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Feb. 20, 2004 Story by Dean Murdoch (pictures courtesy RJ enterprises, Bill Jeffery and Jim Kelso) Pro Pictures and results are here. Gainseville Lucas oil divisional coverage is here. Huge Top Alcohol photo gallery is here! The final goes
off with a "Hitch(man)"
or two! Mitch Myers has a little bit of luck
on his side:(so
does Dennis Taylor in TAFC) !!...........as he take the
first National event win of the year at the 44th running of the Winternationals.
This day was not looking to be a day that favored the AFuel cars as
their best number
Round two, Sunday Feb.28,
2004 Elimination's for Sunday's second round was a dozy
with all four races in TAD having some sort of excitement. In the
Severance-Hentges match-up, Hentges looked to
Mitch Myers goes up against Duane Shields in round two. Very interesting match up.
Joey Severance and Mark Hentges face off in round two.
The "Woz" is a new member of the 5.50 club.
Bucky looks to be a late round finisher after dispatching Bob Gallio on Saturday
Here are the drivers that have moved up their career
bests in "SpeedZone's Top Alcohol lists" in only the 1st
race of the yr.
Feb. 20, 2004 Qualifying was cut short on Friday due to the "R" word. Two weeks ago at the usual date for this event there was no rain BTW. TAFC got there runs in but a half dozen TADs did not get their run in before the day was called. Locals Steve Federlin, and Mike Cofini did not get to run but Mitch Meyers moved into the top half of the field and Joey Severance improved to #4. #1 Mark Hentges smoked the tires and did not improve on his 5.38. Ashley Force went 5.47 to move up as well and had "Mattel Toy Store" on the side of her car (below).
Here is qualifying after two rounds in TAD. The cars that failed to get their run in, do not get the chance to run their 2nd session tomorrow. But a third session is scheduled, weather pending. 1. Mark Hentges Air Time Aviation B/AD 5.387 261.88 The rest of Friday's TAD pictures (courtesy Jim Kelso)
Hentges Smoked em in the second session but his 1st round 5.38 still holds as #1.
Duane did not get a pass in on Friday but he is still #2.
Steve Federlin was also unlucky on Friday. But he is in the top 1/4 of the field with his first round 5.41
Finally a a bit of vinyl of Ashleys car.
Mitch pick it up and sits #5
Larry Miersch always come up with a unique design for his cars. He ran a 5.54
Chris Demke went 5.53 today TAFC got their 2nd session in and Bucky Austin moved to the top of heap with a 5.604/258 lap. Mark "Woz" Woznichak moved to #2 with a strong 5.617. They are scheduled for a third session in the morning. Here is the field after two. 1. Bucky Austin Bucky's Muffler Firebird 5.604 258.42 TAFC Photo highlights
Bucky sits #1 with a 5.60/258 shot
Feb. 19, 2004 (photos courtesy of Jim Kelso and Lori Kelso) Top Alcohol Dragster. Race #1 in the 60 race Lucas Oil Top Alcohol racing schedule is underway at Pomona. Top Alcohol Dragster had made their first lap and Mark Hentges leads with a great 5.387. Right behind is Duane Shields in the A/Fueler with a 5.395. Steve Federlin is next after running a 5.419 and John Haley sits in the top 1/4 after turning in a 5.466. Severance is next with a 4.499. The newcomer (Ashley Force) went 5.510 and the world's #2, Morgan Lucas ran a 5.520 . Mitch Meyers with Boggs at the tuning helm, sputtered in the burn out. The Numbers: 1. Mark Hentges Air Time Aviation B/AD 5.387 261.88
Ashley has no sponsor on the car yet. But it did not slow her down as she ran a 5.51 to sit in the top half.
Maoragn Lucas ran his best as team owner with a 5.52
Jeff Wilson in his unique bodied TAD shook and shut off
Chris Demke and Randy Eakins ran 5.61 and 5.57 respectively.
Larry Miersch smoked the tires
Don Hudson did not get a full lap in Top Alcohol Funny Car: The Floppers were up second and a couple had very strong Numbers. Marc White in Randy Goodwin's car ran a great 5.623 and Doug Gordon was right behind with a 5.625. Bucky was #3 after running a 5.672. Steve Gasparrelli went 5.803 in his first competitive lap with Fontana power. Only one session for the alcohol cars today, with two sessions (weather permitting) tomorrow. 1. Marc White Randy Goodwin Racing Firebird 5.623
253.33
Bucky ran a solid 5.67
Verm Moats got out of the cold to race at Pomona. Ran a early shut off 6 something
Bernie Harrington also ran in the 6's.
Steve Gasparrelli went 5.80 in his first Fontana powered lap in competition.
Mark Woznichak shoot hard in lap one.
