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The best of Top Alcohol continues with these three very important aspects of the class. (Thanks to Bob Wilson and Jamie Clerf for their input, and The Drag List for all the stats). The Top 50 TAD Drivers of all time is here. The Top 50 TAFC Drivers of all time is here. The Quickest Top Alcohol Drivers of all time is here. The "Tuners", "Innovators" and the "Owners". by Dean Murdoch Tuners: The Alternates (in Alphabetical order) Randy Anderson. Drove to two world championships and now consults for a number of BAE customers. Lou and Steve Gasparelli, Bucky Austin, Robert Lee of late. Norm Christensen: The other talented "Norm." You name 'em he's worked for 'em...From Ted Gord, Steve Sommers, Bucky Austin, Mitch Myers, Jerry Darien, and others... Mike Robeck: The best tuner you've never heard of. Learned from Jay Payne. Worked with John Hyland and is currently tuning Steve Federlin. Fast and conservative. Sam Shockley. Tuned Taylor to the title...Hyland's to considerable success, too.
The Top 16. 16. John Glade. With Frank Manzo all these years. What else do you have to say? The crew chief no ones heard of… 15. Bob Miner. Got the Fontana to haul ass with his own team, Miner Bros. Racing. Ran the first ever 260 mph pass. Now the tuner for Gasparelli and helps Clint Thompson. 14. Ora Vasquez. A positive influence in many camps over the years. Hylands, Parkers, Fuentes, Jones. 13. Chess Bushey. He is the guy has got the A/Fuelers noticed and had a major hand in the performance of almost every successful A/Fueler in the 90's 12. Randy Meyer. 5.135. World quickest TAD…….. Enough for you. 11. Norm Grimes. 5 championships with Santos, success with David Wells post-Santos...any questions? 10. Fred Mandoline. Won championships driving. Bob has been in the class since the early 70's. He has tuned TAD and TAFC teams Like Mike Gunderson and Bob McCosh to name a couple 9. George Santos. Small Block or Hemi. Just as important role as Norm Grimes in my opinion and probably better as he did the most with a "small" small block budget for a number of years. 8. Bob Newberry. In the last 15 years almost every funny car out there that has run well has had some sort of a Newberry tune-up. Really perfected the Veney headed combination. 7. Brad Anderson. Eight divisional titles and three world championships Do we have to say anything else. Look to the innovators category as well. 6. Alan Johnson. Teamed with brother Blaine to form one of the most potent TA/D combo ever...Bonus points for perfecting Oldsmobile combination. Then went to TF and look what he's done. 5. Jerry Darien. Master with both blown and injected nitro combinations...Distinguishes himself with driving tutelage talents..."developed" Gary Scelzi, Melanie Troxel, Brandon Bernstein et al. 4. Les Davenport. Known more for his work in TA/FC, but has been known to take his "have tune-up will travel for $" to the TA/D and the Pro Mod class as well. Has been in the Alky classes forever. Actually won back in 82 in TAD as a driver and R/U in TAFC in 81 (both at Denver). Also holds or has held many land speed records. His tuning programs are probably the most used in the alky ranks. 3. Walt Austin. Tuned son Pat to the most TAFC wins in history. Also had his other son Mike in the winners circle on numerous occasions. Built many different combinations in partnership with Alan Johnson in developing new heads etc. Is now working on the Ford Hemi. 2. Tom Conway. Won two world titles. Tuned dozens of racers from across North America to great success… Ran three different engine combinations at one event. And the #1 Tuner according to SpeedZone....... 1. Steve Boggs. Simply one
of the best to ever work on an alcohol fueled motor…..Success in
TA/FC, blown alky dragsters, and now injected nitro. Wins in every aspect
of Top Alcohol racing.
