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The 2008 home page is here with all 08 links
December 30, 2009 The Hemi calendar and the Pro Mod calendars are ready for shipping. December 27, 2009 Hope everyone's Christmas was great, mine was fabulous. Still in calendar mode and it looks like the Hemi and Pro Mod calendars will be out by the end of the week. A very good chance a Top Sportsman/Competition Eliminator Calendar is 75 % sold as well. Will know in a few days on that one. Big news upcoming is the 50th Winternationals which will highlight many top nostalgia cars from the 60's and 70's, including the Bubble-Up (if the new owner, Jason Bussey makes the trek South). The next race after the Winternationals sees a 16 car Nostalgia Funny Car field at a National event for the first time since they weren't Nostalgia. There is talk (rumors at this point), of a 32 car Funny Car show at Seattle. There will be a 32 car Nitro Funny Car field this coming year, and it is at the March Meet. The first time in over 30 years for a field this size. December 19, 2009 Todd Hoerner and Shawn Cowie have updated their blogs December 18, 2009 Calendars........Are finally ready to go, and the prices Have dropped, big time. The first three calendars are ready for shipping. If ordered this weekend they should arrive before Christmas. All orders this weekend will be shipped on Monday. Top Alcohol ($8.95) Nostalgia Funny Car and Top Sportsman ($12.95) Click here to go to the calendar page for all the details and samples of the first three. We are hoping to have the remaining calendars ready for shipping before the 29th of December. December 11, 2009 Sorry for the last of updates, but we are in full calendar mode at this time. Will be for the next 10 days as well. Will have the first couple available for sale the end of next week. I must tell you though that this year, the economy has proven to be tough getting them together. When they come out though, it will have been worth the wait. Coming up for sure in a Nostalgia Funny Car calendar, a Top Alcohol Calendar and a Top Sportsman/Doorslammer calendar. Hoping to still have a Hemi and Pro Mod one as well. A number of important NW happenings including Calgary re upping with the City itself, now it is up to the landlord to confirm the next 5 years. Art McKenzie and the operators first order of business has to be to fix the surface, and that should be the AHRA's as well, subject to sanctioning approval. If they don't the legitimacy of the newly formed sanctioning body goes out the window. They have added two tracks in the South East. Cayuga is likely next, and rumor has it that there will be a BC track announced very soon as one as well. Likely Kelowna, possibly PG. No way IMO that it is Eagle, even though the NHRA has not shown the respect that track deserves for the work they have done over that last three years. There is a new facility opening up on the central Island as well in the next couple years. The reason for SpeedZone's lack of excitment for the AHRA's foray back into drag racing is due to many factors, and I will get into thise in the early new year for sure. I hope it all works out but I am not holding my breath. The above issue at Calgary will be the start of proving they want to be legit. Will the AHRA amount to anything real or legitimate in the future. There is potential simply because of the IHRA's direction. NHRA always pisses off track, but they are the big dog, and most don't want to buck their position with them. Have some updates as regards to the CWDS annual party banquet, will get to those shortly. Here is the tentative MRP major event schedule. May 28, 29 & 30 - Lordco BC Nationals Div 6 banquet is this weekend. Expect a couple awards to the Cowie team including "Jerry Verheul crew chief of the year award" to Bill Moore, "Driver of the year" to Shawn Cowie. Mission should also receive the track of the year again as they had a very successful divisional event despite the economy. A number of Eagle and Mission Raceway drivers are in the money (so to speak) in regards to the National Open championship. Champions include David Rastad (2 titles), Steve Lowe, son Tyson, Jason Gibson, son Justin, Billy Aitken and Gerald Patzer. A total of 8 of the 11 possible titles were won by Mission or Eagle drivers. Calgary resident Mike Pople was another Canadian to win a title. in the seires. Four other local competitors were runner-ups in their respective classes including Amanda Bollinger in Jr Dragster, as well as Dean Peterson, Cody Schue and Holly Clarke. Very impressive guys and gals!!! November 29, 2009 2:30pm ... Hampton goes out in round four. Dials a 4.94 goes 4.930. His opponent Chris Jagger goes 5.130 on a 5.14 (under by the same .01). But his reaction time is .025 to a .032. Locals are done for the weekend. 1:00pm update...Hampton is in to round 3. Clarke out in 3, and Kondolay out in 2. Talk to Clarke minutes ago and Kondolay got 5k for the R/U in the "Ultimate". Biondo got 17k for the win. He was the only competitor that did not want to start the split in the 1/4's. Confidence proves to be benefitial for the Abby driver. Little Al got the car sorted out in round one and got his first round win. Clarke and Kondalay are off to round two as well.Stefanis likely the round leader going 20 rounds in three races 20-3. November 28, 2009 9:00 PM saturday final update: Clarke and Kondolay go to the 1/8's and 1/4's respectively for another good showing by the to Lower Mainland competitors Finally the Sunday IHBA Drag Boat gallery is posted. Photos courtesy Mark King. 6:00pm update...Clarke and Kondolay off to round four in Vegas. Stefan may be the overall round leader right now. The Big dollar bracket nationals are on this weekend at Vegas and three locals are competing. Zak Clark, Al Hampton and Stefan Kondolay. In Days 1 and 2 Kondolay was a late round finisher, going 5 and 6 rounds. Clarke went 3 and 5 rounds. Hampton as an early exiter. Today (Saturday) in the ultimate gambler race (not sure how much this year, but Kondolay went to the final round but was just edged by hitter Peter Biondo. In the super Pro race today at 5:00pm both Kondolay and Clarke are into round three. November 23, 2009 What a weekend at Vegas for Canadian teams. Dale Moznik takes Accufab Outlaw 10.5 over the legend Billy Glidden. Saskachewan's Dan Vogt won Hughes Perofrmance Pro Street over California hitter Clint Hairston. A huge $20,000 payday for Vogt. For Moznik, his win was worth a cool $10,000. Congrat's to both teams. Other winners were: Edelbrock Hot Street Caramba Tequila Limited Street MagnaFuel Xtreeme Drag Radial Mickey Thompson Tires Wild Street Ross Racing Pistons Open Comp Calvert Racing Bracket-1 Ford Racing Mustang Maddness B&M Racing Double Index At Phoenix, for the IHBA
final round (Word has it the Lucas Oil bought the seires), A
great Top Fuel Hysro final As Daryll Erlich rips off one the the
quickest passes in history. Was it the quickest side by side? TFH 2 Final 7 Speed Sport Special John Haas 0.215
2.887 194.76 4.847 239.06 TAH 4 Final 414 De Ja Vu Andy Reynolds 0.330 3.353
170.81 5.599 212.42 Win TAF TAF 1 Final 076 Habit Forming III Don Bausher 0.212
0 0 0 0 PM PM 9 Semi 246 Hydrochondriac Bryan Sanders .025
4.209 135.66 7.030 166.96 Win November 21, 2009 Great action from both racing events in the west as the SCSN V field in Pro Street is the quickest ever. A 6.53 bump for 32 cars. Unbelievable! Dale Moznik (Outlaw 10.5) ran a career best 6.83/204 to solidly make the field (#10 out of 37 cars). Brother Roy was not so lucky. He ran fairly well, a 6.78 (a career best?), but ended up #40 (last year he would have been well in the field with that #). Yvonne Lucas ran a career best 6.89 but also is outside. Garrett Richard's is in with a 6.43. Frank Tamez is barely in as is Kurtis in 10.5 . He is #4 with a great career best 6.71. Jay Syvertson struggled all weekend. Doorslammer competitor Brett Williamson went 6.92 in his Cutlass. Top Canadian is Dan Vogt with a 6.35. Trevor Lowe made the field with a 6.49 At Phoenix, lots of action, and some of it of the unbeleivable variety. Sharky caught one of the most spectacular crash scenes in recent memory and it is posted here, (the driver was not seriously hurt).
November 20, 2009 A pretty good start at Vegas for the SCSN V. Pro street sees 54 cars trying for 32 spots the bump is a 7.00 right now. The event produces the first ever 5 second pro street pass in history Cody Rabon (Orlando P. Street winner) rips off a stout 5.985/242. Qualifying numbers are here. The live feed for the weekend is here. At Phoenix, the Finals for the IHBA is on the water, and some stout TAH were posted, and only one solid (four second) TFH was recorded, and great grenade sequence by SpeedZone photog Mark King was caught. A huge Boat gallery is here. Nov 17, 2009 Photo sequence of Steve Gasparelli's crash. Final round photos and numbers are posted. All CWDS teams contact Marcy about the banquet as soon as possible. She needs numbers for the caterer. Nov 16, 2009 Paul Grant was busy and extraordinary as usual. Two Vegas Divisional gallerys are posted. 1. Friday Qualifying. 2. Saturday qualifying. A Vegas National Pro Mod gallery is here. This weekend two entirely different 1/4 mile events. And both tend to be a bit on the crazy side. The Street Cat Supernationals at Vegas with a bunch of NW drivers in attendance including Trevor Lowe in his 57 Chevy. The Lowe Down racing team is back at it. Very Cool! Then there is the craziest of all 1/4 mile events.
The IHBA finals from Firebird
Nov. 15, 2009
Pomona Will have Pomona wrap up posted Tuesday Winners at Pomona.... Antron Brown (TF), Mike Neff (FC), Greg Anderson (PS) Eddie Krawiec, Jim Whitely (TAD), Sean O'Bannon (TAFC), Dan Fletcher (Comp), Jim Defrank (S. Stock), John Shaul (Stock), Greg Boutte (Super Comp) Mike Ferderer (Super Gas). Summit Bracker championships: James McNeal (Super Pro) Tracy Cructher (Sportsman) Tibar Kadar (Pro) and Augustine Herrara (Bike) Dave Stobbe goes to the 1/4's in Super Gas, but loses a close double break out to Hitter Jim Hughes. His best National finish. 3:40 update....... Tony Schumacher dispelled any thoughts the DSR Army TF Car would crumble without Alan Johnson calling the shots, as he wins the title (by two qualifying points) over Larry Dixon in the AJ Top Fueler. Hector Arana gets the well deserved PSM championship as well in round three, when Eddie Krawiec needed a national record and a win to have a chance. Krawiec goes to the final but is not quick enough (has no back up et yet). If he wins the event he falls two points short as well. The newly implemented qualifying points determined the championship this year for sure in two of the four pro classes. Arana gets 11 more points in qualifying than Krawiec in the five events since the countdown started but was 40 points back starting the countdown. If Krawiec wins the race he wins one round less than Arana. Very close since the countdown for sure. If there was no countdown, Krawiec would have been the champion. Karma plays a role in the countdown again, as Krawiec won the title last year, despite being way back (before the countdown he was 300 points back). Dixon earned 18 more qualifying points since the countdown, meaning the 09 champion won two more rounds of eliminations since the countdown. 2:45 pm update..... No luck for Martin Jackman as he has a decent light (.033) but goes way under his 12.81 index (went .018 under). His opponent goes under as well, but not a s much. Other Div six drivers/riders also go out in round one. Not the results they were looking for. Shawn Cowie goes to round two against the other top BAD car in the country, both leave before the tree was activated, but Shawn was first, handing the win to friend and rival Jim Whiteley. He finishes an outstanding 4th in the NHRA TAD class. Congrats to the Canadian team.
