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Reading photos are here Sept. 28. 2003 3:00pm Every TAD that competed at Chicago is featured here in this photo highlight page. All the Funny Cars are featured here. (photos courtesy Guy Van Syckle and are copyright speedzonemagazine.com 2003)
Sept.28, 2003 Semi Finals 1:30pm In TAD, Morgan
Lucas continued his run as he defeated Mike Cofini with a 5.24 to
Cofini off the throttle 9 second run. David Wells kept up the BAD's
hopes with a victory over Keith Sept.28, 2003 11:30am
Sept. 28, 2003 10:00 am. In 1st round eliminations, the
TAFC's were rubbing their hands together with the conditions.
Cool fall condition gave the teams optimism, that the current 5.549
record could be broken and there was 4-6 guys in the field that could
do it. As important as the record is, Bucky Chicago's Carquest Nationals @ Route 66 Raceway.
Here is the fields in TAFC and TAD after final qualifying: TAFC: 1 1 Frank Manzo, Morganville NJ, '03 Pontiac Fireb
5.578 260.46 260.46 TAD: 1 200 A/FD Tony Bartone, Manhasset NY, McKinney-KB
5.255 275.51 275.51
Sept. 26, 2003 Bucky Austin Preview. Route 66 Raceway There are all kinds of hyperbole you can use to describe
the importance of this weekend's Top Alcohol Funny Car race at Route
66 Raceway. While it is not quite the bottom of the ninth with two
outs and a full count, it is still the bottom of the ninth. Maybe
it's one out! Sept. 25, 2003 Complete 2003 STATS for TAD: Here is a comprehensive stat the the 2003 TAD season, both Nationally and Divisionally. These are not designed to be prejudiced in any way, I am only giving out the stats that are readily available. That being said their are many interesting conclusions to be reached. Is their disparity? You be the judge. In the 141 times an A/F ran a BAD during the 2002 season, the A/F car won 68 times (48%) and the BAD won 73 times (52%). A/Fuelers won 9 of 16 National events (56.25%) and they won 10 of 45 Divisional events (22.22%). Only one A/Fueler was in the top ten. Gallant was #1 of course. Approximately 38 % of the cars were A/Fuelers. In 2003, the Divisional level, the A/Fuelers have raced the BAD's 99 times. A/Fuelers have won 51 (51.5%) to BAD's 48 (48.5%); pretty close. At the national level they have raced each other 87 times. A/Fuelers have won 54 (62.1%) times to BAD's 33 (37.9%) times. These are unofficial results. But I think are right on. Total head to head: 186 times they have raced. 105 wins for A/Fuelers (56.45%). 81 wins for BAD's (43.55%)
Stats 2003: Overall participation: 48 A/Fuelers entered nat'l and div. events (41.03%), 69 BAD's entered nat'l and div events (58.97%) (both Div. & Nat'l) National level: A/Fuel This means that the A/Fuelers accounted for 41.8% of the cars that qualified, they qualified #1 100% of the time, and won 66.7% of the national events. BAD's: BAD's participation in eliminations totalled 58.2% of the qualified field, they did not qualify #1 once, and they won 4 national events. Divisional Level: A/Fuel BAD's
Sept. 23, 2003 Duane Shields is one of the BAD owners that is making the switch to A/Fuel. A very interesting scenerio, considering that he owned and the quickest BAD in history. Even if his turning tide was the only factor and their was no other evidence, this in my opinion is proof that the A/Fuel cars have the advantage in performance and potential (Did that make sense?). Meaning, if the world's quickest is switching then there must be a good reason. The two types of cars can compete against each other, but in order to do so, there has to be rules adjustments. Duane is making the switch, even knowing that the A/Fuelers will be slowed down to a certain degree. He made a pretty good comment to me Monday night, when I confirmed he bought T-Bones A/Fueler. Basically he said, " watching Marty Thackers run at Indy (the 5.35) pass and seeing it on the ragged edge, and pretty well having as much tune-up in the car as possible for the air conditions and the track conditions (perfect track prep and 2500+ feet of air I think). Then seeing A/Fuelers make effortless cylinder dropping 5.30 passes in the same air and even higher on Sunday", the writing is on the wall. Even with the potential rule changes to the class, he feels that the injected cars still have the power potential. And the overall cost factor sits in their favour. He was tired of running a car on the ragged edge and knowing that in perfect conditions, he might run a low 5.30 or high or in all the stars were aligned, a 5.25 best. When an A/Fueler goes to the line in good conditions even the tuner does not really know what