SpeedZone Magazine coverage of the Smoke fire and Thunders weekend at Mission Raceway is presented by.................

August 28-30, 2009

Jet Dragsters Jet Funny Cars and Wheelstanders are covered here.

A photo gallery from the weekend is here.

What an awesome weekend at Mission Raceway for the "Smoke, Fire, Nitro and Thunder weekend by the River"

Chuck Haynes in the "Volcano" Jet Dragster comes within a whisker of a 4 second pass in his Jet Volcano Dragster. He runs an incredible 5.003@ 314.57 under the lights Saturday night at 10:00pm, to shatter any BC Race track records.

The full report follows Saturday's photos below

My 'favorite' shot from the exhibition cars as Twig is on his way to a career best 6.01/238 against a real early leaving Derek Snelson. You can see the huge smoke plume exiting the Jet Flopper as the starting line crew hold on to their head gear.

Saturday favorites

Notice the wheels on the Pick-up. All four are off the ground.

 

Saturday photo gallery

	Left to right top to bottom: 1. Ed Jones Stagecoach is real quick. 2. Marcum does his pre 1/4 mile warm up with flags flying. 3.Hope Rick doesn't rear end Ed. 4. Maybe if Ed blasts Rick with some Cinnamon scented flames he will back off. 5. Saturday night under the lights. 6. Side by side wheels up. 7. Sparks fly from both fliers. 8. Satisfying both nations with both flags. 8. Hard to believe they can see clearly at night looking down. .
	1. First run Satuday standing on the guard rail in the middle. Yes it was a cool vantage point. 2.Getting hot in the Gravity storm area. 3. Afterburners are starting to flame up in the Volcano section. 3. Launch time for the Gravity storm as he leaves first on every lap. 4. Before long, the Volcano launches and usually catches up by 800 feet.

 

Weekend feature car report

Hayne's was a bracket car in the three daylight laps in the Volcano as he went 5.139, 5.134 and 5.169 all three runs between 312 and 314 mph.Kevin Olson in the Gravity Storm Dragster went 6.10, a troubled 7.95, 5.99 and then 6.10. The three good runs were between 255and 265 mph.

Twig Zeigler was a late event call up as the WarHawk Jet Funny Car (driven by Richard Smith) crashed two weeks ago in Boise. He took on Derek Snelson in a best of four match up and took two races, running oh so close to a 5 in the process. Twig ripped off three career best numbers starting with a 5.086 Saturday at 6:00pm, against a 6.027 by Snelson. Derek won that race by a scant 1/100th of a second. In the late night Saturday run under the lights, He got real loose 60 feet out and had to pedal the flopper. Snelson saw Twig beside him but was well on his way to his best lap of the weekend, a solid 5.99@ 268 mph. Then just after noon Sunday, Zeigler ripped off a new best a 5.01/238.98. Snelson left before the tree was activated. He tweaked the Satellite Pizza Haven for his final attempt at a "5", late Sunday afternoon, got loose at 600 feet after a career best 60 foot (1.001), 330 (2.626, 4/100ths better than his 6.01 pass) pedaled and still ran a 5.03. All three runs over 230 mph. He was still 3/100ths quicker than the 6.01 at the 660 marker but was 7 mph slower after getting loose. Snelson went 5.02, 5.99, (no time in the third after leaving too early) and then 6.11 in the final run. All the laps were over 260 mph.

The Wheelstander show of Ed "The Outlaw" Jones and Rick "The Frisbeeman" Marcum was spectacular as expected. The two showmen know how to entertain, and having freebies for the fans don't hurt. Jones gave away pounds of Jelly Bellys and Marcum's Frisbee tossing exploits while not competition like they were done in mass volume to the delight of large crowd Saturday night and so so crowd Sunday. Marcum's first hit saw all four wheels off the ground as he hit the throttle hard. The Stage Coach of Ed Jones suspension system works to a tee, as the 'coach goes up fast and stays there. Both drivers went well past the 1320 on a couple of the laps, with Jones winning the et battle with 12 second runs at over 100 mph. Marcum was in the 14 second range at 80+ mph in the 1/4 mile.

Sunday photos

(Dean Murdoch and Shannon MacDonald photos)

 

 

A huge weeknd of coverage here at SpeedZone Magazine and it all comes to you from our sponsor Jet Equipment Canada. When you're looking for professional quality tools,
we want you to think of us — JET™ Equipment & Tools, Ltd.
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Will post a few pictures tonight from Mission as the teams ghet set up.

Click on this link to read the coverage of the Canada West Doorslammers and the CPSA