10:00 am update from Pomona......Mike Edwards and Robert Hight both clinch titles after qualifying in their respective classes. Results are here. Nov 14, 2009 Results for Pomona are here. Alberta FC hitter Ken Webster crashed big time in TAFC going into the net after the chutes failed to deploy. Ken is okay but the car is a wreck. Shanw COwie upset #1 qualifier Munroe Guest and take on Jim Whiteley in round two. A win at Pomona does give him 3rd place in the standings. Dale Carlson failed to qualify by .002. One of two TAFC's in the kitty litter. Brian Hough also went into the trap, but repairs were made and he went to eliminations. Div 7 driver Steve Gasparelli also crashed in his TAFC, and wild one right at the starting line. Bob Johnson crash photos are here Nov. 13, 2009 The Finals........................ Lots of drama, with Top Fuel likely to come down to the semis or finals this weekend. Pro Stock Motorcycle is also up for grabs, but Hector Arana has a three round lead. Funny Car will be won when Robert Hight qualifies, and Mike Edwards just has to show up and pass tech. Nov. 11, 2009 To all the Veterans and Military personel here and overseas and as well as their familys, I would like to say, "have a great Remembrance and Veteran's Day. We honor and salute you". Nov 8, 2009 Update from Vegas........ Jeff Jackson won Super Street and went from fifth to first in Division 6. Congrat's on a very big pressure event win and the title. Michael Manners defeats Hillary Will in the TAD final and Steve Gasparelli defeated Steve Harker in TAFC. Brandon Huhtala needed the win in Comp to get the title and falls just short with his semi final finish. Division Six champions are: Shawn Cowie (TAD), Brian Hough (TAFC), Doug Lambeck (Comp), Jody Lang (Super Stock)Greg Keilman (Stock), Randy Johnson (Top Sportsman), Jon Reidel (Top Dragster, Mike Dalrymple (Super Comp), Mike Ferderer (Super Gas), Jeff Jackson (Super Street) and Jeff Havens (Motorcycle). Vegas Divisional this weekend. Qualifying in TAD, saw Shawn Cowie ended up # 6 with a 5.40 (conditions were a bit warmer this weekend) and faced Michael Manners in round one. Shawn (left first by.03) shook at the top on first and could not recover in time to stay ahead of Manners. He will head to Pomona next weekend and hope for a final round finish. A win would put him into third place in the National standings. Dale Carlson failed to qualify running a tenth off his best from the week before. Not sure if the Hugh Ridley team will travel to Pomona or not. No TAFC's from Division six are in competition, but the Ace Manufacturing sponsored TAFC owned by Ontario`s Rob Atchison was there battling a very tough field. The bump was a 5.700. Rob was just outside of the field with a 5.76. In TAD, Jim Whiteley ( in the YNot Racing blown TAD) needed to in this event to overtake Bill Reichert in the points. He actually faced Reichert in round one, and took a slim win, but he was ousted by Hillary Will in the semis by less than .03, giving Reichert his fourth title in a row. In the Sportsman classes, Brandon Huhtala is off to the semis in Comp, and there are a few left in Super Street, Super Gas and Super Stock. Results are here. Very busy in Calendar mode right now. If any teams and or drivers want to be a part of a Doorslammer, Comp Top Sportsman Pro Street, Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car, Pro Mod, Hemi, or TA calendar or if you have a company wanting to market yourself in a drag racing calendar contact me. A very nice Island brand new 63 Corvette is for sale. Nov. 6, 2009 Two Las Vegas Nationals gallerys from Paul Grant. First is here, second is here. Nov. 3, 2009 The first Vegas gallery is here. We will have a photo blog from Vegas up later this week. Nov 2, 2009 Photos are up on both Vegas pages. Pros, TA Pro Mod To no surprise the NHRA has kyboshed the AHRA's bid to host events at their santioned tracks. The five race (so far) reunion tour scheduled for 2010 included events at three NHRA tracks. The NHRA sent letters to those tracks (No Problem, Tulsa and San Antonio) stating they could not host events for the fledgling santioning body. While it would be great to see the AHRA take off I am in agreement with the NHRA's decision. Let them work on IHRA tracks that are disgruntled by their new decisions, or they should be like the ADRL, which is considered an ASO organization.
Working on Vegas photos right now, and believe me they are worth the weight. I have shots of Shawn Cowie's round one victory that are to say the least spetacular. Visions of Marty Thacker at Vegas a few years ago. Simply awesome. Here is a teaser:
Bill Jeffery photo Nov. 1, 2009 Final round updates......Shawn Cowie gets his first ever win in TAD at a National event, in one of the toughest races on the schedule. He takes out Division six opponent Brandon Johnson in the final round, after defeating #1 qualifier Munroe Guest in the semis. He had incredible light s including a .009 and a .020 in rounds two and three. Unfortunately it comes a couple races too late in his chase for the championship. He now sits at 700 points in fourth 23 back of Duane Shields. In order to finish in third he needs to win at Pomona as well. A win there would make the top four finish the closest top four in history. First time winner Daniel Oliver defeated Alexis DeJoria in TAFC. Spencer Massey defeated Larry Dixon in Top Fuel. Dixon and Schumacher are neck and neck heading to the final face. Robert hight took out two of his team mates to take the win. He defeated Jack Beckman in the final round. Larry Morgan defeated first time finalist Rickie Smith in the PS final. Mike Edwards just needs to qualify at the final event to claim his first ever PS championship. Andrew Hines defeated Hector Arana in the PSM final. Arana leads by 56 going to the final race. Pro Mod saw Jay Payne drown his TAFC woes with a win against Brad Personett. Jody Lang defeated Toby Lang in Stock, Dan Fletcher wins Comp (Dale Giroux went to the semis), Troy Coughlin's son Jr. wins Super Comp against Anthony Castillo, Max Tafoya got the Super Gas Wally and David Bogner wins Super Stock. The full recap and photos Monday. Notable was a very good showing by the Canuck 'cutey', Ashley Bart, who qualified in the top half (#7) of the TAD field (5.355), just a tick from being quicker than arguably the best 2 TAD's in the country. Cowie was the quickest blown car with a 5.338 and Whiteley with a 5.351. Very Imprressive Ashley and tuner owner Kenny Gilmor, SpeedZone is proud of you guys. 10:00am Sunday update.......What a day coming up at today at Vegas. The pairings in Nitro Funny Car are to say the least..... The most interesting in many races, and with lots on the line. #1 and #2 in the points Ashley Force and Robert Hight face each other in round one. Don't think there will be any deals in this one, as both want the win and the points. Jack Beckamn has Mike Neff, Cruz Pedregon takes on JF and Tasca and Worsham. All four of these races have serious implications. In Top Fuel the only two real interesting point determining match up are Larry Dixon and Morgan Lucas and Spencer Massey and Shawn Langdon. Pro Stock could be wrapped up today if Edwards goes long and Line or Anderson go out early, Either of the two trailing drivers will need divine intervention in order for the Summit team to catch Edwards. Hector Arana looks to be in control in Motorcycle, but is only two rounds up on Krawiec. Oct 31, 2009 A good day for Division 6 TAD drivers, as all 7 in attendance make the tough 16 car field, which is a stellar 5.42 bump. Shawn Cowie leads the Div 6 contingent with a BAD best 5.33/269. Munroe Guest kicks the crap out of the field though, as he went a class, season and career best 5.15/281 in his A/Fueler. TAFC was lead by John Lombardo Jr with a 5.60. Alberta's Ken Webster and John Evanchuk made the tough TAFC field, way to go guys. Professional qualifying sees Friday #'s stand up as the best of the weekend. Matt Hagan, Larry Dixon, Hector Arana and Mike Edwards lead their respective classes. Results for the pros are here, results for the Sportsman and Pro Mod are here.
Friday NHRA qualifying from Las Vegas is posted. Pro Classes here, Sportsman TAD, TAFC, PM here. Included are a exclusive crash sequence of Jay Payne taken by Paul Grant. Happy and safe Halloween to everyone. Watch the kids!!!!! Oct 28, 2009 A huge weekend for the NHRA Full Throttle series as a couple of the Pro Classes could crown champions this weekend. As well, a few of the sportsman classes could crown their champions for the season. A number of NW teams will be in action in all the classes except for the four pro classes. Click on the logo below to go to the four pro classes. Click here for the Sportsman, Top Alcohol and Pro Mods
Oct 27, 2009 The complete Phoenix Nitro Funny Car Classic story is posted. Oct.26, 2009 An update from Nathan Sitko on the performance of the Tachman Funny Car from the last two events (Bakersfield CHHR and Phoenix Funny Car Classic) " I don't have a whole lot of results for you for other cars, but I can tell you how we did with Tim Stevenson's Tachman nitro funny car.
