Bradenton Wally Stroupe Report

Wally Stroupe Reaches Quarter-Finals At IHRA Amalie Oil Nationals

BRADENTON, FL--- Sometimes, the best way to erase a bad memory is to attack it with a relentless attitude. That's exactly the mode Trim Parts-sponsored, Pro Modified racer Wally Stroupe was in as he returned to the site that caused him so much grief in 1998. The IHRA Amalie Oil Nationals afforded the King's Mountain, N.C.,-based driver a good baseline for the upcoming season. It also did wonders in enabling him to forget a devastating fire that sidelined him for much of the 1998 season.

During the first session of qualifying, he secured the fifth spot with a 6.581/211.81. He greatly improved his status during the second session with a 6.549/212.56, but dropped several spots in the midst of a quick round. A 6.50/216.71 signaled a continuation of the improving status to leap into the number seven spot. During the fourth and final session, he encountered a tremendous engine explosion and failed to improve on his time and was bumped back into the eleventh spot again.

Stroupe entered the first round as the proverbial underdog against Steve Vick. With a reaction time of .473, he destroyed Vick with a 6.582/214.95. He fell against eventual finalist Glenn May. Stroupe got off the line quicker than May, but in the end, engine woes and an off-pace 6.949/154.03 spelled the end of his race day.

Wally Stroupe's Trim Parts-sponsored team will continue their championship conquest at the Holley Spring Nationals in Rockingham, N.C., April 9-11. Stroupe, along with each Pro Modified contestant will be afforded four qualifying runs during the course of the event and the quickest sixteen entries will compete in final eliminations on Sunday. The event will be televised on ESPN2 with the dates TBA in an upcoming issue of the IHRA's Drag Review magazine.