it's bottom line will be. The 278 and 280 mph blasts by Gunderson at the last two Nat'l events are prime examples of that. He looks forward to the new challenge that lies in front him and his team. The one bright spot in his switching is maybe he can bring some level head thinking to the table. He is switching for a number of reasons, and maybe he can help to bring the two sides to the table and work out the contraversary. Sept. 22, 2003 A quick news flash, Talked to Duane Shields tonight and he confirmed to me that he has purchased Tony Bartone's A/Fuel car complete. He is tyring to sell his current truck and trailer ASAP. Email me for his Ph:#. More on this and his decision why tomorrow. The scoreboard now reads 30 wins for BAD's compared with 22 for A/Fuelers after BAD's Marty Thacker (Columbus) and Joey Severance (Medford) picked up Divisional wins this weekend. Tony Bartonewon for the A/Fuel contingent at Reading. The Funny Car winners were Chuck Cheeseman (Columbus), Frank Manzo (Reading) and Roger Bateman (Medford). THere has been a total of 54 points earning events this season, except two divisionals (Boise and Orlando) did not have Top Alcohol cars in competition.
Bucky Austin drops into 2nd place in the TAFC standings after Frank Manzo wins the rain delayed Reading divisional event. The win gives Manzo a point total of 775, compared with 765 for Austin. Manzo has three chances to improve on a first round lost and a semi final finish on the national front. Bucky has two events to improve on two semi final rounds nationally. Both racers have full pulls divisionally. The TAD winner at Reading was Tony Bartone over Richard Bourke in an all A/Fuel final. Bartone moves into 2nd place in the TAD national standings, and moves him into first place in Division 2. Sept. 21, 2003 Medford Oregon Lucas Oil Event. In Top Alcohol Funny Car at Medford, Canadian long shot and veteran Roger Bateman got an emotional win over Steve Gasparelli in the final round. The win moves Roger all the way up to second place in the standings after sitting in 5th place heading into the event. Roger qualified #7 but that did not stop him from taking out #2 qualifier Clint Thompson in round one on a great. 048 light and holeshot; In the semis he defeated Robert Lee who seemed to play a bunch of weird staging games in eliminations. The final round saw Gasparelli with a big performance advantage as he ran in the 5.60's and 5.70's throughout the weekend, but in the final he lost power at around the 1000 foot mark and Bateman's weekend best 5.83 was enough to give him the win, in what may be the "Showdown" teams last race ever, as they announced earlier this year that they were done unless a large sponsor came through with sufficient support for 2004. With the win, Bateman now has 235 points compared with Hank Coolidge's 211. John Evanchuk picks up 13 points but drops down to 4th place with 182 points. In 5th is Clint Thompson with 171 points. Way to go team "Showdown" for your well deserved win in the toughest Division 6 event of the year. . Talk about taking the division down to the wire in TAD at the Division 6 event at Medford, Oregon. Joey Severance wins the event after qualifying on his last attempt Friday night, and then going through hitters Darren Nicholson in round one, point leader Mark Hentges in the semi finals and then running a great 5.47 in the final against Steve Federlin. Steve had the red light, but the 5.47 would have been very tough to beat. The win gives Severance 336 points; The same total as Mark Hentges. Hentges is now out of races and Severance has one more to claim if he decides to go to an out of division event. There are only a couple left, one in Vegas and one each at Darlington and Noble Oklahoma, both on the first weekend on October. Based on their overall record, and myself being corrected by Jonathan Adams via Mike Rice, Severance has the tie breaker lead based on head to head competition. They have only raced once all year, and that was Saturday night. That is the second tie-breaker, as the first determining factor was In-Division points earned, and they were tied after that one. Whew! Did you get all that? Of course this is unofficial until posted by the NHRA. Sitting in third place is Mitch Meyers who lost in round one. Mitch has 235 points, Mike Cofini is fourth and has 224 points and Steve Federlin moved into fifth from with 222 points. 2002 division champ Brandon Johnson has 214 points and is in 6th place. That is proof on how tough Division 6 TAD is. Sept.19, 2003 Medford Lucas Oil goes this weekend as well as two other divisional races. Division 1 at Reading, (will Manzo win a take over the point lead) and Division 3 at Columbus. If Manzo wins at Reading this weekend, he takes over the point lead by 10 points. 