Outlaw Chevys Turn Up the Heat
It’s no secret that Chevrolet dominates the dragstrip, both in sheer number of entries and winners’ slips, and they proved it again Aug. 17-18, at Beat the Heat II, an unsanctioned, eighth-mile event at Montgomery (AL) Motorsports Park promoted by Outlaw 10.5 racer and defending race champion Ken Rainwater. Dallas, GA’s Michael Robinson led the Chevy parade to victory lane after picking up the Outlaw 10.5 title with a holeshot win over Brian Markiewicz and his ’69 Camaro in the final round.
Michael Robinson survived a tough field and even tougher conditions at Montgomery, AL, to earn the Outlaw 10.5 win at Beat the Heat II. It may have been one of the last wins for the crowd-pleasing Camaro in Team VIP trim, as the car is for sale and a new ride is on the way for Robinson from ace chassis builder John Bonner at the Race Factory in Georgia.
“The car was running consistent all day, going from A to B and doing everything we asked it to do,” Robinson said of his nitrous-fed VIP Racing ’02 Camaro. “I was having pretty good lights, too, and everything just fell into place.”
Florida’s Brian Markiewicz (near lane) set low E.T. of eliminations with a 4.623-seconds win over Hill in the semis and he ran a strong 4.668 in the all-Camaro final against Robinson, but Robinson’s .099 holeshot (far lane) proved to be just a little too much to overcome.
 Kyle Huettel launches hard in his ex-Darrin-Hoyle-owned ’69 Camaro before a late-night Beat the Heat II run over MMP’s eighth mile. Huettel managed to beat his car’s former owner in the Limited Street semis and went on to win the final over Keith Szabo. |
Things also fell into place for Texas racer Kyle Huettel, who qualified his ’69 Camaro first in Limited Street, then advanced to win the $10,000 final over Georgia’s Keith Szabo. Also making it to victory lane were Monte Carlo driver Shane Stack in EZ Street, with index class winners including Matt Tucker and his ‘69 Nova (5.30), Kevin Pruett with a ’67 Chevy II stationwagon (6.0) and Lucas Bendahl with his early-model Nova (7.0). Only Brian Murphy spoiled the Bowtie celebration with the Modified Street win in his Fox-bodied Mustang.
