April 24-26, 2009

IHRA Spring Nationals, Rockingham, NC

 

Final Qualifying

No one has navigated the lanes at famed Rockingham Dragway more times than Rickie Smith.
A seven-time IHRA world champion and multi-time winner at one of the oldest and most prestigious tracks in all of drag racing, Smith is usually considered a shoe-in when making passes at "The Rock."

Saturday night, that history meant nothing. Defending Pro Modified World Champion Kenny Lang (Grande Pointe, Manitoba) showed why he is the best in the business right now by knocking North Carolina's own Smith (King, N.C.) from the top of the charts with a blazing 5.960 elapsed time at 239.48 miles per hour to take the No. 1 qualifying spot in Pro Mod during Saturday's Castrol "Night of Fire" qualifying at Rockingham Dragway.

"Those nitrous guys are definitely fast. Rickie is running really quick so just to get close to that and be quicker was a good accomplishment and we are happy with that," Lang said. "We hurt the clutch in the run before that so we had to take the clutch out and service it before our run. We had to tune it up a little bit.

"We just wanted to make a strong, safe run, but not get too aggressive with it tonight. We still left a little bit on the table."

Lang's pass moved him from sixth to the top of the charts Saturday night, edging Smith's 5.962 E.T. laid down Friday night.

"It was a good run. The first couple of runs this weekend we struggled a little bit. We tuned up a few parts here and there and are finally starting to get back to where we need to be in relation to smooth runs," Lang said. "It was a smooth run, no problems with the car. We are making it down the track clean which is what we want and that is the way the car works best. I look forward to getting back out here tomorrow."

IHRA newcomer Tim Tindle (Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.) slipped to third on the charts with a 5.976 pass at 236.17 mph while Burton Auxier (Dixie, W.Va.) sits fourth on a 5.993 at 234.86 mph. Ed Hoover (5.999/237.21) sits fifth for tomorrow's finals.

Del Cox showed that his top qualifying spot at the season opening Mardi Gras Nationals wasn't a fluke with his second straight Top Fuel "pole" on a 4.635 pass at 315.64 mph, giving the Downey, Calif. native the fastest run of the weekend so far.

"It was awesome. We went in there with those intentions, but you never know how it will go," Cox said. "Two in a row - that is just amazing. Paul says if you feel anything lift because this thing is going to be a rocket ship."

Despite the great run, Cox wasn't aware just how well he had done until a few minutes after he got out of the car.

"I got on the radio and told them to scream as loud as you can if something goes wrong so I can lift. I go through the lights and all I here is someone screaming so I pull off the track and there is fire coming out of the right banks and I am thinking that the dang thing blew up and I am in trouble," Cox said. "I asked what was wrong and I heard the yelling again - they were cheering. That is when I knew I put down a pretty solid lap."

Cox edged out Scarsdale, N.Y. native Bobby Lagana Jr. who ran a 4.676 at 301.94 mph during the pristine nighttime conditions.

Bruce Litton, who topped the charts Friday, pulled onto the track for Saturday's evening session, but had to call it a night. He sits third with a 4.721 at 290.32 mph.

Terry Haddock (4.767/302.14) and Paul Lee (4.837/304.05) round out the top five.

John Montecalvo (Center Moriches, N.Y.) knocked Frank Gugliotta (Mt. Airy, Md.) off of the Elite Motorsports Pro Stock summit with a 6.325 pass at 219.29 mph to take the No. 1 qualifying spot heading into Sunday's elimination rounds.

Montecalvo also claimed the five bonus points that come along with being named Saturday's Last Man Standing.

"We have always been a consistent car. We have won a lot of rounds, but have never been the fastest. This is the first time we have qualified No. 1 in a long, long time," Montecalvo said. "I can't see too much where we can improve on that run. My crew, I just can't say enough about them. Sunny, Tommy, William, Pat, Doug and of course my lovely wife Louise Ann. We have a good team. I think we can go some rounds this year and do some damage."

Gugliotta had held the top spot with an awesome 6.328 run at 218.23 mph made Friday night, but Montecalvo was able to unseat the "Flying Meatball" with a solid pass Saturday night.

"It was a little bit of clutch tuning, engine tuning and even some car tuning. We worked on all three areas," Montecalvo said. "This afternoon we had the car apart, we did some work on everything and pretty much we adjusted everything you could adjust on a car.

"The track was excellent. I can't say enough about how well the IHRA preps this track. It is always a great facility."

Cary Goforth (Holdenville, Okla.) dropped from second to third for Sunday's eliminations thanks to Montecalvo's pass, putting down a 6.332 pass at 218.94 mph Friday night. Pete Berner (6.333/219.22) and Richard Freeman (6.370/218.62) remained in place at fourth and fifth respectively as only Montecalvo made a move in the top five.

Saturday's action also featured the finals of the Summit Racing Equipment Allstars race. Allstar winners were Luke Bogacki (Top Dragster), Chris Gulitti (Top Sportsman), Myron Piatek (Stock), Scott Richardson (Super Stock), Scooter Choate (Quick Rod), Todd Thompson (Super Rod) and Kenny Underwood (Hot Rod).