775 to 765. In Funny car, for Division 6, #1 and #2 are pretty well set, with Bucky the champ and Hank Coolidge looking like he will take the two spot. John Evan chuk has a slim lead for #3, but Clint Thompson can take that spot will a good finish, he can actually take over #2 if he wins. Dave Germain can also move into the top three depending one what the couple right in front of him do. In TAD, Hentges should win the division, but Severance could still finish #1 if he wins the event and Mark goes out early or does not qualify. On the National level in TAD, Ashley Force will be in an A/Fuel car for next year. She will probably be in the Darien/Meadows car from the reports. Morgan Lucas will run in the class still, as his family has bought the Baca car. Who will tune the car, the best guess is Dana Hopewell, the old crew chief for Henkleman. Exclusive chat with Len Imbrogno: Sept. 16, 2003 Top Alcohol Dragster will be on the forefront of discussions for the rest of 2003 and to start 2004, as the NHRA has announced there will be rule changes in their attempt to bring the A/Fuelers and the Blown Alcohol cars closer together in performance, as they feel the performance gap is getting too wide between the two types of cars. While I agree that there is close to a .10-.20 spread under moderate to ideal conditions, I personally don't think that slowing down the A/Fuelers is the right thing to do, for a number of reasons. Firstly, the A/Fuelers have been the ones that have undergone the last three or four rule changes. Secondly, Drag Racing is about going faster, and slowing down the injected cars is a little counterproductive in a go fast sport. Plus the changes proposed, primarily to the fuel percentage is an unknown. I think NHRA should allow the blown cars to run the "Gizmo" Blower (yes it is an added cost, but with the selling of the old blower, the cost would probably be $5,000 or so. I also think that clutch management should be allowed for the blown teams. Probably the cost of that deal is 5,000 - 7,000 by the time you sell the old clutch. I shudder to think the coast for the A/Fuel teams as they try to make their combination run under 90% if that is the decision made. The score card as of this past weekend is 27 wins for BAD's and 21 wins for A/Fuelers, with 8 of those A/Fueler wins at National events which are optimally (is that a word?) prepared. BAD's have won only 4 National events. After a week of reading all the message boards and all the pros and cons and expert (from self appointed experts) opinions out there on the Internet highway, I got in contact with NHRA Sportsman boss Len Imbrogno today to get the NHRA's take on the TAD situation. To no surprise, he was general in most of his comments, but he did give me much insight into the NHRA decision to make the changes to the A/Fuelers. He is a person that appears genuinely concerned about the class and is not just a yes man, or someone that tells you what you want to hear so you go away. The class is a top priority for the NHRA right now! Sz: Len, How did
the NHRA come up with the decision to make the change to the A/Fuelers
instead of the BAD's? Sz: Are the changes
going to be made and kept for, say, a year and then adjusted if necessary?
Sz: why not just give the BAD's the 'Gizmo' ("C" or whatver they call it) Len: A couple reasons,
firstly the overall cost factor is quite large, secondly, the PSI
company has stated that they don't really want to build the "Gizmo".
The number of blowers built would probably amount to around 60-75
and they are very busy developing and producing other products at
this time. It is something that could not be done under current NHRA
regulations (meaning widely available to all competitors as the same
time) by the beginning of the year. Ed's Note: I certainly am glad I am not in the NHRA's shoes with regards to this matter, but I understand that something had to be done. I still believe that the changes should be made to the BAD's though. The insurance and marginal tracks that host divisional races make that option difficult though. What is the right solution? It will be debated to death, and still there will be two sides and no common ground. The only common ground that both sides should look to though is to try and work with the NHRA to have a class with diversity and relative parity. The Fans love it! To the teams out there, don't have tunnel vision on this, try and make it work.
