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The Rocky Mountain Nationals are presented on SpeedZone by .....................
June 28 , 2005 Bud Park Funny car. Funny Car gallery is here (Photos courtey Bill Jeffery and Dean Murdoch) Numbers courtesy DRC. The Pro classes will all have their own page. Top Fuel is here, Pro Mod is here, Pro Stock is here
The Funny Car class will forever be at odds with the IHRA because of the decision to drop the field down to eight cars from 16. I have yet to talk to one person (team owners, drivers and fans included) that think it was a good idea. But I guess they think that the people that make the class what it is (those above), don't know anything, or aren't important enough to warrant dialog before changing the entire makeup of the class.
Qualifying after one round
Round two saw an improvement from every car that chose to make a qualifying hit. Ken Kraus elected to sit out and Tarapaski rolled through the beams and did not get a time. Atchison improved to a track record 5.842 / 240.42, Sickles improved by the same amount as Atchison (.02) to a 5.92. Mark made the expected biggest jump going form outside the field to # 3 with a 5.967 / 232.71, Thomas Carter landed in the # 4 spot with a 6.00 and Terry McMillen found himself on top of the lower half of the field with a 6.05. Locals rounded out the last three spots, with Trevor Lebsack nailing down #6 with a 6.11 (this was his first race of the season where he made the field). John Evanchuk ran a 6.122 that showed more potential for the team, and rounding out the field, was Ken Kraus whose 6.13 from session one was enough to keep him in the field. Local Favorite, Nathan Sitko ended up #9 with a 6.20 and 'guy' favorite (for obvious reasons) Scott McVey in the Hooters Funny car, finished #10, with a 6.25. Unfortunately the teams did not get a chance to improve their times on Saturday when rain washed out the entie day, setting the field after two qualifiers.
The pairings for first round were: #1 Rob Atchison vs #8 Ken Kraus, #2 Jim Sickles Vs #7 John Evanchuk, #3 Mark Thomas Vs # 6 Trevor Lebsack and #4 Thomas Carter Vs #5 Terry McMillen. Funny Car Elimination's
Like Top Fuel, Funny Car's
first round did not go until just after 1:00 pm, so the track had
more rubber on it and it was good. Rob Atchison, the # 1 qualifier
decided to be the first pair out in his match up with Ken Kraus.
The local team had a few problems in their warm-up and had to scramble
to get in the lanes. When they went to fire the car at the start
of the race, it did not sound right and upon further inspection
the found a couple crossed plug wires. In the meantime, Rob Atchison
had fired and done his burn out. Just as Rob and backed up from
the burnout, Kraus got his car fired, but the IHRA officials told
him to shut the car off , it was too late. A bad call by the IHRA
officials, who acted like the Mafia all morning, due to their rushing
the program because of perceived thoughts there was a chance of
more moisture coming. Then, when Kraus and team tried to turn their
car around to get it out of the way, they (the officials) berated
them more for taking too long. They certainly needed some valium
or a crash course on patience. Back to the race, Atchison got a
single, and he made his usual strong lap, a .082 activated 5.86,
which likely was way too much for Kraus anyway. Mark Thomas was
up next, and he took on Trevor Lebsack, who needed another tenth
at least, to have a chance. Sean Brown turned up the screws on Trevor's
flopper, but Lebsack was way late at the tree, and Thomas cruised
to a 5.96 win. Trevor, shook
In the semi finals, The cars were called
to the lanes, and one was missing from the pairings. Jim Sickles'
team was thrashing to make the call. Sickles at the end of his record
setting run, had badly wounded their # 1 bullet, exploding the
Thomas and Atchison are buddies away from the starting line, but are fierce combatants once they don their firesuits. No doubt they was some verbal sparing to set the tone of their final round. Rob has had the dominant car of the two for the season so far, but with Jimmy Rector back in Thomas' corner, you could not count out the corn farmer.
The final was not that close though, as Atchison again got the starting line advantage, and cruised on down the 1/4 mile for a 5.866 et compared to Thomas' 5.983 that was slowed even more by his .038 slower reaction time. The win extents Rob's point lead to 64 points. Thomas with the r/u is now tied with Sickles. Too bad Sickles never got the chance to run Thomas in the semis, cause if he did and won that, it would of set up a monster final round between the Canadian and the American. Thomas seems to have fallen slightly off his previous year's performance level, even though he is right there in the points. The next event on the IHRA tour is in two weeks at Milan Mich.
