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The SpeedZone Forum is effectively shut down as we look for another Forum that I can police without policing it daily. I have over 12,000 spam members and I know it all take sup unwanted server space. Hopefully in the next couple weeks we will be good to go. Members that are vaild will be able to keep current users names. Will keep you updated.
The 2008 home page is here with all 08 links
July 3, 2009 12:00 noon update: The West Coast Pro Mod qualifying story presented by RH Race Cars from Mission is finally posted. The eliminations will be posted later today along with photos Edmonton pre race team press releases are posted Edmonton Sportsman coverage including the IBAA and Nitro Harley is here. Edmonton Pro results including TF, TAFC, PM Nitro Funny Car are here July 2, 2009 Just arrived in Edmonton and the pro car counts are as follows so far..... July 1, 2009 Bill Jeffery's photo blog is posted ( a number of very cool shots from all classes this past weekend). The Pro Mod story from MRP will be posted Thursday, as I am on the road in an hour heading North to Edmonton for the slightly down sized Rocky Mountain Nationals. Thanks to RH Race Cars for their support of the Cam Am Pro Mod Challenge and the CWDS event this past weekend at MRP A huge thank you to Ace Manufacturing, as they are the sponsor of all SpeedZone's Coverage for the Rocky's. The Event page for SpeedZone's Rocky Mountain Coverage is here Happy Canada Day A Norwalk photo gallery is posted. The recap from Norwalk is posted The Pro Street and Doorslammer story is posted from Mission Raceway. Pro Mod results from Mission will be posted Wednesday afternoon. The full CWDS story is posted on their site. A weekend blog from Bill Jeffery will be posted Wednesday evening. June 30, 2009 The Doorslammer story is posted. Pro Mod and Pro Street Wednesday morning. June 29, 2009 The Pro Mod and Pro Street stories from Mission will be posted Tuesday, am working on the Doorslammers site tonight. June 29, 2009 Wow, what a weekend at MRP for the Pro Mod Challenge. Tommy Johanns extends his lead and gets a huge win at the fastest track in the series. He defeated a loose and on and off the throttle Rick Distefano. Ken Sihota gets the win in Pro Street (his first ever win) and Dale Moznik wins Outlaw. The Doorslammers saw Tyson Wells in the 'Bug defeat a shocked Terry Spargo. Shocked because it was #1 qualifier vs #29. Fastest vs slowest, you know all the cliche's, they could all be used. Unfortunately for the 6.50 bullet of Spargo's, he could not fire the car for the final. The points are really heating up for sure, as the CWDS assoc. has had 5 different winners in five races. Mike Bedsworth got shot in the guts this weekend, as he had his Ford F350 pick-up stolen from the Hotel Saturday night, and then he hit the wall after a 190 mph win in round two. He was fine and the car was not too badly damaged. All the stories Monday. Shawn Cowie's blog is updated June 28, 2009 Rick Distefano wait till the last session to lay down a very stout 6.06 to lead the West Coast Pro Mod event at Mission Raceway. Joe Delehay is #2 with a 6.13 and Tommy Johanns goes better than his career best, on two occasions with a best of 6.19 to sit 3rd. Nitrous player Ross Hogenson is #4 with a 6.34 and Wayne Hofer blows past his best by a bunch with a great 6.38. Perry Thyr also loves the sea level air with a career best 6.44. The bump is held by 2008 series champ Dan Vogt. He struggled to a best of 6.54. Ken Sihota leads Pro Street with a career best 6.62 Very impressive for the Langley driver. Terry Spargo nailed down his best ever with a 6.53. In a real treat, Tim Nemeth game out and played (in the sand box a bit) and blasted to a very impressive debut ( no 60 ft launch, no half track) a full 1320 shot that netted the 68 Mustang Nitro Flopper a 6.38/225. Possibly the best ever debut for a nostalgia nitro Funny Car anywhere. Unfortunately, the chutes did not release, and Tim the veteran he is, worked hard to scrub as much speed as possible and he just entered the kitty litter. No damage and he will hit it hard Sunday, hopefully. What a wild weekend so far, so to come Sunday night. June 27, 2009 NHRA Norwalk Full Throttle National event results. Photos will be posted Monday June 26, 2009 Pro Mod and Pro Street testing at MRP Friday (two different pages). All coverage her.e at the 'Zone this weekend from MRP is presented by RH Race Cars.
June 25, 2009 A special congratualtions to CW Doorslammer crew member (for Layne Wooley) Sean Heron and his wife Errin, as they are pleased to announce the birth of their first child, a boy Liam Congrat's to the family. June 24, 2009 Here is the pre entry list for the Pro Mods this weekend. The link to the left will have all the coverage for the West Coast Pro Mods this weekend. We will have a page up for the Doorslammers and the CPSA as wel.
5:00pm update. SpeedZone is proud to announce that RH Race Cars will be the sponsor of all the coverage this weekend from Mission Raceway. We will have two pages for the extensive coverage. One page exclusively for the West Coast Pro Mod Can Am Challenge, and one page for the CWDS and CPSA series. Rumor has it there could be as many as 16 Pro Mods (got the list from Assoc. director) this weekend at Mission for the Can Am Challenge. One of the biggest fields ever at Mission. Very Cool. Will have lots more on this weekend's event Wednesday evening. Will have photos up soon from the Seattle Divisional race as well, thanks to Paul Grant. June 21, 2009 Update I should have posted yesterday........Terry Spargo did break the nat'l record (6.61/209: old record 6.64/202) in the second session of qualifying they ran at Seattle, but the rain kept the teams from making their final round of qualfying. In eliminations, they could have broke the record even lower, he was on a 6.59/210 pass, but decided to save their index, as he was late at the tree (stall issue). Kudos to Terry Spargo and the South Hill Electric team for giving notice to all the A/AP competitors out there, there is a new dog on the block, the rest better bring a bigger gun to the fight , and to the team or guy who complained about the DD looking to give Terry one more shot to back up the record, it's gonna happen buddy, next time, maybe they will break it even more. Better get a Sonny's Hemi!!!! (Todd you should be proud). He did it!
Shawn Cowie gets a full pull divisionally and now has to get a couple solid results at the National level................Full results from the Seattle divisional are here. Shawn Cowie does what no Canadian TAD driver has done in Division Six. Win the required five events to claim maximum points. American Rick Santos had five Divisional wins once before I believe. History making for sure! He moves into second in the national standings still one round behind Jim Whiteley. Also congrat's to Ken Webster for his first #1 qualifying effort in TAFC. He went out on a hole shot in Round two. Gasparelli won in TAFC over Clint Thompson. A huge congrat's to the Calgary based Kenny Gilmour TAD team with Ashley Bart behind the wheel, as they bypass the 5.4's altogether and run an awesome 5.391/263 to qualify #4 in the field. Unfortunately they had mechanical issues and shut off before their first round matchup. Marshall ran well, went 7.09, but went red in round one, and Harrison of course ran real well, going .64 under, but went went out in round two. June 19, 2009 Not much in the way of updates will happen this weekend since my daughter is getting married and I will obviously be a bit predisposed. Will try and post a few things Sunday evening. June 19, 2009 Seattle Division Six event preview. Results will be there as well. June 18, 2009 Mark King sends us a very cool Night of Fire event from Tucson. Fuel Altered's highlighted the show. June 18, 2009 The Langley Loafer's Old Time drags results and story is posted. June 18, 2009 Shawn Cowie's blog is updated. Todd Hoerner's blog is updated. June 17, 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Englishtown results are posted Englishtown gallery is posted A huge Ashcroft gallery all classes except the Doorslammers (Blown Outlaw, and all classes), is here June 15, 2009 Spokane county raceway Lucas Oil event weekend results.
