EDINBURG INT'L RACETRACK, Edinburg, Texas (July 9-10) - One week after Hurricane Alex and one day after a second tropical depression brought heavy rainfall to the Rio Grande Valley region, the track resumed racing action July 9. Homer and Ruben Ybarra shared the winner's circle that night, followed by the orange vehicles of Anthony Rios and Mac Garcia Saturday. Albert Rodriguez and Servando Cuellar took top honors during the Impact! Racing Mid-Season Summer Shootout.

Hometown driver Homer Ybarra claimed the Pro Gas title from No. 1 qualifier Sergio Jimenez. Behind the wheel of his '74 Datsun 260Z, Ybarra gained a slight reaction-time advantage over the '69 Nova of Jimenez and ran closer to the 6.50 index.

In Pro Comp (5.50 index), Ruben Ybarra qualified last but finished first in his '66 Nova. Ybarra faced current points leader Ed Galbraith in the final. Galbraith's '73 Vega wagon broke during his burnout, awarding the automatic win to Ybarra.

The last winner Friday night was Edinburg native Rodriguez. Rodriguez and final-round foe Rios drove an '05 dragster to the Quick finale. Their race was the closest final of the weekend with Rodriguez crossing .009-second in front of the faster Rios.

Rios rebounded the next day by taking the Super Pro title against Preston Pennington, who drew a red-light start.

Perhaps the color orange causes competitors to see red because the Sportsman final had the same result as Super Pro. Garcia and Gene Hudel made the three-hour tow from San Antonio south to Edinburg only to race each other in the championship round. Hudel dumped the clutch on his '01 Kawasaki .007-second too soon, handing the crown to Garcia's orange '85 Mustang.

Edinburg student Cuellar extended his points lead with a triumph in Jr. Dragster. Cuellar reacted more than a tenth of a second quicker than Gabriel Garcia, allowing Cuellar to not match his dial but still cross ahead of Garcia. - Edinburg Int'l Racetrack staff