Bob Snyder photo Oct 25, 2009 At the final IHRA ever event (the IHRA is going to be different from now on) in Rockingham, Winnipeg Pro Mod competitor Kenny Lang, wins his second (and really last) IHRA world championship. Chris Russo wins the event in Pro Mod, Lang went to the semis, but only had to qualify to clinch. Bruce Litton wins Top Fuel over Todd Paton. Litton finished second in Top Fuel. Del Cox Jr. wins the Top Fuel world title. In the ADRL final 2009 event and the first event of 2010 at Ennis Texas, Al-Balooshi wins the 2009 Battle for the Belts Pro Extreme Nitrous event and then doubles up and wins the first points earning event for 2010 later in the day. He took out Burton Auxier in the 2009 final and Charles Carpenter in the opening 2010 event. In Pro Extreme, Todd Tutterow won the Battle of the Belts over Josh Hernandez and Alex Hossler defeated Quain Stott in the first event of 2010. In 10.5 Chuck Ulsch (winner 2010 first race) was in the final of both events as was Spirro's Pappa's (winner of the battle of the belts). Both took a win on the weekend. Scott Gray won both events in Extreme Motorcycle. Matt Hartford won the Battle of the Belts in Extreme Pro Stock and Cary Goforth won the opening race for 2010. At Noble Oklahoma, Brandon Pierce defeated Richard Putz in TAD and Chris Foster won TAFC over Lance Van Hauen. At Phoenix, the Funny Car Classis ran Friday and Saturday, and Mark Sanders was a finalist in the A event. John Powers and Steve Nichols were in the B final. Full results and photos soon. Of note, Nathan Sitko ran the first ever 5's in the Tachman Flopper. He went a 5.96/237 best he also ran another 5.9 as well as a 6.003, with heels up launches on all three runs. Two more NHRA nationals are left on the schedule, next week at Vegas and two weeks after that the finals at Pomona. In between those two races the final Lucas Oil event is hosted by Vegas as well. Speedzone will have photo/journalists at all three events to wrap up the 2009 season, with one exception. Vegas also hosts the Street Car Supernationals V, the second to last weekend at the Strip. One more 1/4 mile race is also in November, and that is the IHBA Finals. The biggest Boat drag race of the year, and we will be there as well. Oct 20, 2009 Western Canada based sportsman racing family of Eddy Plaizier under the Team ACE Racing banner, have added the 96 Firebird currently campaigned by Tommy Gaynor Sr., the Stocker was recently updated by Al Weibe with Sorenson power. The Team's first race will be at the Vegas Divisional on November 5-8. Plaizier's twenty year old son Casey Plaizier will be wheeling the bird in Stock C/SA, Over the last 3 years Casey has been driving the ACE Manufacturing backed 56 Chev in Super Street , plus in 09 the Competition Eliminator C/SMA Cavalier for Ken Reich in Div 6, Plaizier said although giving up the Super Street ride was tough but adding the stocker it would give me more opportunities to run 2 classes at races we enter and another shot at the tree.
Casey's most recent accomplishment seen him double up at the 2009
IHRA Rocky Mountain Nationals in Super Stock & Super Street.
The car will have the familiar Team ACE Racing logo with backing
from ACE Manufacturing & Specialty Auto. Oct 19, 2009 A Sunday gallery from Bakersfield is here. Monday afternoon update: Just got off the phone with the most successful track operator (spectator wise) in the IHRA, and they (Castrol Raceway and Rob Reeves) are committed to their Rocky Mountain Nationals race for 2010. Rob said it will be bigger and better next year. All the classes that were at Edmonton last year will be there in `10 and it will be a three day event. `They will have qualifying for at least four of the pro classes. There could be as many as 8 feature classes there. The one thing the IHRA did say, is they will adapt to the program the track wants. It will not be a AHRA track next year. What will happen down the road, it all depends on the tracks success and their relationship with the``I`` in 2010.
Another cackle shot from the patch.
More added from "240`` Gordie on the cackle fest at Bakerfield Joey ~ You and Ron Hodgson have SO helped get our pal (Roland Leong) and dear friend back in the spotlight; thank you!
Yeah, when i saw pics of Ron IN the car, I smirked; and knew it was at least a hundred years since he put her off the end at Long Beach.
He tells the story the best: He makes his ONLY pass at "the Beach" and goes into the weeds.. Keith Black tells him - "Roland, how am I ever going to tell your Mother that I killed you? You need to find a driver. I know this painter kid in the Valley, his name is Prudhomme..."
GODSPEED & RIP Mr. Black ~ You so changed so many lives..... Got two emails from Joey Steckler from Bakersfield, talking about the restored Leong/Prudhomme Hawaiian Dragster. Lots of buzz, 102 cars in the cackle fest. A select few did a show at the Double Tree Friday night.
Saturday evening ......Hello, the dragster has drown
a major amount of attention. Two shots. One was of the
The other picture was Friday night, the car was As far as the race goes, Brent Harris severally
hurt his engine trying to start it None of the 4 Canadian nitro cars qualified Saturday. Two got in Sunday Morning. Cal Tebb did not run as he destroyed his engine on the staring line Saturday. Not looking forward to the long drive home but so
far this has been well Later, Joey Sunday.....The race was great. Tim Boychuk qualified
and went to the semi finals, Claude Lavoie made It felt so good to be in the finals at Bakersfield. It is now 11:30pm so we will not start home until morning Joey Oct 18, 2009 Shawn Cowie's blog is updated. At Bakersfield..........................Joey Steckler (Joey's Place Paint) goes to the final round in 7.0, but got real loose, taking out one of the centre line cones. Kris Krabill wins Funny Car over rookie Josh Crawford. For the North West drivers, Tim Boychuk goes to the semi finals but gets real loose against Krabill and just manages to keep it off the wall. Austin and Bateman go out in round one. Mark Sanders (6.05 best) fails to qualify, Todd Lesenko (6.12) also fails. Nathan Sitko breaks on the burnout in the final session (6.6 best). Top Fuel winner was Rick McGee with a great 5.76 to a losing 5.91 for Troy Green. Full results here. At Bowling Green, long time veteran Funny Car driver Peter Gallen defeated the "Mill Roads Boys" Steve Nichols. Full results here. There were nine floppers at BG, there are at least six-eight others in the mid West, five - eight up here in the North West that weren't at the "Patch" (Zeigler, Nemeth, Mageau, Bussey, Snelson and Benjamin just off the top of my head), five or six in the South West that failed to appear, and a handful on the East Coast that weren't racing this weekend. My point is there are (counting the 32 at Bakersfield) well over 60 Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car in North America, and maybe 30 current nitro floppers running national events. Is there something wrong with this picture, or is this the way that drag racing is going? Just asking. Maybe the IHRA deal of booking in diferent exhibition classes is not so dumb. Saturday Hot Rod reunion Top Fuel and people gallery There is a live video feed for Bakersfield and it is very cool. Go here for the link (bangshift.com) 9:40am.... Just saw Joey Steckler win his first round match-up in 7.0. He took out Ken Rappaport in a digger. Cal Tebb Broke in the final qualifier, so he did not make elims. Brent Harris has mechanical issues and could not make any qualifiying attempts. Oct 17, 2009 Saturday Reunion results. Photos Sunday
Hot Rod Reunion Friday results and photos Oct. 16, 2009 evening update..... Here is the official deal for what is left of the IHRA, a sanctioning body that just two or three years ago, was well on its way to being a legitimate alternative to the "N". The reason to actually race for a 'holy grail' at the end of the year is no more with their new "look". There will be as few as 6 and as many as 12 different Pro (and I use that term loosely) classes and around 10 Nitro Jams, not called national events any more. The events (with the exception of one or two) will be two day deals. Maybe my earlier negativity towards the upstart AHRA was premature. The next month, while they get their schedule and ducks in a row class wise, will be interesting. The big question I have, is what decision will Edmonton's Castrol Raceway make. The most successful IHRA national event (and that statement is directly from the "I" brass) has succeeded in spite of the mismanagement by the IHRA. It is thousands of miles away from all the other events, and has had to put up with the prima dona Pro Stock class as well as very small fields from most of the other classes. But the fans come out there in numbers that are mind boggling. The track could easily succeed hosting an event without putting up with the IHRA, their fees and their head scratching ideas. Or they could be looking at the AHRA. That one really makes me uneasy though. The success of Edmonton's major events (and they have at least three every year that do extremely well) could well end up financing the new santioning body, if they went to the AHRA. Or they could go back to the NHRA, try and get a divisional event, and put on a couple big events where they only have to worry about paying the purses, and not the big bucks commanded for the Nitro Jam events. Lots of action today at Bakersfield including crashes and oil downs. Talked to Sharky and he got a few great shots. Top Fuel had 18 cars make attempts, AA/GS saw 13 make runs. Brent Harris is there, but his car would not fire, in the qualifier today. Oct. 16, 2009 One of the two biggest nostalgia events is up this weekend. The NHRA Hot Rod Reunion Bakersfield. This event is going to be absolutely killer. The confusing deal about it is they will have twice as many Nostalgia Funny Cars there as Nostalgia Top Fuel Dragster, but they are not going to make it a 16 car field. Last word is 30 floppers and around 18 skinny cars, they get two 8 car fields. Also there are AA/GS, 7.0 index, Jr. Fuel and about eight other classes. SpeedZone has a couple photo/journalists on site, so we will have updates all weekend long. The Good Guys also have one of their larger events on tap. Bowling Green, Ky., sees the Goodguys Nostalgia Nationals. They two will have full fields of Top Fuel and Funny Car. Interesting to see how that event compares to the Reunion. Richmond Virginia hosted their last NHRA National event and it was a record breaker. Hard to believe either the NHRA or the track itself opted out of staying an NHRA track. Records were shattered in Pro Stock, Pro Mod and the MPH record in Top Fuel was broken. Brandon Bernstein finally was back in the winners circle. A 50 race span. Del Worsham took Funny Car, and Mike Edwards is two rounds away from the Pro Stock championship with not only the win, but the new national et record. The sportsman winners were: Stock Eliminator -- Brad Zaskowski, Chevy Camaro, 10.911, 110.59 def. Gene Jordan, Camaro, 10.624, 126.18. Super Comp -- James Antonette, Dragster, 8.916, 166.54 def. Tom Seemann, Dragster, 8.897, 173.56. Super Gas -- Mike Ruff, Chevy Camaro, 9.887, 162.98 def. Greg Slack, Ford Maverick, 9.882, 154.71. Oct . 13, 2009 A few (3) really cool gallerys from the last couple weekend's in the North West. 1. The Woodburn fall classic including Jets, Alky cars and a bunch of Nostalgia cars. Paul Grant photos. 2. Mission Raceway's final weekend. Robert Hunter photos. Mission Raceway's Final 3. Canada West Doorslammer weekend. Bill Jeffery and Robert Hunter photos Oct 9, 2009 Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all the Canadians out there. Sorry for the no Web this week, my accounting skills took a right turn, back to normal now though. Not much going on this week in reality, as the West Coast gets ready for the Hot Rod Reunion next week and then a bunch of big events following including the Vegas Nat'l, the Vegas Div'l and then the finals. Also the end of November the Street Car Supernationals at Vegas. THis week Richmond Virginia is up for the NHRA, and the last nat'l there as they switch santioning at the track back to the IHRA, this is the third switch in five years for the fast facility. Don't know if they decided to drop the National event for next year or if the NHRA took it away form them, but it is their last BIG show, and it is an important race with only two remaining after this one. Points are at a premium for sure, and if the weather is cool on Saturday and Sunday records could fall. It was warm there today, and it is a very short field for Top Fuel only 13 cars made attempts today. Full results astarting Saturday. The last weekend at MRP as the Fall Jacket races is on tap. It will be very cool at the track with weather in the low teens (50-55 or so).
