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July 30, 2003

Oh oh, Has Dennis Radford gone mad. No, it is the twin to the one he has run all year. In fact it is last years car running a blown BAE hemi. Dennis now has the best of both worlds. Kirk Kuhns is the driver of the new ride expected to debut at Firebird for the "nightfire Nationals". Kirk was out testing at Irwindale, and the SpeedZone secretagrent was on hand to take a shot or two. Thanks agent 007.5

July 30, 2003 IHRA Canadian Nationals

Here is a very entertaining recap from Toronto Motorsport Park and the #1 qualiying efort from Rick Distefano. (story and photos Courtesy Stu Wotypka Intelligent Development).

Well we have returned to reality after a fine weekend in Toronto or Hamilton or Cayuga or whatever you wanna call it. That can get kind of confusing.

Anyway we rolled in there Thursday just after a torrential downpour. Andy and Dave were already there with the car and thought the whole deal was gonna float away. But it cleared and dried up and Friday we were hard at it.

First round of qualifying saw some slight mechanical failures before the run so it was back to the trailer. That put a little bit of pressure on for round two but Rick and crew responded like pros. He ran a 6.30 and by the end of round two the Vette sat at number 5.

Saturday morning the tune up was altered a bit due to the fact we were in a pretty safe spot at number 5. It proved to be a nice idea as the car went a blistering 6.21 and grabbed number one spot.

For round four we encountered some bizarre electrical problems and sadly sat round four out. We were deep enough to hold onto #1 so all was good.

Through eliminations it was methodical and every round was the fastest car out. In the third round Rick was up against the wiley veteran Fred Hahn. Now we all know this cat's been in a drag race or two and it showed on the starting line. He changed things up a little bit, whacked his throttle a couple times and ended up throwing Ricks concentration just long enough to get a hole shot. Rick almost ran him down though and it will be interesting to see it on TV August 16 to see just how close it was.

So all in all it was a fantastic weekend! Great huge strides were made and everyone out east knows who Rick DiStefano is now. Everyone out there was fantastic to us even though a few expressed how much they were starting to worry about seeing the 53 showing up at more races. When it was all over Rick had low ET of the meet, track ET record and the fastest run every round.

Special thanks to Shaganappi Chevrolet, Rolling Mix Concrete, Top Gun Coatings, T&S Custom Paint and Jet Tools. Also a special thanks out to all the crew and everyone else that helped out along the way.

I will get more stuff to you on this as soon as I can Dean. Unfortunately it is back to reality today so I gotta run and make it pay.

Stu Wotypka
Rick DiStefano Racing

July 1, 2003

RACE CITY MOTORSPORT PARK Calgary, Alberta

for immediate release ­ July 1, 2003

CANADA DAY DRAG BLOWOUT TOO CLOSE TO CALL!!!

After a long afternoon¹s drag racing at Race City, the two quickest Pro
Modified cars still in action faced each other in the final. Dennis Radford
of Baker City, Oregon in his nitrous oxide injected Viper and John Scialpi
of West Covina, California in a supercharged ¹57 Chevy ran side by side down
the quarter mile in a race too close for a human eye to judge a winner.

Unfortunately, the electronic eye which would have made the decision had
a gopher in it at the critical time and left Radford without a time.
Examination of the other data from the timing system showed the performance
of both racers so close that a winner could not be determined. While both
racers accepted the draw decision, each of them is convinced that he was
really the winner.

PRO MODIFIED
tie, Dennis Radford, Baker City, OR, ¹01 Dodge Viper.
tie, John Scialpi, West Covina, CA, ¹57 Chevrolet Bel Air, n/a, 6.591,
210.42.

OTHER PRO MODIFIED FINAL ROUND PAIRINGS
win, Rick DiStefano, Calgary, AB, ¹53 Chevrolet Corvette, 6.651, 214.23;
r/u, Glen Kerunsky, Calgary, AB, ¹57 Chevrolet Bel Air, 7.005, 204.77.

win, Danny Rowe, Laguna Hills, CA, ¹38 Chevrolet, 6.762, 204.96;
r/u, Kip Dupuis, Los Gatos, CA, ¹57 Buick Special, 7.719, 197.84.

win, Glen May, Richmond, BC, ¹99 Ford Ranger, 6.724, 205.85;
r/u, Wayne Hofer, Lethbridge, AB, ¹63 Chevy II Nova, 7.111, 193.67.

June 22, 2003

Canada West Doorslammers presented by Kershaw Performance at Mission Raceway Park. (photos by Dean Murdoch and are copy right speedzonemagazine.com)

Twenty one cars made it down the track in a rain delayed Saturday that did not finish until 8:30 pm. The Doorslammers managed to get in three rounds of quifiying until very good air conditions, especially the two rounds that were run at 5:30 and 6:30. 19 of the 21 cars made the 8.70 index. Leading the pack was Duane Grosart with his 55 Chevy Pro Mod. He ran an early shut of 7.062 @ 184.50 mph. Half a second behind is the rest of the pack starting with Craig Donaldson who ran a 7.54 best @ 182.22. Ray Kirton in the blown pick-up is #3 with a 7.602 @178.64

Here is the rest of the field after three of four rounds of qualifying. The final round goes today of weather permits.