An Englishtown NHRA gallery is posted. The full report from Englishtown Tuesday. The first fire (and water bombers) gallery from Ashcroft is posted (around 80 photos). Another tomorrow as well as an actual racing gallery from the Plex. The Vancouver Sun (online) posted photos I sent them from the fire at Ashcroft. Am still working on the gallery. Hopefully I will have some posted tonight. 245 photos in total. June 14, 2009 What a drag racing weekend right across North America. Englishtown had weather issues all weekend long, and two erie Top Alcohol Funny Car sand trap incidences at the infamous New Jersey track where Scott Kalitta was killed. Winners included Larry Dixon (TF), Tony Pedregon (FC, holeshot win over Ashley Force, again), Jeg Coughlin (PS), Craig Treble (PSM), Frank Manzo (TAFC), John Frinke (TAD) and Ray Commisso (PM). Full coverage including photos from David Smith in the next couple days. Shawn Cowie wins again, at Spokane this time, as he now has four Division event victories and is right on Jim Whitely's (Whitely won this weekend as well) butt in the chase for the TAD championship. Bill Riechert is right in the hunt as well. This one is going to be good. Ken Webster dodges a bullet in round two against Trevor Lebsack, and then defeats Ron August in the final. Hough goes out in round two. John Evanchuk pedals his way to a first round loss unfortunately. Dale Carlson in Hugh Ridley's TAD battles Cowie in the semi finals and just looses by .04. The hottest race by far was at the Eagle Motorplex though, as 100 degree temps rocked the Plex for the Langley Loafers Old Time Drags on Saturday and then out of the blue, a thunderstorm struck and that is when things got exciting.
Ya that is a fire caused by the lightning, just East of the track. Within 35 minutes, the forest service had five different planes dropping fire retardent on the perimeter of the fire that got as large as 100 acres. A sight that most people will never get a chance to see as most fires are in remote areas. There were as many as nine aircraft flying around, and the track was actually on one hour evacuation notice. I will have a full gallery of some spectacular photos this week. Here are a few teasers. I was busier having racers buying photos of the fire than of their race cars, and that was very successful as well. Thanks to the Eagle Motorplex for their hospitality. Brent Murray won the Blown Outlaw portion of the Loafers event. Zak Clarke took out Phil Davis (congrat's Phil and Pat), and Duane Grosart defeated Roy Lazic in a best of three 'blown bad ass' doorcar match up. Lazic's new 'Stude is awesome. Full results in the next couple days including a massive nostalgia car gallery (not just fire shots).
Simply unbelievable, is all I can say. At Tulsa for the belegered IHRA event, Canadians fared very well as Kenny Lang took Pro Mod, Tim Boychuk got the Top Fuel win. No Pro Stock results posted here due to what is happening at Edmonton (Jack asses). Divisionally, besides Spokane, Joliet Ill. and Fallon Nev. had events as well. Lots of updating to do over the next few days, but I also have another priority that will take presidence this week, as my daughter is getting married, so if there is a lack of updates you will know why. June 4, 2009 Take a look at the final installment from the Mission Divisional event, a Top Alcohol blog courtesy Bill Jeffery is posted. The National Open results from the Eagle Motorplex are here. June 3, 2009 Thanks for the many positive responses about the coverage from the Mission Lucas Oil event. When an event is as awesome as that one was, it deserves indepth thorough coverage. We could have even done more. We do have one more gallery coming up, it is a top alcohol blog gallery courtesy Bill Jeffery. Tomorrow or Friday. A new sponsor is announced for the Canada West Doorslammers. June 1, 2009 Word is the IHRA Pro Stock class will NOT compete at Edmonton this year. A meeting was held at Rockingham and the question was put to the teams if they were going to compete. Apparently only four gave even a hint of a maybe. It was then asked whether they would just run an eight car field and again no favorable response. It has been eliminated from the program. Thank you IHRA Pro Stock teams. What a bunch of prima donna's, or should I just say jerks!!! Pretty sad, when a class wields more power than the assoc. itself. I bet the A/FC's or the AA/FC's would have shown up at the event. Those classes know the value of the best spectator attended event on the IHRA schedule. I am glad the Reeve's are bringing in the Alky Flopper class, as well as a few Nitro Funny Cars. Also Nitro Harley's and the 7.50 Funny Cars. It will still be a good show, but it does leave a sour taste in your mouth. May 31, 2009 A very hot and humid Topeka Kansas wrapped up their NHRA Full Throttle event today with Ron Capps, Larry Dixon and Alan Johnson taking professional class wins. In Top Alcohol, Jim Whitely moves up the point standings with a win over Tom Conway. Steve Harker won in TAFC. Locally, Shawn Cowie lost to Conway in round two, despite a great .023 light, and his quickest pass of the weekend, a 5.39/267. Conway went 5.33 on that run. Shawn moved to within two points of the overall National point lead, with one race in hand over leader Duane Shields. Cowie returns to the West Coast (unless the teams decides to hit Chicago this coming weekend. I am guessing they will bypass Chicago). Spokane and Seattle divs are next on their lists. In the IHRA, the Top Fuel class had a full field and Tim Boychuk was #1 qualifier. He lost in the semis. Only six cars in Pro Mod and 15 in Pro Stock. There were 16 Outlaw pro mods running an exhibition though. How many Pro Mods will hit Edmonton in just over a month, besides the west coast cars. My guess is 6 regular teams is all. How many Pro Stocks? Good question, I am trying to get an answer. There will be a full field of Top Fuel and at least 10 A/FCs and 4 or 5 AA/FCs (both flopper classes will run exhibition).
NHRA Topeka TA press releases are posted. Topeka Pro Mod results are here.
May 28, 2009 A huge Mission Raceway Divisional event gallery is posted. May 28, 2009 Shawn Cowie Blog is updated, We will have a few photos from the weekend's race posted tonight. Todd Hoerner blog is updated as well. May 26, 2009 MRP Sportsman elimination coverage and wrap ups are posted. May 25, 2009 The TAFC and TAD eliminations report is posted, including photos. The Top Alcohol qualifying report from Mission is posted. Cowie Racing, Red Wolf Rracing, Synol Racing, Nemeth Rracing and Hegge Racing weekend wrap ups are posted. The ADRL was rain out this past weekend, the abbreviated results are here.Two other Divisional events were run this weekend as well. Maple Grove and Brainerd. Roger Bateman won at Brainerd in TAFC. Full results from Brianerd are here. Results from the Maple Grove event are here. Ashcroft ran their first CMDRA event this weekend go to the CMDRA site for the results.
