Dedicated to the memory of Shelly Howard 1945 - 2005

Top Alcohol Dragster Zone

TA Funny Car is here

 

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The Top Alcohol Dragster scoreboard is here

April 17, 2005

Sunday round by round coverage.........Four pairs, ten minutes elapsed and the long skinny cars are on tap now.
With seven blown alcohol and just one lonely injected nitro car left
after yesterday's first round, the task facing Ms. Ashley Force in
continuing the win streak of the injected group is in serious jeopardy.

She's up first, facing one of the strongest cars from Division Six,
Tacoma's Joey Severance, and falling in a very close race. Out of all
the injected nitro cars here this weekend, Ms. Force had the strongest,
with the genius of Jerry Darien working hard, but ultimately in vain, to
overcome the laws of physics. That's the one that states that you can't
burn nitro without a supercharger in thin air.

The density altitude hasn't dropped below 4000 feet all weekend, except
for the early mornings, and it's already ove that mark, and won't do
anything but rise as the day progresses.

A pair of blown cars are up next, with Edwin Schmeekle overcoming Jeff
Isbell in a rather close pairing, 5.58 - 256 to 5.64 - 252. An excellent
race and it just continues the trend to close side-by-side action from
the alcohol racers.

The next race sees Oregon's Mike Austin and his LAD Automotive machine
against the very strong Hillary Will in her Bucky Austin tuned and Rick
Santos-built car. The "Girl Power" show continues as she lays down
another low 5.4 lap, a 5.42 at 266 mph, to outgun a very game 5.61 - 257
effort of Austin.

The last race of the second round is over very early, even before the
green light comes on, as Randy Johnson leaves before the tree is
activated, and hands the automatic pass to the semifinals to Colorado's
Bob Perkins and his very happy crew.

A very good round of Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Car has just
concluded in 25 minutes.

(W) Hillary Will (Steve Wills Trucking B/AD) 0.079 5.420 266.11 (L) Mike Austin (LAD Automotive B/AD) 0.136 5.619 257.58

(W) Ed Schmeeckle (LSS Racing B/AD) 0.009 5.580 254.71 (L) Jeff Isbell (TA/D) 0.111 5.687 252.57

(W) Joey Severance (Severance Racing B/AD) 0.079 5.454 261.93 (L) Ashley Force (Castrol/Hot Wheels TA/D) 0.023 5.588 253.61

(W) Robert Perkins (Blown Chances Productions B/0.125 5.477 248.11 (L) Randy Johnson (Sun-Up Custom Pools B/AD) -9.999(R) NT-Left Before Tree

Semi Finals.......................... Too no surprise four blown cars are in the semi finals, and this may be the most telling statement of the year that the A/Fuel car will struggle in heat, and high corrected elevation. But even more telling is how well a couple BAD's have run in these conditions. Hillary Will has have possibly the best overall performance in a couple years. In the semi finals, she continued her dominance with almost 2/10ths of a second victory., She ran 5.448 but her speed was most impressive, top speed of the event a 267 mph shot, that if corrected per NHRA factoring, would be 272.16. Her third round opponent was Ed Schmeekle who ran 5.606. Joey Severance made it an all Div 6 final (Will is claiming Division 6 this year) as he got a lucky freebie when Bob Perkins red light but outran Joey. Both cars were close with Severance running 5.536 and Perkins going 5.518.

(W) Hillary Will (Steve Wills Trucking B/AD) 0.064 5.448 267.75 (L) Ed Schmeeckle (LSS Racing B/AD) 0.072 5.606 256.21

(W) Joey Severance (Severance Racing B/AD) 0.096 5.536 260.71 (L) Robert Perkins (Blown Chances Productions B/-0.090(R) 5.518 256.45

Final Round ...................... 'Girl Power' vs a veteran team, but the girl power has a very savvy veteran in its corner with Bucky Austin calling the shots. The Severance team is close to Austin as well, but their will be no deals in this final, as both are looking for their first ever win. Joey got a .025 holeshot and held the lead for half the 1320. From there, Austin and "Girl power" took over and Hillary got her first win ever in National event competition.

A great weekend for the BAD's that is sure to see the message boards lighting up.

(W) Hillary Will (Steve Wills Trucking B/AD) 0.057 5.440 266.37 (L) Joey Severance (Severance Racing B/AD) 0.032 5.494 260.81

April 16, 2005

First round elimination's

There were five BAD vs A/Fuel pairings and three BAD Vs BAD pairings in round one. The most interesting ones based on performance potential would probably be Duane Shields Vs Mike Austin Ashley Force Vs Brandon Johnson and Bob Perkins Vs Steve Federlin.