Oct 5, 2009 Surprise winners at Memphis Monday. The rain continued Monday morning, but the race did go off. Jeff Arend got the shocking win in Funny Car over Tony Pedregon. He actually did it on the track as the DHL Flopper was very quick all day Monday. 4.1's and a 4.09's were run in all four rounds, as he took out two Force cars in the 1/4's and semis. Morgan Lucas upset Tony Scheumacher, Michael Phillips upset Eddie Krawiec and Jason Line took out Ron Krisher. Photos are now posted from the Canada West Doorslammer final weekend. Oct 4, 2009 The NHRA national event in Memphis was rained out today so they will run eliminations on Monday. Oct 3, 2009 Memphis is up this weekend in the Full Throttle NHRA series. Robert Hight (FC) has his mojo back as he leads qualifying for the third race in a row. Larry Dixon (TF) also leads as does Mike Edwards (PS). after a season of struggling (or was it testing). Past Division 6 hitter Todd Hoerner ran a great 6.46 in his Sonny's powered GPX (unfortunately he did not back up the run for the record), but he went out in round one at the Division 1 Atco event. The Doorslammer event from last Saturday is posted at the Canada West Doorslammer site. Oct 1, 2009 The new class to hit the IHRA is A/Fuel. They will run at a number of the races next year, with basically no rules. They will be able to run 100% NITRO. Chill their fuel, run clutch management, any gear ratio. It is a match race series, due to the format they will run throughout the weekend, but they will have a champion at the end of each weekend, as well as a series champion at the end of the season. The purse is $26,000 per event. Sept. 28, 2009 Robert Hight used his first 18 races of the season to dial in his Nitro Funny Car, as he got his second win in a row, defeating Jack Beckman in the final round (Hight moved into 1st place in the standings). Tony Schumacher defeated Larry Dixon in Top Fuel. Hector Arana defeated Eddie Krawiec in PSM and Greg Anderson defeated a broken Mike Anderson. The IHRA saw Kenny Lang clinch the 2009 Pro Mod Championship, a repeat feat that has not been done since Scotty Cannon did it a number of years ago. Del Cox Jr. won Top Fuel (and extended his point lead) over Ron August. A very long weekend at Mission Raceway is in the books. It was an event filled weekend with a bunch of new winners in all classes and a bit of carnage on both days. The Doorslammer class saw Rookie Tyson Wells win the RH Race Cars Canada West Doorslammer 2009 series championship. While he did not win on this weekend he managed to hold onto his lead he held going into this the last weekend of the year. He leads dropped down from 52 points to only 7 by the tie all was said and done. Dave Warren was the series runner-up as he fell one round short of the title. The two race winners were Zak Clarke and Dave Williams. WIlliams a newcomer to the series defeated a fellow Edmonton driver Gary Miserva in the final. Zak Clarke defeated Paul Soares in the Saturday final that was actually run Sunday due to darkness Saturday night. Full results from the other classes are here. (up soon) Also from Dallas, Shawn Cowie did what was really necessary a few races earlier, he went to his first National Event final round. He did not win but it was a proverbial monkey off the teams back. Marty Thacker defeated Cowie, despite Cowie's .011 light. Shawn shook and fell less that .01 short of the victory. Dale Carlson had a great outing at Dallas as well, as he went to the semi finals. He was to face Cowie, but the team suffered engine damage and could not make the call to the starting line. Shawn now has to earn 25 more points than Duane Shields to move back into third place in the standings. He has two races to improve on he two second round finishes Sept. 27, 2009 What a day at Mission Raceway, If it could go wrong it did go wrong. The Canada West Doorslammers had a day like they have NEVER had before!!! A very unfortunate crash by Lyle Hendrickson (father of the guy who is the title sponsor of the series), luckily, Lyle only had bumps and bruises after the throttle stuck on the family's very nice '63 Corvette. He tried valiantly to get the car to shut down and jet stopped but he hit the cross lane guard rail and the fuel cell let go causing a large fire ball. In the end, the car was damaged only in the front end, so repairs will not be as extensive as they could be. Then a huge oil down by Ken Gallagher, and a couple other cars depositing fluid making round one of qualifying a 160 minute affair. After that and a couple other delays later in the day, the day wound ending at dusk as the dew came in hard. The DS class as well as a couple other classes will complete on Sunday (hope all goes well). At Columbus Ohio for the Northern Nationals, the rain hit and lasted all day, so the Hemi shoot-out did not play out, nor did any other classes. They will try Sunday, but this morning it is still raining. At Dallas, Shawn Cowie advanced to round two in TAD, But is still well back of the A/Fuel dragsters in ets. He faces #2 qualifier Munroe Guest in round 2. Dale Carlson in the Jeff Johnsen tuned (Hugh Ridley owned) TAD also advanced to round 2, as Jeff found a bit of a better tune up and he took out #3 Brandon Lewis in round one. He gets one of the Force class, Courtney in round two. He has lane choice after a 5.38. The Force four car Funny Car team are at the top in qualifying, with Robert Hight (4.109) leading, John Force in the second spot, Ashley Force #4 and Mike Neff #5. Only Jerry Toliver (yes Toliver) split up the dominance with a great 4.16 to sit #3. His best effort on the year. Larry Dixon in the Alan Johnson Dragster is the leader in Top Fuel. Morgan Lucas and Tony Schumacher are 2 and 3. Mike Edward absolutely dominated Pro Stock as he was the quickest in all four rounds, collecting 12 bonus points in the process. Jason Line is #2 and Jeg Coughlin is #3. In the Motorcycle class, Eddie Krawiec leads and collected 8 points, Hector Arana is #2 and Andrew Hines is #3. At Medford Oregon the last Division 6 event of the year wrapped up Saturday Night and Brian Hough won TAD, as he defeated Dennis Taylor in the final round. His win was just enough to give him his fourth championship in a row. Ken Webster fell one round short of the championship in his rookie year. Doug Hegge won TAD (way to go Doug) as he upset all the blown cars, and defeated #1 qualifier Justin Davis in the final round. Davis' finish allowed him to move into third place in the standings ahead of Dale Carlson who is in Dallas at the National. Joey Severance was upset in round two by Hegge, as he had the blower bang while leading at half track. Other winners at Medford were: Brandon Huthala in Comp over Rob Harrsion, Robert Matthews over the new Div. six Top Sportsman Randy Johnson. Ken Woodward won Super Street, Chris Barnes in Stock, Mike Ferderer in Super Gas, He clinches the division, and takes the lead in the national standings as well. Terry Wilcox wins Top Dragster. Division seven's Bill Chaffin wins Super Stock , Val Torres wins Super Comp and Tracy Bailey takes the win in Motorcycle. Sept 26, 2009 A nice change in the Super Stock hemi wars, as Jim Daniels leads qualifying at the Mopar Hemi Shootout at the Northern Nationals In Columbus. What's nice is that the Barton's are the engine builder, it has been a while since a Westcott powered 426 has not lead SS/AH qualifying. Just nice to see another builder bring the competition back in the class. If only the West Coast Hemi could turn their program around to what it once was. 1 1517 SS/AH Jim Daniels, Bristol PA, '68 Dart
8.511 9.75 -1.239 Sept. 25, 2009 A huge field this weekend, the last for the Canada West Doorslammer series at Mission Raceway as 25 cars are there already for the double header. Looks like as many as 30 - 35 will be in attendance. Dallas National event for the NHRA is up this weekend and Budd's Creek for the IHRA. Two locals are competing in Dallas, Shawn Cowie and Dale Carlson, both in TAD. Shawn ran a 5.388 best to sit in the middle of the pack as 6-7 A/Fuelers are in the 5.20's. Carlson is #15 with a struggling 5.52 . Kenny Lang is #1 in Pro Mod at Budd's Creek, and he has one leg up on the ET record with a great 5.88/243 Sept 24, 2009 Hot Rod Reunion update.... Nathan Sitko in the Tim Stevenson owned "Tachman" Funny Car will also make the trip to Bakersfield. Four nitro Flppers from Alberta, outstanding, as Alberta continues to set the mark for nitro racing in Canada. It really should not be a surprise though as so many NHRA legends were based in province. Sept. 23, 2009 Lots of news, rumors and happenings around the drag racing world. ......Firstly, don't forget Mission aceway is up this weekend including a huge two race season finale Canada West Doorslammer double header to determine the 2009 series champion. ......Just got the official word from one of SpeedZone's operatives, and Jason Bussey has taken delivery of the Bubble-Up Funny Car, meaning Ron Hogeson will not campaign a two car Nitro Funny Car team. Jason owned the beautiful Orange 69 Camaro that competes in the IBAA. He did sell it to another Edmonton racer and will debut the Bubble Up early next year. .......Tim Boychuk will remain the driver/co-owner of Flopper (Troy Lee Designs) that kicked butt at Mission in July. He also (not public until now) has split with the Paton Top Fuel team. He likely will be with another team in 2009. With the backing he has available to him, he will have a number of team knocking on his door. Maybe even an NHRA team. That would make much more sense, although the cost is substantially more, if he was to run that entire schedule. .......On another note, Congrat's to "Mad" Mike Molea for winning the AA/ Supercharged series championship. He just squeaked past Gary Reniero to get the title. He along with Edmontonian Brent Harris will be at the Hot Rod reunion to compete against the best from the South West in the AA/GS class. With Les Davenport in Harris' corner Brent should be a solid 6.8 or possibly 6.7 car at the Bakersfield. Three Edmonton Nitro cars will also be at the Reunion. Todd Lesenko, Tim Boychuk and Claude Lavioe. .......Lots of banter in the Pro Mod arena, as two weeks ago the legendary Rickie Smith tuner and chassis guy for the Al-Anabi team left at the ADRL event in Rockingham ( a couple rumors on the split, one was he was sharing info with a past client and two the Al-Anabi team did not want Rickie competing, they wanted him just as a CC). Well he showed up at the Carolina Nationals last weekend with one of the new 5.3 bore Sonny's nitrous bullets (It was Dennis Radford's new engine, but Dennis allowed Rickie to take delivery. Dennis gets the next one). in his Camaro and preceded to run the fastest nitrous pass in history. Todd Hoerner, a SpeedZone blogger and sales manager for Sonny's is ecstatic to say the least, but the controversy abounds as a few have stated that the 5.3 Sonny's bullet has technology robbed from another engine manufacturer. I say bull, since that bullet was introduced early this year via Rod Pearce. He was at Mission in June and had the engine in the car a month prior to that. Sonny is one of the best out there, here is the thread in question at Pro Mod Zone. Here is an email sent to us from Todd after the
runs by Smith. "We just put a new Sonny's 5.3 bore space
864 nitrous engine in Rickie Smith's car, he quit the Al Anabi team
the previous week, and on the 3rd pass in Charlotte with our new
engine, he ran a 5.95 @ over 239 mph, that was .05 quicker and 4
mph faster then the competitions engine!!! Not bad for our first
time outing!!!! This babies bad!!!!!" Sept. 22, 2009 Two new tracks added to the IHRA (big show schedule, Virginia back as an IHRA track and Palm Beach Florida added) for next year, and lots of talk on what kind of program will be run. Basically, the sportsman classes will likely stay the same for their Nitro Jam (their verson of a national event) series. The Top classes will be booked in deals, and will likely include TF, PM, A/FC, AA/FC, Nitro Harley, Pro Stock ( these classes will vary depending on the track location, and how much the track want to put out purse wise), and one new class that cannot be announced as of yet, but it will be a cool class for sure. There may be a class champion crowned at the end of the year, but whether or not there will be a point fund is unknown at this time. With Salt Lake switching over in 2009, there are around 13 National (and I use that term loosely) event tracks for the 2010 season. Their schedule will be out in the next couple weeks I expect, along with more class details. Sept. 21, 2009 More photos are added from the Carolina Nationals including a three shot sequence of the huge wheelstand by TAD driver Bill Reichert. Also included are all final round pictures.