May, 24, 2009 11:30pm Sunday...........Wow is about all I can say! The BC Lordco Nationals where one for the record book. Cowie gets his third win of the year. He finall y gets his 5.20 pass, they run over 270 fve times over the weekend. Another 5.30 player emerges as Dale Carlson goes 5.37 to reach the final. Brian Hough's new flopper is amazing as he is a 5.60 bracket machine and its all in a new in a car that had only a couple laps on it. It was built by a builder who has never built one ( a TAFC) before, amazing!! John Evanchuk goes to the final against Hough and is tuned by THE new tuner to be reckoned with, Bill Moore. All the deatails Monday, I am absolutely dead tired.
May 24, 2009 One of the best Saturdays ever at Mission Raceway for day two of the BC Lordco Nationals. Qualifying is complete and Shawn Cowie was dropped at the Top Dawg in TAD as Mike Johnson go the A/Fuel tune-up dialed in finally as son Brandon went 5.36 to edge COwie by 1/100th. Brian Hough stayed at the top in TAFC with a passle of 5.65's. Alberta's John Evanchuk is #2 with a 5.70. In the Sportsman ranks, 'The Kid" Casey Plaizer leads Comp with a.70 under lap in Ken Reich's C/SMA. Terry Spargo improved to the tune of 6.56@212 mph. Niel Lachelt heads Top Dragster with a 6.54@212. Stock leader is Jim Mantle in his V/SA Pacer (yes, I said Pacer). Super Stock leader is Byron Setters. Full results Sunday night. Five Top Alcohol team press relases are posted on the TA page for this event. May 23, 2009 The Sportsman Friday recap is complete. The Mission Racway Top Alcohol Friday report is posted. May 22, 2009 A great day of qualifying at Mission Raceway for day one of the Lordco BC Nationals Shawn Cowie leads the TAD's with a 5.37@269. Brian Hough leads the floppers with his third 5.60 in the last two days, this time a 5.65@256. In Comp, a very cool and unexpected leader so far, as Alberta's Dale Giroux goes 7.00@194.5 in B/AA trim with Panella power, .63 under. Terry Spargo bypasses the 6.60's all together and goes a career best of 6.56@211 mph in Top Sportsman. He is quicker than the Top Dragster leader who is young buck Steve Daniluk. He went 6.70@198. Super Stock leader is Byron Setters with a 1.282 under 9.26 in his GT/BA. The Stock leader is California's Tibar Kadar who is 1.265 under in his D/SA Camaro. Way more along with photos Saturday morning. May 22, 2009 Thursday was a wild day of testing at MRP, including a 271 mph lap by Cowie and two 5.60`s by Hough. The Sportsman page is here and the Top Alcohol is here. May 21, 2009
A RAD Torque Sportsman page is now posted with the Comp class previewed so far. Top Sportmsan and Top Dragster will be done ths evening after seeing the entrants. The TAFC preview is posted on the 'RAD Torque' BC Nationals LODRS home page.
May 20, 2009 Shawn Cowie's blog is updated. May 19, 2009 A preview to this weekend's Lucas Oil event. The TAD's are handicapped. TAFC Wednesday. May 17, 2009 A gallery from last weekend's Mission Raceway event One more photo blog from Bill Jeffery (TAD), a bit of a preview for this weekend'd Mission LODRS The home page is up for this weekend's Lucas Oil event at Mission Raceway. May 16, 2009 Spokane Raceway results. Looks like it is a great opening weekend at the Austin run facility. May 14, 2009
A big thank you goes out to RAD Torque Systems for coming on board for next weekend's BC Lordco Nationals at Mission Raceway. Starting Sunday or Monday we will have the preview page active. This weekend's huge Season opener at Spokane will have its own page as well, with qualifying and photos from the WC Pro Mods, the Jets as well as the Nitro Funny Cars. NHRA Bristol National is up this weekend. Coverage starting Sunday or Monday . Am away for a couple days at the Lake house, a bit of R&R. See you Sunday or Monday.
Huge official opening weekend at Spokane Spokane County Raceway kicks off the 2009 race season with the Season Opener, the first major drag race of the year in the inland northwest. The event will feature 250 MPH Nostalgia Nitro Funny Cars driven by Bucky Austin and Garrett Bateman, as well as a full field of Nostalgia Alcohol Funny Cars.
Spokane County Raceway will host one of the largest Pro Mod races on the West Coast. Some of the biggest names in the game will be on hand this weekend, like Rick Distefano, Dennis Radford, Rod Pearce, Lee Smith, and Spokane’s own Tim Mann, who pilots a supercharged ’63 Corvette. Rounding out the show will be two Jet Funny Cars, Warhawk and Nighthawk. 18 Cars are entered for the weekend maki this perhaps the biggest Pro Mod race ever in the North West. Some of the teams include five different series champions including Dennis Radford, Rick Distefano, Vern Mills, Ross Hogenson, Lee Smith, Brian Lane, Rod Pearce, Joe Delehay and Dan Vogt.
Admission Prices: For more info please call the Spokane County Raceway
office at 509-244-3333 or log on to www.SpokaneCountyRaceway.com.
May 12, 2009 The Canada West Doorslammer web site is updated inclnding photos
May 8, 2009 Not much action this weeknd on the major drag racing front as Mother's Day will be celebrated away from the track for many. The exception is at the local MRP facility, as the Canada West Doorslammers as well as all the bracket classes will face off for weekend #2. Only two weeks before the Lucas Oil event at MRP so I expect a fairly large turnout this weekend under great skies. May 3, 2009 Boise divisional semi finals and all the finals except Comp will be completed Monday morning. The Nostalgia photo blog is uploaded. Check it out!! Rain affected both the Divisional at Boise and the National at Madison this weekend. On a bad note, a couple Pro Mod crashes at the National event at Madison (no serious injuries, one in the BAE second team car driven by veteran Rickie Stivers and one by veteran Harold Laird, as well as one by 10.5 hitter Tim Lynch. I have to say that the high powered doorcars are scaring me this year. Boise Lucas Oil event is delayed Sunday right befroe the final rounds. Here is the Boise results page St. Louis Full Throttle event results are here. April 30, 2009 Canada West Doorslammer web site is updated with the weekend wrap-up here and photos here. Photos from the first race at MRP this past weekend. Courtesy Bill Jeffery. April 29, 2009 Division 6 opens its Lucas Oil series events this coming weekend at Boise's Firebird Raceway. Of course this race is without Top Alcohol, as they have a few Nostalgia Top Fuel cars as the replacements. The weather looks okay, with Sunday showing the "R" word. We will have updates throughout the upcoming weekend. Todd Hoerner is in Virginia at his new place of employment (Sonny's Racing Engines) Check out his updated blog. Full weekend results from the opening weekend at Mission Raceway are here. April 27, 2009 The Canada West Doorslammers web site is updated. Weekend race results from around the drag race world will be posted Tuesday. April 26, 2009 A great opening day at Mission Raceway as their first race of a weekend double header for the brackets was completed on time. A couple oil downs slowed the program slightly but it was a good day for sure. The new back half (newly paved final 660 feet)was very smooth and NO traction issues were evident. More likely the sub sea level corrected air caused a few issues on the starting line as many cars produced more horsepower than 99% of the race tracks in North America. The CWDS series' got underway and the big power Cavalier driven by Terry Spargo overpowered the starting line on both laps as he tried to run in the mid sixes. The final lap by Spargo produced more tire shake than I have ever seen from a car without a clutch. Spargo's teeth are still intact, as he pedaled to a 7.3@198mph. Greg Anderson leads with a 7.16@191. Todd Jacques did three monster wheelstands despite taking power away on all three laps. His last run (which I was announcing and not taking pictures produced a 120 foot bumper dragging spectacular display. No damage and the wheelie-bars will be on for today's final qualifier. Tyson Wells in his 900 hp VW bug qualified for the field with his career best 8.69/158mph shot. Full coverage and photos will be at the CWDS site.
