DAY TWO: CECIL COUNTY DRAGWAY, MARYLAND

THE first two cars in the staging lanes at the historic Cecil County Dragway were the turbocharged Barra brothers – Ben Neal’s Cresta and Ben Paganoni’s Mustang. It was hard to know which lane to watch as both cars stormed out of the hole and down the quarter for dual eight-second passes. It was Ben Neal’s first eight at Drag Week – an 8.95@148mph – while for Ben Paganoni it was a case of another day, another PB, taking three-tenths off with an 8.64@160mph.

Harry Haig had been up all night helping the Swedish contingent fix the transmission in their stock-bodied, nitrousassisted Opel Ascona, which Hot Rod’s David Freiburger nicknamed the ‘OG Ascona’. A lack of sleep seemed to have no effect on his speed, as he rocketed ‘Stevo’ to yet another PB of 8.68@156mph.

Corty Haig finally got to have a run in the Malibu wagon he was sharing with Robby Abbott. After a minor blip at the start when he dropped the transbrake, Corty stuck his boot into it and got down in 11.21@120mph. Robby then took the wheel and ran another PB for the wagon – a 10.20@132mph.

Brenton Gault made an initial pass in the ’55 Chev that resulted in a disappointing 12-second timeslip, but he hotlapped around for a second attempt and was rewarded with a 10.55@125mph. While the fuel starvation problem wasn’t going away, the stop-gap solutions the team had employed seemed to be working reasonably well.

Ben Paganoni had already handed in his timeslip but decided to go out for a second lap anyway. However, the Fox-body stalled mid-burnout and the team surmised that the issue was fuel related. The Barra brotherhood set to work, using a process of elimination to eventually diagnose a faulty map sensor.

It was a scary moment when Magnus Frost’s twin-turbo Opel Ascona crashed into the wall and became airborne before landing on its lid over the finish line. He was unhurt, but the car was toast.

Tom Bailey maintained his lead with a one-and-done 6.83@205mph, while Bryant Goldstone moved into second with the quickest time of the day, a 6.68@215mph. Assuming third place Overall and first in the Pro Street Power Adder class was Glenn Hunter in his ’56 Chev, going 7.39@190mph.

MAGNUS FROST’S OPEL ASCONA CRASHED INTO THE WALL AND BECAME AIRBORNE BEFORE LANDING ON ITS LID

A street-racing hero in its native Sweden, this stock-bodied Opel Ascona, powered by a 565ci bigblock with three stages of nitrous, suffered a range of problems throughout the week, but owner Robin Johannesson was able to hand in a 7sec timeslip every day. “It’s weird because this car shouldn’t be able to go this fast,” he said. “It’s short, it’s hard to drive, and there’s not that much power in it.” Robin and the car sped to a new PB on Day Two – a 7.67@177mph