Feb. 19, 2004

Top Alcohol Winternationals coverage is here

 

Lucas Oil coverage from Gainesville.

Sunday Feb.28, 2004 Jim Sickles got the surprise of the weekend from Jay Payne, when the "Slug" played possum and sandbagged his way to a win against Jim in the semi finals at Gainesville Sunday afternoon. After running on marble the two qualifying session and a 3.4 shot in the first round Sunday, Payne got his mojo back and lapped Sickles to a 5.65 to a losing 5.74. Mark Billington got the semi bye on the other side of the ladder and takes on Upland California's favorite son. In the final round, Payne was a "Slug" on the starting line but had a 5.79 in the bank against a slowing 6.79 for Billington. Like his usual start, Payne gets an early win in his early title hopes. In TAD, Reichert also got snookered when he lost on a holeshot to Rich McPhillips in semi final action after being the class of the A/Fuelers in qualifying and an easy 5.39 victory in round one (over Samsel who was in as an alternate for Gunderson), he could only match McPhillips in et but not in rt's so the side by side 5.58's ended up in McPhillips favor he take on Jason Cannon in the final after Cannon ran 5.42 to a slowing 6.12 by Guy Kelly. The weather must have warmed up a bunch as both blown cars fell way off their 5.30 ets from qualifying. The final round was all Cannon as he left first and went 5.44 to take the win over a later leaving and 5.62 by McPhillips. Go here to get all the other winners for the rest of the sportsman classes.

Saturday Feb.27, 2004 A great field (13)of TAD's are on hand at the first Lucas Oil divisional event of the year, but again the same can't be said for TAFC, as only five are made laps in today's qualifying. Two others are at the track and are attempting to get licensed. TAD is led by Bill Reichert who ripped of a strong 5.34/266 shot in session #2 to nail down the #1 qualifier cash. Guy Kelly and Jason Cannon are #'s 2 and 3 respectively with bests of 5.387 and 5.397. Art Gallant is #4 with a strong 5.425. The bump is held down by Michael Gunderson who could only muster up a couple 5.70's with a 5.738 being his best shot. The matchups for Sunday are Reichert vs Gunderson, Kelly ss Finke, Cannon ss Fiorelli and Gallant ss McPhillips. In TAD only two of the five got down the track with a respectable time and they were James Sickle who ran 5.70's twice including a best of 5.762/ Mark Billington ran a 5.800. Bruce Carlson went 6.26 for #3 and Jay Payne runs a great 6.56 to edge into the #4 spot. Rounding out the solid field is Greg Beckner's 9.06 second Super Comp lap. Sickles get a bye and Payne takes on Carlson. The other race is Billington and Beckner with the winner of that one going to the final.

 

 

 

Final decals (below) for Ashley Force's TAD are installed at Pomona. Word has it that The car will basically have this look for the year, except for one or two events where she will have themed design (Probably Barbie and Hot Wheels).

 

 

THE picks for 2004 for Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Car classes who will win it all!!

(presented by Larry Pfister, Guy Van Syckle, Bob Wilson, Jamie Clerf, Pat HArden and Dean Murdoch)

The two alcohol classes are are a real crossroads in Speedzone's opinion. For starters, the the TAD class is crazy expensive to compete in and have success in. Whether you run a Blown Car or an A/Fueler to have success and too finish in the top ten you have to spent upwards of 200k per. Some have spent substantially more to reach their lofty perch. This year the spending just increased with the addition of the Force Juggernaut to the mix. Ashley Force will automatically become a "Force" to reckon with. The budget is rumored to be whatever it takes, according to sources. Her car will run a total of 24 events minimum this season. The same can be said for Morgan Lucas who ventured out on his own after two years under Jerry Darien and Ken Meadows. Other teams that have stepped up the spending include Mike Cofini, Steve Federlin/Jack O/Bannon, Mitch Meyers and Duane Shields. The previous year(s) teams that will be right there at the end include Marty Thacker, the champ (Alan Bradshaw, if in fact he does return to the Randy Meyer team), Mike Gunderson, Shelly Howard, John Haley, Mark Hentges (if he does not end his season early) and Bill Riechert. Do the A/Fuelers have the performance edge? Probably. Is it as much as in the last two years? Probably not. But NHRA, give the blown boyz and girlz the "Gizmo".