IHRA second event of the year (Rockingham). Coverage here. The Nostalgia funny car event at Sacramento California (Funny Car Fever) saw at least a half dozen of the expected cars at MRP in July in competition, and the two finalists will be here. Garrett Bateman in the Plueger/Gyger Mustang went low et all weekend (a tenth and a half quicker than anyone, what would you expect out of a Steve Plueger tuned car) long, with a 5.81 best, as he took out Kris Krabill in the final. Mark Sanders went to round two and Bucky Austin lost in round one when he got real loose on waht is historically a real bad track. To prove the point, was veteran funny car driver and instructor 'Fast" Jack Beckman crashing the Lee Jennings "American Revolution"Funny Car. He was not hurt but the car was badly damaged. Photos from Mark King are here. Comments from nostalgia guru Cole Coonce are at the 'Mater, and the Classic Funny Car board. SpeedZone will have photo coverage courtesy correspondent photog Mark King. Check back. The West Coast outlaw Pro Mods (a SouthWest Independant Pro Mod assoc) completed their second event of the year, and West Coast Pro Mod past sereis champion Lee Smith took the honors, the results are here courtesy Steven Bunker. April 21, 2009 Bill's fabulous Pro Mod photo blog is posted. The first Karting weekend at Mission Raceway was on this past weekend. Here are some photos from the Friday test session
April 20, 2009 Atlanta NHRA Full Throttle results are posted. Fontana Pacific Sportsnationals results are posted. Paving is complete at Mission
Raceway likely giving the North West Track the smoothest surface
on the West Coast. April 16, 2009
The BC Custom Car show is right around the corner April 25-26. Here is the release and info for the show. The Top Fuel blog from Bill Jeffery is posted. Todd Hoerner blog is updated with some huge news from the Eastern Washington standout. April 14, 2009 Shawn Cowie blog updated Top Alcohol Funny Car blog is posted. Happy 23rd Birthday to my daugher Kristi. The Motorcycle photo blog courtesy Bill Jeffery is posted. Long couple days loading and sorting blog photos to complete our post on the Vegas divisional. Notable Division Six performers include Curt Giese who is now a double up kind of guy, as he runs Top Sportsman as well as Super Gas. He went to the semi finals in both, very impressive. Mike Strickland went to the 1/4's, Todd Hoerner went to round three. In Top Dragster Mike Henderson was the runner/up, Scott Taylor went to the 1/4 finals. Terry Anderson, Sean Cour and Steve Hanby all were 1/4 final round finishers in Super Stock. John Edwards went to the semis in Comp Eliminator. Final rounds are posted. A few photos from Vegas (TA classes) are posted as well. April 13, 2009 The Nitro Funny Car Blog from Bill Jeffery is up. Here is the start of Bill's photo blog. Doorcars are featured. The rest of it and motorcycles and Top Alcohol will be comlete later today Vegas Divisional is wrapped up as is the ADRL event at Valdosta. Hopefully the Pro extreme class will get to see Don Wooton's A/Fuel Camaro run at 94% in the tank soon. His 50% in the tank is not what was intended byu that tewam after all the hard work to put together that combination. The first non NHRA sanctioned track event is June 5-6 at Martin Michigan. Still working on the Bill Blog photo essay, should have three or four pages posted later today. April 11, 2009 Las Vegas Divisional..... .....Shawn Cowie gets his second win of the year, and both divisional events were brutally tough. Possibly one of the toughest blown fields anywhere (and one lil ole a/fuel car in the field). Shawn, Ron, Bill and the team are going to have to be careful, as they seem to take out the baddest BAD on a regular basis, and we will all come to expect it every time. 2 for 2 this year as Cowie defeats Jim Whitely in the final round at the second Divisional race in a row. The win puts Shawn in a commanding lead in Division Six and a solid top four placing in the national standings. The other Sean ... O'Bannon that is, is also looking strong this season. He gets his second win of the season and moves into the top three nationally. The rest of elimination's goes Sunday for all the sportsman classes. April 10, 2009 Just back from out of town for a couple days and lots to get updated with........ Will start tomorrow on most stuff including a huge photo essay courtesy Bill Jeffery, it actually will be a photo blog that starts this weekend and will run at every event speedZone can get Bill to attend. He is one of the up and coming photographers on the west coast and renowned veteran photog Les Welch likes his work so much he uses Bill to compliment his own photography at every National event Bill attends. In the mean time here is the latest blog installment courtesy Todd Hoerner, he made the switch to Top Sportsman this weekend for the Divisional. April 7, 2009 Three blog updates. Todd Hoerner (pictures from Vegas), story tomorrow or Thursday, Shawn Cowie, still aching over second round loss at Vegas, and Marty Thacker with pics of the new car and his next event schedule. Have photos from Vegas eliminations including Sportsman winners from Division six, courtesy Bob Johnson, but just getting ready to head out of town on business for a couple days. Check back Thursday evening. April 5, 2009
Vegas and the Summit.com Nationals has final eliminations underway. Friday was a bad day in Vegas and Saturday was not alot better but for different reasons. It was weather and system malfunctions that hampered Friday. Saturday it was incidents on the track (no one was hurt) that delayed the day. Division seven official phootographer Bob Johnson sent us a few shots from North West drivers. Results and photos are here. The best note from Vegas so far in my opinion is the return of the Gilmour TAD team to action. Their issues have been well documented, and their return is a feel good story. Unfortunately the team with driver Ashley Bart failed to qualify. April 1, 2009 Happy April Fools day, and the area where we live got the brunt of the joke as snow fell on and off throughout the morning. When will it finally end!!!!! In Eastern Washington, Spokane County Raceway's big reno got underway with 660 feet of concrete being poured. They are tearing up the old asphalt this week, and will go right into the extensive pour. Then it is concrete barriers the length of the track. We will have photos throught the progression of the reno.
March 30, 2009 A very sweet Happy 10th Birthday to my daughter Shelby.