Congrat's to Eddy Plaizer On September 13, Eddy Plaizier, driving the Team
ACE Racing 37 Chev, Pro Nostalgia Funny Car won its 3rd, International
Blown Alcohol Championship, at the CMDRA race at Castrol Raceway
in Edmonton, the Along the Edmonton trail.......
.........This is the Roland Leong – Hawaiian // Don Prudhomme fuel dragster that Joey's Place is finishing and painting. They are working on having the car finished for the Hot Rod Reunion. After that it will be on display in the NHRA booth at SEMA.
Sept. 20, 2009 Got a couple shots sent to me this evening from David Smith, including the four wide and a huge 600 foot long wheelstand by Reichert in round one. Will have a sequence of that run up Monday.
Go to the results page for more shots Update...............................Here is a link for the four lane runs today at Z-Max on you tube. Sunday afternoon....A historic weekend in the NHRA, as Bruton Smith's Charlotte Z-Max Dragway hosts the Carolina Nationals and the first 4 wide, side by side runs by Top Fuel and Nitro Funny Car in over 30 years. The Drag Strip is the first modern dragstrip in three decades that is built with four lane racing capability. They ran the two exhibition runs after the semi finals today. SpeedZone has David Smith on assignment this weekend and hopefully he got a few shots of the historic laps. Full results (photos starting Monday) here. In huge standings changing finals, Robert Hight, after all his controversy two weeks ago, moved from 10th place all the way up to 3rd in the standings. He took out Matt Hagan, who was eliminated from the countdown the same weekend Hight squeezed in. Cory Mac won Top Fuel over Shawn Langdon in Top Fuel, and moved up to 1st place in the standings. Mike Edwards took a commanding lead in Pro Stock with his win over Greg Stanfield. Hector Arana won PSM and also took the point lead. In the TA classes, Bill Reichert won (again, 765 pts.) in TAD, but Jim Whiteley (754 pts.) also won in Div 7 (Bakersfield this weekend), so their leads in the TAD standings have extended over local favorite Shawn Cowie 635. Duane Shields also moved ahead of Cowie as he now stands at 681 pts. Cowie has two races in hand over Whiteley and Shields and three in hand over Reichert, but he badly needs final round finishes in his last three National events. After looking at the standings, Shawn cannot catch Reichert, so the best he can finish is 2nd. In TAFC, Manzo is guaranteed a championship, but Steve Harker (671 pts.) has a mathematical chance of tying Manzo. He moved into 2nd place this weekend with a runner up finish to Tony Bartone. As far as local drivers, Rob Harrision went out in round two at Bakersfield in Comp. For those reading back Sept. 9th here at the 'Zone, Frank Manzo will remain at Z-Max Dragway on Monday, as the Sheikh Khalid starts upgrading his licence in the (still) Lucas Oil flopper. He (the Sheikh) will run that car in 2010, whether or not it is here or Qatar, has yet to be determined. Frank will drive a new flopper next year. He will also assist in the tuning on the blown Al-Anabi Pro mod cars. It will become a full time job for Frank as his business (the gas pipeline operation) was also sold to the Shiek for a very high 6 figure sum. His contract with the Al-Anabi team is also in the very high 6 figure range. One more rumor about the ``KING`` of TAFC racing, is he turned down an offer from John Force racing last year to field his own Nitro Funny Car with backing from JFR. Sept. 16, 2009 ADRL final rounds results from Rockingham.
Sept 14, 2009
Bill Jeffery's Friday night action from the Langley cruise-in is here. Click on the photo to go directly to the Langley gallery. Results for the Mega Ford weekend is here. Sept.13, 2009 A pretty good weekend at Mission for their All Ford weekend. A solid car count, pretty good action including Tim Nemeth's Nostalgia Mustang Funny Car. He ripped off a couple 6 teen laps at over 234 mph with less than 90% in the tank. Glen May kicked the rods out on his second lap, it looked to be a 6.40 or better pass, too bad for the lower mainland legend. Keith Korecki went 6.50's in his nitrous 'Stang. Rash Dhaliwal went 6.60's. Phil Featherstone in his Nostalgia Stocker was well into the 9's. Final round results with a wack of photos on Monday. A photo blog essay by Bill Jeffery on the Friday night portion of the Langley Cruise-In will be up Monday as well. Tim Boychuk went to the finals at Epping in Top Fuel and Kenny Lang won Pro Mod, to extend his lead in the standings with two races left. Sept. 12, 2009 Mission Raceway hosts the Brown Brother's Mega All Ford Weekend. A number of real cool Fords will be on display and on the quarter mile. Keith Korecki and GLEN MAY (hell must have frozen over) with be laying down six second passes. Rash Dhaliwal will also be there with his six second Mustang. Howie Steven`s new Comp 2009 `Stang will lay down mid seven second laps as well. SpeedZone will be there to shoot a couple rounds and will have results posted Monday. Check out the event web site above. The ADRL is at Rockingham. Sept 10, 2009 One More Indy Gallery is posted (features Monday eliminations). Indy pro wrap up (with photos) is posted. Indy Sportsman wrap up with photos is posted. Force is fined for his scuffle on Monday. At Charlotte, they will run four Top Fuel cars and then four Funny Cars side by side in an exhibition. Sept. 9, 2009 Huge news from the Sportsman ranks..... Frank Manzo is offered a sponsor deal he could not turn down. He asks for a release from his Lucas Oil sponsorship to take on possibly the most lucrative sponsorship for any Sportsman team in history. The Al - Anabi racing group signs Manzo to a long term sponsorship. Is there going to be an A/Fuel car or BAD car next. Lots of news still simmering from Indy. A couple crazy threads on the mater from the whining Pedregon brothers. Let it go, you lost and yes team play is a part of Drag Racing. Here are a couuple more threads. 3 and 4. If this crap brings more interest to Drag Racing, then I am all for it. Many people are saying controversy in Nascar is how it became so popular. You be the judge.
Sept. 7, 2009 US Nationals update.................Lot of banter on the internet boards about Tony Pedregon's and John Force's confrontation at the top end after Cruz was eliminated. John probably did lay down against Robert Hight, but any driver/owner in the sport would have done the same, and if you think that is not true you are living in a bubble for sure. Tony Pedregon and Cruz are both very poor sports in my opinion, if they think what happened today was not right, it is a reality. Here are links to two different discussions on the 'mater. (1 and 2). ET finals were completed today. Firebird wins the team championship: Team Points Congrat's to Gerald Patzer from the 'Plex as he wins the compact class today. Adam DePeel over Ken Green in Sportsman, Robby Hornby over Ken Windley in Pro. Chris Jaggers def. Shawn Herbst in Super Pro. Mark Adams over Roger Wolff in Bike/Sled. Race is still affecting the ET finals at Woodburn, but they have gotten off a few rounds today. It will ne interesting to see if they can complete the event. At Indy, the improbable happend, almost like a perfect script, as Robert Hight gets to the final round and passes Cruz Pedregon for the final spot in the 'countdown'. Hight's team mate Ashley Force-Hood takes out Hight in the final round. Tony Schumacher wins in Top Fuel, defeating rival Larry Dixon in the final round. Jeg Coughlin wins Pro Stock over an upset minded Greg Stanfield. Hector Arana defeated Michael Phillips in PSM. Canadian Ken Perry takes out the big A/Fuel hitters in TAD (including Bill Reichert, Duane Shields and Brittany Force in the early rounds), with his win over 5.20 guy Michael Manners, and wins his first ever National event. Steve Harker upsets Frank Manzo in the semis of TAFC, but he looses after slowing to #1 qualifier Bobby Martin. Sunday final qualifying results and photos are here. A Indy Professional qualifying photo galley is here. A sportsman gallery including TA is here. Sportsman results are here. Sept. 6, 2009 Shawn Cowie blog is updated. 7:12 pm update.................... Labour Day at Woodburn as only 1 1/2 rounds of the team race gets completed. They will be in Oregon for Monday to complete the ET Finals. Here are two weekend gallerys from the MRP Smoke, Fire, Nitro and Thunder weekend. A complete weekend gallery is here (includes Jets, Wheelstanders DS, CPSA and all the bracket cars). A doorslammer only gallery is here. SpeedZone Jets and wheelstander coverage is here. SpeedZone Doorslammer and CPSA coverage is here. Indy is wet today so the fnal TA, PM and pro sessions were concelled, with only one round of qualifying completed Sunday. In the biggest shock, the Johnson clan Pro Stock cars, are not in the field leaving WJ out of the countdown for the second year in a row. Saturday qualifying is posted. Sportsman results including TA is here. Photos later today. At Woodburn congrat's again to Martin Jackman for his ROC win in Sportsman. It is raining there as well and they are working on the drying Sept. 5, 2009 8:00 update from Woodburn: Martin Jackman wins Sportsman (representing Eagle 'Plex) and is off to Pomona, congrat's!!!!. I believe it is his second trip to the finals. Both Brennan and Copeland go out in round four. Et Finals update, 6.45pm : Ouch! A tough day at Woodburn as a number of hitters are gone in round one. But, on the bright side, in Pro, Chris Stone goes .001 red in round three and Jamie Clerf does not run the number in the same round. Otto Schulte is way off his number in Super Pro, and Martin Dykstra goes .008 red. In Bike Al Omond is off his number in rnd #3, while Kevin Brennan and Dave Copeland are still in. Round 4 in Sportsman, sees past winner Martin Jackman advance to the semis Update from Woodburn 12:00 noon. Raining stopped at Woodburn as we speak. They will run late. Update from Indy. Jim Whiteley is not going to go down without a fight, as he just ripped off a 5.267/271 in TAD. Just talked to David Smith my guy in Indy and he said that run was awesome. An incredible run in 2800 feet of air for any TA car nitro or blown. Manzo is not #1 in TAFC as Bobby Martin took the top spot over Manzo by 1/100th. Roger Bateman shook real bad but still ran a 5.66 according to David. He is #1 after two rounds. Four or five BADS are solidly in the field. He will try and send me photos tonight from the Hemi Shootout as well ans a few alky shots from today. Indy Sportsman page including Top Alky classes are here. Pro Results are here. A very busy weekend as the US Nationals is on now, the ET finals from Woodburn including coverage for Ashcroft and Mission. The JET car event final coverage at MRP sponsored by Jet Equipment from last weekend, including a number of photos. A gallery from a Division one event. Some early exits and a few great results in the gamblers race for all local drivers at the ET finals. Cory Ferguson, went all the way and won non-electronics and $1700 cash in his pocket. Way to go!!!!! 'Lil' Al (Hampton) went to round five as did Ted Miller. Jessica Wind went to round four. Sept. 3, 2009 The doorslammer story from MRP is complete. Sept. 2, 2009 The Spokane Doorslammer event has been cancelled. It will be re-scheduled for either Mission or Ashcroft in the next couple days. The rest of the Jet car weekend results with photos will be posted Thursday. Sept. 1, 2009 Qualifying results for the CWdoorslammers from MRP is posted. Eliminations and CPSA Wednesday. August 31, 2009 The first report with a bunch of Shannon MacDonald and SpeedZone photos from MRP is posted. This one is all about the exhibition cars, including Jets, Nitro and Wheelstanders. The Jet Equipment sponsored CPSA and Doorslammer page is here. August 30, 2009 What a great weekend at Mission Raceway for the "Smoke, Fire, NITRO and Thunder" show. The nitro was added because Twig Zeigler replaced the WarHawk Jet FC due to its mishap at Boise. Twig performed flawlessly as he improved his career bests on three different occasions to finish with a career best 6.01/238. He defeated Derek Snelson in the Nighthawk Jet FC two out of four times . Ed "Candyman" Jones and Rick Marcum both put on a great shows with their Wheelstanders. The Canada West Doorslammers saw Todd Jacques get the win and Garrett Richards won Pro Street. Oh ya, did I mention that Chuck Haynes went 5.003/314.57 in his Jet Dragster. It was one of the top 20 quickest and fastest runs in Jet Dragster history. Here is just a snipit of what you will see from the Jet wheelstander weekend pages (sponsored by Jet Eqipment):
Rick Marcum and Ed Jones
Twig Zeigler blasting three career bests. Chuck Haynes shattering his old BC records
A wheelstanding bug and a supercharged Nova launching hard.