Point standings 1. Rob Atchison 464
Sunday -- Sportsman final round elimination's -- Sunday Thunderbolts -- Jay Mageau, Chevy Bel Air, 7.635, 166.99 def. Tony Kupris, Ford Thunderbird, 7.688, 183.84. Nitro Bikes -- Ron Houniet, Harley, 6.808, 201.10 def. Brian Hall, Harley, 6.918, 203.40. Top Dragster -- Britt Cummings, Dragster, 7.832, 155.36 def. John Evans, Dragster, 7.763, 169.59. Top Sportsman -- Dale Giroux, Chevy Cavalier, 7.535, 174.28 def. Bob Marshall, Pontiac Grand Am, 7.479, 185.15. Quick Rod -- Ken Mostowich, Chevy Cavalier, 9.086, 160.81 def. Francesca Plaizier, Dragster, 9.074, 162.12. Super Rod -- Scott Taylor, Ford Roadster, 10.041, 150.60 def. Daryl Baker, Roadster, 10.105, 137.47. Hot Rod -- Curtis Smith, Pontiac Acadian, 11.036, 125.97 def. David Senkow, Ford Mustang, broke. Super Stock -- Mark Faul, Pontiac Grand Am, 10.263, 119.71 def. Art Congdon, Oldsmobile Calais, 9.896, 127.90. Stock -- Randy Hutchings, Dodge Ram, 12.403, 104.69 def. Mark Faul, Chevy Chevelle, 11.255, 110.87. ET Bracket -- Adolph Sabourin, 11.882, 113.13 def. Darren Williams, 8.839, 153.49. ET Box -- Darren Williams, 8.863, 145.42 def. Monty Isert, 8.697, 152.18. |
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Enough
of the rant, The class had 12 cars trying for the tough 8 car field.
After one session of qualifying, Rob Atchison lead the field by
almost a tenth with a 5.869 240 mph blast, Jim Sickles, making a
surprise showing at Edmonton was # 2 with a 5.946 / 239. Ken Kraus
was the quickest local after one round, with a 6.132 / 227. Mark
Thomas was outside the field, due to him lifting at half track when
Trevor Lebsack decided Mark's lane was more to his liking. Actually
Trevor's car was an animal in the first qualifier, and he drifted
into the right lane right beside Thomas, Mark calmly moved a bit
to the right and lifted early (notice the tracks and Trevor's
car on the picutre to the right). Scott McVey also had an early
lifting, troubled first run. Alan Tarapaski was out again with his
Funny Car, but unless he gets a tuner to give him some guidance,
he certainly is not going to go vary far. And he was on the throttle
from start to finish in a 8 second et that is about his best in
two and a half years of trying.
real
hard at 60 feet and coasted through to a 7 second time slip. The
Thomas Carter/Terry McMillen match-up was alot closer than the scoreboard
showed, as McMillen had a tenth of a second advantage at the tree
and held on for 1000 feet, before Carter caught and past the Amalie
Oil Driver. Carter's 5.94 was just enough for a .06 win over McMillen's
6.10 time slip. Not sure why McMillen lost a tenth from qualifying.
In the final pairing, Jim Sickles and John Evanchuk left side by
side, but Sickles ran his best number of the year and the new track
et/mph record 5.823/241mph, to defeat a very game and quickest losing
et of the round, a 6.09 at 228 mph. The pairings for the semis were;
Atchison vs Carter and Sickles vs Thomas
Supercharger
in the process. They fell about 5 minutes short of getting the car
back together in time for the semis. This was another bad call by
the IHRA brass, to not wait a few minutes so the show could be complete.
It was obvious the weather had turned for the better and they were
quite a bit ahead of any daylight issues etc. The Sickles team were
packing the parachutes when they were told they were too late. A
good break for Thomas though, who go a freebie into the finals.
The Atchison/Carter pairing was up first, and this one was close
on the scoreboard, but at the stripe Rob took a car length victory.
He had a large .06 advantage at the starting line and ran another
5.8 (5.897) to advance to the final round. Carter ran his best lap
of the weekend, a 5.934, but his light was not up to the task. Thomas'
free lap to the final produced a 5.940, also his best of the weekend,
but it fell short of getting lane choice. The not surprising Atchison
vs Thomas final round was finally about to be a reality in Edmonton.
The fans have waited three years for this final round. 
Right
at the end of the semi finals, race sponsor, Craig Anstead convinced
the officials to let the Western RV Country sponsored Funny Car
driven by Nathan Sitko run against the Hooters sponsored Funny Car
driven by Scott McVey. The Sitko's had a new engine combo in the
car for the run and were hoping for a low 6 second lap. Unfortunately,
it did not go well, as Nathan's ride decided the rods did not want
to stay in the engine and he coasted from half track on. McVey also
shut it off early.
