Westcott Wins SS/AH at Indy Again
Though not the fastest or quickest this weekend, Charlie Westcott again shows his prowess for drag racing by claiming the top prize at the 14th Mopar Hemi Shootout at the NHRA Indy US Nationals. This was the 60th year of the US Nationals at Indy, and it was a well-attended event. Charlie’s Burns-equipped Dodge ’68 ‘cuda defeated Wendall Howe by a 8.55 to 8.66 margin in the final round. Burns customer Rick Houser was the fastest and quickest Hemi at Indy with a 8.501 sec elapsed time and a terminal speed of 158.95 mph. Rick made progressively faster runs all weekend until his Liberty transmission dead-headed in 3rd gear in the 2nd round of eliminations.
“This win in a way was bigger than the others because we didn’t come in with the performance advantage we typically have,” said Westcott Jr., whose father Charlie Westcott Sr.(shown) also won the Mopar HEMI Challenge event at Indy in 2009. “I had been fighting some kind of gremlin all weekend in my car. I never could get it right, but the final round was a little better. We got the job done, and that’s all that matters. We’ve won this thing six times, and seven if you count my dad. It’s always a good event for us.”
Charlie might be a bit hard on himself because the fast cars of the meet were Westcott-powered cars for crying out loud!
For more on the Hemi Shootout, go to Bangshift.com