You are the spark in my world. A quick note about the fastest growing class in sportsman drag racing. Top Sportsman will be the feature exhibition class at the NHRA Atlanta Southern Nationals. This is the fifth year in a row that the class has competed at that event, not the first time for the class. The surprise is that other nationals have not been brought on board. March 29, 2009 Houston is done and a number of great surprises and upsets in all seven top classes. Firstly, congrat's to long time SpeedZone supporter Danny Rowe for his win in Pro Mod. A get consistent weekend and a holeshot win in the final over Rickie Stivers (Brad Anderson car that Shelly used to drive). Tony Schumacher took out Cory Mac on a holeshot in the final and also defeated Larry Dixon in the semis also on a holeshot. Talk about a big win for team Army. One for the record books was his second round match against Morgan Lucas. I have to say I have never seen it before, but both cars ran identical ET's (to the thou) and MPH (to the hun), and both drivers pedaled their cars. The odds of that happening are beyond calculations. Morgan was just a bit later at the tree. European driver Urs Erbacher had a huge explosion at 800 feet, one which tore the back half of the car up quite badly. He was not injured in the mishap. Go here for a sequence of the boomer. Ashley Force got her second ever Funny Car win. She defeated Jack Beckman in the final, and her dad in the second round (her second win). Ron Krisher was the shocking winner in Pro Stock as he was real late, but Jeggie has troubles and Krisher blew by at 400 feet. Two speed records were set in Pro Stock, both in losing efforts. One in round two by Greg Anderson and then Mike Edwards bettered Anderson's record in the semi finals while losing by 6/10,000ths of a second to Krisher. LESS THAN AN INCH I BELIEVE!! In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Craig Treble is back on top after a tough couple years to defeat a total unknown Douglas Horne, in only his second race in the class. Treble, running on his own dime, can now extend his season a bit longer as there is no major backing on his ride. Matt Smith also reset the ET record in round two. His 6.865 bettered Angelle Sampey' old mark of 6.871 In TAD, Chris Demke let one slip away for all the blown brethren out there, as he crossed the centre line (and was all over the track from 1000 feet on, how he kept the car off the wall is testament to how good of a driver his is), while out in front of Duane Shields in the final. Shields and all the A/Fuel guys ran extremely well in the cool, Houston air as there were three or four injected drivers in the 5.20's. Only three out of 24 cars were of the blown variety, but two made it to the round of eight. Justin Davis was the other. Hopefully that team, owned by the Federlin's, will compete in Division 6 this season. In the only real dominant performance out of all the top seven classes, only Steve Harker won from the #1 qualifying position. He had a scare in round two against boat racer Kebin Kinsley (who had his BAH motor in the flopper). Kinsley ran a career best 5.62 but lost by .02 after a .02 holeshot. (5.58 for Harker)/ The transplanted Aussie, got lucky in the final as ex-olympian Marty Nothstein red light (.-031) a quicker 5.61 -5.63. Sportsman winners were.....Competition Eliminator -- Jacklyn Gebhardt-Still, Dragster, 7.621, 126.34 def. Glen Treadwell, Dragster, foul. Stock Eliminator -- Kenny Doughty, Chevy Chevelle, 11.463, 114.01 def. Anthony Bertozzi, Chevy Camaro, 10.588, 118.98. Super Comp -- Tommy Phillips, Dragster, 8.909, 171.21 def. Al Kenny, Dragster, foul. Super Gas -- David Jones, Pontiac Firebird, 9.877, 161.44 def. Steve Cohen, Pontiac Grand Am, 9.874, 164.05. Super Street -- Craig Abbott, Chevy Vega Wagon, 10.854, 131.68 def. Greg Parson, Chevy Nova, foul. NHRA Houston final results are here. March 29, 2009 Saturday final qualifying from Houston is posted. March 28, 2009 9.45 am Update ... Air is up to a sky high 100 feet and TAFC ran with no real hits. The slight exception is a 5.55 by Steve Harker the speed was down almost 20 mph so he likely lost a blower belt or burst panel. It should have been (based on the incrementals) a 5.52 @ 260. Pro Mod has only 14 cars, as the series requirements financially, will leave a bit of a void at some events. Ray Commisso ran the quickest NHRA Pro Mod et ever, a great 5.88@246. 9:30 Pacific......Corrected air at Houston this morning is an awesome -300 feet. TAD just ran but the teams, were a little scared to let er rip. Courtney Force gets her first ever #1 qualifying effort with a strong 5.30/273. Another girl was #2 as Kimmlyn Buff blasted a 5.31. This was the first time two of the most marketable gender were #1 and #2 in the history of this class. Chris Demke is the best blown car with a 5.31 as well. The hitters, Bill Riechert and Duane Shields were definately concerned with a 65 degree track temperature and 50 degree weather as both pedalled it after tire shake and smoke. What will the Pro Stock cars run in the next hour. Manzo is not at Houston (good thing for the others in competition), as he likely would have run a low 5.40 or even dare I say it, a .30. Payne, Bartone and Harker right now as we speak have their best chance in the last two years to rip off a number. (I know Payne has run in the 40's before, but it has been two years). MARCH 27, 2009 Houston Raceway Park and the Full Throttle NHRA National event this weekend ended early as Friday saw rain just before the Pros were set to make their second session. Pro Mods did not make a lap Friday and Alky made one. Weather is promising for Saturday and Sunday. Results will be posted Saturday. Lots of stuff going on in the NW as far as drag racing goes. Most local tracks are only a few weeks away from getting their seasons underway. The Eagle Motorplex have dropped their prices for the National Open for both bracket car and Class cars, go to their site for more info. Mission Raceway has plans for 600 feet of new asphalt starting at the end of the concrete. Whether they get it done before the season starts (in the next couple weeks weather depending) or later in the year is hard to say. They have announced that the big summer event with be a Funny Car spectacular, with both the 7.50 IBAA Funny Cars and a new assoc out of Washington and Oregon, the NorthWest BB/FC Association. It is a nostalgia Funny Car class with a 6.90 index (too bad it wasn't a 6.50 index). They too will run at the Mission National Open. Add in the feature Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car (NFCA) that rocked last year, Those guy have got a bunch more money added to their purse this year as the Top Alcohol cars were dropped in favor of hopefully more NITRO!!! The purse looks to be well over 30K. Will 16 cars show up, I don't know, but with the NW cars alone closing in on 8-10 (Plueger/Austin, Plueger/Bateman, Twig Ziegler, Terry Capp (Bubble Up), Mark Sanders, Tim Stevenson, Todd Lesenko, Tim Nemeth, and Tom Padilla (Benjamin car) there could be a huge field. Close to 30 floppers in total could invade MRP. The Jet Car weekend the end of August now includes four Jet Cars and at least two Wheelstanders. Lets not forget the biggest event of the year, the BC Lordco Open in May. What a season and it is just around the corner. Pacific Raceway is THE track to be at the middle of August as PINKS All Out comes to the Pacific North West August 14-15. Go to their web site for more info. Bucky's Spokane County Raceway's is now up and as HH reported earlier they have new (to them) reader/scoreboards). Their complete schedule is now posted at their web site as well. March 26, 2009 Todd Hoerner blog is updated. Houston NHRA National is up this weekend with all catagories running including TAD, TAFC, PM and PSM. Also Shawn Cowie's update is now linked, sorry about that. March 24, 2009 Shawn Cowie sent us a short blog update. He is getting cabin fever, wants to get back racing after the big win three weeks ago at Phoenix. Here is a good news story, from Alberta's Kenny Gilmour TAD team and driver Ashley Bart. Huge kudos to my good friend and supporter Bill Jeffery at Jet Equipment as they stepped up big time. Kenny Gilmour is pleased to announce that their Top Alcohol Dragster will run the National Event in Las Vegas on April 3 to 5 with Ashley Bart behind the wheel. We have had lots of support from friends, fellow racers, and even complete strangers. A big thank you goes out to Bill Jeffery of Jet Equipment and Tools. A very large truck pulled up to Kenny Gilmour Motorsports and unloaded every single tool any racer could dream of. We also want to thank Dave Nelson of Simpson Race Products who manufactured a new SFI 20 suite for Ashley in record time along with her helmet, R3, boots, gloves and everything a driver could dream of. Omega 2000 Cribbing continues to be a major sponsor and has gone over and above their sponsorship commitment for the 2009 season. The members of the Calgary Drag Racing Association, the local business in High River, and Calgary all get a big thank you from everyone on our team for their support. Our goal now is to run hard in Las Vegas and see if we can put this car in the winners circle. If you are going to be in Las Vegas for the race, please stop by our pit to say hi, if not you can catch the event on nhra.com by clicking on the audio cast for live play by play. Thanks to everyone who helped get our team back on the track and we look forward to see you soon. Kenny Gilmour and Ashley Bart - Top Alcohol Dragster 6121 Great news and go kick some butt!!! March 20, 2009 The first Sportsnationals of the season, the Cajun SPORTSNationals in Belle Rose and "Mopars at the Strip" at Las Vegas are the drag races of note this weekend. Just got off the phone with Michael Ogburn (team owner of the West Coast Hemi team) and there are 15 SS/AH competitors including BC's Peter Wille. The Westcott father/son team lead the pack with low 8.70's. Steve Abare (a Westcott customer) is #3. Jim PAnake, Fred Henson and John Rains are within striking distance. The West Coast team is struggling (Michael's words) We hope to get full results throughout the weekend. Quallifying order Charlie Westcott Jr 8.73 / 152
March 16, 2009 Perhaps the biggest sign of the economic times is the announcement that Budwieser is ending their 30 yr. relationship with Kenny Bernstien. They also are ending their NHRA marketing agreement. One can't help but wonder if the company was still owned by the original American ownership instead of the European parent company (InBev) if they would be still there.
