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April 17, 2005

Round by round Sunday coverage..............Last night's first round provided several upsets, especially for the
funny cars, with perennial national event contenders, Bucky Austin and
Dennis Taylor both falling to freak breakage before staging in the first
round.

Austin's loss must have been espeically galling, as his brand-new, and
first ever (to my knowlege) non-black body (a beautiful new red and
white) was disqualified in tech for being 3/8 of an inch too narrow at
the top of the side windows. The shell was a standard Hairy Glass
product, modified by Brad Hadman and all was well until tech inspection
here on Wednesday, when the discrepancy was noted by NHRA.

Luckily for Austin, his old body was within reasonable delivery
distance, residing with the Miner Brothers in Central California, and
was brought over the mountains on Wednesday night. A full day of
modifications to fit it to the old chassis (changing the "trees") had it
ready for action as qualifying opened on Friday. However, all turned out
to be for naught when the reverser lever disconnected itself from the
transmission at the end of Bucky's first round burnout.

We're down to the final eight now, and it's time to move forward,
instead of looking back at yesterday's news. First out of the lanes is
Cy Chesterman with his very nice looking newly-sponsored Chippewa Water
car, and he stays close to Jay Payne, but eventually falls short by a
5.75 - 251 to 5.85 - 249 margin. Close, but no cigar for Cy and his ace
tuner, Les Davenport.

Steve Gasparelli takes on Ron August next and an even closer battle
takes place, with the younger Gasparelli edging ahead for the narrow
win, 5.75 - 249 to 5.79- 251. Good close racing with no discernible lane
advantage shown yet.

An even closer battle is on next, with Larry Miner taking out Mr. Smith
(at least that's what his hotel registation says..) on a holeshot, 5.79
- 252 to 5.77 - 244. Wow, this round is getting better with each pair.

The last pairing of the round sees the only runaway victory of sorts, as
Bernie Harrington's solid 5.83 - 245 easily outdistances Tate Branch's
early shutoff 6.23 - 190 effort.

(W) Jay Payne (Valvoline Camaro) 0.091 5.753 251.30 (L) Cy Chesterman (Chippewa Spring Water Firebir0.048 5.855 249.86

(W) Steve Gasparrelli (Gasparrelli Racing Firebi0.077 5.753 248.75 (L) Ron August Jr (Camaro) 0.097 5.794 251.63

(W) Tate Branch (Bar's Leaks Camaro) 0.022 5.830 245.72 (L) Bernie Harrington (Harrington M'Sports Camar0.091 6.234 219.15

(W) Larry Miner (Torco Racing Fuels Firebird) 0.064 5.726 250.18 (L) Von Smith (Jackson Racing Camaro) 0.068 5.771 244.16

 

Semi Finals.....................The semis could of had any 4 of the 16 cars in elimination's, that is how tough this field was this weekend. The first semi was a beauty, as Steve Gasparelli got a slight holeshot and held on for a 5.760 to 5.758 victory and his third overall final round of the year. He has a win and r/u in divsional competition this season. Jay won his first event of the year (Bradenton Div) but since then has not been in a final round. Tate Branch got 5 thou at the starting line and extended his lead over Larry Miner in Randy Goodwin's flopper for a couple car lengths victory. Gasparelli will have lane choice in the final.

(W) Steve Gasparrelli (Gasparrelli Racing Firebi0.075 5.760 250.60 (L) Jay Payne (Valvoline Camaro) 0.087 5.758 254.62

(W) Tate Branch (Bar's Leaks Camaro) 0.049 5.718 253.66 (L) Larry Miner (Torco Racing Fuels Firebird) 0.054 5.887 249.58

Final round................... Ouch! This one could of been great. Tate Branch red lit by the slimest of margins, .001 That one thou red light cost him, as Gasparelli was .072 green and ran 5.732 to Branch's 5.750

(W) Steve Gasparrelli (Gasparrelli Racing Firebi0.072 5.732 251.81 (L) Tate Branch (Bar's Leaks Camaro) -0.001(R) 5.750 253.61

Top three point standing (TAFC)

