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Go here for all the Top Alcohol From Mission Raceway Park this weekend Wednesday April 23, 2003
Saturday April 19, 2003 "The Ghost" Brings "Gripper Products" to NHRA (Casper, WY) Wyoming's only Top Alcohol Funny Car team of Kris and Kevin Hool, have announced a major shift in their racing program. After a decade of major sponsorship searches The Hool brothers have chosen to bring their own products to the NHRA family.
Nicknamed "The Ghost", Kris said that the team is currently designing and assembling a new car while tying up a few loose ends in the sale of a business owned by Kris. The veteran Wyoming driver said,
Saturday April 12, 2003 To get all the results from the April 4-6 Vegas National event go here To see the results from the Montgomery Divisional race April 4-6 go here Story by Dean Murdoch. photos by ( Rich Carlson, Guy Van Syckle, and are copyright Speedzonemagazine.com 2003)
The Final round for the Alky cars: TAD: Shields/Bradshaw: A classic A/ Fuel vs BAD race that pits the worlds quickest Blown car against the worlds quickest A/fuel car. With the luck of the draw here we have the creme of the crop. The race unfortunately was not up to the billing, as the A/Fuel car (and particularly this one), lives up to its past years reputation, and blazes the tires just of the starting line. Duane Shields goes on for an uncontested and slowing 5.48/228 mph win. His first National win of the year. Way to go Duane and the Short Line Express team. Had a chance to talk to Duane at Houston just after his big win, and he was obviously very excited and happy with the win. He said " ya, me are pretty happy, it was a great field of cars and we ran very well thi weekend, I can't wait for Mission". I also talked to him at Vegas last week, and he stated that his season schedule was going to come down to how he faired in the Vegas and Houston, and how he faired in relation to the A/Fuel cars. These two races were going to decide his season. Well, I guess he is going to chase it. His next race of the year is now up here in the great White North, he is bypassing Sacramento in two weeks, to race at Mission Raceway May 1st- 4th. I can't wait! TAFC Manzo/Newberry. A match-up of two great friends and rivals on the track. The two have faced off 14 times now at national events including this race, with Manzo holding a huge 11-2 edge. Both cars have been very close in qualifying and eliminations, with the slight edge to Manzo. This one like the TAD final, is over early, as, get this, Manzo goes red. It might not have mattered though, as Newberry runs his career best lap, a 5.57/257 blast to get his 41st ever National win. Way to go Bob Newberry! Saturday 10:30 am final qualifying. Houston Raceway Park (Scroll down for Sunday early eliminations) No changes at the top in either class as Morgan Lucas and Bucky Austin both kept their top qualifying postion to earn the Lucas Oil top qualifier money. TAFC. Bucky Austin ran close to his 5.57 number from Friday night, when he went 5.60 in the final round Saturday. Tate Branch and Frank Manzo made the biggest improvemments Saturday, when Tate ran a career best 5.578/254.04. Manzo's third pass on the new car netting him a 5.598/258.32. Here are the matchups for Saturday afternoon's first round. And 1st rd. results at 12:40 pm Saturday Austin/Martin. I prefer Porsches. hehehe! Not a difficult choice in this one, as Bucky could leave in high gear and still advance into round two. The Results: Bucky in a lucky one. He was close to the center line and shut off, but Bobby broke just off the starting line. The #'s 6.037 - 12.04 Branch/Harper. Read above on this deal. Branch will win as long as the Memphis blues don't strike him. The Results: Similar to Bucky's run, but the quicker qualified car advances when his competitor was way late and his 6.01 could not catch the much slower 6.39. Strange but true!! Manzo/Chafee. More of the same, as Frank and crew chief Mandoline dial in their new stead. The Results: Manzo cruises to the win after running low et of eliminations with a 5.60. Newberry/Kinsley. It's looking like a broken record here as the top cars in this class with Newberry included have to make a mistake or break in order for the lower qualified cars to advance. The Results: The "Newb" goes on despite his less that stellar rt. The 5.61 easily blows by the best pass of the weekend by Kinsley, a 5.832 Payne/Simpson. Finally one that could be close. On paper Jay has over a tenth and a half, and should advance, if his gremlins have disappeared. The Results: Jay and the Valvoline car also had to play catch-up as he gave over a tenth on the starting line to Todd. But a 5.64 should beat a 5.86 every time. White/Stidham. Another relatively close matchup, but Mark will be on time and should advance. The