March 15, 2009 Gainesville is complete and three of four pro classes got winners for the first time in 2009. Results are here. March 13, 2008 'Bobby Thunder' over at NT looks to be back (at least for now), check out his rant. The Gatornationals are up this weekend and day one of Pro qualifying is complete. Mission Raceway adds Karts to their stable of racing associations. Very cool. March 12, 2009 The Bucky Austin Racing web site has a new look for 2009. It is updated including the dominating March Meet results and some fine photos by Paul Grant. Just got word that Mike Moran made the first ever 5 second pass a couple days ago. He went 5.97@at 250mph at Valdosta. The fastest speed for a doorcar ever. A little update from Todd Hoerner on a new product (Sportsman computer) he is now selling March 10, 2009 One of the wildest crash sequences (Van Abernethy photos) I have ever seen, comes from from the ADRL race last Saturday. Charles Carpenter and his legendary '55 Chevy crosses the finish line first and goes 4.08 to the 1/8 (very solid Nitrous pass) while in the air. Charles was not seriously hurt, and is starting the rebuilding process already.
March 9, 2009 Photos are attached to the Tucson report (courtesy Bob Johnson) Todd Hoerner blogs his explanation to a very uncharacteristic late late light in round one from Tucson March 8, 2009 Team Plueger (and Austin)
dominated the March Meet, as both Bucky and Garrett (Bateman) reach
the final. They run the quickest side by side ever with Bucky putting
an exclamation point with his 4th 5.7 pass in a row. His 5.72 is
the quickest Funny Car run ever. Bateman goes 5.85 to fiinish a
car length back. Here are the numbers: B. Austin (0.162) 5.723 246.77
def. G Bateman, (0.155) 5.853 245.36 Tucson is complete as well as the West Coast Pro Mods. Radford gets the win in an all nitrous final round. Full results from the div race and elimination ladder for the Pro Mods is here. March 7, 2009 5:00 PM Bakersfield.....Austin just goes 5.77 to nail down #1. So much for the drama. Bateman is #2 with a 5.80, Capp goes 5.86, Jennings wows the South with a career best 5.87, Ed Dougan (who the heck is that) goes 5.89 to sit #5, Sanders and the Mr. Explosive hits the trifecta with a 5.91 to sit #6 and Krabill is #7 with a 5.92. Dennis Taylor is #8 with a 5.96 for an all 5 "A" field. 4:00 pm updates... From Tucson, Joe Delehay takes on Rod Pearce in round two and runs a 6.28 to Pearce's 6.44 and looses. Joe is a sleepy .198 to Pearce's stellar .004. Pearce takes the win by .03. Dennis Radford dodges a bullet to reach the final as he gets the win despite coasting down the track after Tom Johanns goes way red..... From Bakersfield, Bucky Austin is down to one shot to make either field as his Arrow fails to fire in round two. His teammate and employee Garrett Bateman is #1 with a 5.85/244. Terry Capps sits #4 with a solid 5.96 and Tom Padiffa in Nasty Dave's new flopper is #11 with a 6.21. Edmonton's Todd Lesenko (Rookie Funny Car driver/owner in the Jolly Roger Flopper) is just outside the top 16 in the #19 spot. Mark Sanders is also struggling in the #20 spot. Brett Harris goes a career best 5.69 in Nostalgia Top Fuel...... In Baton Rouge, 11 Pro Mods and 14 Pro Stocks are on the grounds. The North West's JR Carr is #5 in Pro Stock with a great 6.34. Danny Rowe is #4 and defending IHRA world champ Kenny Lang is #5 in Pro Mod. Danny Rowe is also running and Outlaw Pro Mod in exhibition (the IHRA brought in a few 1/8 mile cars to take away from the ADRL I see, but there are still close to 50 Pro Mods at the ADRL event). Edmonton's Tim Boychuk is #7 in Top Fuel........From Houston, the ADRL is half way through elims and Stoken, Halsey and Jenkins are three of the eight to advance to round two. In the Extreme class not big upsets in round one as Hernandez, Taylor, Shruggs, "Mr. 200" Todd Tutterow, and Stott are five of the eight who went to round two. Mike Janis was upset in his ADRL debut. Full results on Sunday as SpeedZone will be at the Eagle Motorplex fund raiser this evening. Todd Hoerner blog is updated. The ADRL coverage from Houston is here. The IHRA Mardi Gras Nationals coverage is here. The March Meet coverage is here. Tucson Lucas Oil event coverage is here, it includes West Coast Pro Mod results. March 6, 2009 What a weekend in front of us Drag Race fans this weekend..... Two Lucas Oil events (both without Top Alcohol though). Tucson and Orlando. The West Coast Pro Mods are in Tucson instead of Top Alcohol and kudos to the staff at Tucson for bringing in the West Coast boys for the first time, ever. Nine cars are there, and Dennis Radford leads after two of three Friday. A 6.20 for Radford and a 6.23 for Joe Delehay. The IHRA debuts this weekend at Baton Rouge for the first National Event in bayou country, without both Funny Car classes and a number of Pro Stock teams. Wonder if their admission fees are the same. Their rival, the ADRL, are not that for away for their its season opener at Houston Raceway Park. The battle of the Mountain Motored Pro Stock cars (the ADRL added the class this year) goes to the IHRA so far as 14 cars are there and only FIVE are at Houston this weekend. I know a one or two cars will do double duty (race both events) though as the ADRL runs the final two session of "Q" and the eliminations on Saturday. Oh ya, one more little event is on tap this weekend.... THE MARCH MEET at Bakersfield Pages for Tucson (Lucas Oil) , Houston (ADRL), The March Meet and Baton Rouge (IHRA) will be posted Saturday. March 4, 2009 Shawn Cowie has updated his blog after a great weekend at Phoenix. Rob Atchison's blog is up including new shots of the new "Ace Manufacturing" Flopper. For those who have't been paying attention to the door wars between the ADRL and both the NHRA annd the IHRA..one conflict has been settled for the short term. The ADRL vs the NHRA conflict has been put off for this weekend. The ADRL will adhere to original rules which state all Competitors running Nitro can not have more than 50% in the tank, even injected nitro combinations. Don Wootton will compete but the performance will likely be well..............horrible. 50% nitro in an injected motor will not work...period. 50% won't work with a blower on top of it, so without a blower the car will definately sound like a wounded duck. Hopefully the two sides can come to a mutual agreement, so the racers don't have to get caught in the middle of it. The ADRL vs IHRA conflict also comes to a head this weekend, as Pro Stock debuts this weekend at Houston the same weekend as the first IHRA National eventof the year in Louisianna. Mountain motors now have a choice where they want to race, unfortunately the shows won't liley be full at either event. MAybe more guys will get involved in the class, I don't know. I do know that the best scenerio for mountained motored Pro Stocks is around 30 in the country total. Two 16 car fields ... you do the math.
