It was billed as the ORSCA Year One World Finals, but actually came with one more race on the schedule, as the real season ender would occur one week later at Huntsville, AL. Regardless, the Outlaw Racing Street Car Association (ORSCA) visited Carolina Dragway Nov. 2-4, for a record-setting weekend where a total of 180 cars contested four heads-up classes and four index classes over the eighth-mile “House of Hook,” near Jackson, SC. 

Texas racers Grant McCrary and Rick Thornton squared off in the premier Outlaw 10.5 final with McCrary taking his first ORSCA win after both drivers redlighted. In Limited Street, points leader Darrin Hoyle once again had the quickest car, setting a new E.T. record in qualifying, then racing to the event win with a little good luck on his side. Also in heads-up action, Tommy Brewer won his first EZ Street race of the year, while Rob Roberts earned his career-first Modified Street title.

ORSCA debuted a 4.70 index class at Carolina and Bo Simpson came all the way from Knox, TX, to qualify number one and earn the first win of any kind in his racing career. The 5.30 win went to Jeremy Ellis, with the 6.0 title going to Scott Flowers and 7.0 honors belonging to Ricky Pennington Jr.

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A pair of Texans met in the ORSCA Outlaw 10.5 final at Carolina Dragway, with Ft. Worth’s Rick Thornton (near lane) jumping the gun by a big margin and Haltom City’s Grant McCrary following suit. McCrary, who fragged his transmission in the launch, was awarded the win based on drag racing’s “first-or-worse” rule.

Texas may have won the race, but Georgia set the record, as Tim Lynch (right) steered his Woodstock, GA-based, twin-turbocharged 2002 Mustang to a stunning new E.T. record of 4.329 seconds in first-round qualifying. With 3,000 pounds on 10.5w tires, that’s haulin’ the mail! He backed it up with a 4.332-secs effort in the third and final qualifying session on Saturday night. Incrementals on the record-setting run were 60’ = 1.107, 330’ = 2.939, 1/8 mile = 4.329/178.92; compared to 60’ = 1.110, 330’ = 2.941, 1/8 mile = 3.332/177.32 on the back-up pass.

Lynch experienced tire shake in eliminations, however, and was ousted from round two by John Choate and his Mt. Holly, NC-based ’05 Mustang. He returned for a test pass later in the day, however, and laid down a jaw-dropping, but unofficial 4.31 at 180.02 mph. Later, crew chief Steve Petty (left) explained the only difference from qualifying to eliminations was they switched to new Mickey Thompson slicks. "All we did was put the old tires back on and it went a .31," Petty said. "Guess we should've left it alone."All three of the top Outlaw 10.5 qualifiers at Carolina—Lynch, Jimmy Blackmon and Grant McCrary—were running twin-turboed powerplants built by Pro Line Racing Engines, where Petty and Lynch both work.