A crash in the burnout contest, a brand new Sweet Comp ride and a very fast pickup. Check back starting Monday.
The full report on the Jet Equipment SpeedZone pages and tons of photos starting Monday. Photos and reports will be posted all week long.
August 28, 2009 The big news today from Mission Raceway is the Jet Funny Car driven by Derek Snelson in the Firehawk will NOT race his buddy Richard Smith in the Warhawk jet Funny Car. Richard crashed at Boise two weeks ago and could not get the car back together...........So instead Derek will face off against Twig Zieger in his Pizza Haven Nitro Funny Car. Friday night Dale Pederson dodged disaster as he got real loose at 300 feet, and should have crashed real hard based on the angle he was pointed at. He did an incredible job of saving the car and just brushed the wall. Cosmetic front and rear fender damage and passenger door as well. Will likely be able to run this weekend. Garrett Richards goes 6.50's in the big blue pick-up. WIll be a mager threat this weekend in Pro Street. Confirmed entries are: Richards, Jay Syvertsen, Ken Sihota, Roy Moznik, Dale Pederson, Kerry Stone, Darryl Stone and Rash Dhaliwal. SpeedZone Magazine is proud to announce that Jet
Equipment Canada This page is for the Exhibition cars including the Jets and Wheelstanders. This page is for coverage of the CWDS and the CPSA. We will start posting photos Friday night as there is a street legal event at the track. August 26, 2009 A big weekend locally as Mission Raceway hosts is last big event of the year. "Smoke, Fire and Thunder". Four Jet Cars, a couple wheelstanders, possibly the NW's quickest Pro Street Shootout ever and the Canada West Doorslammers with 25+ fast doorcars in action. Brackets and a whole lot more. The Doorslammers should be a great show in itsself, as should the Pro Street event. the DS group will see one of the largest fields ever (earlier this year there was 33 cars entered a record for the series) This weekend, there could be anywhere from 24-35 cars. It is late afternoon evening qualifying, and the cars should be real quick. A couple new fast cars are expected and we could see more 6 second cars than ever before. The Pro Street deal could be quite literally outstanding. I expect 11-14 cars and all of them could be in the sixes, with five or six battling it out for low et honors. Mark Wolfe, Barry Daniluk, Brian Lane, Frank Tamez, Garrett Richards, Rash Dhaliwal, Ken Sihota, Kerry Stone and Jay Syvertsen could all be in the 6.60s or better, and there is a good chance we will see one or two of them in the 6.40's. Then there are four or five more who will be in the 6.7-7.0 range including Roy Moznik, Dale Pederson, Yvonne Lucas, Dave Magee and Trevor Willms. All in all a pretty great field, and qualifying under the lights Saturday, Waaay Coool!!!!! A huge gallery from the NHRA Reading Toyo Tires event is posted. August 25, 2009 Two Eagle Nostalgia gallerys are posted. Saturday here and a Sunday one here. (includes a bit of Nitro and a cacklefest.) Here is the final WCPMA event results for 2009 from Denver. Final qualifying 1 Ross Hoganson 6.507 210.31 Joe Delehay goes to the semifinals and wins the 2009 championship by less than one round over Tommy Johanns. Delehay shows extreme sportsmanship by lending Johanns his spare motor so the Denver driver could compete in eliminations, as he broke his only bullet in qualifying, after breaking his other bullet the event before. Joe wanted to make sure the two could duke it out in eliminations and not win by default. Congrat's to the Calgary team, as they become the first WCPM team to win three series champinships Eliminations: 1st Round 2nd round Final This race have been won by Vogt, as Hofer blew the tires off his Corvette, but.......about 300 feet out Vogt had his engine grenade big time, and Hofer got back on the loud pedal and drove around the hard luck Regina driver, for his third event win of the year. The win moved him into third place in the standings. Of note the WCPM assoc. has a new webmaster and a brand new look. Mike Lucas is now looking after the site, and it looks great.
August 24, 2009 An Acton Montana Divisional gallery is posted (photos courtesy Phil Scala). August 23, 2009 A pretty cool weekend at the Eagle Motorplex and their second annual Lucas Oil Nostalgia race, with Jim Obalek winning the Blown Alcohol series by two rounds over Gary Hough. They faced each other in the semis and Obalek got the narrow but expensive win. His engine let go at the finish line and could not make the final round handing the win to First time finalist Dave Magee in his cool blown Valiant. If Hough have of gotten by Obalek in the semis, he had to win the event and it would have been a series 1st place tie. #1 qualifier was Jim Attewell from Edmonton, who ripped off 6.4 passes. Rae Caswell was the Outlaw winner, other winners included; Dave Denser over Glenn Parkinson in Street Machine "A", Riley Nairn defeated Travis Roberts in Street Machine "B". Street Classic "A' winner was Darcy Cornet over Paul Karr and Street Rod 'A' winner was Robin Reding over the very fast and cool 34 Ford owned and driven by Darrin Meroniuk. Riley Nairn also won the gamblers event on Saturday. Photos to come Monday and Tuesday
No word yet on how the big buck race went at Seattle. At the Acton Division 6 event, Shawn Cowie got back to the winners circle, and took out one of his key competitors Jim Whitely in the final. Unfortunately for Cowie, Whitely did not have five events claimed in the Div portion of the points, so he moved into the point lead, moving Cowie back to third place, The standings are: 1. Jim Whiteley 658 2. Bill Reichert 647 3. Shawn Cowie 635. Ashley Bart and the Gilmour team are again turning heads in TAD, as the Alberta based team has a semi final finish and runs numbers that are right along side the Cowie's, Severance's and Davis/Federlin teams. She unfortunately went red in the semis against Whiteley. Alberta's Ken Webster fell to Sean O'Bannon in TAFC, but takes the point lead in TAFC for Div 6. Comp winner was Clint Sallee against Alberta's Dale Giroux. Other winners include Alden Miller (Stock), Mark Resen (S. Gas), Bobi Legner (S. Street), Carroll Warling (S. Stock), Kristi Dever (T. Dragster), Danny Daniluk (T. Sportsman) Mike Dalrymple (S. Comp) Rick Newport (Motorcycle). 150 class cars plus whatever the ET classes (bracket) classes. Will have photos this week. I still think that event should be a Division 5 event for which Acton should become. As a point, the Eagle Motorplex would likely get more cars for the event if they had that race. At Reading and the NHRA Full Throttle National event, Bob Tasca wins Funny Car, Larry Dixon got the victory in Top Fuel, Jeg Coughlin in PS, Eddie Krawiec won PSM, Frank Manzo got a holeshot win in TAFC and the TAD final between Duane Shields and Mike Lewis will be completed Monday along with the rest of the Sportsman classes. Photos from David Smith over the next few days. August 22, 2009 SpeedZone is up at the 'Plex this weekend for the Nostalgia drags and evening... Partay!! Should be a great time. The Blown Outlaws are the feature and round one Saturday was very impressive. Marty Zazula went 6.74. Jim Obalek went into a big wheeelie in Dennis Hicks' FED. They went to a bigger tire and the car hooked. They my need to put more power to the tire, so it gets up on it. They should be in the 6's this weekend. Brent Murray is here along with Niel Lachelt, Gary Hough, Steve Kendall, John Evans and a few others.
