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Dragster is here
Oct. 26, 2004 Here are some numbers for you in three of the five quickest TAFC runs of all time and the fastest run of all time (Jackie Stidham's run). Bucky's 5.530 and Jay's 5.519 run I do not have. The Bucky 5.543 pass was the quickest to 1000 feet and was probably a 5.40 pass if he did not wound it at 950 feet. Jay Payne 0.072, 0.963, 2.461, 3.645/209.23, 4.659, 5.521/259.61 Bucky Austin 0.102, , 0.939, 2.430, 3.612/208.91, 4.635, 5.543/235.6 Jackie Stidham 0.052, 0.96, 2.502, 3.735/200.56, 4.791, 5.646/265.64 (after further review and talking to a couple people at the event and to a couple racers, the cone that Cy Chesterman hit in this run against Stidham was determined to have tripped Jackie's et and mph beam thus the high speed). Most agree that it was probably a mid 250 pass. Sorry Jackie Frank Manzo .955, 2.463, 3.650/208.52, 4.668, 5.529/261.02
At the Atco race, he qualified #24/100ths ahead of his nearest competitor Micky Ferro with a 5.842. In elimination's held on Saturday, he improved into the 5.60's in the first two round victories for a 3/10ths advantage over everyone in the class. In the final, he took on Billy Gibson who defeated Ferro in the semi finals. The race was over by 100 feet, as Gibson shook and clicked it off early, while Manzo cruised to a 5.72 victory and his 5th in division win of the year and his 15th Division 1 title. He will not win the National title for the first time since 1997, a span of eight in a row. Oct. 24, 2004 Atco New Jersey TAFC Eliminations TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR 2) Mickey Ferro, Stamford, Conn., '01 Camaro, 6.037, 242.32
def. 3) Billy Gibson, Chaptico, Md., '04 Firebird, 6.059, 246.93
def. 1) Frank Manzo, Morganville, N.J., '02 Firebird, 5.668, 254.52 was unopposed Semifinal Final Oct. 17, 2004 No Problem Raceway Lucas Oil TAFC elimination's
The final round at No Problem was very close in TAD and TAFC. McClain was the quicker in the semi finals, but Tate branch improved by a tenth from his semi win. With the win, Tate Branch clinches 2nd place in the Div 4 standongs. Richard McClain moved two points in front of Steve Gasparelli for third place in the standings. Div 4 champ Jackie Stidham did not compete as he has wrapped up the division already with four series wins and two r/ups.
Oct. 12, 2004 Lucas Oil Nationals Reading Pennsylvania Oct. 12, Lucas Oil event Englishtown final round completed Oct.12, Lucas Oil event Medford Oregon (after Reading results) Manzo has a big weekend..... But he cannot catch Chesterman. (Greg Gage photos) A TA gallery from Reading is here
A very busy weekend as the season winds down in NHRA dragracing. This weekend the rescheduled Reading Penn. National event, and the final round from both the Top Alcohol classes from the rained out Englishtown Divisional event were completed at Maple Grove Raceway. The Divisional TA final round was finished off on Saturday during the last qualifying session, and is was Bob Newberry and Frank Manzo in TAFC. Manzo has had one of his weaker seasons in recent history, but it is more due to a smaller schedule. He has run well at Divisionals ,but has not performed as well at National events. He sat well back in the standings heading into the weekend, but the potential for two wins on a weekend could move him way up in the standings. In the Englishtown div. final Manzo got an easy win with a solid 5.58 to Newberry's slowing 9 second et and that was one leg of a possible 170 point weekend. That 5.580 run, also put Manzo in the top spot in qualifying. Here is the final qualifying from Reading.