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- Saturday's final results from the Summit Racing Equipment Allstars, a special event during the IHRA Spring Nationals presented by Advance Auto Parts and Castrol at Rockingham Dragway:

Summit Top Dragster Allstars -- Luke Bogacki, Dragster, 7.501, 162.96 def. Brett Nesbitt, Dragster, 7.965, 108.99.

Summit Top Sportsman Allstars -- Chris Gulitti, Pontiac Firebird, 7.186, 190.54 def. Gary Bingham, Pontiac Grand Am, 7.121, 176.30.

Summit Stock Allstars -- Myron Piatek, Dodge Dart, 11.487, 113.22 def. Anthony Bertozzi, Chevy Camaro, 10.602, 121.32.

Summit Super Stock Allstars -- Scott Richardson, Oldsmobile Achieva, 9.552, 137.39 def. Jeff Tripp, Chevy Monte Carlo, 8.969, 144.78.

Summit Quick Rod Allstars -- Scooter Choate, Dragster, 8.904, 171.45 def. Jacob Elrod, Dragster, 8.896, 166.89.

Summit Super Rod Allstars -- Todd Thompson, Ford Model T, 10.105, 117.73 def. Phillip Pennington, Ford Roadster, foul.

Summit Hot Rod Allstars -- Kenny Underwood, Camaro, 10.911, 122.41 def. Tim Shuck, Camaro, 10.889, 129.14.

Friday qualifying

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. --

Bruce Litton (Indianapolis, Ind.) picked right up where he left off at the season opener in Baton Rouge with the top run of the night in Top Fuel during Castrol "Night of Fire" qualifying Friday at the 38th annual Spring Nationals at Rockingham Dragway.
Litton laid down a 4.721 E.T. at 290.32 mph to top the provisional Top Fuel qualifying charts, edging out rookie Del Cox Jr. (Downey, Calif.) in a head-to-head battle. Cox ran a 4.739 at 312.28 mph, the fastest speed of the night.

"It was good. We kind of adjusted accordingly based on what everyone else was doing and Richard made a couple of adjustments there toward the end and it worked out in our favor," Litton said. "Being that this is the first lap, it is hard to guesstimate, but you would rather be safe than sorry.

"The track is there. I walked it last night and I could tell that it was in really good shape."

Behind Cox was defending Nitro Funny Car champion Terry Haddock (Woodinville, Wash.) who put up the third 300 mile per hour run of the night. He clocked in at 302.14 mph on a 4.767 E.T.

Paul Lee was fourth (4.837/304.05) and Tim Boychuk (4.852/270.81) rounded out the top five in Top Fuel.

Seven-time IHRA World Champion Rickie Smith (King, N.C.) put down the lap heard round the world in his Al-Anabi backed 1968 Camaro to take the provisional No. 1 qualifying spot in Pro Modified and also claim Friday's Last Man Standing award with a pass of 5.962 at 234.37 mph.

"This car is awesome. We had run at some tracks earlier that hadn't been prepared right, this track is prepared right. The starting line crew is doing a great job," Smith said. "We know we can run fast with this car and when you throw this Speed Tech stuff on there she gets out of here."

Smith knocked off IHRA newcomer Tim Tindle (Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.) who held down the top spot until late in Friday's evening qualifying session. Tindle was bumped to second with a 6.029 pass at 234.74 mph. Ed Hoover (Gilbert, S.C.) put down the top speed of the night in Pro Mod at 237.50 mph and currently sits third with a 6.030 E.T.

Burton Auxier (6.032/234.53) and Scott Cannon (6.045/235.06) rounded out the top five in Friday's Castrol "Night of Fire" qualifying.

Frank "The Flying Meatball" Gugliotta (Mt. Airy, Md.) claimed top honors in Elite Motorsports Pro Stock, taking the provisional "pole" and Last Man Standing award with a pass of 6.328 at 218.23 mph.

"She was rocking at 'The Rock'," Gugliotta said. "We had her locked in and had a great run. This is only our second race out and we are just trying to do the best we can out here."

Gugliotta's '09 Pontiac GXP edged out Cary Goforth's (Holdenville, Okla.) Chevy Cobalt which ran a 6.332 at 218.94 mph. Baton Rouge runner-up John Montecalvo (Center Moriches, N.Y.) currently sits third with a pass of 6.333 at 219.26 mph.

Defending Pro Stock World Champion Pete Berner (6.338/219.51) and Elite Motorsports entry Richard Freeman (6.370/218.62) rounded out the top five.

In exhibition action, Kevin Martin became the first person to surpass the 200 mile per hour barrier on a jet bike atop his Ballistic Eagle jet motorcycle with a pass of 7.887 at 202.55 mph.

In the nightcap, the Super Shockwave jet truck edged out Grave Digger by .0091, or roughly 11 inches, at the line in a wildly entertaining drag race.

Saturday's action will get back underway at 9 a.m. with sportsman qualifying followed by more pro qualifying at 3 p.m. and the Saturday Castrol "Night of Fire" will begin at 6:30 p.m.