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after
Saturday's first round was a 5.42 and the Blown racers best was a
5.35. Sunday's second round was not any more promising when three
blown cars ran quicker than a 5.35 and only one A/Fueler was in the
5.30's. But you don't win these races on paper, you do it on the track,
and it was almost fate's way of saying you may be faster, but we also
have the consistency that was not present in the past. Going into
the semi finals, Myers (5.40 in prior round) had to face Joey (5.35
in prior round) Severance. The 5.35 by Severance was his first foray
into the 30's and the big question was whether or not he could repeat
it. Well Joey couldn't, and Myers took a 5.41 - 5.42 win. Neither
light (.049 for Myers and .062 for Severance) was spectacular, but
they weren't bad either. In the other semi, Federlin had the edge
as his 5.34 gave him lane choice over Hitchman's A/Fuel best 5.37,
so on paper it should have been close. But 
with
the reputation of Steve Federlin being one of the best on the tree,
the big edge had to go to Federlin. What did I say about racing on
paper? You don't, and you should not even speculate. Federlin had
a very snoozy .102rt, compared with a .065rt for Hitchman. From there
both cars matched each other foot for foot, and the scoreboard came
up with a 5.364 for Hitchman and a 5.367 for Federlin. Sayonara Steve;
Unfortunately the run past the finish line got real ugly for Hitchman
when his chutes did not open and the car slid quite fast into the
sand and finally the catch net, turning the car sideways, and then
on its lid. The unfortunate result for Hitchman was he was unable
to return and Myers got a single into the winners circle. Mitch made
the most of the freebie though, and ran a strong 5.38/260 top get
his 
best
run with the new weight added on. A great start to Mitch Myers concerted
run at the championship. As far as the weekend goes, The class looks
to be very close as far as performance, when you consider the best
et for a blown car was a 5.341 by Federlin and the best by an A/Fuel
car Bill Reichert's 5.343. 
In
TAFC, the final was as
anticlimatic as TAD, when the winner was determined in the semi finals.
Yes, the semi finals determined the winner when we had one of those
weird double DQ's in the semi between Marc White and Doug Gordon.
White in the Goodwin and Swayne car blew a motor in the 1/4's and
when they brought the car to the line for the semi finals, it would
not fire. To make matters worse, Doug Gordon fired the MB Cabinets
cars and then did a burnout and was shut off after leaking fluid on
the track. Both racers were out and the final round became unnecessary.
That gave the automatic win to Dennis Taylor (as long as he could
stage the car under power). In his semi final round, Taylor ran a
5.63 to Ron August's red lighting 5.65. It don't get any weirder than
that!
be
the favorite, and he wanted some revenge after last seasons tie breaker
loss to Joey in the Div.6 championship. Severance has had the rt advantage
but Hentges has had a couple hundredth's in performance, but would
it be enough. It wasn't as Severance left on Mark and wheelstood his
way to a very close holeshot victory as Severance (right) jumped
up his performance big time to a winning 5.358 to Hentges quicker
but losing 5.342. The .20 -.068 rt's were the difference. Wow, what
a race! In the next pairing, Mitch Myers faced off against Duane shields
and this one was close as well, with Myers leaving just ahead (.070
-.088) of Shields and outrunning him 5.401 to a losing but close 5.421.
Steve Federlin defeated Ashley Force, but Force's daddy , John was
probably having a cardiac arrest when Ashley (5.530) went into the
sand trap when her chutes were late in coming out. Federlin tripped
the timers with another career best 5.341 et. The final match-up was
Don Hudson (below left) who fouled and then wheelstood and
shook
his chance away against Darryl Hitchman. Hitchman would have been
tough anyway, as he went a career best 5.373/263. In TAFC, Mark Woznichak's
weekend ended in round two against Dennis Taylor when he got loose
and used up to much lane. Taylor was consistent with another 5.67
in the win. Marc White advanced to the semis when he went 5.60 against
Ed Marx. Bucky Austin took on Ron August Jr. and this one was exciting.
Bucky left first but shook rattled and rolled enough for August to
drive by and take a 5.64 win compared to Austin's 5.70. Bucky then,
to add insult to injury, had his chutes fail and he locked up the
car and it slid into the sand trap and almost put it on its lid. Ouch!
The final pair saw Steve Gasparrelli and rival Doug Gordon face off.
Gordon goes 5.59/253 to Gasparrelli's 2/10th off 5.73
Saturday
Feb. 27, 2004. Top Alcohol Dragster
was abuzz with the new weight rules for the A//Fuel car and how the
extra 85-100lbs. would affect them. The feelings from many pundits
said is was just a Band-Aid and the A/Fuel crew chief would have the
extra weight figured out in a matter of a few races if not the first
race. Early season testing which was at higher elevations than a good
number of events are held at seem to bear this out.. Rookie Ashley
Force ran a 5.36 at Phoenix and a number of 5.40 passes. a few others
ran well into the 40's as well. Not to be outdone a couple of the
prominent blown teams tested and ran 40's as well. Pomona came around
and no real prognostications were certain. After last weekends 1 1/2
sessions one Blown car and one A/fueler were in the 30's. Most of
the top running A/Fuelers were 
around
a tenth slower than I thought they would be. Weekend two is here and
a couple surprises hit the scoreboards. The first was Don Hudson (above)
in his BAD. Don ran a career best 5.379 to nail down his first ever
#1 qualifying spot. Mark Hentges and Duane Shields were the only other
cars to run in the 30's, a feat they both did last week and this week.