Honorable Mention Bill Phillips. West Coast "Madman" that very few knew. But he was similar to Niver. He was an innovator by necessity. Never had the budget to by the top builders stuff. Even after his death, his legacy in the North West lives on. 10. Mark Niver. Never scared to try different things. Was the first to try the PSI and builds most parts for his A/Fueler including the heads. Has been involved in the class for 20+ years. 9. Gene Adams. A/Fuel, BAD and more A/Fuel. If you want a fuel system he is at the top of the list. 8. Bob Ottow. Fuel systems, timers. Almost every team with nitro in its tank has run some of his parts. And a lot copy them. 7. Bob Newberry. Put him right up there with the best blown alcohol guru's in history. 6. Norm Drazy. Not just the PSI. This inventor has done more for the sport in the last ten 15 years (much to the chagrin of many), than almost anyone. He is a someone that never seems to bask in past successes. 5. Fred Mandoline. A long time TA mechanic, tuner, driver and innovator that was sort of let out until I got an earful from a number of guys. Built one of the best dynos out there and was one of the first to build billet heads. Sorry Fred for the gaff. 4. Dale Armstrong. Man, it's hard to pick between the top four. 2. Ken Veney. On a similar scale to Brad and Walt. 3 Walt Austin. Look below. 1. Brad Anderson. In the TA classes, no other product than the BAE heads are more prevalent. Not to mention all the other products developed by his company.
The top Owners. A dozen owners that, most hired guns would kill to be in the seat of…..In order from our pick as the top owner in the class working down to the #12 pick. 1. Jerry Darien & Ken Meadows. Jerry, Gary Scelzi (with Matthews as a partner), Larry Sutton, Steve Faria, Frank Pedregon, Melanie Troxel, Paul Jones, Brandon Bernstein, Morgan Lucas and now Ashley Force. Is there any question as to why this act is #1. Yes his ride is for sale (the wave of motorsports in general), but why shouldn't a guy benefit from his reputation. 2. Len Cottrell. To many to name. Okay there is only 15 drivers counting himself. And they are; The 60's, Len Cottrell & Kenny Reichard. In the 70's, Dick Crist, R.C. Sherman, John Speelman (80's and 90's as well) and Ron Wood. In the 80's Mike Kosky. The 90's drivers were Fuzzy Norton, Mike Harbaugh, John Rose Jr. and Steve Lamplough. In his 5th decade the driver have included so far, Tim Slagle, Dave De Angelis, Fran Monaghan and for one or two racers Cliff Bozelli 3. Gene Adams. Had one main driver that was with him for years and that was Don Enriquez. Rick Stewart, Tom McEwen, Mort Smith, Leonard Harris, John Mulligan, Steve Carbone, Billy Scott and Gerry Glenn all drove his cars. Other racers that drove cars he was partners in or was crew chief for included Chess Bushey, Ed Vickroy, Jimmy Scott, Bob MacDonald, Ron Pratt, and currently Kin Bates in A/Fuel (blown Alky version) at Good Guy events. 4. Mike Johnson Racing. George Johnson, Bernie Plourd, Dale Carlson, Gary Ormsby Jr., Brian Hough and Brandon Johnson all have good runs with Mike opening his wallet. George was a partner with brother Mike when they first started. 5. Edgecombe Racing. A team with not a huge budget but a passion for racing that has brought many young racers into the sport. Pete Kaiser, Gary Ormbsy Jr., Paul Jones and Darren Nicholson are the ones off the top of my head. 6. Randy Meyer. Himself, Gary Ormsby Jr., Alan Bradshaw. Who wouldn't want this ride? 7. Bill Edwards. Sr. Had cars in Comp and all Top Alcohol classes including A/Fuel (front and rear engine), AA/GD, AA/DA, BAD, and TAFC. Drivers included Bill, Ken Hiebert, Gary Smith, John Tousa, Steve Fields, Wally Duperon and Bill Edwards Jr. Bill Sr. has been in the sport for 5 decades. 8. John Mitchell. Everyone wanted to drive his car. Quite a few got to including many notable stars today including Ron Capps, Larry Dixon Jr., Jim Rizzoli, Tony Pedregon, Frank Pedregon, Lena Williams and Jimmy Scott have all driven John's TAD's. Many more have driven his Top Fueler. 9. Jack O'Bannon. An owner that was committed to winning, regardless of the cost. 10. Gerry Maddern. Had Michael Gorr, Frank Pedregon, Darren Nicholson and Chris Demke in the Peen-Rite TAD. Probably more as well. 11. Gary Turner. Only a couple drivers I remember, but he ran his operation without limits and both that I remember, Cruz Pedregon and Bobby Taylor were lucky to be in the seat. 12. Tom Topping. Drivers included Howard Haight, Christen Powell, Brooks Brown, Marshall Topping
The Top 50 TAD Drivers of all time is here.
