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Sept. 28-Oct. 1, 2006
Budds Creek Maryland Sunday Eliminations (and Monday) (October 2, 2006) - Two races after losing the Knoll Gas - Torco Racing Fuels Pro Nitro Top Fuel points lead, Clay Millican, Drummonds, Tenn., has clinched his sixth consecutive IHRA world championship by defeating Rick Cooper in the final round of the Torco Racing Fuels President's Cup Nationals in Budds Creek, Md. Millican now leads Doug Foley by 117 points. Other professional winners include Jeff Diehl (Nitro Funny Car), Ricky Smith (Pro Stock) Neal Parker (Alcohol Funny Car) and Quain Stott (Pro Modified). Millican, who entered Top Fuel eliminations Sunday as the No. 3 qualified car, took out Kevin Jones in round one with a 4.685/314.97, then won against No. 1 qualifier TJ Zizzo to advance to the final with Cooper, who would have lane choice. Millican didn't make a clean pass, but didn't need one, as Cooper left the line early and lost with a red-light. With this win, Millican has clinched the world championship, assuming he shows up at the final event, October 20 - 22, in Rockingham, N.C., where he'll be granted the 31 bonus points IHRA awards for attending every national event. Foley, who missed this race due to injuries sustained during a race in Cayuga, Ontario, will not be able to make up the 148-point difference, even if he does show up to Rockingham. "It's been one of the hardest years, but obviously it has been one of the most rewarding," Millican said. "Every guy on this team hung in there and did what they had to do. We never gave up.there is not a quitter on this team. It's very, very satisfying to win this championship. I wish we could have finished it out by racing Doug at the end, but Doug will be back." Diehl won his first IHRA Knoll Gas - Torco Racing Fuels Pro Nitro Funny Car Ironman when he defeated the heavily favored Paul Lee, who was making his fourth final round appearance of the year. Lee, who has yet to win, has proven he's capable of making 4-second runs, but Diehl had the better car in the final. En route to his win, Diehl took out Dale Creasy Jr. in round one and Jack Wyatt in round two. Creasy and Wyatt are locked in the championship battle. "We came in here with a new car and were going to treat it as a test session," Diehl said. "Then we got to the first round and I just lose it. All the sudden I want to do something for this team, I know I have to do something for this team. I got braver and the car started reacting. Even though I didn't make it all the way to the finish line I wasn't going to quit until the car quit. There was no way I was going to stop." In his first Torco's CompetitionPlus.com Pro Stock final of the year, Smith used a holeshot - 0.042 to 0.084 - to defeat a faster Tony Gillig. The pair also engaged in a 30-second staging battle prior to the run. Smith took out Pete Berner, Brian Gahm and Bert Jackson before taking on Gillg, who defeated John Nobile, John Montecalvo and Robert Patrick in previous rounds. Gillig entered this race with the points lead, and will leave with it, 31 points ahead of Berner. "That brought back old memories. It brought back memories of me and Ronnie Sox and Warren Johnson because we had those kinds of burndowns," said Smith, referring to the staging battle he had with Gillig in the final. "It really gets the fans into it. It came out in my favor this time, but could end up on the other side the next time. But I love the game and love being back over here in IHRA." In the Alcohol Funny Car class, the upsets came early as defending world champion Rob Atchison, the current points leader when this race began, failed to qualify, opening the door for Thomas to take the points lead. Thomas defeated Tom Carter and Larry Dobbs, gaining more-and-more points with each round. He eventually met Parker in the final round, who had a solid car all weekend, but slightly slower than Thomas. Despite that, Parker used a holeshot to win the race, a 0.006 light to Thomas' 0.094, which was enough to put his 5.841 ET ahead of the five-time world champion's 5.773. "This feels great," Parker said. "It's been six years since we've won a national event and that was in Pro Outlaw. To have a small budget team and be able to pull it out for the team, and do it on a holeshot, it doesn't get any better than that." In somewhat unusual fashion, Stott won his second Torco's CompetitionPlus.com Pro Modified race of 2006 against teammate Tommy D'Aprile, who was in his second final or the year. The two left the starting line and coasted to the other end of the track, stopping just before the finish. Stott eventually crossed the line first, in 41-seconds at 25 mph and now leads the Pro Modified points by 10 over Glen Kerunsky, who Stott took out in the second round. "For a lot of years I've watched these two-car teams, and sometimes not teammates, play the game of laying down and," Stott said. "That was the first time I ever did that. There weren't any team owners, it was Tommy's decision. We decided if we were going to do it we were not going to lie to our fans and not going to lie to our sponsors. We were going to let everyone know what we were doing. I've been knocked out of a lot of championships on the other side, and I'm still a long way from winning this one. But now we're back in the hunt."
