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The Southern
Outlaw Top Sportsman Series
Eastside
Speedway, Waynesboro, Virginia
June 14, 2009
Word and Photos by John
Edwin Mason
Waynesboro, Virginia -- Eastside Speedway, in Waynesboro, Virginia, is just about as far west as the three-year-old Southern Outlaw Top Sportsman [SOTS] series ever travels. Located in the Shenendoah Valley, just beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains, it’s a bit of a hike for most SOTS members. The drive home after the race probably seemed even longer, because local drivers walked off with most of the honors.
Travis Housh, from nearby Elkton, Virginia, won from the pole, but you’d be hard pressed to say that he never looked back. Driving a beautiful white split-window Corvette, powered by a 565 big block, he led all qualifiers with a 4.87 (all SOTS races are 1/8th mile events). But Housh said that he could feel the ‘Vette’s transmission converter begin to fail almost as soon as eliminations began. He and car owner Neil Hensley backed off the dial-in to compensate. In the final round, he ran a 4.9994 on a 4.99 dial-in, beating Mike Payne, who dialed a 5.52, but broke out with a 5.5182.
Payne, by the way, is from Waynesboro, Virginia, and considers Eastside his home track. He was part of the local contingent that made life miserable for the other drivers. So was Chris Campbell, another Eastside driver, who made it to the semi-finals.
With over 100 members, the SOTS series has already established itself as the largest Top Sportsman association in the country. According to SOTS president Gary Pitts, the organization’s goals are simple--stay local, support local tracks, and have “a bunch of thrills.” SOTS cars follow International Hot Rod Association [IHRA] Top Sportsman rules, and, in fact, many of the members have also found success in IHRA national and divisional events.
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