Sept.11, 2003 Top Alcohol Dragster parity focus of 2004 changes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The NHRA Competition Committee has unanimously decided that the issue of parity in Top Alcohol Dragster must be addressed for the 2004 season. After reviewing data that has been gathered over the last several years on the differences between blown Alcohol Dragster and A/Fuel Dragster, a trend is apparent: The A/Fuel entries are becoming the dominant vehicle in the class. NHRA believes it is important to continue to preserve the two types of racing applications for fans and competitors alike, while maintaining fair competition between these distinctly different racecar combinations NHRA will not make any changes that will allow blown Alcohol Dragsters to run quicker or faster than they currently do. Rather, NHRA's intent is to develop a plan to bring the performance of A/Fuel Dragster more in line with that of the blown Alcohol Dragsters. NHRA is evaluating a number of actions that could accomplish its objective, including additional weight changes, rear end gear-ratio changes, and limiting the percentage of nitro for A/Fuel racers. NHRA plans to make a final announcement on the changes in early October.
Sept. 9, 2003 US Nationals review (a photo page from Indy is here) The US Nationals is an event that is hard to top. For a racing facility in Central US that is subject to extreme high humidity and hot temperature, and at the handicapped elevation of 850 feet before correction, the performance of the two Top Alcohol classes were outstanding! The Top Alcohol Funny Cars had a close to all time record bump. A 5.86 bump in the heat was outstanding. In Top Alcohol Dragster, the bump spot was a great 5.50, that saw 8 cars in the 5.50's that watched from the side lines on Sunday. With the postponement, until this past weekend, Alan Bradshaw made the decision to run at the Divisional event in Iowa instead of returning to Indy. His national championship aspirations playing a part in the decision (and a smart one I might add). In Eliminations, Jeff Craig got the upset win of the year, as he had a solo semi and final win, as Bucky Austin broke in the semis and Marc White red lit away his chance. In TAD Morgan Lucas finally got the proverbial 2003 monkey off his back with his biggest win ever. He defeated Blown Alcohol hitter Shelly Howard in the final round. With the win by an A/Fuel car at Indy and by a nitro car at the Div.5 event at Iowa as well, the scoreboard is now: 25 wins for BAD compared with 22 wins for the A/Fuelers. Will the Rules makers make any changes for 2004? A questionnaire was handed to the NHRA brass at Indy, with close to 60 current competing racers sending in their comments. We will have to wait and see if anything will come of the suggestions
|
Wow!
What a TAD final. David Wells
vs Morgan Lucas. Lucas has been no worse than 5.259 all day long and
Wells has run between 5.29 and 5.32 all day. But the performance of
the bracket like A/Fuel car seemed to be a little too much for any
blown car out there. Someone forgot to tell that to the Norm Grimes
tuned car as he made the second quickest blown alcohol dragster pass
ever, a 5.272/270.59! But, the Darien/Meadows car turned in another
bracket like performance and ran a 5.258/270.92 and had a great .016
light to get the double up this weekend. He won the Jeg's race yesterday.
Unfortunately, the Lucas sponsored car left this type of performance
a little to late in the season and has run out of events to catch
Alan Bradshaw. But he has a good chance to stay ahead of Tony Bartone
for #2. What a great performance by both the "Darien/Meadows
Lucas" team and the 
"Wells/Grimes
Blue Bunny Ice Cream" team! TAFC
was very anti-climatic compared to TAD, but not because of the competitors.
Doug Gordon played giant killer this weekend with newfound performance,
and was up against Bob Newberry one of the legends in the class. Newberry
has multiple divisional and National titles to his name and is one
of THE gurus of the class. In the final round, is ended up to be all
veteran, as Newberry blasted down with a 5.58 pass compared to a slowing
and loose 7 second slip for Gordon. Doug left on Newberry by 4/100ths
so all he had to do was run better than a 6.625 (a number he bettered
every lap since his final qualifying lap. Gordon was a little to aggressive
on the launch and smoked the tires giving the easy win to Newberry.
The win put Newberry into 3rd place in the standings. Gordon is now
in the top ten.
Stark.
