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Scroll down for 2004 IHRA schehule
Oct. 21, 2003
The wet stuff affected only one day of racing at the 8th annual World Finals at Rockingham, NC. Friday's semi finals and final eliminations from the rained out Spring Rockingham event were run on Saturday, other wise the event which included the Spring eliminations and the Finals event were run under cool sunny fall conditions. Temperature reached the 70's, under sunny conditions Saturday and Sunday. All the Pro classes had large qualifying fields in including a massive 58 cars in Pro Mod. The Pro Mod class is in the doorzone. Top Fuel had 14 cars trying for the 8 car field, Pro Stock had 31 cars trying for 16, and Funny Car had 25 cars. The Top Fuel championship was decided Friday, when Bruce Litton (who did not qualify for the spring race) did not get in as an alternate from the rained out spring event. All driver returned to compete. With Litton not getting in the field Clay Millican won his 3rd consecutive title. Millican went out in style by winning both the Spring event and taking home the honors in eliminations Sunday. Rhonda Hartman-Smith was the runnerup in both races. In Sunday eliminations, Clay reset the national record in Top Fuel with a 4.566. In Funny Car, Canadian Rob Atchison took the Funny World championship on Friday, as he held a huge point lead and went all the way to the final round. Add in the fact he qualified for Sunday eliminations on Friday, and the lead was too much for Mark Thomas to overcome. At the re-scheduled spring race Mark Thomas defeated Atchison and on Sunday, Von Smith defeated Fred Tigges. Congratulations to London, Ontario's Rob Atchison for taking the Funny Car championship. In Pro Stock, the title was between three drivers with Carl Baker in the drivers seat with a 105 point lead heading into race#1 eliminations. Brian Gahm and Frank Gougliotta were second and third in the points. In race #1, Rick Jones defeated Brian Gahm in the final round, and with Carl Baker losing in round one, Gahm only trailed by 48 points. Gougliotta went to the semi finals, but crashed against Rick Jones. He did not do serious damage, and did return for Sunday eliminations. The biggest shock for race #2, the finals, was that Carl Baker did not qualify for Sunday eliminations. He ran quick enough in first round on race #1 eliminations, but that run did not count toward qualifying for race #2. With this shocking turn of events Brian Gahm had a great chance to overcome that 105 point deficit in only two races. Even Gougliotta could get second place. Eliminations went right the way Gahm wanted, as he won the race over Rick Jones, for his surprising first win of the year and the 2003 championship for back to back titles. The championship with only one win is a testament to his consistency throughout the 2003 season. Here are the final standings. Top Fuel 1. Clay Millican 1,500 (10 wins) Pro Modified 1. Mitch Stott 787 (3 wins) Funny Car 1. Rob Atchison 1,031 (six wins in eight final rounds) Pro Stock 1. Brian Gahm 793 (1 win) Sept. 25, 2003 RACE CITY MOTORSPORT PARK for immediate release September 25, 2003
Race City announced early in 2003 that it was dropping
its National Hot "We feel that it is in the best interests of
everyone - our fans, our The International Hot Rod Association has grown rapidly
in Canada in the It happened, good or bad, it is hard to say, the most important thing is for Calgary's Race City to get their affairs in order. And that includes getting the surface and the pits worked on extensively, and getting the management ot pay attention to the people that support the facility; The racers and fans. Sept. 20, 2004 The IHRA Hooters National event schedule for 2004 is announced. It is a very well balance schedule that has no back to back events. Also noted is that two of the Canadian dates follow each other. Looks to be a great schedule. Unfortunately another West Coast date is not on the schedule. March 26-28: 2nd Annual Amalie Oil Texas Nationals, San Antonio Raceway, San Antonio, TX;
August 25, 2003 Race summary and photos courtesy Guy Van Syckle (and are copyright speedzonemagazine.com) Photos are here Norwalk, Ohio: 3 days
of fun in the sun. Skies were mostly clear, with temps in the high
70s. Norwalk Raceway Park was groomed to perfection, and as always,
ice cream is still $1 a pound. Large car counts in all classes, and
the first 16 car TF field in IHRA in several years. Even with all
the entries, it looked like another Millican/Litton final, though
Scott Kalitta, in his debut after several years in retirement, looked
to be a factor too. Other new TF cars in attendance were KC Spurlock
in the Carrier Boyz car, as well as Tim Gibson in the Stevens Family/George
Thourogood car. World Nationals Norwalk Ohio final results courtesy Drag Race Central Top Fuel -- Bruce Litton, 4.938 seconds, 294.50 mph def. Clay Millican, 5.512 seconds, 197.31 mph. Pro Modified -- Thomas Patterson, Willys, 6.378, 221.31 def. Quain Stott, Chevy Corvette, 6.497, 219.79. Funny Car -- Jim Sickles, Chevy Camaro, 5.828, 245.23 def. Von Smith, Dodge Avenger, 5.880, 240.55. Pro Stock -- Doug Kirk, Ford Mustang, 6.585, 210.18 def. Carl Baker, Mercury Cougar, broke. Sunoco Pro Stock Shootout -- Frank Gugliotta, Mercury Cougar, 6.581, 211.99 def. Pete Berner, Ford Mustang, 6.740, 173.45. Top Stock -- Tom Rix, Grand Sport, 9.854, 132.75 def. Monty Bogan Jr., Camaro, 9.962, 131.81. Top Sportsman -- Tony Fagnilli, Monte Carlo, 7.208, 192.06 def. Nick Meloni, Cavalier, 6.947, 199.20. Top Dragster -- Bill Spangler, Dragster, 6.827, 199.08 def. Ricky Adkins, Dragster, 6.938, 182.60. Quick Rod -- Troy Williams, Dragster, 8.904, 155.10 def. Luke Bogacki, Dragster, 8.884, 158.69. Super Rod -- Tom Dimond, '27-T Ford, 9.924, 148.99 def. Paul Brown, Dart, 9.899, 146.96. Hot Rod -- Steve Corker, Camaro, 10.894, 129.70 def. Vic Ellinger, Dart, 10.881, 130.78. Super Stock -- Mike Morris, S-10, 10.716, 118.85 def. Sid Bonnecarrere, Dart, 9.072, 142.36. Stock -- Wes McCracken, Camaro, 11.644, 95.60 def. Larry Strohscher, Malibu Wgn, 11.694, 112.88. ET Bracket -- Tim Bowman, Plymouth Fury, 9.897, 136.03 def. Bob Handschuh, Chevy Camaro, 11.122, 119.41. ET Box -- Bob Handschuh, 11.162, 117.68 def. Lindie Baker-Hammersmith, 8.136, 166.54. August IHRA Zone archives are here July IHRA Zone archives are here June IHRA Zone
archives are here May IHRA
Zone archives are here
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