As Far as the Funny Car class goes, I guess you could use the famous quote, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", and it would be valid. A number of teams seem to dominate this class on a yearly basis, I I don't expect this year to be much different. One of the bigger unknowns for this year will be the addition of a famous father/son team to the mix. Todd Veney and father dad have joined forced fulfilling a life long dream for Todd to race with his legend dad. Expect The top five players from the last couple years to be at the top again and that includes Manzo, B. Austin, Cy Chesterman Bob Newberry and Steve Gasparrelli. Oh ya, one more thing Pat Austin is making a return to the class with a completely different power plant.

Here is the Fab Five's (plus one) picks for the top wrung of 2004.

Larry, TAD: Ash Force. This class will finally find out what real money will do.
Either that or SHE'LL see Elvis at a thousand feet...alot.

TAFC: Hell do any of these even tour that much any more. How can you pick
anybody but the dude who rules this class.

Bob, TAD: (1-3) in no particular order. Sorry, but this class is really wide-open
this season. Duane Shields, Steve Federlin, Alan Bradshaw. All of these
cars could dominate, as they have the right combination of money,
tuning, driving ability and experience. There's quite a few other
possibilities, but all are lacking in one or more of the essential
ingredients, with money being the usual limiter.

Dark-horse pick: Ashley Force - combine Jerry Darien, John Force's money
and nitro and you've got a potentially explosive combination. Did I
mention that she's quite a looker too? Heckuva combination, and one to
watch. Closely. Seriously.

TAFC: (1) Bucky Austin - it's his year - if he wants it. After coming so close
last year, and seeing that it can be done - especially after fighting
through some very serious setbacks (his shop burning to the ground) -
the Buckster is capable of dethroning....

(2) Frank Manzo - it's time for him to slip a notch... or two. He just
can't keep winning everything forever. If Newberry can take a Division
One race or two from Manzo, then the title will be Bucky's (unless his
nephew Pat upsets that apple-cart in Division Six).

(3) Bob Newberry - he's been running stronger in the last year or so and
with an upset or two, could challenge for the title. He's got the right
stuff - driving ability, tuning ability, and money to do it.

Dark-horse pick: Jay Payne - has all the ingredients, but never seems to
take it all seriously enough to win the championship. With his wife
driving a Pro Mod this year, that distraction alone might hurt his
chances enough to let another season slip away.

PAT, TAD Here it gets a little murkier. The sheer number of
quality competitors combined with the Lucas Oil Series points structure
really throws the alcohol classes wide open. It's also likely to be another
banner year for the A/FDs, with even more joining the ranks, although some
may elect to interrupt the pursuit of Lucas gold by venturing into Top Fuel
on the rival IHRA circuit. It remains to be seen how many will make that
leap and what impact it will have. I won't try to pick a specific entry for
the title, but it's hard to suggest that one of the top three from last
year, Alan Bradshaw, Morgan Lucas, or Tony Bartone, doesn't stand the best
chance of taking home the title. I think the only thing that could screw
the A/FDs if is they are handed poor air conditions with any frequency, in
particular hot and humid. If we have a year like that, then all bets are
off, and the advantage goes back to the blower cars - even when they run
off, they're faster than an A/Fueler on five cylinders!

TAFC: One name, three times over - Bucky, Bucky, Bucky! The
"Northwest Hitter" may not be the most personable guy out there, but he
means business - BIG business. He almost did it in '03, and I expect a very
strong push in '04. I also look forward to some very interesting
head-to-head matchups with the east coast and Midwest powerhouse rides like
Frank Manzo, Bob Newberry, Cy Chesterman et al, especially when Bucky
ventures into their territory at places like Brainerd, Indy, and Maple
Grove.

Jamie, TAD: Champion: Morgan Lucas: See Grimes, Norm
Low ET: 5.09 by some A/FD...and the moaning will be heard from coast to
coast, from Internet chat room to Internet chat room, from one e-mailer to
another...and our dear webmaster Dean Murdoch will be in the middle of it
all...
Top Speed: 284...why not they already ran 280?

TAFC: Champion: Frank Manzo...what you were expecting Bernie Harrington?...no
offense, Bernie, of course...
Low ET: 5.49...going out on a limb here with a big performance jump as
another barrier goes down (first TA/FC in the 5.4's)...Cy Chesterman the man
to do it, too...'Member who was the first in the 5'5's? Hint: He's coming
back this year...
Top Speed: 265...Manzo muscles one down through there...

Guy, TAD: Who knows?? Morgan Lucas could win it all. Well funded car, plus first rate tuner = championship? #2 in 2003. Thacker and Wells could be the strongest blown cars this year. Will be interesting to see how Jeff Wilson does trying to run BOTH combos.

TAFC: Manzo. Hard to go against the multi time, defending champ. Unless Frank really stumbles or has something unfortunate happen, has to be the favorite again this year.

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