Results throughout the weekend. Acton Montana is up for the Division 6 second to last Divisional event. A pile of TA cars (TAD and Floppers) are on hand. Top three is world points Cowie and Whitely will be challenged there by Severance, Davis, Bart (ya the girl is running numbers...... again) Division 7 hitter Kevin Wayman and Division 5 div winner Cody Perkins. It is a tough field at 5000+ feet of air. Mission Raceway has the CMDRA The NHRA Full Throttle series is at Reading Penn. and the ADRL is at Columbus. August 18, 2009 Port Alberni results are posted. Photos included. The Canada West Doorslammers from Port Alberni will be posted Wednesday. August 17, 2009 A bit of an update from Hot August Nights in Edmonton last Wednesday, The IBAA guys from the Edmonton area were out as well as all the other cars mentioned and a few of them stepped up their performance level. Joey Steckler in the "Joey's Place" Corvette ripped off a 6.72/206, Cal Tebb went 6.80's and the Sekura's ripped off 1100 foot burnouts as per usual. The IHRA prep Aaron Polburn stated in an issue of Drag Review that their burnout performance was one of the top "5 MOMENTS HE HAS SEEN AT A DRAG STRIP". SpeedZone's secret squirrel reporter send a note to say the "Bubble Up" car has been sold in principle. Money is in the process of changing hands, but the new owner is known in the Edmonton area and is already a Funny Car driver. He has the crew and the rig to showcase the famous Trans Am. Can you guess who? Ed Verenka was out at that event as well match racing Greg Sereda. Greg was the victor in that match-up. The word as far as the WCPM group not competing at Boise was the failure of the New family to sign the WCPM event contract (there was a small amount of money in the purse that was a stickler through the negs as well, but that was taken care of). While the New's are very honorable track owners, signing the contract, which is the same one every other track operator signs, is the norm these days. A surprising move and one that may or may not jeopardize the future of the WC guys participating in the future. Hopefully not, but you never know. I do know the event could have had 15 cars that would have seen a mid 6 second bump. SpeedZone will be at the 'Plex this coming weekend for their second Annual Nostalgia drags and party. Any racers who want exclusive photo shoots contact me. August 16, 2009 Brainerd is complete and the event Sponsor had two drivers in the winners circle. Morgan Lucas got his second win of the season and clinched a spot in the final 10. Hector Arana won PSM on his Lucas backed Bike. Tony P did not let the losing of his Crew Chief and assist. CC derail his 2009 title aspirations, as he got the win in FC. Greg Anderson defeated team mate Jason Line in PS. Shawn Cowie lost on a hole shot in TAD in the second round and gives up the point lead (by 12 points) to Bill Reichert who won the event. Frank Manzo got the surprising win in TAFC. At Firebird's "NightFires" , Canadian Todd Lesenko goes out in round one in AA/FC. Bucky Austin and Garrett Bateman both advance to round two, as does Mark Sanders in the Mr. Explosive Nova. Without the WCPM teams in attendance the PM show is very WEAK. at Boise. The bump is a soft 7 something. I don't get the scenario at Boise. Am hoping a WCPM rep will enlighten me. August 14, 2009 Firebird's Nightfire Nationals is up this weekend at Boise. Garrett Bateman and Bucky Austin are #'s 1&2 in AA/FC with Bateman ripping off a superb 5.85 to set the track record. Bucky went 5.93. In Top Fuel, Rick White leads with a 5.81 (only 8 Tf's ran in round one?. Funny Car have 20 cars in attendnace. Pro Mod is a bit confusing there as it apparantly is not a WCPM event. Do not know why that sudden change was made. It was originally scheduled as a WCPM event. There are fewer cars at the event because of this debacle. Usually there are close to 16 cars, but only 8 made round one. Rod Pearce leads with a 6.45. Randy Lafferty won the 5K Super Pro Bracketeer Friday night. Friday's numbers are here. At Brainerd Minn. the Lucas Oil Nationals are up and this is a big one for the TAD class. The top three in the points are all in attendnace. So far Delta's Shawn Cowie leads the top three after two rounds of qualiying, but is actually #3 in the order with a 5.42 best. Bill Reichert (#2 in the points is #4 qualifier and Jim Whitely #3 in the points is the #6 qualifier. Full results for Brainerd are here. Edmonton's Hot August Nights went off Wednesday night and it was a spectacular debut for Nathan Sitko in the Tachman Nitro Fnny Car. He went a 6.06 in the Tim Stevenson owned Mustang. It was the quickest pass by any of the five Nitro Floppers. Mark Sanders, Todd Lesenko, Jay Mageau and Tim Boychuk were also in attendnace. Jay Mageau ran a career best 6.31 in their new Corvette bodied Funny Car as well. John Evanchuk was the best Alky flopper on the day with a couple 5.80 passes. There were a half dozen Jet cars as well, unfortunately Kevin Therres has a top end crash in his Jet P/U. No injuries but the car is in bad shape. Here is a gallery courtesy Sheryl Ogonoski. Here is the full Edmonton report courtesy a proud dad Ken Sitko: There were 5 nostalgia nitro cars in attendance: August 9, 2009 Congrat's to Hugh Ridley driver Dale Carlson (and crew chief Jeff Johnsen) for the quickest ET and speed ever on Vancouver Island as Hugh's TAD goes an unreal 5.82/247 at the Port Alberni event this weekend. In front of a very large crowd, the car shatters the old et record of 6.35/215. I believe Rob Charlton won the Doorslammer event at 'Port. August 5, 2009 Langley Loafers Old TIme Drags gallerys below. Gallery one (show n shine) Gallery two (Paul Grant photos) Gallery three (Saturday qualifying) Loafers final rounds results and final round photos are posted from MRP. August 3, 2009 Final round results are posted for the Langley Loafers race at Mission Raceway. A Holiday Monday up here in Canada eh, and we will put all the Speedzone readers through a long day of results from Mission, Spokane, Sonoma and Martin Michigan. The Mission Langley Loafers "Old Time Drags" report is here. (work in progress) West Coast Pro Mod event as Spokane. Joe Delehay gets the win. Results are here The Bucky Austin web site has the results for the Nitro Funny Cars at Spokane. He takes the win. August 2, 2009 Possibly the best first two rounds of AA/Gassers MRP has ever seen, as margins of victories were in the thou's. The final was not as exciting as Brent Harris in his first very final went red, His usual humerous logic was 'he wanted to get the finish line first'. Mike Molea won the event and moved closer to point leader Gary Reinero whom he upset in round one. Terry Langdon Davies defeated fellow DS competitor Grant Howell in Outlaw at the Mission Loafers event. Claude Lavoie goes 6.08 in his new Nitro Flopper to get his license. Jim Obalek almost goes 200mph in Dennis Hicks' very cool FED "Mountain Brew". Full results Monday. At Martin Michigan's IHRA national, Kenny Lang moved back into the point lead with the with in Pro Mod. Del Cox Jr. wins Top Fuel over Edmontonian Tim Boychuk. Don't care about Pro Stock. At Sonoma, Steve Gasparelli wins in TAFC and Cody Perkins wins TAD. August 1, 2009 Saturday qualifying at Mission for the Loafers event was exciting to say the least.
Chamberlain tries to do the 'Dew" for the second straight year. He keeps the rubber side down and is #3 in the field
Claude Lavoie is looking stout with his full (semi full, 1100 feet) and second to last licensing run, a soid 6.16. Go here for more great shots from the Loafers Old Time event Sonoma qualifying is ureal in TAFC with a 5.65 bump. Four others in the '60's don't get in. Ouch!!!!! Johnnie Ahten goes 5.27 to lead TAD. The Force Chicks are 3 and 4. Results for Sonoma are here. No word yet on the numbers from Spokane (car count and qualifying times). Martin Michigan (IHRA National) has good car counts in all three Pro Classes. Kenny Lang leads with a 5.94 in PM. Bruce Litton leads TF with a 4.67/319. The quickest bump of the year in TF with a 4.84. Don't care about Pro Stock.
August 1, 2009 Spokane Friday qualifying
AA/FC
July 30, 2009 Mission National Open Sportsman Final rounds with photos A Mission National Open Gallery is posted This weekend the Langley Loafers Old Time drags hit Mission Raceway. It will be one of the biggest events of the year, and certainly the biggest Nostalgia race in the North West. Come check it out, this event is a blast. Spokane's Nitro Nationals is also on tap in Washington State this weekend. This promises to be Spokane's biggest event of the year. July 29, 2009 One more NW Nationals gallery featuring Top Alcohol. Take a look. Very artistic and very sharp. Digital is proven to be best when it comes to shots like these. A couple Mission National Open gallerys will be posted Thursday. July 29, 2009 The CPSA story with photos are posted from the National Open at MRP. July 28, 2009 Mission National Open Photo gallery is here. Take a look, some incredible shots courtesy Bill Jeffery. Photos are now added to the IBAA story. The BB/FC Story with photos is posted. The floppers that were MRP this past weekend, as well as the WC Pro Mods, Injected Nitro and Jets will be at Spokane this weekend. Here is the lead up courtesy track manager double "J". Todd Hoerner has a new entry in his blog. July 27, 2009
July 27, 2009 One extreme to the other as Sunday is one of the hottest days on record at Mission Raceway. A solid day of racing highlighted by rookie Nitro Funny Car driver Tim Boychuk taking on all comers including the previously unstoppable Plueger/Austin two car team. Tim took out Bucky on a holeshot in the semi finals and then four time winner in '09 Garrett Bateman in the final round with the second quickest et and top speed of the event. A great 5.93 at a booming 247mph was more than enough for Bateman's .02 slower leaving 5.88/230. Randy Parker defeated Greg Howland in a pedaling final round for the North West BB/FC group. Both cars were real loose in the exciting final round. Ron Sekura got the much deserved win for the IBAA Funny Car group, as his 1/4 mile burnouts won over the fans all weekend long. He and brother Corey did a side by side 1320 footer in the opening round that had the fans going crazy. He defeated Kamloops Funny Car driver Mattias Hane. John Breckenridge defeated Damian Cownden in an all 6 second final round. In one of the best Pro Street events ever held at Mission Raceway the quickest side by side final round in the CPSA's history saw the Turbo Thunder Bird owned and driven by Mark Wolfe bracket raced all weekend long making five of his six runs in the 6.50's including a 6.57@ 219 mph in the final to defeat a surprising Barry Daniluk who ran career bests all day Sunday. He went 6.68 in the final round. If all the CPSA Pro Street cars are back the end of August and the ones (six) were weren't in attendance show up, it will be a blood bath for sure. The full results (work in progress) thanks to Joey's Place Paint and Restoration are here. July 26, 2009 Unbelievable, it all that can be said for Saturday qualifying at Mission Raceways National Open. Qualifying got in for all the sportsman classes and one qualifier for the CPSA and the Nitro Harleys. The Pro Street class. Then when the night of Fire was set to begin, when the exhibition classes were called to the lanes, all hell broke loose in the skies. First lightning started in the perimeter around the track and then it came closer. A few sprinkles slowed the program and then is steadily got worse until the skies opened up with strong winds, thunder and lightning, and a monster downpour the likes we have not seen in a few months. And it all happened on this night, possibly the biggest night at MRP in 2009. With no let up in sight, the call was made to end the day without a flopper hitting the track. They will try to get a lone qualifier in this (Sunday) morning , and then go into eliminations. Let's hope it happens but the unsettled weather is still in the area. Oh ya, starting Monday, the weather is supposed to be record breaking heat for the next 10 days. July 24, 2009 A very laid back day at Mission Raceway for day one of the National Open. A test N tune and arriving race cars filled the day with a few lengthy oil downs. Hopefully they are out of our system now, and not affecting the busy schedule Saturday and Sunday. The highlight for me was the 6.85 by Dale Peterson in his turbo'd Regal. His best ever number. 205 was the speed. Jay Syvertsen broke on his lone test run. The 37 Chevy is being tuned by the legendary Spike Gorr this weekend so is the Tachman getting Spike's assistance. More Friday stuff is here. July 23, 2009 The big Funny Car weekend is here. A few more gallerys from the NW Nationals last weekend. (#1) Bill Jeffery Friday Gallery. (#2) Bill Jeffery Saturday Sunday gallery. (#3) Paul Grant gallery Saturday (Pro classes). (#4) Sportsman gallery (Paul Grant photos).