All three were actually very good side by sides, With Perkins taking out Steve Federlin who certainly did not have the event I was expecting. Steve got a slight edge off the starting line but could not hold off Perkins who made his best lap of the weekend a 5.481 to Steve's 5.56. Ashley Force got a .05 jump at the starting line and held off a quicker Johnson, 5.639 - 5.606. The rust for Brandon unfortunately reared its head for his first run in well over 8 months. And in the final close one Mike Austin took out Houston winner Duane Shields 5.58 - 5.64. The other winners included Hillary Will who is a low 5.40 bracket car turning in a 5.407 in round one. Ed Schmeekle, Jeff Isbell (his first ever round win) Joey severance (a great 5.429) and Randy Johnson over a broke Chris Demke.

(W )#1 Hillary Will (Steve Wills Trucking B/AD) 0.088 5.407 266.27 (L) #16 Ben Harper (Team Integra Golf A/FD) 0.054 5.792 237.55

(W) #9 Mike Austin (LAD Automotive B/AD) 0.054 5.587 257.33 (L) #8 Duane Shields (Shortline Express A/FD) 0.083 5.648 254.23

(W) #4 Ed Schmeeckle (LSS Racing B/AD) 0.057 5.567 253.37 (L) #13 Aaron Olivarez (Armored Coatings A/FD) 0.075 5.769 233.80

(W) #5 Jeff Isbell (TA/D) 0.165 5.522 256.26 (L) #12 Jack Beckman (B&D Motorsports B/AD) 0.056 6.892 138.93

(W) #2 Joey Severance (Severance Racing B/AD) 0.034 5.429 261.93 (L) #15 Johnny Ahten (Hedman Headers A/FD) 0.042 6.049 245.09

(W) #10 Ashley Force (Castrol/Hot Wheels A/FD) 0.028 5.639 252.43 (L) #7 Brandon Johnson (Mike Johnson Racing B/AD) 0.076 5.606 250.78

(W) #3 Robert Perkins (Blown Chances Productions B/0.088 5.481 253.75 (L) #14 Steve Federlin (Impatience Racing B/AD) 0.066 5.568 256.36

(W) #11 Randy Johnson (Sun-Up Custom Pools B/AD) 0.315 5.786 246.53 (L) #6 Chris Demke (Peen-Rite-Abrasive B/AD) -9.999(R) NT-Broke Before Staging

 

Round one and Saturday photos

 

Mark Niver struggled all weekend.	Randy Johnson's new car looks great. Round 2 bound
Jon Capp's could not dial in the hot weather tune-up	Niether could Kevin Brown
Brandon Johnson lost on a rd. one holeshot	Chris Demke has mechanical woes
Duane Shields lost to Mike Austin	Hillary Will has been within 2/100's on every pass.
Mike Austin is off to round two	Jeff Isbell is having a great event

 

Ahsley is the lone A/Fueler in round two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final qualifying

Well, some much for my predictions of the final two BAD's that were outside the field bumping their way in. One managed to make the field, Randy Johnson, but Greg Tacke continued his mechanical woes and after popping the burst panel on the burnout he ended up outside the field. Hillary Will ran possibly here most impressive lap in the final qualifier in the heat and ran 5.426 and matched her big speed from Friday nights session with another 266 mph shot. Johnson ran a 5.79 and moved to the #11 spot. Only Duane Shields is in the top half and that is #8. The blown cars are almost like the A/Fuelers were last year in good air conditions. While it would be dumb to predict that a blown car will win the race how can you not?