Results: Mark White leaves on time (right with Stidham), and they cross very close to each other. A 5.679 for White takes him to the next round. Jackie ran a very close 5.696. Gasparelli/Patton. John's best run of the year in think, but he has been a bit late on the tree, and in this round he better not be. The edge to the Gasparelli crew. The Results: Gasparelli advances to round two after running a 5.69 to Patton's 5.817. John was a little tardy at the tree. Moats/Jones. I'm going with the # 9 qualifier Jimmy Jones, just because I can't take all the favorites. The Results: Wrong! Moats proves why he is a top caliber car with his 5.705 defeat of Jone's 5.862 Sunday's second round matchups: 10:45 am. Austin/ Moats. Bucky should recover from today's (sat.) bad run to win this race. His car should be a tenth quicker. Moats does get lane choice. The Result: Bucky Austin romps to low et of the round with a 5.59 and Moats blows up just past half track. Branch/Gasparelli. Should be a great race, but I think that Branch's problem in round one will disappear giving him the edge. Steve has lane choice. The Result: Gasparelli wins this race, and gets back to back good laps. Bob Miner has the Gasparelli car running on all eight and goes 5.61 to Tate Branch's 5.74. Manzo/White. This could be won of the starting line if either driver would give an inch. I don't think it will happen unless Mark red light's. Either way, I'm picking that guy that always wins. The Result: Frank Manzo wins this race running pretty much like a bracket car. Another 5.60 to Mark White's 5.76 Payne/Newberry. The race with the two guys that don't seem to have the best rts. Should be the closest race of the round, if it is possible to have one closer that the rest. Payne on a holeshot. The Result: A holeshot for Payne but was not enough. As the Newb ran 5.60 to Jays 5.73. Semi match-ups: Austin/Newberry. lane choice does not mean much but Bucky has it. He also is a bit better leaver then Newberry. I'll say Bucky in the final. Gasparelli/Manzo. #1 and #2 in the world facing off for the first time this year. The cars were within a hundredth of each other. Frank Manzo will find a couple more hun in this semi to advance to the final against Bucky Austin.
Just a little note on the subject of parity in the top alcohol classes. Obviously in TAD, there are two different types of cars and the A/Fuelers appear to be the quicker of the two. But in TAFC, there are eight -ten cars in the country that are light years ahead of the rest as well, and we don't hear anything about parity. Why is that? TAD Morgan Lucas stayed in the #one position after qualifying ended Saturday morning, but did not get the race day run he wanted, as the Lucas Oil dragster shook and smoked the tire on his final attempt to improve. Cars making the biggest jump in Saturday's final attempt were Alan Bradshaw in the Randy Meyer A/Fuel car, as he went 5.342/266 to move into the #4 position, David Wells continues to make strides in his new ride, with a career best 5.346/263 blast to pt him #5. Bruce Bowler hit the .30's with a 5.383/250 mph effort to move him up to #8. Brandon Johnson picked up close to two tenths after running 5.437. Here are the 1st rd. pairings at 11:00 am: And 1st rd. results at 12:20 pm Sat Lucas/Magee. Two A/Fuelers face off and this one should be a walk for Lucas, as long as smoke doesn't get in his way. The Result: Lucas runs a 5.443/265 to Magee's 6.72 pass Gunderson/Rudy. If it was a BAD that Mike G. was running, I might pick it over the plumber from Florida, but he is racing a brother so I'm picking Mike. The Result: Gunderson wins as Rudy is a no show. Gunderson runs 5.683/230.02 Shields/Thompson. Duane Shields all the way. Stay away from the tire shaking belt shredding runs Duane. The Result: Duane has a great run, turning in a 5.376/265.33 to Thompson's red lighting 5.60 Bradshaw/Callaway. I'm going with the slower car here. I think the BAD of Callaway with defeat a tire smoking Bradshaw. The Result: Wrong. Bradshaw has low et for the weekend with a 5.281/258.47 to Callaway's game 5.53 Wells/Hitchman. David Wells should win this one, but the A/Fueler he faces can run in the thirty's. The Result: Wells takes a5.409./261.07 to Darryl's slowing 6.048 pass. Bartone/Brounkowski. Brounkowski's potential is good, but so is Tony's. What's with this car not being in the top two or three. He is human! Bartone on to the second round. The Result: Wrong! A not so human tire shaking parts flying loss to Karl who only ran 5.822/250. Howard/Johnson. I like Ramada actually. Seriously, this will be a great race, as long as tire shake does not kill these two cars. It should be side by side 5.40's. Both are good leavers, but I'm picking my homey, Brandon. The Result: Wrong! Decent light for both but Shelly's 5.453 is enough for Brandon's 