NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

David Barton’s victory at the season-opening SAM Tech Factory Stock Showdown event in Gainesville was impressive, but his second win in Englishtown was nothing less than a good old fashioned drubbing. Barton, driving Gary Wolkwitz’s supercharged COPO Camaro, remained perfect on the season with an 8.376 to 8.480 win over Clay Arnett in the final round.

“This is perfect, just the way it should be,” said Barton, who is also a former winner of the Mopar Hemi Challenge. “After Gainesville, we took the car completely apart and made a few changes that we thought were safe to make. We tried to be a bit conservative and not get too carried away, but we did manage to pick up about a tenth of a second.”

In qualifying, Barton stunned the Englishtown crowd, first with a sky-high wheelstand and then with an 8.256-second run that was not only good for the No. 1 qualifying spot but also stands as the quickest Stock pass recorded to date. Runner-up Arnett qualified No.2, but he was more than a tenth of a second behind with an 8.408. All eight qualifiers ran 8.56 or quicker.

“I never thought I’d have that kind of an advantage in this field, but I don’t think it was as much as some people thought,” said Barton. “The track was pretty tricky, and if some of these guys had been able to figure it out, I think the field would have been even closer than it was. We used a pretty safe tune-up because we didn’t want to do what a lot of other guys did, which was go out and spin the tires. I made one bad run, but we managed to get it figured out.”

Barton’s bad run came in the opening round of eliminations when his Camaro spun the tires as soon as he hit the throttle, but by then, he had already won because opponent Chris Holbrook had already fouled. Taking advantage of his one lucky break, Barton returned for Sunday’s final two rounds and defeated Kevin Skinner’s Cobra Jet Mustang with an 8.39 before stopping Arnett in the final.

Although he wasn’t able to keep pace with Barton, runner-up Arnett is no pushover. Last fall, he became the sport’s quickest Stock driver with an 8.32 at the Division 3 National Open event at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis. Arnett had also run more than 165 mph in his supercharged COPO Camaro.

For Barton, the Factory Stock Showdown events are a chance to showcase his engine-building skills in front of a growing audience. That’s especially true this season because the three eliminations rounds are run on Saturday and Sunday in order to expose the exciting new class to as many fans as possible.

“This just keeps getting better and better,” said Barton, who got a full-sized national event Wally trophy for his victory. “Not only is this car a blast to drive, but it’s also great to get out there and race in front of a big crowd. I think this deal has a bright future.”