That Atlanta Dragway curse is finally smashed into the pavement!

Number one qualifier "and" the win on Sunday.

Darin had what could be called one of the best weekends of racing in a long time. Yeah, Florida was great this year with the record breaking runs but there's something about that final round win that is so sweet.

Testing "The Cobra" on Thursday shook out a few cobwebs and gave us some faith in the car handling the track this year. Battled with it the past couple of years so the score was Atlanta 2 and Hendricks Racing zero. This event, that monkey was shot dead.

First round of qualifying Darin rowed through the gears and took to top spot with a 10.252 at 129.57 MPH. Crunching the numbers showed there was more in "The Cobra" but this weekend we didn't want that Atlanta curse to show its ugly head again.

The second round of qualifying was the NMRA/NMCA Shoot Out and Darin had to line up against the only stick car in CPS. A battle of the man pedals. Darin took him out with a 10.272 at 129.72 pass. The sixty went away a little but still the quickest CS car of the round.

Third round was another Shoot Out race but this time against the CPS Champion, Jesse Wilson. Didn't go in Darin's favor this time but with horrible DA, the car responded fairly well with a 10.310 at 129.54 pass. Every round of qualifying, the quickest of the class.

Eliminations on Sunday were delayed to late in the day due to rain and mist all morning but by the afternoon, things were clear enough to begin the event.

First round was against our buddy Joe Marini. The two drivers have met quite a few times in this class over the course of time. Darin managed a win with a 10.204 at 130.27 MPH over the veteran Mustang racer.

Second round was a competition bye so a couple of small changes were made to see what the track could handle. Didn't go as well as we thought and netted a 10.226 at 130.20 MPH but at least we knew that those changes were not approved by "The Cobra" at all.

Semi-finals was an extremely tough match-up for sure. The 2017 Coyote Stock Champion Jacob Lamb was in the other lane. Never make the mistake of underestimating that crew with the "Damned Red Car". That number one is on that coupe for a reason!

When the clutch was released, the gears were slammed and the dust settled, Darin got the win light over the 2017 CS Champion with a 10.194 at 129.88 MPH versus a 10.260 at 128.09 MPH. A sigh of relief but....

The final round was against the always tough "Bounty Hunter" Clair Stewart II. He and Eddie had that silver car on a winning streak with a stout final round appearance in Florida this year.

The tree came down and lady luck shined on the team with a red light start for Clair. Darin kept the pedal to the metal and rung up a 10.207 at 130.14 pass to seal the deal. Nearly bracket racing consistency all weekend. LOL

For those who may not know him, Darin doesn't do the social media "Farsebook" deal and there are so many "thank you" messages to hand out, so it's now up to me to get them out there and my typing skills are not the best. Here goes...

Of course, Darin would like to thank his wife and kids, the entire Hendricks family who puts up with this insane hobby. Without their support, this would never happen.

"THANK YOU"

Andy Smith - Pro Tree Race Cars -
Mark Mainiero and Sharad Raldiris - UPR Products -
Cale and Tinzy Aronson - Black Magic Clutches -
Troy Baum - Racewires -
Jay and Lisa Tucker - JLT Performance -
Leonard Long and Paul Long - G-Force Transmissions/Long Shifters -
Jason Rueckert - VP Racing Fuels -
Steve Moberly - Scram Speed -

Mickey Thompson Tires
LAT Racing Oils
Strange Engineering
Menscer Motorsports
Ford Performance

The entire "No Respect Racing" gang...

Especially Scott Soberg for the dedication to keeping the team on point.

See y'all at Maple Grove...