year Mike Dolan and Brian Buchanan were just as important to this thing being a success as I was!

Take care Chris.

--------
John_P

 

John, you should have reminded me about this. I would have donated my usual case of AMSOIL for you. Glad everyone had a good time.

 

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Thanks Joel, I just didn't really think of it. Getting old.....................

 

Hey John, don't forget to put your new quickest ET up on your sig.....

 

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Oh yeah,......thanks for reminding me buddy!!

 

Sorry I couldn't stay for the drags but the dyno was great. It was nice to get away and the hospitality of the chapter 18 folks is always good. There was some serious HP put to the rollers and at least one new player in the over 500 group made their appearance at your event. (Way to go Hat) Wayne's would be a place I'd try to go back to. He's a stand-up guy and he and his crew hung in there for the whole day.

This is just a personal note from me to all of the folks at the dyno event. I personally did not see one piece of trash left on the ground the entire day. Not one bottle, can, cigarette pack, nothing! I'm proud of you guys and gals for doing your part to keep Wayne's place clean!

 

I had a great time at the event and I know Chris did too. Big thanks to every one involved in the planning and execution - met a lot of great guys out there. Let's try to get more diesels out at Coastal Plains on regular Friday and Saturday nights - they love us and talk trash about all the 'Stangs and Camaros that are slower than our heavy trucks. Friday nights are test and tune starting at 8 until midnight; Saturdays are normally IHRA with Mod, Top and Sportsman Classes. If there are 16 or more vehicles in the Sportsman class they'll pay out, if not winner takes home a trophy. They have a great staff and I'd like to have some more competition - Nate, Chris, and I are out there all the time and a few of our other guys show up from time to time.

 

Well,

Yea I did get a little down....But I think all in all we are looking at a pretty "easy" fix. I want to thank Banshee and everyone else that came to the rescue when she did blow. Seems I forgot about the cooldown timer on the truck. (thanks cris!) But it was ccomical in a way that the ol girl didnt want to give up. After 5 t-shirts and 2 injector plugs she finally submitted. I guess from now on I will not run the cool down timer if I am racing....

On that note, I will be out of the racing bit for a while. I am going to get back up on borrowed parts and will not be horsing around like that. I will also be saving up for a new billet or at the very least laminated flex plate.

I also have other commitments that require my attention. So with that said I will make an appearance or two here and there, but I will not be at the track for a while...."licking my wounds"

 

Sorry I missed the event..

looks like even with the rain eveyrone had fun..

see some of you guys later in the year at other dyno days..

 

I'm glad the rains finally held away to give us a great day to go racing. Thanks to all the sponsors and to the Coastal Plains Raceway staff for letting us in to race on their normal day off!! I believe everyone had a great time, and I think the DTR group definitely made the best of the rainy situation over the weekend! Congrats to all the class winners, and hopefully everyone can get together again soon for another one!

 

we had a good time at the track,it could have used a bit more track prep but considering our small group i was impressed.it is a shame more couldnt have made it for the race.i had a good time,unfortunately i didnt get to see many of the race passes as we were working on my truck.John about 85-100 ft off the line i saw you out the corner of my eye and i thought you were coming on bye,fortunatley for me the 2nd stage kicked in and i was able to edge you out.i tell you when we rolled out saturday night Buck an I thought no way will we be back and racing on sunday,just too much rain,but the track and grounds were dry for the most part.thanks for putting on this event and we will try our best to make the next one as well.....