Wells kept up the strong performances with a great 5.329. Stark broke
on the burnout. This final should be pretty good, but the performance
edge still favors the A/Fuel car by almost a tenth. In TAFC,
Doug Gordon kept Bucky Austin's VERY slim championship chances alive
when he upset Frank Manzo with another 5.50 pass. Manzo left on the
kid but fell off a bunch and his 6.0 pass was not enough for Gordon's
5.58. He faces off against Bob Newberry and loses lane choice again,
as Newberry ran a 5.56 to defeat Jay Payne who ran a 5.64. It has
been quite a while since Gordon has had a car capable of winning a
national event. The way he started off the season with three wins
in a row, the California based team looked very strong, but they middle
of the season had not been kind to them. It is nice to see the turn
around. 
Round
two. TAD. Mike Cofini advanced
to the semis with a .005 light and a 5.44 run against Tony Bartone
who broke just off the starting line. David Wells ran another 5.20,
when he went 5.29 against Bill Reichart. Reichart went 5.49. Morgan
Lucas certainly looks like the guy to beat as he went 5.22 to defeat
a game 5.37 by (the 2003 World champion) Alan Bradshaw. Keith Stark
found his game back this weekend as he defeated John Haley 5.31 to
a 5.44 by Haley. Stark went .011 at the tree. In TAFC,
Manzo sqeaked by Mick Snyder by 2/100 on a 5.55 run compared to Snyder's
career best 5.65 on a .014 light. This puts a further dagger into
Bucky Austin's title hopes. In a huge race, Doug Gordon put a huge
damper on the NEW WORLD RECORD HOLDER Cy Chesterman. Gordon went 5.58
and defeated a 5.55 by Chesterman. That 5.55 backs up his earlier
5.53. Payne defeated Vern Moats, and Bob Newberry defeated the giant
killer Jeff Craig. The semi final match-ups are Manzo vs Gordon with
Manzo having the lane choice, and Payne vs Newberry and "Newb"
having lane choice. In TAD,
Cofini has the task of racing Lucas and Wells races Stark. Wells and
Lucas have the lane choice.
Austin
and Frank Manzo were just looking for round wins. After winning the
Jeg's All-star race Saturday, Austin was confident he could keep the
momentum going in Sunday eliminations. Unfortunately, no one told
Jeff Craig how the script was supposed to go. In what could be considered
an upset of huge proportions (something Craig has done to Austin already
this year), Craig advances to round two with a 5.74 - 5.77 by Austin.
Bucky obviously had problem as he was only going 220 mph in the lights.
The only hope now for Austin, is for Manzo to go out in the semis
or earlier, and for Bucky to win at his next National event. Manzo
advanced to round two, as he took out Steve Gasperelli with a great
5.55 to a close 5.62. The biggest noise was made by Cy Chesterman
when he went a record setting 5.531/259. The record is currently a
5.549. Others advancing include, Doug Gordon, Bob Newberry, Jay Payne,
Vern Moats, and Mick Snyder. In round one TAD,
Local Division 6 competitor, Mike Cofini's career best run, a 5.35,
was enough to defeat Dave Hirata who also ran a 5.35. Cofini stealth
like .012 light was enough to edge Hirata. The biggest run in round
one was made by David Wells, as he went 5.29 (his first even 5.20
pass) 
to
defeat Todd Datweiler who went a very good 5.39. Marty Thacker, he
strongest Blown car out on the circuit this year was expected to run
in the twenty's again, but a red light and a surprisingly slow 5.48
ended his day. The A/Fuel contingent of Bill Reichart, Morgan Lucas,
Tony Bartone, and Alan Bradshaw 5.20'ed their competitors to death,
as all advanced to round two. Div.6 competitor Mitch Meyers (left)
fell to Morgan Lucas. Meyrs went 5.43 to Morgans 5.25. John Haley
went 5.35 (over Marty Thacker) to go to round two and Kieth Stark
advanced over Shelly Howard in the ugly race of the round, as Shelly
took out the 330 cone and then almost crashed and Stark shook so hard
his chutes came out and was a sitting duck.
Bucky
takes the Jeg's Allstar race in TAFC over Cy Chesterman. He also goes
5.593 to qualify #3 in TAFC. He went 5.61 in the Allstar final round.
Marty Thacker goes 5.29/270 in the Allstar semi final round but can
only run 5.80 against Lucas in the final. Morgan wins with a 5.33.
Division
6 representative in TAD was Mike Cofini and he went out in the first
round when the burst panel blew on the launch.