2003 Season in Review (Best and worst of 2003) by Dean Murdoch (with assistance from speedzone contributors and our readers). Photos are courtesy Guy Van Syckle, Rich Carlson, Dean Murdoch, Bill Jeffery, Greg Gage, Pat Harden, Lyle Greenberg and NHRA.com (Racers Edge)
NHRA race of the year. This had three races receive the majority of votes. Indy (big and cha cha last stand) Chicago #2 again and Pomona finals. See the first topic for the winner.
Worst race of the year. This one
had a number of picks including Seattle (poor racing surface the pits, spectator amenities (the food is usually good), parking, seating and major oil downs. Columbus (Crashes, suspect track conditions: Jason Line above crashed), Reading, Indy, Dallas, Gainesville, all had a similar theme, Rain. The winner (or loser) of this one is not going to be Seattle though. The weather was great there was a bunch of good runs considering the track surface. I am picking Dallas and Gainesville because of the inconvenience put to the sportsman teams. At Gainesville, the sportsman race raced a a different track but of the poor pit conditions and at Dallas they ran the sportsman cars in rotation due to the pit conditions.
than it should have been so we got to see more of it. The third one was the IHRA semi final at Edmonton between Rick Distefano and Mitch Stott. Rick from Calgary Alberta was up against THE man in Pro Modified and took him out on both ends of the track but it was very close. The say the partisan Canadian crowd went wild is the biggest understatement of the year. I am going with the Vegas Funny Car final simply because of the end result of that race. Tony Pedregon takes the championship
Most dominant Pro Driver of the year.
Two Picks in this one. #1 was undoubtedly Greg Anderson. In this day
and age where Pro Stock was perceived to by the class with parity, Anderson
won an unheard of 12 events a year after there was something like 15
different winners in the class. Most wins most rounds most finals
Most dominant Sportsman driver of the year.
The most votes went to Frank Manzo. It is tough not to pick him but
I am putting my position as the final vote giver and king overruler
to the
2003 story you are sick of hearing. The overwhelming pick was Tony Pedregon leaving John Force racing. 95% of the respondents picked this saga.
Worst Crash of the year Pro. #1 Tony Schumacher's, Memphis. #2 Chris Vandergriff at Indy.
The biggest change you would like to see in
Drag Racing. This question had not a single same answer from
all the respondents. Some of the answers included, go back to live final
rounds and include the sportsman classes. Allowing the Pro Mods as a
full time class. Working harder to have parity in TAD, having the NHRA
brass realize that they can't compete with NASCAR and worry about the
state of Drag Racing and its future.
|
Profile Archives March Profile Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney |
January 11, 2004
Event
of the year (any sanctioning body match race etc.). Best
race of the year it was a tie according to the votes in, Between Joliet
fall race and the Pomona finals. The other race receiving votes was
the IHRA Rockingham finals/Spring conclusion. Joliet was great for both
sportsman drivers and pros alike. In the Pro's Doug Kalitta went 4.428
and 333 mph, Gary Scelzi went 329 mph. Two blown TAD's reached the 5.20's,
Cy Chesterman reset the et record in TAFC. At Pomona all Pro track records
were reset and the quickest 
side
by side TF run was made. At Norwalk Ohio, 60 Pro Mods tried to qualify
for the 16 car field and the bump was set at an astonishing 6.22. Brian
Gahm won the Pro Stock title after sitting in 3rd place in the standings
to start the weekend. He needed to reach the final at both races to
win the series and did it. The winner is: Joliet #2
IHRA
race of the year. Three different events including Edmonton,
Norwalk world nationals and the Rockingham double got votes for race
of the year with Rockingham winning for obvious reasons two races over
one weekend, huge fields in all pro classes and record setting bump
spots in all four pro classes. In the sportsman classes Top Dragster
and Top Sportsman had insane bump spots of 7.05 and 7.19 respectively
Best
Pro run of the year; had only two different picks and for
good reason, both were spectacular. Greg Andersons 6.67/207 lap at Englishtown
and Doug Kalitta's 4.42/333mph run at the Chicago fall event. The most
votes went to Kalitta's lap, and I concur on that pass.
