![\"Driver](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/046d64f9029c9aec779acb88440819f1ec8ad9ad\/c=117-0-3193-2313&r=x393&c=520x390\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/08\/12\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/636381708026478299-2017-0812-rb-me-roadkill577.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/div>Pontiac<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 And then there were four.<\/p>\n After a full day of drag racing down Woodward \u2013 yes, Woodward Avenue \u2013 next to M1 Concourse here, four cars have qualified for the finals and a shot at $10,000. Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge opens Dream Cruise week and, in keeping with the democratic spirit of the Cruise, the race cars are all street legal and piloted by amateur enthusiasts.<\/p>\n The fastest driver today \u2013 in the only car under 6 seconds on the 1\/8 mile strip of public road \u2013 is Gary Box of Cleveland, Ohio in his outrageous, black, 1960s-vintage Corvette Stingray. Not so fortunate is Tom Joycey of Waterford Hills, Michigan, whose very quick 1977 Camaro Z28 blew a skinny, front \u201croller\u201d tire and won\u2019t be sticking around for the Final Four.<\/p>\n The fastest qualifier is Gary Box’s 1300-hp Corvette Stingray which turned a 5.7 sec 1\/8 mile\u00a0(Photo: Henry Payne \/ The Detroit News)<\/span><\/p>\n Box exploded down the southbound lanes of Woodward in a stupefying 5.7 seconds, drawing gasps from the drag racer faithful who were stunned that any car could break 6 seconds on a public road.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is cool as hell, man,\u201d said Box at the starting line, Woodward\u2019s surface jet black from a day of serious horsepower and serious burnouts. \u201cThis surface really sucks \u2013 there are a lot of stones in this asphalt. But this is real street racing.\u201d<\/p>\n Box should know \u2013 he got his stripes street racing in Cleveland. He built his monster \u2018Vette \u2013 he estimates the 522-cubic inch Chevy puts out 1,300 horsepower \u2013 in 1999 and has put 40,000 miles on the odometer driving it around Cleveland. The side pipes put out a deafening 99 decibels, but \u2013 like everything else here \u2013 the car is street legal.<\/p>\n Box\u2019s son Corey races with him and is building his own car. He\u2019s happy to give dad the glory this weekend. \u201cHe\u2019s been racing that car for 18 years and he deserves it,\u201d smiles the son. He also credits NHRA Top Fuel champion John Force. \u201cHe signed the glovebox \u2013 I think that\u2019s our secret.\u201d<\/p>\n Tom Joycey and his 1500-hp, 1977 Camaro Z28\u00a0(Photo: Henry Payne \/ The Detroit News)<\/span><\/p>\n Camaro driver Joycey has been a Top Ten drag racer in the National Muscle Car Association for years. Like Box, this is his first year at Roadkill and that\u2019s by design. In its inaugural year, organizers took entrants on a first come, first serve basis. This year, to encourage better racing \u2013 and to guarantee competitors know what they were doing at 150 mph between two concrete walls \u2013 drivers had to apply for entry.<\/p>\n \u201cI filled out an application and they accepted me,\u201d says Joycey whose Camaro puts out 1,500 ponies and needs rear wheelie bars to keep the thing on the ground when he launches off the line. He will come back next year if approved.<\/p>\n Joycey pointed to his 10.5-inch, DOT-approved, street legal tires (with all of three grooves) on the back of his Camaro. \u201cI run slicks at Milan (drag strip),\u201d he smiles.<\/p>\n Box didn\u2019t realize there is another week of cruising after Roadkill nights. \u201cI would have stayed for the week and done some cruising in my car,\u201d he says. But tonight he\u2019s focused on the prize.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I can do a 5.2 second run,\u201d says the tall, gray-haired Ohioan. \u201cI want that $10 grand.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pontiac\u00a0\u2013 And then there were four. After a full day of drag racing down Woodward \u2013 yes, Woodward Avenue \u2013 next to M1 Concourse here, four cars have qualified for the finals and a shot at $10,000. Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge opens Dream Cruise week and, in keeping with the democratic spirit of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20978"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20978"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20979,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20978\/revisions\/20979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/4172c3d15b242d3c2ad068830237d77f13373bc6\/c=603-0-3598-2252&r=x408&c=540x405\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/08\/12\/DetroitNews\/B99564199Z.1_20170812203333_000_G8A1JQ6OP.1-0.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/div>![\"Tom](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/4e4f354721cdd09db70f1dbcefc31dadfd199bc0\/c=448-0-3443-2252&r=x408&c=540x405\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/08\/12\/DetroitNews\/B99564199Z.1_20170812203333_000_G8A1JQ6MI.1-0.jpg\")
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