5.508 Bowler/Snow. I'm going with the #9 guy and old timer Gene Snow. The Result: Right! The snowman take a 5.491/256.94 win over a game 5.673/245 shot for Bruce. Second round pairings are: Lucas/Snow. Youth will prevail over the elder legend. The Result: Morgan wins but he wasn't all that fast. A 5.40 and a .01 rt takes him into the semis. Gene Snow goes 5.44 Bradshaw/Wells. Smoke for Bradshaw (if I keep saying this it is bound to happen). The Result: Holy cow!. Bradshaw goes 5.19/274. Doesn't really matter what Wells runs. It was a 5.36 by the way. Low et for the BAD's for eliminations. Gunderson/ Howard. GO Shelly, GO Shelly ( Sorry Mike, I like ya dude, but the Howard's month has been worse than yours) I'll pick you next time for sure. The Result: Shelly Howard wins after a so so 5.63. Mike Gunderson has problems and slow to a 10 second lap. Shields/Brounkowski. The "Short Line" will Express it's way into the semis tomorrow afternoon. The Result: Shields leaves on Brounkowski, and drives away with a 5.37 to Karl's okay 5.52. Semis: The pairings guarantee a BAD and a A/Fueler in the final. Perfect! Shields/Howard. A couple of the very best BAD's in the country. I think Duane's car is the quicker one as long as he can be close on the starting line, he should advance. Bradshaw/Lucas. Can the Darien/Meadows car come up with a 5 teen to compete. They won't even try. Morgan will try and run a 5.28 and leave on Alan Bradshaw. Will a holeshot 5.28 be enough? In this case I'm sticking by my guns and say that the Randy Meyer/Bradshaw car can't repeat. Friday April 11, 2003 The O'Reilly Nationals presented by Castrol. The score this season so far in TAD: A/Fuel Dragsters 5 wins; The BAD's 4 wins. So far so good. The race this weekend is a real tell tale event in the 2003 season. Based on the way that the cars ran last weekend in 3000 feet of air, and the fact we are at a sea level track, which will give both types of cars their best possible performance potential, how will it turn out. If track conditions are optimum, which they should be, this is how I think it will play out. BAD's will run a 5.27 -5.36. And the cars that will be in that range are Duane Shield's "Short Line Express", David Well's "Plain Vanilla" and possibly Brandon Johnson. On the other side of the coin, the A/Fuelers should run 5.20 - 5.35. And the players in this equation are Tony Bartone, Morgan Lucas, Art Gallant, Alan Bradshaw, Keith Stark and Richard Bourke. Here are the picks for this weekend.
Tony Bartone. Odds 6-1: The sweep that Bartone was almost inferring to, after his Gainseville romp is behind him after getting trounced in Vegas. He will rebound, and this is a good race for him to do it. His 5.36 in session two is a good start for the weekend.
Mike Gunderson. Odds 9-1, The "Under the Gun" team is a real hit and miss team. They either run like hell or like their on an ice rink. His strong 5.31/270 mph blast looks like they are running in the former.
Alan Bradshaw. Odds 11-1, The Meyers/Bradshaw team is the biggest potential threat on the premises. It is a 5.teen car, on a good day. The rest of the time it is pretty average. The Chiropractor will hope for no spasms this weekend.
The rest of the pack looks like this. In order of predicted performance. Bruce Bowler, Lee Callaway, Karl Brounkowski, James Thompson, Gene Snow, and Darryl Hitchman. Top Alcohol Funny Car. The creme of the crop from all points of the continent are here: Frank Manzo (1. North East Div), Steve Gasparelli (7. Pacific Div.), Bucky Austin (6. North West Div.), Jay Payne (2. South East Div.), Mark White (3. North Central Div.), Vern Moats (5. West Central Div.), and Tate Branch (4. South Central Div.). With an additional wild card added in (Bob Newberry), one of these will be the winner. If Chesterman and Gordon were here, the top ten for the year would be competing for the first time this year and possibly the only time for the year. But even without those two it will be a great field. Here are the for sure picks:
Frank Manzo. Odds 6-1, Doohh, if it was his second or third event of the year, then he would be at the top. It's his first vs everyone else's third, fourth or fifth. But, with the quality of this team, a win would not be to far out there. Pass #2 and a 5.63, awesome! Mark White. Odds7-1, The Bars Leak team is right near the top of the heap, especially with Mark in the seat. He can drive and leave on time. Do they have 5.50 power, I don't think so. A 5.67 is Mark's best so far. Bob Newberry. Odds 8-1, The "Newb" has one win and he did it with performance and better than average driving. This weekend he will need both. He ran a 5.62 on Friday. Steve Gasparelli. Odds 9-1, The Gasparelli clan should be higher on the list, but the new crew chief is still working on the BAE combo from his old Fontana one. 5.70 best so far.