March 3, 2000 After a huge setback two and a half years ago with the Ken Gilmour TAD team (a major fire that destroy their car and trailer), word comes out that the current operation (TAD driven by Ashley Bart) was broken into in Ontario California. They left the car and trailer down there after their strong qualifying showing at Pomona, as they planned on competing at the Las Vegas National event in a month. Everything except the car (still intact) in the trailer was stolen. The team will regroup this weekend at race headquarters and decide what their next move will be. We will keep in touch, and will left you know what their future plans are. March 1, 2009 Cowie takes Top Alcohol Dragster over Chris Demke. The only other Division six winner was Ray Martin in Top Sportsman unless Sean O'Bannon claims Div 6 as he did last year. He defeated Doug Gordon in TAFC. Tom Bayer won Super Comp, Mike DePalma won Comp, JR Lobner in Top Dragster, Emmett Mikolajcyk in Super Stock over Byron Setters who forgot he had an opponent in the final as he was .163 at the tree. Scott Rollins defeated the "Ferd" n Super Gas, Tim Landis won Super Street and Brian McClanahan won Stock and Bill Newport won Motorcycle. Phoenix Friday gallery is here. Saturday gallery is here. Tyler Hogan crash sequence is here (Comp Dragster) The new look Rob Atchison Funny Car debuted this weekend at Edmonton Motorsport show. A gallery combining both the Fraser Valley World of Wheels show and Edmonton car shows is here.
3:00pm update ......Huge day for (Sunday) Shawn Cowie as he takes out the BADDEST BAD in the country (Jim Whitely) on a holeshot in round one at Phoenix. He then takes out Del Cox Jr. and his 280 mph A/Fueler. He faces Chris Demke in the final. Demke is one of the 5.20 BAD drivers from Pomona. Todd Hoerner red lights in round one of Comp. Joe Delehay smashes the index (.688 under) in his round one win in Comp, but chooses to not return for round two. Division 6's Andrew Morris, Byron Setters and Toby Lang, Ray Martin and the Ferd are still left for the semis and final rounds. Roger Bateman and Clint Thompson are both out in TAFC. Bateman went out against Sean O'Bannon. Over all a pretty good day for Div 6 guys. Attended the Tradex Spring Fraser Valley World of Wheels Car show Saturday night and there were quite a few new and different cars there. Mission Raceway had a huge display of race cars including Bob Kokotailo's new WJ Grand Am. It was the last car Warren won a national event with. The Remple Haffner TAD was there also, along with Duane Grosart's and Jeff Hill's 55 Chevys. Gallery is here
February 27, 2009 ADRL testing at Houston including the first ever Injected Nitro Pro Mod. 7:00 pm update. Friday qualifying is complete and a NW driver blitzed the Comp field to the tune of.........................(click here) Phoenix Divisional is up and Friday qualifying is just about complete. Notables from the North West include Todd Hoerner's awesome A/AA Pontiac GXP. He went 6.59/212 to sit in the top five (580 under). Joe Delehay is there testing for the first time this year. The West Coast Pro Mods are in Tucson next weekend. Surprisingly, Bob Marshall is not competing. In Top Alcohol Dragster Shawn Cowie went 5.39/265 and is #3. Dale Carlson in the Hugh Ridley owned TAD went a 5.52/260 They are #7. A very good run to start the season off. Full qualifying results Friday night and throughout the weekend. Mark King is shooting for SpeedZone this weekend. In other very interesting news, Don Wootton is debuting the first ever A/Fuel powered Pro Mod. He is testing this weekend at Houston, and SpeedZone client Joe Monden is the tuner for that car. I do expect to hear from Monden as some point this weekend. Today the car was set to make its maiden run, and he did make it to the starting line, unfortunately, the car ran out of nitro right after the burnout so it did not make a lap. Will have a couple photos up later this weekend of the Blue 68 Camaro.
February 23, 2009 A quick note to say get well soon Mike Rice. I heard you are convalescing at home. Take your time Mike. Next weekend's race can get by without you. Take care. Good news from Ron McKenzie, He got the trailer back, but it was empty except the nose of his race car. Hopefully if the cops were the ones who found it, they manage to charge the asses. Phoenix photo gallery is here. February 22, 2009 Quick note to say local racer Ron McKenzie's all white 20 ft Pacific Trailer was stolen Sunday Morning in New Westminster BC. All support stuff in the usual race trailer was in it as well. Call local police if you see a trailer with that description.