01 Jay Payne
02 Steve Gasparrelli
02 Tate Branch

April 16, 2005

First round elimination's

First round of elim's saw a couple upsets, but because of the tight field at this race you can't really call any for the first round wins big upsets. Bucky Austin lost against Steve Gasparelli when Bucky's car would not go into reverse after the burnout, and Dennis Taylor gave Von Smith a freebie when his car would not fire. #1 qualifier Jay Payne caught a quicker leaving Rian Konno by 100 feet and won with a 5.708. Brian Hough could not repeat his qualifying laps and broke at half track, but his opponent Cy Chesterman made his best lap of the weekend, a solid 5.72. He gives up lane choice to Payne in round two. Gasparelli's 5.84 will be a huge disadvantage against Ron August who ran low et of the weekend so far with a great 5.67 win over the "Woz". Mark went a 5.73 but he needed a .03 light to win the round. Tate Branch gets lane choice over Bernie Harrington in round two when he went 5.80 to defeat a red lighting Hank Coolidge. Harrington's victim was Gary Scelzi, who broke at half track. And the final pairing for round two will see Larry Miner go up against East Coast returnee VOn Smith. Smith's 5.78 gives him lane choice by .01 over Miner.

#1 Jay Payne .092 5.708 251.95 def. #16 Rian Konno .066 5.861 243.19

#9 Cy Chesterman .100 5.727 251.72def #8 Brian Hough .014 6.898 140.81

#13 Steve Gasparelli .090 5.843 243.85 def. #4 Bucky Austin (Could not get into reverse)

#5 Ron August .089 5.678 253.75 def. #12 Mark Woznichak .067 5.734 251.91

#15 Bernie Harrington 044 5.861 245.94 def #2 Gary Scelzi .111 6.465 156.19

#10 Tate Branch .033 5.803 247.47 def. #7 Hank Coolidge .112(R) 5.815 247.38

#3 Larry Miner .052 5.790 250.00def. #14 Hannes Wernhart .068 5.814 246.12

#11 Von Smith .041 5.782 246.17 def. #6 Dennis Taylor broke (would not fire)

Saturday photos

Bernie Harrington	Hank Coolidge
Rian Konno	Tate Branch
Von Smith	Cy Chesterman
John Patton	Brian Hough
Dennis Taylor is as glum as the picture after a 1st round loss	Ron August ran low et of round one, a 5.67 and get Gasparelli in round two.
Larry Miner got the win in round one and takes on Von Smith in round two	Gary Scelzi slowed at half track and went out to Bernie Harrington

Jay Payne faces world champ Cy Chesterman in round two in a huge match-up.

 

 

Final qualifying

The TAFC inal qualifying changed the order for the top 16 but no one that was outside the field after Friday managed to bump his way into the field. Ron August made the biggest jump going from #11 all the way up to #5 with a 5.729 Saturday afternoon and Brian Hough moved into the top half with a 5.767 run on Saturday. Here is the final order.

1 2 Jay Payne, Claremont CA, '02 Camaro 5.682 254.52 254.52 2 783 Gary Scelzi, Fresno CA, '05 Camaro 5.714 252.61 252.95 3 757 Larry Miner, Woodbridge CA, '02 Firebird 5.726 251.77 251.77 4 8 Bucky Austin, Fife WA, '05 Firebird 5.728 254.33 254.33 5 727 Ron August Jr, Pleasanton CA, '02 Camaro 5.728 251.63 252.05 6 4 Dennis Taylor, Anaheim CA, '05 Camaro 5.742 248.52 248.52 7 64 Hank Coolidge, Sunburst MT, '02 Firebird 5.764 251.81 251.81 8 6515 Brian Hough, Junction City OR, '02 Firebird 5.767 251.63 251.63 9 1 Cy Chesterman, Sioux City IA, '02 Firebird 5.769 251.72 251.72 10 6 Tate Branch, Artesia NM, '02 Camaro 5.775 247.07 250.88 11 237 Von Smith, Oak Ridge TN, '05 Camaro 5.780 249.21 250.41 12 703 Mark Woznichak, Ontario CA, '02 Camaro 5.787 248.84 248.84 13 43 Steve Gasparrelli, West Covina CA, '03 Firebird 5.795 248.52 248.52 14 739 Hannes Wernhart, Bakersfield CA, '02 Firebird 5.801 244.34 246.21 15 56 Bernie Harrington, Apple Valley CA, '02 Camaro 5.809 247.29 247.29 16 7150 Rian Konno, Rosemead CA, '02 Firebird 5.817 244.25 245.99