Side
by side pro run picks were limited to three picks. One, the
overwhelming favorite was Kalitta and Schumacher at the big bud shoot-out
when both cars went 4.47's. The other NHRA one was the FC final at Vegas
between Whit and Tony. While it wasn't a record setting it had as much
drama as any race in the past year and was longer by about .5 seconds
Sportsman
run of the season. Mission Raceway dominated the picks on
this one and the picks were from three different runs (one car had two
of the runs) at two different events. Mission hosted two LODRS events
and Kirka Kaplan made history when he went 6.48 in his AA/AM to be the
first true Comp car to run a sub 6.50 pass. At that same event John
Gallina went 7.98 to be the first Super Stock ever in the 7's. The other
event their second LODRS event Kirka Kaplan destroyed the BB/AM record
and went 1.13 under the index, (the first time in history for a sub
1 second under index run) went he went 6.88 with the same car as in
the spring except with a tiny 288 in small block chevy. Marty Thacker
also
got a few votes for a couple different runs including his 270 mph lap
at Chicago #2 (the first 270 blown pass ever) also for his wheels up
runs at both Indy and Vegas. Alan Bradshaw also got votes for his 5.20
at a lousy Seattle track and Mike Gunderson's 280 lap at Reading. The
final pick has to go to John Gallina in his SS/BX turbo rocket in his
7.98 lap. While the Kaplan run 6.88 is according to the record books
way more dominating, it is in a class that has one other participants
in it (at least none that had made any noise in the class). His 6.49
was bigger to me. And I like the pick because it happened at a non National
event track or race
Side
by side sportsman race This too had a bunch of different
picks. From the .007 margin a victory come form behind win by Bucky
Austin over Roger Bateman after a huge holeshot by Bateman. Bill Reichert
loosing to Alan Bradshaw at Topeka. Duane Shields over Marty Thacker
in the final at Vegas divisional. Thacker had the wheels up for over
500 feet and lead until the 800 foot mark. The final at Chicago #2 with
David Wells running a career best 5.27 and loosing to Morgan Lucas after
he went a 5.25 in the quickest side by side final in TAD history. Rookie
Shawn Jones and Dennis Taylor at Pomona#2. Two unsuspecting semi final
combatants put on a great side by side run with Taylor's holeshot 5.64
- 5.62 victory. And the last one was Doug Gordon defeating Cy Chesterman
and the world record back up run 5.58-5.55. It too was the quickest
side by side lap ever in the class.My pick is the Thacker Shields final
round at Vegas. The picture aboves show how far out in front Thacker
was. He unfortunatley could not hold the lead as he had to pedal the
car when it got to close to the guard rail. 
Biggest
Story of the year. #1 Tony Pedregon leaving John Force, #2
Shirley Muldowney retiring and #3 THE RAIN. The winner: The rain! It
affected over half of the events this past year and greatly affected
the sportsman classes. From the TAD and TAFC cars loosing qualifying
session to the lower sportsman classes getting the NHRA shuffle. It
sucked!
et
record and MPH record what more can you say. #2 was Clay Millican in
the other sanctioning body also a well deserved pick as he won all but
two IHRA TF events, and qualified #1 at 90% of the races, but in this
day and age of media coverage the nod had to go to Anderson.
task
and picking Peter Biondo (above). This guy was flat out bad. In both
Stock and Super Stock he finished in the top five including the championship
in Super Stock. He went to the semi finals or better at 13 events in
the two classes at Divisional and National event in 2003. Amazing!!
Kevin Helms also garnered votes as he won an unprecedented 3rd Stock
title in a row.
Most
exciting news for 2004. A whole wack of different picks in
this one and only a couple same picks. #1 is Tony Pedregon going on
his own. Most are wondering how he will do. Makes for a lot of Water
Cooler chatter. Also in the pros, is the said return of Jerry Toliver
and Scott Kalitta returning full time to the class. TAD teams get a
lot of headlines in this category, including Norm Grimes going A/Fuel
with Morgan Lucas. Dana Hopewell going back to A/Fuel with Duane Shields.
And Steve Boggs heading west, to Mitch Myers camp. Division 6 director
Mike Rice is very excited about Intermountain Raceway in Billings Montana
getting their first Divisional event in 2004. What ever the pick is
2004 certainly does look good.