Television coverage of the Torco Racing Fuels President's Cup Nationals airs on SPEED: Top Fuel, Nitro Funny Car and JEG'S Top Stock - Saturday, October 21 at 4:30 pm Pro Modified, Alcohol Funny Car and Pro Stock - Saturday, November 25 at 6 pm The next event on the 2006 eMax Drag Racing Series is the IHRA World Finals, October 20 - 22, at Rockingham Dragway, Rockingham, N.C. BUDDS CREEK, Md. -- Monday's final results from the Torco Racing Fuels President's Cup Nationals at Maryland International Raceway. The race is the tenth of 11 in the 2006 eMax Drag Racing Series: Top Fuel -- Clay Millican, 7.276 seconds, 84.43 mph def. Rick Cooper, foul. Pro Modified -- Quain Stott, Chevy Corvette, 41.828, 25.24 def. Tommy D'Aprile, Corvette, 44.480, 28.04. Nitro Funny Car -- Jeff Diehl, Toyota Celica, 5.399, 241.07 def. Paul Lee, Chevy Monte Carlo, 5.733, 198.85. Alcohol Funny Car -- Neal Parker, Chevy Monte Carlo, 5.841, 240.04 def. Mark Thomas, Monte Carlo, 5.773, 247.20. Pro Stock -- Rickie Smith, Chevy Cobalt, 6.374, 219.22 def. Tony Gillig, Ford Mustang, 6.352, 220.19. Pro Stock Showdown -- Robert Patrick, Shelby GT 500, 6.320, 221.20 def. Frank Gugliotta, Ford Escort, 6.374, 220.80. Top Stock World Champion -- Bo Kenney, Firebird, 19.184, 47.96 def. Monty Bogan Jr., Firebird, broke. Final qualifying Top Fuel 1 317 T.J. Zizzo, Lincolnshire IL, McKinney-TFX 4.615 325.61 325.61 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 9 300 Jack Ostrander, Waterford MI, Baumgartne-TFX 5.647 168.64
168.64 Funny Car 1 206 Bob Gilbertson, Charlotte NC, '05 Stratus 4.762 323.35 323.35 Pro Mod 1 2813 Scott Cannon, Lyman SC, *'06 GTO 6.019$ 238.89 238.89 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 17 1699 David Roemer, Avon OH, '63 Corvette 6.165 230.02 230.02 Pro Stock 1 3 Robert Patrick, Fredericksburg VA, '06 GT 500 6.320 221.20 221.20 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 17 12 Elijah Morton, Jacksonville NC, '05 ZX2 6.429 214.93 218.19
Alcohol Funny Car 1 147 Frederick Tigges, Holbrook MA, '01 Avenger 5.749 244.74 247.11 ------------ Not Qualified ------------ 9 1 Rob Atchison, London ON, '06 Monte Carlo 5.963 247.20 247.20 Doug Foley To Be Released This Afternoon
CAYUGA, Ontario (September 27, 2006) – Doug Foley will be released from West Haldimand General Hospital in Ontario this afternoon. Following a crash at Toronto Motorsports Park on Monday, Foley was rushed to West Haldimand General for observation. He was then temporarily transported to Hamilton General Hospital for further screening, and then back to Haldimand. The doctor has already issued his release papers, and Foley will fly to his home in New Jersey this evening.
Family and friends with Foley said the hospital and nurses have been very accommodating, and Doug is in much better spirits today.
About IHRA Headquartered in Norwalk, Ohio, the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA), a division of Live Nation, promotes professional, semi-professional and local level racing opportunities for drivers at all levels. The eMax Drag Racing Series is an 11-event North American professional drag racing circuit. In 2006, the series will be comprised of eight events in major cities throughout the United States and three in Canada. The Mr. Gasket Pro-Am Championship consists of competition at national events and 35 events in six regional divisions, while IHRA’s Summit SuperSeries is conducted nearly every weekend at over 90 IHRA-sanctioned tracks. Providing a safe environment to develop future stars, IHRA offers the PM-1 Junior Dragster Racing Series for youths ages 8-17. Stand-alone events include Live Nation’s entertainment-filled “Thunder Jam” shows and the street legal racing and lifestyle event series Kumho Street Warriorz presented by Hooters. More information can be found at www.ihra.com.
Live Nation is one of the world's largest diversified promoters and
producers of, venue operators and sponsorship/advertising for, live
entertainment events including music concerts, theatrical performances,
and specialized motor sports events. Live Nation owns, operates or
has booking rights for 150 venues worldwide including 107 domestic
and 43 international venue sites. In 2005, promoted and/or produced
over 28,500 events with attendance at venues exceeding 61 million
persons
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