Alamo City Motorplex 1st Annual Michael Taylor Memorial Race

By JM Hallas

Marion, TX – Family, friends, racers and crews came together Saturday to celebrate the life of Michael Taylor(Cibilo), a young racer taken way too. The young Taylor, who had recently purchased the Chevy Nova of Dale Rutledge, was on his way home from a race when a highway accident took his life and injured his fiance’ Kaylyn Pulaski.

The Taylor family has long been a fixture around drag racing and have rebuilt the damaged racecar that was piloted in the memorial cruise by his father Perry Taylor while his grandfather, Duke Floyd, drove the other Taylor car. A long line of racers on hand paid their respects to young Michael, and there was hardly a dry eye in the place as the memorial cruise began.

Several racers and businesses were involved in bringing this together: Corky Weeks, Greg Meuth(Quality Auto), Trevor Smith, John Twitty, Michaels Garage, Barrys Oil & Towing, Game Day Gear, Blue Bonnet Ford, Bare Metal Speed Shop along with ACM staff. Cornwell Tools held a raffle for a large tool box with proceeds going to the Taylor family.

The race itself was highlighted by the 4.90 Top Outlaw Sportsman and the 5.00 Dragsters, as well as 6.00, 6.50, 7.00, 7.50 and 8.00 Index classes for door cars. Time trials got pushed back an hour as track temperatures reached 142*. Crews worked with the track scrubber laying down water to cool the surface and by about 7:00pm they had the track down to a manageable 122*.

4.90 Index Top Outlaw Sportsman

Ryan McDonald led the way in qualifying with his 4.9013 for the number one qualifying spot. Going into the finals it was Ely Trevino(Dilly), in his 65 Corvette going against Austin Philpot(Boerne), in his Redline Oil, LP Operations, Speed Shark, 2009 Chevy Cavalier. Trevino got 4/100th off the line that was good enough to hold off Philpot at the finish.

Ely Trevino 5.085 @ 133.49 defeats Austin Philpot 5.106 @ 138.50

Trevino defeated David Bills, D. Ackerman, and Keith Whitaker while Philpot lost round one D. Beard, rebought and bested Mike Atkinson and Matt Blair.

5.00 Index Dragsters

The Dragster finals pitted long time ACM regulars, Scott Ball(Marion) and Kip Scharf(San Antonio). Ball, in his daughter Emily’s, Scott Ball Racing, Mission Auto Parts dragster laid a .005 light on Scharf in Nogalitos Gear, Simpson Racing Products, Brando Custom Paint, Don Davis, Greg Hubbell Race Car, an advantage that he was mathematically unable to overcome.

Scott Ball 5.085 @ 133.49 defeats Kip Scharf 5.106 @ 138.50

Ball outted Philip Pennington and David Cain. Scharf lost round 1 Philip Pennington, then took out Peeps Pennington.

6.00 Index

The 6.00 finals saw former San Antonio Raceway(ACM) operator Todd Zampese( San Antonio) in his Camaro up againt JR Galvan(Robstown) in the Pancho Villa Racing, Mustang. Zampese took the holeshot win with a .025 light despite Galvan being a tad bit quicker at the stripe.

Todd Zampese 6.118 @ 104.17 defeats JR Galvan 6.108 @ 115.36

Zampese got beat round 1 by Brian Sullivan then trailered Jay Fitzgerald and C. DeLeon. Galvan took down Perry Taylor, Corky Weeks and Todd Robinson.

6.50 Index

Two team mates, of sorts, Todd Robinson(Corpus Christi) and Scott Ball faced off in the 6.50 finals with a pair of red Camaros.(Robinson a 67 and Ball a 69) The two decided to split the payout and let Robinson take the win since Ball had run the car in another class and she was hot and tired.

Todd Robinson 8.485 @ 50.93 defeats Scott Ball 10.133 @ 70.40

Robinson outran D. Chessher and Moon Mullins after losing to Laurie Vontur in round 1 with a round 3 bye. Ball ousted W. Layfield(twice), J. Garza and got a bye in the semis.

7.00 Index

The 7.00 class had the most entries, nearly 20, with eliminations coming down to the finals between Jake Bixler(San Antonio) and Nathan Ybarra(San Antonio). Bixler, in his little Chevy Chevette, left with a slight edge(.032) on Ybarra, in his 68 Camaro, who went too quick and broke out while Bixler ran the number.

Jake Bixler 7.018 @ 88.64 defeats Nathan Ybarra 6.982 @ 93.69(broke out)

Bixler beat Alan Friedeck, J. Smith, Gabriel Hernandez and M. Layfield. Ybarra got around Amber Garza, J. Garza, and Scott Ball.

7.50

In the 7.50 finals it was Manuel Hernandez(San Antonio) paired up with Harley Ullrich for the finals. Hernandez, in his Mr Sandman Camaro took 6/100th on the tree on Ullrich in his S-10 Pickup. Both would go too quick for a double break out with Hernandez being the least offender and getting the win.

Manuel Hernandez 7.425 @ 83.58 defeats Harley Ullrich 7.412 @ 93.52(double break out)

Hernandez got the finals with wins over A. Garcia(twice) and round 3 bye. Ullrich got a round 2 bye and bested Mac Garcia(twice).

8.00

It was a pair of El Caminos squaring off in the 8.00 finals between Jamie Longoria(Lytle) and Leroy O’Bryant(San Antonio). Longoria, in his Longoria Motorsports, Alamo Speed Shop, 84 El Camino got .044 on O’Bryants 79 El Camino. O’Bryant would run him down at the stripe, but go too quick breaking out by 61/10,000th(.0061) giving the victory to Longoria.

Jamie Longoria 8.974 @ 59.48 defeats Leroy O’Bryant 7.993 @ 81.71(break out)

Longoria got a round 1 bye, bettered J. Garcia and C. Smith. O’Bryant lost round 1 to C. DeLeon then won against Ryan Aguilar and C. DeLeon in a rematch.