Final round Englishtown Divisonal that was run at Reading
One thing noticeable in the field is a number of lesser knowns, running career bests, making this a stronger field than expected. First round had few surprises, other than Bruce Mullins shutting down after the burnout. In round two, Micky Ferro ran a career best 5.68 but it was not enough against Paul Gill who ran a 5.64. Dave Ray driving the "Follow a Dream" funny car went to the semis with a solid 5.69 and both Newberry and Manzo advanced. The semis also ended up true to expected form, as the "Newb" defeated Paul Gill despite his third bad reaction time of the event. His .108 was better than Gill real bad .248. Manzo defeated David Ray with a career best and third quickest ever, 5.529. Ray also ran a career best, a 5.661 in the losing effort. So the final was the two usual suspects, and the same two that raced on Saturday in the divisional final. Newberry would have to find a tenth and be sharper on the tree to have any chance against 'the man'. Bob did find a more in his tune-up and improved well into the 50's with a quicker 5.555 to Manzo's 5.560, but when your competitor goes .001 at the tree and you stay in the .10's your day is done. Two wins for Mazo in two days and he moves up from ninth in the standings all the way to third place. First round David Ray, Centerville MA, '00 Avenger, Left
lane, (0.121) 5.699 252.66 def. Craig English, Mount Holly NJ,
'98 Mustang, (0.455) 14.930 27.37 Second
round through the finals
Medford Oregon Division 6 Lucas Oil series Lucas Oil race #6, Medford Oregon.............The final Division 6 event of the year had the potential for the closest points chase since 2001. Back in the late 90's and the first two years of the millennium the championship was won by less than two rounds of racing. But in 2002 and 2003 Bucky Austin was dominant, but with John Weaver running Division 6 and a couple others stepping up, Bucky had only a 22 point lead over Weaver and both having run six races. This weekend's race at Medford would be filled with Division 7 competitors, as it is right in the Pacific division's backyard. Dennis Taylor was at Medford as he was trying to stay in the top 5 nationally and was looking to move past Doug Gordon into the top spot in Divison Seven. Gordon was also at Medford and that team was trying to get back to 2003 form, where they were one of the most feared teams in the country. Brett Williamson, Steve Gasparelli and Ron August were also on hand to challenge the best from the North West. The weather was relatively cool and there was a threat of rain for the weekend. The schedule had been set for the race to run on Friday and Saturday with final elimination's Saturday night. 10 cars were at Medford and and Friday ended up with two sessions only due to cooling temps. After Friday, Bucky Austin lead with a 4.809 and Steve Gasparrelli was #8 with a 5.98. One more round on Saturday and Bucky stepped up even more with a track record 5.680. John Weaver ran #2 with a 5.771 and Doug Gordon rounded out the field with a 5.927 Here is the field
Saturday Elimination's Clint Thompson...... got in as first alternate for Ron August who had a wounded car, and he raced John Weaver in round one. Thompson had run in the 5.70's here last year, so this race was not a freebie for Weaver. Unfortunately for Clint he could not find the 2003 magic, and Weaver won going away with a 5.81. THompson shook and clicked it early. Brian Hough, making a resurgence in the TAFC class took out Steve Gasparrelli with close to a career best 5.77. Gasparrelli also click it off due to severe tire shake. The third pairing between Dennis Taylor and Bret Williamson ended in the same way as the first two, but Taylor would have been tough, as he ripped off a 5.76. Bucky again was the baddest car on the grounds, as his 5.656 lower the track record and he dispatch of Doug Gordon, who would of won any only pairing with his solid 5.759. In the semi finals Austin stayed low for the round, with a 5.730 and a victory over Brian Hough. Hough had a huge .06 rt advantage but had to lift as he got loose just past the 300 foot mark. Dennis Taylor won the other semi final with a 5.762 to John Weaver's 5.858. The final was a battle of the best from Div 6 and Div 7, and one division title could be wrapped up and the other one could be extended further with a win. They raced each other at Woodburn in a final round earlier this season and Austin got the win, so there was the revenge factor in play as well. At the line Taylor held a small .017 advantage, but Austin had made up the difference by half track and pulled further ahead at the strip for a .014 (five feet) margin of victory. With the win, Bucky clinched the Division 6 championship. Bucky now has 341 points has clinched the title for his seventh divisional championship. Weaver has 288 and even a win at Las Vegas in three weeks would keep him 5 points back of Bucky. Congratulations to the Austin team and to Dennis Taylor who moved into first in Divison 7 with 333 points with one more race remaining.
Oct. 6, 2004 Carquest Nationals Chicago Rt. 66 Raceway The Alky purists got a double whammy this past weekend at the Carquest nationals, as the Jeg's Allstar race ran along with regular TA elimination's. The Jeg's race which pits the best seven (eight if the blocker is involved) in team competition along with the top drivers from the other sportsman classes in their division. In the Jeg's Allstar race, Jackie Stidham qualified #1 with a 5.628.