Vern Moats. Odds 11-1, Can win almost anywhere but this will be one of his toughest tests he will see this year. I say a second round loss for the other Kendall car. A 5.70 will only give him one round in eliminations though. The rest of the field in order of a snow balls chance:
To get all the results from the Vegas National event go here To see the results from the Montgomery Divisional race April 4-6 go here |
April
30, 2003
Mitch
Meyers debuted his new A/Fuel Dragster at Woodburn Drag Strip this
past weekend. The all new body design is the latest state of the art
design with similarities of both Clay Millican's and a little bit
of Darrell Russell's thrown in. The team just made 1000 foot soft
laps to get used to the new aerodynamics and fuel combination. They
ran low sixes and their best lap was in the 5.90's 
after
clicking it by the 1000 ft. clocks on a fairly green race track. They
car goes in for final lettwering and striping this week before Mitch
and the EPHA team travel to their first event of the year at Mission
Raceway, May 2-4th.
"We
are proud of the products we are developing and bringing to the racing
community", said Kevin. He described Gripper Products is an evolving
line of Hand Cleaners and Skin Care products, and future developments
will also include car care products.
"The
harsh environment of racing creates many problems when it comes to
taking care of your skin, especially your hands. I know for a fact
that when your hands are beat up and sore you can't work as quickly
and efficiently as you need to between rounds in drag racing. We have
developed these hand and skin care products with the racer in mind.
You can race for fun, or for a living, but your hands and skin just
don't have to look like you do."
"I
don't know exactly when we will be out racing. We are doing much more
of our own work now, and there is still much to do. We've finished
in the top 5 of the division many times over the past ten years on
what some teams budget for new slicks. But that's not good enough
anymore, it's time to turn it up, it's time to get serious! If we
have to bring Ghost1 out to race, we will. We would rather have the
new car done, but we are anxious to get Gripper products out to the
NHRA racing family. Until then we invite all interested parties to
visit us at www.gripperclean.com". 
Morgan
Lucas. Odds 4-1, His walloping of Tony Bartone in the second round
showed that the Darien/Meadows team is back. I think this car will
be a 5.20 performer and Morgan will be sharp on the tree. The 5.309
is a good start. 
David
Wells. Odds 5-1, The Wells/Grimes team is now in their third race
together and this is the type of track that Norm Grimes likes. The
only problem is the 5.61 is looking pretty lame after two sessions.
Duane
Shields. Odds 7-1, Duane will have a real test here with the new
car. We will see if a 5.20 is possible, and after his 5.34 in session
two he could do it.
Shelly
Howard. Odds 8-1, Shelly is looking for her first national win
this year, after her sudden departure at the gator's. Her husband
Paul has recovered from his heart surgery and this would be a great
feel good story. A great 5.37 lap in session one bodes well for the
fastest nurse in the Houston grounds.
Art
Gallant. Odds 10-1, Art certainly has the car and credentials
to win at any time, but he hasn't set the world on fire this year
so far with his performance nor consistency. And he really needs to
work on the car or his reactions.
Brandon
Johnson. Odds 12-1, The Johnson family is not looking too great
so far this weekend, with only a 5.60 best. Come on Mike, you are
my main man dude. Don't make me look bad. I'll have to find another
crew chief to look up to. Just kidding!
Bucky
Austin. Odds 4-1, Bucky has his groove on. , and if the rt's can
be lowered by 1-3/100ths, he could be the champ not only at this race,
but for the 2003 season as well. His 5.57 in session two is pretty
good. But I think it will go lower.
Tate
Branch. 5-1, Tate also found his sweet spot last week in back
to back runs for the first time since his opening event of the season.
Plus he has the home field advantage. A 5.63 is a good baseline
Jay
Payne. Odds 10-1, Another guys that should be up on the list,
but inconsistency and parts breakage has killed him so far this year.
The 5.62 in qualifying Friday looks good though.
Jackie
Stidham (left), Jimmy Jones, John Patton (below), Todd
Simpson, boat racer Kebin Kinsley and Thomas Frickenschmidt.