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

17 63 Clint Thompson, Klamath Falls OR, '02 Camaro 5.822 245.63 245.63
18 73 Bret Williamson, Campbell CA, '01 Corvette 5.833 246.03 246.03
19 62 John Weaver, Orting WA, '00 Firebird 5.835 243.11 243.11
20 9 Doug Gordon, Paso Robles CA, '04 Camaro 5.849 248.07 248.29
21 74 John Patton, Peoria AZ, '03 Firebird 5.856 244.12 244.12
22 550 Shawn Jones, Albuquerque NM, '02 Firebird 5.869 245.81 245.81
23 762 Bil Gallio, Anaheim CA, '02 Camaro 5.932 232.03 232.03
24 7590 Ross Stickler, Chandler AZ, '03 Corvette 5.968 235.84 237.42
25 799 Sean Bellemeur, Fullerton CA, '97 Cutlass 6.031 242.50 242.50

 

 

April 15, 2005

Jay Payne

Top Alcohol Funny Car on the West coast is like Top Fuel used to be here. Tough, competitive and fast. Back in the day of 32 car top fuel fields, any one of a number of cars could come out the winner. This weekend at Vegas 25 cars are trying to make the cut and so far the top 16 are separated by just over a tenth. Jay Payne is on top with a great 5.68 and the bottom guy on the totem pole is newcomer Rian Konno with a 5.817. The nine unqualified cars range from a 5.82 to 6.03, and include names like Doug Gordon, Clint Thompson, John Weaver, Bret Williamson and last week Houston semi finalist Shawn Jones. The unqualified numbers are strong enough to make the field at almost every race outside of the West event except Chicago and Indy. Bucky Austin debuted his new Firebird, but was not allowed to use the new red body due to NHRA tech not accepting something on the car. The only big difference I saw on it was the dual rear rudder/spoiler design, but that would seem highly unlikely. Gary Scelzi (left) stepped right into TAFc like he never left and is #2 after two rounds. Below are the Friday numbers.

 

 

Dennis Taylor

Round two qualifying

1 2 Jay Payne, Claremont CA, '02 Camaro 5.682 254.52 254.52 2 783 Gary Scelzi, Fresno CA, '05 Camaro 5.714 252.61 252.61 3 757 Larry Miner, Woodbridge CA, '02 Firebird 5.726 251.77 251.77 4 8 Bucky Austin, Fife WA, '05 Firebird 5.728 254.33 254.33 5 4 Dennis Taylor, Anaheim CA, '05 Camaro 5.742 248.52 248.52 6 64 Hank Coolidge, Sunburst MT, '02 Firebird 5.765 249.30 249.30 7 6 Tate Branch, Artesia NM, '02 Camaro 5.775 247.07 248.71 8 237 Von Smith, Oak Ridge TN, '05 Camaro 5.780 249.21 249.21 9 1 Cy Chesterman, Sioux City IA, '02 Firebird 5.783 247.97 247.97 10 6515 Brian Hough, Junction City OR, '02 Firebird 5.789 250.32 250.32 11 727 Ron August Jr, Pleasanton CA, '02 Camaro 5.792 251.72 252.05 12 43 Steve Gasparrelli, West Covina CA, '03 Firebird 5.795 248.52 248.52 13 739 Hannes Wernhart, Bakersfield CA, '02 Firebird 5.801 244.34 246.21 14 56 Bernie Harrington, Apple Valley CA, '02 Camaro 5.809 247.29 247.29 15 703 Mark Woznichak, Ontario CA, '02 Camaro 5.809 247.29 247.29 16 7150 Rian Konno, Rosemead CA, '02 Firebird 5.817 244.25 244.25

Bucky Austin

17 63 Clint Thompson, Klamath Falls OR, '02 Camaro 5.822 245.63 245.63
18 73 Bret Williamson, Campbell CA, '01 Corvette 5.833 246.03 246.03
19 62 John Weaver, Orting WA, '00 Firebird 5.835 243.11 243.11
20 550 Shawn Jones, Albuquerque NM, '02 Firebird 5.869 245.81 245.81
21 9 Doug Gordon, Paso Robles CA, '04 Camaro 5.889 248.29 248.29
22 74 John Patton, Peoria AZ, '03 Firebird 5.892 242.36 242.36
23 762 Bil Gallio, Anaheim CA, '02 Camaro 5.932 232.03 232.03
24 7590 Ross Stickler, Chandler AZ, '03 Corvette 5.968 235.84 235.84
25 799 Sean Bellemeur, Fullerton CA, '97 Cutlass 6.031 242.50 242.50

Mark Woznichak

Round one qualifying