Shields improved by 3/1000ths and Mark was a.012 slower, but both
were consistent. Ashley went a little quicker to a 5.442, and Mitch
Myers improved to a 5.448. In elimination's, the only shocker of a
race was the number put up by Steve Federlin in his win over Larry
Miersch. Federlin shattered his old career best with a 5.354/262.23.
Don Hudson proved his earlier '30 was no fluke when he defeated alternate
Randy Johnson with a 5.390. Other to advance include Mark Hentges,
Joey Severance, Ashley Force, Duane Shields, Mitch Myers and Darryl
Hitchman. In the 1/4's, the matchups are Shields vs Myers, Hudson
vs Hitchman, Hentges vs Severance and Federlin vs Force. 
In
TAFC, big number came up on the
board as well. After qualifying, Mark Woznichak and Marc White (left)
stepped into the 5.50 zone with White running a career best 5.567
and the "Woz" going 5.599. The usual top runners Bucky Austin,
Steve Gasparrelli and Doug Gordon could not crack the '50 nut. Rumor
had it that Jay Payne was on his way to Florida for the divisional
race there, but was headed back to Pomona where he was already qualified,
because weather was not looking good in the Sunshine State, but in
fact, the "Thunder Slug" was in Florida at the Lucas Oil
brightly
colored Pontiac lowered his career best to a 5.553/256 shot, as he
took out Bil Gallio who ran a game 5.88. The Woz slowed to a 5.68
but still won, defeating Jeff Carroll, who ran a great 5.77. Bucky
Austin stayed in the low 5.60's with a 5.61, in his win over Bob Gallio.
Dennis Taylor (right) ran a 5.67 in his win over buddy Mert Littlefield.
Doug Gordon, Steve Gasparrelli, Ed Marx and Ron August (with a career
best 5.62, below) also ran in the 60's, to advance to round two. The
matchups for the second round are: Austin vs August, White vs Marx,
Gasparrelli vs Gordon and Woznichak vs Taylor. 
Pit
notes from the weekend and last weekend: The biggest news
comes from the A/Fuel teams where even the experts tuners in the class
were surprised the extra weight slowed down the cars what most are
saying is .09-.13. None of the crew chiefs expected any more than
about .04-.07. Parity may be back, but it is very early to say. The
big three crew chiefs (Boggs, Darien and Hopewell), were all gathered
and all agreed the the biggest handicap is right at the starting line
to 330 feet. Mark Niver is not competing because his block was deemed
illegal. He is running a later version of the Donovan which has two
extra side bolts. This is the same reason that Austin's are not out
with their TAFC, as the block they were planning on using had the
same bolt design. Duane Shields (above) got a rude awakening
to A/Fuel last weekend, when a crew 
member
inadvertently put a bit of nitro in the small alcohol tank, which
they use for starting the car. It did no real damage (luckily) other
than lifting the heads. The heads were changed and Duane went out
and ran the 5.39. Great recovery Short Line team. The new combination
for Steve and Patti Federlin (left) seems to be paying off as they
in only their first event have taken .04 off their career best et.
The combination is the same as what Santos was running, plus the new
Carbon Fibre Hat seems to be a fit. Morgan and father Forrest Lucas
(below right) are a little off performance wise, and it is
a surprise the team did not buy a current proven car from the mentor
Jerry Darien. I would have bet that when the decision was made to
go out on their own, they could have bought the car Morgan drove all
year. Jerry is a very honorable guy and I think they would have struck
a deal. Why buy a car that did not come with a 2003 tune-up? Norm
should
figure it out, but will Forrest have the patience? John Haley did
a huge wheelstand in the first round Saturday and had to lift. I'm
sure he was having visions of his crash last year. Give em hell next
race John! Div. 6's Mike Austin looks to be on the verge of his first
5.40 passes. The independent from Oregon has run a bunch of low 5.50's
to end last year and this season. In TAFC,
the Fontana seems to be working for the Gasparrelli's as Steve went
a 5.64 in round one. That car will fly! Marc White may reconsider
his job with Jeff Wilson this year, as he stepped into the Randy Goodwin
tuned car and ripped off two mid 5.50 runs this weekend. A number
of career bests in only the first race of the year bodes well for
the class. The teams in division 7 can't be happy about having to
pay an entry fee for divisional this year though. For cars that run
that fast, ad to have to pay an entry is not right. John Patton (5.60
car), Bil (above) and Bob Gallio (5.80 cars), Jeff Carroll
(5.70 car) , Dale Van Gundy (5.80 car)and Tom Bristow (5.90 car) all
compete fairly regularly and will get charged. Head on up to Division
6 guys. Good tracks, great crowds and no charge racing. 
