2008 Buick GS Nationals In Beach Bend Raceway Park - 6 Seconds At The GS Nats!

Paul Ferry of Atwater, Ohio, is the owner of HrpartsNstuff, and a Super 16 Title Sponsor. HRpartsNstuff is well known for their suspension and swaybar products.

According to TSM winner Jason White, the Turbo Street Modified battle was "definitely a day to remember" as White ran a 9.613 at 141.49 to take the top spot. Don "Missile" Cruz and his '87 GN posted a quicker 9.435 at 144.38. White and Cruz have the same tuner (Cal Hartline of Hartline Performance), the same engine builder, and both use PTC converters from Dusty Bamford of Twisted 6 Performance. Jason won the TSM final by just .0919 seconds!

The Turbo Street Limited class saw Willard Brown wheel his '86 T-Type to a 9.230 ET at 150.46 for the win; though Gary Harmon's '87 Regal went a wicked-fast 8.984 at 145.47, a slow reaction time sealed the deal for Brown.

Friday at 3 p.m. saw lanes 1,2,3, and 4 filled to capacity due to Thursday's rain. Big-inch old-school V-8s, meet new-tech turbo V-6s.

Joe Reif "Jr" qualified for top positions in Bracket 2 and TAI with his '87 Buick Turbo.

I met Englishmen Mike Smith (left) and Colin Bussey (right) Tuesday night with GS Nationals staff volunteers for dinner at Outback. Colin is the proud owner of '87 Buick GNX #495, owned since 1990 and currently with 20,000 miles. Colin may be the only GNX owner in the UK and has been to the GS Nationals six times. Mike has owned his 1970 GS Stage 1 convertible automatic for the past 21 years. Both cars were brought over to the UK and were for sale locally.

Check out this twin turbo alcohol dragster: Bob Kemper and pops Barry recorded a 7.296 at 180.33 mph! They had high hopes of 6.50s over 200 until the head lifted. How does an eighth-mile of 4.3 at 170 mph sound?

The turnout for the TSA (turbo stock appearing) class was small; however for Clay Arnold, I am sure he was thinking "Show Me The Money." ZDDPlus of North Carolina sponsored the record payout for this first year race class. Pictured is Richard Clark with his dog Jill rewarding Clay Arnold with CA$H. First place was 16 $100 bills and only Clay showed up. He made three passes and ended the day with a 11.996 at 112.24 mph in his blue '86 Buick T-Type. The runner-up was to get eight $100 bills, however, there were no entries! Richard Clark honored the payout anyway! It has been confirmed that the TSA class payout for first place at the 2009 GS Nationals has been doubled to $3,200, and second place, to $1,600. And there might also be a purse doubling for any Turbo Regal that can score a "gold" in concours and also win TSA. That's $6,400!

Gallina/Freeman Racing are the winner in the 2008 Big Gun Shootout--and the Super 16 Low Qualifier with a 7.10 at 195. Pictured from left: Title Sponsor Geoff Ketchum and Bob Makley from Finishline Motorsports. Len Freeman (driver) accepts his Low Qualifier plaque from Doug Hecker. The Gallina/Freeman Racing crew includes Len and his wife, Lisa "pretty in pink race girl shirt", Tim, their son, holding his fingers up for "6s", and their daughter, Jessi, who helps out at every race. To Len's left is Crew Chief Jan Moeller. The boy next to Lisa is Cal and Holly Hartline's son Jake, another diehard crew member. Next to Doug is Ken (engine builder/tuner) and Margie Duttweiler, John and Marka Gallina (owner), and Title Sponsor Paul Ferry of HRpartsNstuff.

Here's that lifted head. Turbo Bob Kemper says "We just lifted the head, no big deal. If your not breakin' it, you're not pushing it!"

At the show, there were tons of great-looking Buicks. Here is Class L: Buick Grand National and Turbo Regal Stock. First place honors went to J. Roger Goodwin and his '87, second place to Jim Schumacher for his '87, and Third went to Bill Rockwell and his...yes...'87! Seven cars participated in Class L, with a combined street value of $175,000. Twenty-year-old 80's collector muscle cars!