In elimination's, Stidham continued his roll from qualifying getting a bye run in round one and then defeating the probable 2004 world champ Cy Chesterman in the semi finals. He went into the finals as an underdog against Jay Payne but he defeated him with a career best 5.555 to 5.736. The most exciting and the quickest side by side TAFC run in history happened in the semi finals where Payne defeated a hard charging Bucky Austin 5.521 - 5.543. Bucky's speed was only 235 at the finish line and based on his 660 time (3.59) compared to Bob Newberry's (3.65) on a 5.551 pass, the run does come out to a low 5.49 or high 5.48. Wow!! Here are the results from the Jeg's race.
First
round (W) Jay Payne (Vavoline '02 Camaro)
0.088 5.536 260.16 (W) Bucky Austin (Bucky's Muffler
'02 Firebird) 0.095 5.601 256.06 (W) Jackie Stidham (Stidham &
Wilson '00 Camaro)0.811 12.029 89.83 Semi
Finals (W) Jackie Stidham (Stidham &
Wilson '00 Camaro)0.052 5.646 265.64 Final
Round First round...........
of elimination's in the Jeg's race counted for the main race
final qualifier but unfortunately for the Austin, Payne
and Stidham their semi final runs did not count towards the
ladder. The field was still
very stout with a 5.80 bump spot, and elimination's had the
potential for a number of upsets as Cy Chesterman, Doug Gordon,
Steve Gasparelli and Tate Branch were all on the bottom half
of the ladder.
Jay Payne was the top qualifier with a stout 5.536, and like I stated earlier the Bump was a great 5.80 (the second quickest bump spot ever). 5.60 and 70 performers like Kirk Williams, Shawn Jones and John Patton failed to qualify for the tough field. In elimination's, only Cy Chesterman and Danny Townsend got out of the bottom half of the ladder. The Chesterman Newberry was a colossal matchup up that may have spelled the end of Newberry's chance at a top three finish. He could of finished #3 if he won the race and two more divisionals. In round two Paul Lee took out point leader Chesterman 5.58-5.60, But based on the final results from this race, an absolute miracle would have to happen for him not to win the championship. So I will congratulate Chesterman now, for becoming the first different TAFC driver to win the title since like, the inception of the class (okay 1997, but you get my drift). Getting back to round two, Payne defeated Danny Townsend in a great side by side 5.57-5.61, Mick Snyder has an easy win, when Stidham shook got loose and lifted, and in the final match-up, Marc White got the best of Bucky with a round best 5.56-5.69. In the semis, Snyder got a break against Payne when Jay got loose and had to pedal the car, while Snyder stayed consistent in the low 5.60's with a 5.63 to Payne's 5.75. Paul Lee and MArc White had a real close one, side by side 5.61's that Lee got the victory with by virtue of his .012 advantage off the starting line. The final round was a little unexpected, despite Lee's three wins earlier in National event competition. He has not won since Englishtown in June, and Snyder and the team are still learning the tuning curve on the most unique combination in the class. The Snyder Motorsport team runs a TAD engine combo (460inch) and a Lenco/drive with converter. Yes, that is correct, no clutch in this car. They ran this combo in a TAD for a couple years after working on it in the IHRA Top Outlaw class until that class was deemed extinct in 2000. They ran pretty well in TAD but battling the A/Fuelers was not an appetizing proposition, so they switched last year to TAFC and have found their calling. This past weekends performance showed great improvement, and don't be surprised to see a few more step on the band wagon. In the final, Snyder further helped his cause for a top five finish by getting the win despite a .040 holeshot by Lee. Lee got real loose and pedaled a couple times by Snyder had made up the difference in RT and ran his sixth 5.60 of the weekend, a 5.635 for his first ever TAFc National event win. Wow, what a performance!! What a weekend for the two alky classes. 5,40's are just around the corner! Elimination's (First round) #9 Danny Townsend, (0.055) 6.596
153.95 def. #8 Mike Bell, (0.070) 14.453 60.35 Second round
Sept. TAFC archives are
here August TAFC Archives are here July TAFC Arcives are here June TAFC Archives are here May Archives are here. April Archives are here.
For the Best TAFC drivers of all time go here. For the Top TAD drivers of all time go here For the Top Tuners and Innovators go here For the quickest runs in history by TAD and TAFC go here
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2004 Lucas Oil Top Alcohol TV package 2004 Alky Zone archives 2003 Alky Zone Archives 2004
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Jeg's Top Alcohol Funny Car Final qualifying