A cool gallery of a couple kids getting oriented in a JR. Dragster this past Monday. Thanks to MRP for their hospitality. July 20, 2009 A final round Bill Jeffery photo blog from Seattle is posted here. NW Nat's Pro Gallery from Friday qualifying. A sportsman gallery (including TA) is here. (Paul Grant photos) Big News for this Weekend's Open and Funny Car Fever at MRP. SpeedZone will be producing a monster Funny Car poster featuring all of this weekend's funny car drivers. Around 30+ cars will be featured on the poster in full color. We are trying to set up an autograph session as well. If your company is interested in helping to sponsor this limited edition exclusive poster with your logo and a copies for your promotion, contact me. July 20, 2009 One of the best NW Nat's at Seattle in a long time as the weather was fantastic and the fans filled the stands Saturday and Sunday. Tim Wilkerson (first FC win of the year), Antron Brown (fourth TF win of the year) and Mike Edwards (third PS win) were the three professional class winners. A HUGE win for the Force family as TAD competitor Courtney Force won her first ever title in NHRA Drag Racing, as she defeated perennial runner-up Chris Demke in the final round. Doug Gordon got the win in TAFC when he defeated SpeedZone pre event pick Roger Bateman in the final. Other winners at the NW Nationals were: Comp: Tom Mettler, Super Stock: Dan Fletcher, Stock: Doug Lambeck:, Super Comp: Mike Dalrymlpe, Super Gas Mike Shannon, Super Street: Gary Erickson. Full results here (work in progress). July 19, 2009 Saturday qualifying from Seattle is complete and the alky cars ran round one. Here are the numbers. July 18, 2009 Friday was hot, hot, hot at Pacific Raceway for day one of the NW Nationals. The Nitro Floppers struggled and the Top Fuel cars were only slightly better. Pro Stock managed the 125 degree track temperatures better and the TA classes saw a few big surprises. Friday results and photos are here. July 16, 2009 This weekend is THE big one, at Pacific Raceway....... Word from the Tech guru Greg Park camp is he goes into surgery Friday for a double bypass. See you soon Greg!! Awesome shots at HH of the unfortunate crash by Bob Kokotailo. Am posting the link not because I get a thrill out of crashes they are a reality of the sport, but because Bob is okay and he talks about the crash to my buddy Larry. I have more of the crash as well, but Larry's are at least twice as good as mine. Don't want to embarrass myself. LOCALLY Mission Raceway is getting amped up for what could be their biggest National Open ever. They are promoting the National Open "Nitro Fest", featuring 32 Funny Cars. You heard it right 32 Funny Cars!!! Three different assoc. will showcase their floppers along with a full field of Nitro Harleys and a huge Pro Street race. Exclusive to SpeedZone is the first glimpse of the
second Ron Hogeson nitro flopper that will make is first full passes
here at Mission with vaunted Top Fuel and the new drag racing mogul,
Tim Boychuk at the helm. Hogeson brings two floppers (the "Bubble-up"
is the other) , the two dominating Plueger Austin rides that have
one every race they have competed at this year, Mark Sanders and
"Mr. Explosive", the newest and soon to be hitter in the
class, Todd Lesenko and the "Jolly Rogers" Camaro, the
first ever local car Tim Nemeth in his awesome 'Stang. Twig "Pizza
Haven" Zeigler and his bitchin Satellite, The "Pedaler"
Arrow, the "Tachman" Mustang and Jay Mageau in his new
Corvette plus likely a few others. The awesome IBAA group out of
Alberta will be here as will the newest flopper group, the North
West BB/FC 12 car field. What a show is all I can say!!!!Here
is the link to the video ad to be run starting next week on TV.
I will have the new newspaper ad here this weekend soon. All the
coverage here at SpeedZone will be presented by
July 13, 2009
The "Bug" wins back to back Doorslammer events at Mission Raceway. Tyson Wells and the "Far from Huggin' Loggin" Doorslammer team move into 1st place in the standings in the CWDS . Todd Lesenko and Twig Zeigler make more hits at MRP on the weekend in preperation for the National Open in two weeks.
In bad news, Bob Kokotailo crashes his new ex- Warren Johnson Grand Am GPX. Bob is fine, but the car sustained heavy damage. At Woodburn, Dale Carlson in the Hugh Ridley TAD goes to the final round, only to have a fuel line come loose and leak fluid under the tires, Dale got real loose but he kept the car off the wall, only to watch his nephew Brandon Johnson blow by him at 1250 feet. Dale sits in 3rd place in the standings just a few points back of Joey Severance. The TAFC final as well as a couple others were rained out, and will be run at another venue. Full Woodburn results are here. Denver NHRA Mile High Nationals results are posted. July 11, 2009 Hot at MRP Saturday with CWDS action and a couple Nitro Floppers (Edmonton's Todd Lesenko and Twig Ziegler) tuning up for the Nitro Fest in two weeks.
The full (finally) WCPM report from the event two weeks ago is posted with photo coverage. Woodburn has qualifying complete. Full results Monday. Final TA qualifying is as follows. TAD 1 613 B/AD Joey Severance, Spanaway WA, Hadman-MBR
5.419 265.64 265.64 TAFC 1 3 Jay Payne, Claremont CA, '09 Mustang 5.703
253.80 253.80 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 9 799 Sean Bellemeur, Tustin CA, '05 Firebird 5.810
243.96 243.96 Spargo left early as is was too hot to set the A/AP record. He will be at Mission Sunday for the DS event. JULY 10, 2009 A great feature by Bob Frey on Shawn Cowie at Drag Race Central. Woodburn is up this weekend as is Denver's Mile High Nationals . Spargo is at Woodburn to try and claim the A/AP record he went .553 under with a 6.70/208 (mph record but .07 off the ET record so the MPH does not count as a record) .July 9, 2009 A couple very cool wheelstand shots of the Burnout King Darrell Webb Bucky Austin's web site is updated as is the Doorslammer site. Austin's team driver Garrett Bateman wins his third event of the season two weeks ago at Sacremento. Results are here courtesy Mark King. The IBAA Pro Nostalgia Report from Edmonton is posted along with photos. July 8, 2009 The Top Alcohol Funny Car report from Edmonton is posted (with photos) The Sportsman final round numbers and photos are posted. July 7, 2009 The first Edmonton Rocky Mountain Nationals gallery (presented by Ace Manufacturing) gallery is here. Sorry for no more class results, but today was a bad internet day other business commitments took priority. Wednesday will see most of the class results with stories. The IHRA wrap up is here. July 6, 2009 The rest of the Pro Classes will have their reports up Tuesday. The Rocky Mountain Nationals Pro Mod weekend report from Edmonton is posted. Elimination photos for Pro Mod and Top Fuel are posted. Team press releases are posted. 12:12 pm The Top Fuel story from Edmonton is posted (photos for Top Fuel later today). The rest of the pro storys and photos later this afternoon. All team press releases and wrap ups will be posted later today. Internet issues continued to hamper uploading at Edmonton, but we are back on the coast and will start the weekend picture asap. July 5, 2009 Day three the final day (hopefully), for the River Cree Resort and Casino Rocky Mountain natonals in Eedmonton just got nderway for the sportsman classes. The Pros are up in less than an hour. July 4, 2009 9:30 pm Saturday Update................The rains came and went very quickly and the people stayed, and they got a show, from the Top Fuelers, Pro Mods, TAFC, Pro Nostalgia, Nitro Harleys, And to a lesser extent the AA/FC's. Todd Lesenko ran well with his new Nostalgia Flopper as well. Tim Boychuk went 5.98/201 in his last licensing run. All in all, it was a very good day. The Sportsman classes lost two of their runs today, due to oil downs, sand trap issues, a couple minor crashes and the rain. In my opinion, Two runs will stand out. #1 Ed Hoover going 6.02/237, #2 Roger Bateman going 5.61/254 to shatter the old track record in Alcohol Funny Car. Oh ya, this is cool as well. They do run Jrs. up here at the national event, and the IHRA has Jr. Funny Cars. Two were here and one goes 8.00 with the wheels in the air on the launch, it is true and I have pictures. Hopefully will get photos posted tonight or early in the morning. Internet issues were here all day long and they lasted until 7:00pm tonight t the track. DRC had an air card so Larry Sullivan got the results posted. I was not so lucky. They are up now, and you can get the Pro classes updates on this page. You can get the updates for the Nitro Harleys, IBAA, and all the sportsman classes here. Edmonton 7:15 pm: A downpour that saw 60 mm of rain in 40 minutes fall ended at 5.15 and we will be back racing in 20 minutes. No big changes in Pro Mod, TAFC, PNOS FC, Nitro Harley. Third round numbers are here (Pro) and here (Harley IBAA and Sportsman final) One more pro session left to run July 4, 2009 Happy Independence Day to all our American friends The internet was a huge issue all day at the Rocky's, and we hope it won't be the same Saturday and Sunday. Edmonton was sweet Friday for sure, to start off the report............
July 3, 2009 6:21 pm The complete Pro Mod story from Mission's WCPM event is posted. Photos later Friday 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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.......The
NW Nationals. 
25, 2009