Here is the field after final qualifying

1 7470 B/AD Hillary Will, Scotia CA, Santos-BAE 5.404 266.37 266.37 2 613 B/AD Joey Severance, Spanaway WA, Hadman-TFX 5.482 260.71 260.71 3 751 B/AD Robert Perkins, Bluffdale UT, Hadman-BAE 5.528 240.81 240.81 4 55 B/AD Ed Schmeeckle, Gothenburg NE, Hadman-Fon 5.546 254.28 254.33 5 7107 TA/D Jeff Isbell, Salt Lake City UT, CNE-BAE 5.559 252.71 254.33 6 7 B/AD Chris Demke, Sunland CA, Uyehara-BAE 5.568 257.33 258.47 7 6610 B/AD Brandon Johnson, Shelton WA, Hadman-BAE 5.574 255.73 255.73 8 74 A/FD Duane Shields, Boulder City NV, McKinney 5.582 255.29 255.29 9 672 B/AD Mike Austin, Medford OR, Uyehara-Fontana 5.596 257.19 257.19 10 4 A/FD Ashley Force, Yorba Linda CA, McKinney-B 5.615 241.97 253.56 11 76 B/AD Randy Johnson, Whittier CA, Santos-BAE 5.751 241.07 241.07 12 784 B/AD Jack Beckman, North Hills CA, Frameworks 5.752 250.18 250.51 13 717M A/FD Aaron Olivarez, Sandy UT, Sarmento-BAE 5.807 237.50 237.50 14 10 B/AD Steve Federlin, Oregon City OR, Robeck-B 5.875 181.30 181.30 15 734 A/FD Johnny Ahten, Sagus CA, Uyhara-KB 5.937 237.67 249.26 16 470 A/FD Ben Harper, Arroyo Grande CA, Dragster-B 5.940 236.80 236.80

------------ Not Qualified ------------

17 769 TA/D Jon Capps, Las Vegas NV, Swindahl-BAE 5.986 240.04 240.04
18 777 A/FD Mark Niver, Scottsdale AZ, Frameworks-Ro 5.997 241.89 241.89
19 712 A/FD Larry Miersch, Huntington Beach CA, Spit 6.045 222.07 222.07
20 711 A/FD Kevin Brown, Clearfield UT, Gaddy-BAE 6.395 222.73 222.73
21 69 B/AD Greg Tacke, Great Falls MT, Hadman-Fonta 6.480 193.07 193.07
22 7222 A/FD Dennis Swearingen, Valencia CA, Uyehara- 8.647 110.72 110.72
23 7402 A/FD Randy Eakins, Carson City NV, NSP-BAE 10.179 85.35 85.35

Gallery is here

Summit Nationals (photos courtesy Bob Wilson)

Second session photo highlights (results are below)

 

 

April 15, 2005

With the POWERade/ Lucas Oil series heading into the mountains from the sea level track in Houston, you just know that the TAD with the compressor on the top had to have an advantage, especially since the weather was expected to be hot. And man was it hot on Friday. Temperature exceeded 80 degrees and the corrected altitude was over 3800 feet for the first session. The heat and high altitude showed in round one for the A/Fuel boyz (and girlz). Duane Shields hot after his win at Houston was the top A/Fuel driver as he went a respectable 5.58 @ 255. Ashley Force was the second best with a 5.62/253. They were #'s 4 and 7 in round one. Six blown cars were the mainstays in the top half and 10 were in the top 16. Hillary Will was THE dominant driver after round one when she went 5.49 @ 263 to hold a over a tenth on the field and 5 mph. Rookie Jeff Isbell was a surprise # 2 as he went 5.559 /252 mph. With Will challenging for the Division 6 crown this season, the NW could very well be THE tough TAD division in NHRA. Duane Shields' is expected to race up there and Kevin Brown as well. It would not surprise me to see a couple more A/Fuelers trek up here where there are 4 events at tracks below 400 feet.

Duane is the top A/Fueler driver in the field

In round one of qualifying,

1 7470 B/AD Hillary Will, Scotia CA, Santos-BAE 5.429 263.82 263.82 2 7107 TA/D Jeff Isbell, Salt Lake City UT, CNE-BAE 5.559 252.71 252.71 3 613 B/AD Joey Severance, Spanaway WA, Hadman-TFX 5.581 235.15 235.15 4 74 A/FD Duane Shields, Boulder City NV, McKinney 5.582 255.29 255.29 5 7 B/AD Chris Demke, Sunland CA, Uyehara-BAE 5.592 258.47 258.47 6 672 B/AD Mike Austin, Medford OR, Uyehara-Fontana 5.596 257.19 257.19 7 4 A/FD Ashley Force, Yorba Linda CA, McKinney-B 5.620 253.56 253.56 8 6610 B/AD Brandon Johnson, Shelton WA, Hadman-BAE 5.697 250.92 250.92 9 784 B/AD Jack Beckman, North Hills CA, Frameworks 5.752 250.18 250.18 10 734 A/FD Johnny Ahten, Sagus CA, Uyhara-KB 5.937 237.67 237.67 11 769 TA/D Jon Capps, Las Vegas NV, Swindahl-BAE 5.986 240.04 240.04 12 777 A/FD Mark Niver, Scottsdale AZ, Frameworks-Ro 5.997 241.89 241.89 13 712 A/FD Larry Miersch, Huntington Beach CA, Spit 6.045 222.07 222.07 14 751 B/AD Robert Perkins, Bluffdale UT, Hadman-BAE 6.174 171.29 171.29 15 711 A/FD Kevin Brown, Clearfield UT, Gaddy-BAE 6.395 222.73 222.73 16 69 B/AD Greg Tacke, Great Falls MT, Hadman-Fonta 6.480 193.07 193.07