1. Duane Grosart 7.06
2. Craig Donaldson 7.54
3. Ray Kirton 7.60
4. Terry Spargo 7.70
5. Rob Charlton 7.77
6. Dave Warren 7.78
7. Layne Wooley 7.87
8. Roy Lazic 7.90
9. Bill Kondolay 8.16

10. Brian Kikel 8.24
11. Dave Richardson 8.27
12. Joe Mellof 8.33
13. Mike Bedsworth 8.39
14. Steve Ellis 8.42
15. Rick McLeod 8.51
16. Mike Munden 8.55
17. Grant Howell 8.57
18. Jason Mercer 8.65
19. Larry Hatch 8.70

Not qualified

Ron Yaroshuk 8.77
Jeff Hill 8.98

For all the results from Saturdays Pro Mod qualifying go here

West Coast Pro Mods invade Mission Raceway Park.

The field is quite possibly going to be the best EVER assemblied on the entire Wst Coast for this weekends Pro Mod Challenge presented by Pepsi. 14 cars are on the property as of Friday evening, with a possibility of more to come. The field here so far includes:

Trevor Lowe, John Scialpi, Andy Neyer, Rick Distefano, Glen May, Glen Kerunsky, Dan Vogt, Jay Syversten, Lee Smith, Carl Spiering, Kip DuPuis, Dennis Radford, Joe Delehay, and Danny Rowe. Out of this group 9 have run in the 6.30's or quicker, and 12 have run in the 6.40's or quicker. What a group of cars. 5-6 have stated that they want to run in the 6.10's this weekend. If we get the weather, it will be an awesome show. Go to press releases for previews from seven of the teams, and come back here for all the details on who I think will be the major players come Sunday.

here are some photos from last weeks race in Salt Lake won by John Scialpi. photos courtesy Brian Losness / Nitrophoto

June 8, 2003 (photos by Lisa MacLeod and Dean Murdoch and are copyright sppedzonemagazine.com)

Duane Grosart and Roy Lazic in qualifying

Canada West Doorslammers presented by "Up in Flames Clothing Company" at the Eagle Motorplex this weekend was a great success as 17 car competed in elim's on Sunday. Rick McLeod (far left) proved his r/u finish at the first event at the 'Plex was no fluke, as he went to the final again, but this time the result was victory over Terry Spargo who finally shed his early season gremlins. A .-001 red light by Spargo gave Rick the automatic win. The 18 car field was headed by Duane Grosart in the cool Pro Mod 55 Chevy. He ran 7.32 to nail down the #1 spot and went to the third round of eliminations before bowing out to Spargo. Rick McLeod, on the opposite side of the ladder had to defeat Mike Munden, Dallas Wagner, and Roy Lazic before taking on Terry Spargo (left) . With the win in only his second Doorslammer event, he moves up in the points to second place in the standings, just behind Ray Kirton who went out in round two this weekend.

Jason Mercer (left) finally got in the field with the Datsun

Grant Howell (38 chevy) from the Island was the only non qualifier after coming oh so close with a 8.87 (8.81 bump).

Ray Kirton (pick-up) and Frank Nelson matched up in qualifying.

Rob Murphy was out for the first time in the blown Daytona and ran 7.70's at over 190 mph.

Steve Ellis (Corvette) went out in the first round after a .404 light, but could not run his dial.

And finally McLeod and Mike Munden squared off in round one and Munden red lit away his chance against the eventual winner.

June 6, 2003 Race #3 in the Canada West Doorslammers assoc. goes this weekend at the 'Plex and is one of the feature classes during the Langley Loafers Old Time Drags. At least 17 cars are entered for the race and they include points leader Ray Kirton and Third in points Rob Charlton both in trucks sandwiching second place Joe Mellof in the awesome 'Vette. Terry Spargo is hoping this the third race will actually be a race for his as he has not made the field in his 7 second Camaro in either of the first two races, the first one due to only one run down the track with a new combination and at the second race due to suspension breakage. He did run a few great 7.60-7.80 passes a week ago in testing, so it looks like he is back on track. Layne Wooley will be out with his new sponsored graphics courtesy of Super Save Gas. What a cool graphics job. Out for the first time this year is Doorslammer hitter Dave Richardson (above left) also with all new paint. Engine builder Brian Kikel is out with a client's all new Vegas (right, sorry I forget the owners name, ) . It has run in the mid 8's but should run low 8's once the bugs are worked out. Look for Duane Grosart to be #1 qualifier with his blown 55 Chevy Pro Mod He can run well into the 6's but will run 7.0's for the Doorslammers we will have the run rundown on Sunday evening or Monday morning.

Point standings heading into this weekends event:

Ray Kirton 229
Joe Mellof 205
Rob Charlton 180
Dave Warren 137
Rick McLeod 134
Mike Bedsworth 131
Steve Ellis 131
Stefan Kondolay 116
Layne Wooley 100
Duane Grosart 90