Mike Romain wins the 2003 Vette Doctors Quick 4 race 3
| Quick 4 Qualifiers
| | No. | Driver | ET | MPH
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| 1. | Bill Maloney | 10.046 | 141.49
| | 2. | Chris Coriell | 10.089 | 133.41
| | 3. | Mike Romain | 10.144 | 131.95
| | 4. | Tommy Michalkowski | 10.804 | 119.55
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9/6/03 - It was a great day for racing today as temperatures began to cool. It was great especially for Mike Romain who won the third Vette Doctors Quick 4 of 2003 from the third qualifying position. Romain's car was put back together the night before by the Cartek Racing Team who worked late into the night in preparation for today's race. Mike is a fierce competitor who did not qualify for the previous Quick 4 due to car issues but he had those issue all worked out today.
The first round of the Q4 found Romain paired with Chris Coriell, of title sponsor, East Coast Supercharging. Mike got the jump on the tree on Chris by nearly two tenths and Coriell could not recover. Romain ran, a very close to nine-seconds, 10.001 at 138.03 MPH and Coriell ran almost what he qualified at, 10.102. It was a fairly close race. The second pair was Bill Maloney, the winner of the previous Q4, in his Vette Doctors powered machine and Tommy Michalkowski in the Anger Management prepped machine. As the drivers carefully staged the Corvettes and waited for the starter to drop the tree, Tommy was taken completely by surprise as his foot slipped and his car rolled past the starting beams before the started can start the race. That gave Maloney the very easy first round win and it showed on the clocks as he crossed the traps at a casual 17.622 seconds saving the car to race another race.
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| Winner Mike Romain
| (front row)Julio, Dave, Bob, Winner Mike Romain, runner up Bill Maloney, John Mackey
(back row)Max, Rich, Roy, Dennis, Carmen and Bill's Dad
| Runner-up Bill Maloney
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More event photos
The Q4 final stage was set for the two Black C5's who maintain and friendly rivalry for as far as we can remember. Each driver capable of running nine second passes gave us hopes promise for a very close final race. They left the line with very close reaction times and hustled down the track. Much to the surprise of the anxious onlookers, Maloney slowed mid-track. Much to surprise of the fans and Mike himself (wasn't sure the tranny was going to hold), Romain clicked off a 9.987 pass to take the win. The crowed cheered and the Cartek Racing team jumped up in jubilation watching Mike take the win. The Vette Doctor team, with the look of dejection, knew that Maloney's transmission had done him in as third gear in his car did not show up for the race and he can only run an 11.225 and never catch Romain. For a video of the final click here.
The the Q4 drivers gave us some exciting racing today and also showed us that anything can happen to these super fast, on the edge, racing Corvettes. And after the race, three of the four competitors (Coriell had to take off) and a group of non-Q4 competitors had dinner at the Old Silver Tavern and shared a few drinks and laughs. While today's Q4 drivers were quick enough to get in, the Corvette field was full of racers running really quick times and hopeful of getting in as well. Three drivers laid down some great times but would not have qualified for the Q4 as they where either not Corvette Challenge points racers or not NHRA legal to run their ET's and you must be BOTH. Standing at the ready in the fifth and sixth qualifying spots in case they were needed, were Brian Miller, (10.936 @123.91) and Brent Grigsby, (11.06@ 123.64). Both drivers will be looking to make the Quick 4 at the next Q4 race in two weeks, Saturday, September 20, 2003, 9 AM, along with today qualifiers and many others. Come on out and watch them and give them a hand.
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