Hillary just before her first lap

Brandon Johnson and Ed Schmeekle are both in the top half of the field

------------ Not Qualified ------------

17 7222 A/FD Dennis Swearingen, Valencia CA, Uyehara- 8.647 110.72 110.72
18 717M A/FD Aaron Olivarez, Sandy UT, Sarmento-BAE 8.969 97.36 97.36
19 76 B/AD Randy Johnson, Whittier CA, Santos-BAE 9.054 87.37 87.37
20 10 B/AD Steve Federlin, Oregon City OR, Robeck-B 9.835 80.38 80.38
21 470 A/FD Ben Harper, Arroyo Grande CA, Dragster-B 10.225 100.91 100.91

Aaron Oliverez is struggling big time and is outside the field.

Steve Federlin is expected to be right near the top but both runs have seen mechanical problems

In round two, the conditions improved a bunch but only the BAD's made big gains. Hillary found .025 (5.404) and 3 mph to stay #1 . Joey Severance moved up to #2 with a 5.481/260 shot, Robert Perkins and Ed Schmeekle are #'s 3 and 4 after running 5.528 and 5.546. Isbell showed his first lap was no fluke as he repeated within 1/100th of his first lap. Shields dropped holes and did not improve and Ashley Force improved by a whooping .005 to a 5.615 but moved down the ladder into the #10 spot. Ahten, Harper and Oliverez are still in the field from #13-15 but it is expected that the only two BAD still outside, Randy Johnson and Greg Tacke will make a move and run in the 5.70's or better.

Schmeekle's afternoon lap was good enough for #4

Here is the field after two of three rounds of qualifying. The final round is set for 2:00pm right in the heat so the chance for an A/Fueler to improve is a little less than slim and none.

 

1 7470 B/AD Hillary Will, Scotia CA, Santos-BAE 5.404 266.37 266.37 2 613 B/AD Joey Severance, Spanaway WA, Hadman-TFX 5.482 260.71 260.71 3 751 B/AD Robert Perkins, Bluffdale UT, Hadman-BAE 5.528 240.81 240.81 4 55 B/AD Ed Schmeeckle, Gothenburg NE, Hadman-Fon 5.546 254.28 254.28 5 7107 TA/D Jeff Isbell, Salt Lake City UT, CNE-BAE 5.559 252.71 254.33 6 6610 B/AD Brandon Johnson, Shelton WA, Hadman-BAE 5.574 255.73 255.73 7 74 A/FD Duane Shields, Boulder City NV, McKinney 5.582 255.29 255.29 8 7 B/AD Chris Demke, Sunland CA, Uyehara-BAE 5.592 258.47 258.47 9 672 B/AD Mike Austin, Medford OR, Uyehara-Fontana 5.596 257.19 257.19 10 4 A/FD Ashley Force, Yorba Linda CA, McKinney-B 5.615 241.97 253.56 11 784 B/AD Jack Beckman, North Hills CA, Frameworks 5.752 250.18 250.51 12 10 B/AD Steve Federlin, Oregon City OR, Robeck-B 5.875 181.30 181.30 13 734 A/FD Johnny Ahten, Sagus CA, Uyhara-KB 5.937 237.67 237.67 14 470 A/FD Ben Harper, Arroyo Grande CA, Dragster-B 5.940 236.80 236.80 15 717M A/FD Aaron Olivarez, Sandy UT, Sarmento-BAE 5.985 236.80 236.80 16 769 TA/D Jon Capps, Las Vegas NV, Swindahl-BAE 5.986 240.04 240.04

Dennis Swearingon and Johhnny Ahten are both wonering where their power went. Ahten is in with a 5.93 and Dennis is outside

Larry Miersch is one of the struggling A/Fuelrs this weekend.