Phoenix Lucas Mist Full Throttle event is in the books and Ron Capps is stunning the Nitro ranks with his second win in a row in the flopper class. Antron Brown took Top Fuel and Jeggie wins Pro Stock. Full results are here. February 22, 2009 Three driver blogs are up. Marty Thacker, Shawn Cowie and Todd Hoerner February 21, 2009......4:00pm Happy to announce SpeedZone is less than 24hrs away from the first driver blogs. Shawn Cowie and Marty Thacker have lots to say and we will have their blogs up Sunday Afternoon. February 2l, 2009 NHRA Lucas Oil Mist Nationals coverage. Photos to come later today (Mark King photos) February 10, 2009 Finally the event (Winternationals) is close to complete at Pomona. The Pros and the Top Alcohol classes are done, and with cool California temperatures, the Pro Stocks flew, The Top Alcohol Funny Cars and Dragsters (blown variety) were spectacular, with career bests by Runner-up Doug Gordon (5.500) Tony Bartone (winner 5.53), 5.40's (Manzo) and a red light loss. Canadian Ken Webster in the Synoil Funny Car went 5.63 three times on route to a semi final finish in his first race. 5.20's in TAD (Demke 5.270, Whitely 5.28 and 5.29 and Ed Schmeekle an unreal 5.287 @ 270 mph). Shawn Cowie lost in round two, looking at the numbers he was well out in front, on a 5.35 pace but his motor went away and Schmeekle went by him at 1200 feet. In Top Fuel, Doug Kalitta is going to make it hard for Connie to stay away as he wins over Antron Brown in the final. Ron Capps takes out Jim Head in FC (in his first final in a decade). Jason Line defeats Mike Edwards as the Pro Stock cars rip off a number of 6.50's @ over 210mph. Greg Anderson resets the National record with a 6.528@211 mph. He was sleeping in round three. A number of sportsman racers obviously left after Sunday (they have real jobs) including Bob Marshall. Every Comp racer in the bottom half of the ladder went home, giving 12 bye runs in round one. Two or three rounds are left and they will be run on Wednesday, Have not seen pictures but I am wondering what the crowd was like today. In local news, both Mission Raceway and the Plex have their schedules on their sites. Mike Kunz, the driver of the Murphy Wheelie-Fun Wheelstander has bought his own wheelstander, and will be out early in the year working on the new ride. Who will drive the Murphy Wheelstander is the question of the day. February 8, 2009 6:00pm update.... One round of pros (Top Fuel and Funny Car) was completed before rain hit again at 5:17 pm. They will try on Monday to complete the event, but rain is still in the forecast. Tuesday looks good. 3:30 pm update....Track drying has been underway for a couple hour and the plan was to resume racing and get in as much as possible before curfew. Will keep you informed. 1:40 PM Pacific. Much like the rest of the weekend, rain is hitting the Pomona Fairplex. Six pairs of Top Fuel cars have made their 1st round laps. If today seees any more action is doubtful.
A wild day for qualifying at Pomona as a few top teams wound up outside and a few crazy fast ets with no speeds were recorded. Results are here. Not a great start to the season as day one and day two were washed out. TAFC made a session (Thursday) TAD made half a session.The rest of the sportsman classes all made one or two hits Thursday as well. Qualifying is complete for the sportsman classes with hopefully two full rounds Saturday for the pros, unfortunately the forecast is bad for Saturday as well. Stay tuned. We will do a season preview throughout this weekend. February 1, 2009 Thanks to all who sent birthday greetings to me. It was certainly a fun night last night. Good friends, great food, lots of liquid refreshments and great music make great combinations, thanks to all. Special thanks to HH for his presence, hope you have a great time at Vegas the next couple days. A couple more days of testing left before Pomona gets underway, and I expect at least a dozen fuelers to make an appearance at Vegas. The Pro Stock shootout at Vegas was won by Allen Johnson over Jeg Coughlin. In total, 17 PS cars were testing with the Summit team and the WJ/KJ teams not in attendance Guys like Bob Panella have a chance to make the field, but I expect the usual suspects to play and be contenders come race day. In Top Fuel, Larry Dixon has to be the odds on favorite, but I do believe the class will be closer this year as six teams at least will hit the winners circle. Funny Car is way to tough to call, as any one of the Force cars, the three Schumacher cars, PedX2, the new Wilkerson/Tasca duo act and Del Worsham will be the guys, will will regularly be in the late rounds. I do think Robert Hight is my pick if I have to pick one. In Top Alcohol, Frank Manzo does not have anyone who has both the power or RT capabilities to defeat him, so unless he has a complete system breakdown he will win again. One or two drivers could conceivably come close to full pulls as well and they include Steve Harker and Sean O'Bannon but I think they will be looking at his tail lights. For the TAD's, is appears to be the year of the blown cars resurgence based on the new % rules. Jim Whitely, Marty Thacker and third year standout Shawn Cowie will be the top BAD's. I can't help but think that Reichert and SHields will get the % rule adapted to before too long, and if the cooling issue stays they way it is right now, and they continue to allow it, then, they should be at the top of their gane as well. But I do pick Whitely to be the champ. Results from the National Open at Vegas (Saturday and Sunday)
Jan. 31 - NHRA National Open Feb. 1 Bracket race January 30, 2009 Final numbers and gallery from Firebird. This weekend the NHRA teams are at Vegas for the last chance before the season starts next Thursday at Pomona. Then only four days the rest of the year to test for the Nitro Funny Cars and Top Fuelers. They can not test at IHRA events either. Part time teams who race in both series will not be able to collect points at the next Full Throttle (NHRA) event if they either run in the IHRA or test. Full time teams will be penalized further if testing continues. The full details are here. In other NHRA news : -NHRA
suspends OIL DOWN penalties. IHRA Spokane finally has their NHRA sanctioning finalized and their schedule is as follows: Yellow highlighted major events May 8 Friday Night - High School & Alumni Drags May 9 Saturday Night – ASA Northwest Late Model Tour May 16/17 Saturday and Sunday - Season Opener May 23/24/25 Saturday, Sunday, and Monday – Washington Motorcycle Road Racing Assoc. June 12/13/14 Friday, Saturday, & Sunday - Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series July 4/5 Saturday and Sunday - Hot Rod Nationals (1972 & Older Cars) July 11/12 Saturday and Sunday – Washington Motorcycle Road Racing Assoc. July 17/18/19 Friday, Saturday, and Sunday - Spokane Grand Prix July 31, August 1/2 Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – Nitro Summerfest and Bracket Bash August 14 Friday Night – Friday Night Hot Rod Drags (1972 & Older Cars) August 29 Saturday Night – Night of Fire and Fox Hunt September 12/13 Saturday and Sunday - NW Street
Car Challenge
Mission Raceway has their major events annouced as well. May 22/24 - Lordco BC Nats (Lucas Oil event) June 27/28 - Pro Mods (WCPMA) Go to the
MRP site for full info
January 25, 2009 A highlight gallery of Top Sportsman CWDS cars from 2008 courtesy Bill Jeffery and Dean Murdoch. More cars for that gallery to come. Saturday photos from Firebird and the top runs for each driver. January 24, 2009 The start of the new look. SpeedZone is at Firebird this weekend shooting the Pre season NHRA test session. Here is the Firebird page. We will be posting a highlight gallery from last year on Sunday courtesy Bill Jeffery.
Huge updates and changes are upcoming over the next three weeks here at SpeedZone, check back often.
January 16, 2009 All 5 different 2009 Calendars are now in stock and on sale for the lowest price ever.... Click on the link to the left or click here for all the info. No testing for the pros this weekend at Vegas by the looks of things as the economic climate is having far reaching effects. Three or four teams are in Florida testing though including the new Alan Johnson team. SpeedZone may be at Speedworld in Wellton Arizona, as TA teams are slated to test over the next six days (providing there are more than one or two teams inattendance. Next week we will be at Phoenix for the National Time Trials. January 5, 2009 Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car and Hemi calendars along with Top Sportsman calendars are ready for shipping. Click on the calendar link to the left for all the info. January 4th 2009 The West Coast Pro Mod as well as the PSCA schedules are posted.
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25, 2009