February 11, 2003

Canada's lone Nitro hope will not run the entire 2003 POWERade schedule. Todd Paton Racing releases the Fish

Paris, Ontario - Paton Racing has announced that Todd Paton and his family-run nitro funny car will not be carrying the Nitro Fish character during the 2003 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing series.

In an announcement released late last week, Todd along with his father Barry acknowledged that unless sufficient funding could be found, they will participate at select NHRA events and match races they have scheduled.
"It's rather unfortunate to have to make this announcement," said Todd. "2002 was a great year for us, considering the budget with which we were working. I was hoping that we would be able to finalize some other deals to help supplement the Nitro Fish sponsorship, but they failed to materialize in time."

Todd Paton began his professional nitro funny car career in March 2000 behind the wheel of a funny car with Nitro Fish backing. "I wish that we could continue our relationship, but we are looking to build our racing operation, and that takes two things: time and money. I'm only 33 years old, so I've got the time to do it. Money is a harder thing to come by. This harsh economic climate has made it difficult for many teams to put adequate funding together."

Regarding their decision to run NHRA POWERade events this season, Todd said, "We currently have the resources to run the car a number of times this year, which we will do to keep up with the technology in the class. That way, when we are able to put a full program together, we won't be faced with a steeper learning curve than we already have."

Last year, Todd recorded a career-best 4.876 second run at the Craftsman 75th Anniversary Nationals in Joliet, Illinois. He also logged victories against John Force, Ron Capps and Dean Skuza during the season, en route to a 16th place finish in the 2002 POWERade points championship.

Pomona Saturday Dixon Wins Shootout. Kalitta rips track records

By Dean Murdoch

Saturday at the 43rd NHRA Winternationals was one for the record books.
Larry Dixon wins his 3rd "Big Bud Shootout" over the rookie heir apparent "Bud soon to be King" Brandon Bernstein.
Side by side all the way down the track, the difference was less than 4/1000's at the finish line. A 4.56 to 4.56.

Not to be outdone, Doug Kalitta and qualifying leader up to this point Clay Millican (4.521) stage and leave together welded down the track until half track when Kalitta stormed through the back half and ran an awesome 4.482 at a record tying 332.18 mph. Wow!!! Oh ya, Millican was no slouch, as he back up his previous best 4.52 with a great 4.55.

In Funny Car, it remained the Tim Wilkerson show as he stayed on top with his first round 4.75. Right behind him though were six other cars that ran quicker than a 4.81, including three Force Cars and two Schumacher team cars.

Pro Stock saw the 16 car field separated by a miniscule 4/100ths. A 6.772 to a 6.811. Four of last years top ten did not make the field including Jim Yates and Mike Edwards.

Top Alcohol Dragster's 1st round of eliminations were highlighted by stellar reaction times that can probably be attributed to the new LED lights. Of note was Duane Shields' awesome .408 light or .008 under the new system (Duane was criticized for his less than great rt's last year). Hopefully the new car and LED's will silence the critics (including myself).
Also, Brandon Johnson had a great .014 light. Both advanced to the second round

Top Alcohol Funny Car also saw some stellar lights and Bucky Austin was one of the racers knocked in 2002. His .057 (.457) light in his first round win showed that he is taking 2003 very serious. His 5.63 was low et of the round as well.
If Sunday is anything like the first three days, it will be a great 1st weekend of NHRA POWERade Drag Racing.

February 7, 2003

Pomona Friday Wrap
by Dean Murdoch

Great Falls Montana TAD driver Greg Tacke crashed at Pomona Friday after the rear wing came off the car near the finish line. The car made a hard left and hit the left guardrail during the last qualifying session just before the 7:00 p.m. curfew.

Approx. a dozen more cars were set to run but because of the accident the rest of the session was cancelled. Brandon Johnson got in on the last session with a 5.51. Morgan Lucas leads the field with a great 5.28, and anchoring the sixteen car field is Tony Meredyk at 5.67.

Sophmore TAD pilot John Haley ran a career best 5.36 to nail down number three right behind Tony Bartone and just ahead of Duane Shields who ran a supurb 5.37 in his new car.

Noteable: Mark Hentges failed to improve on his fine 5.44 pass in the first session. Joey Severance ran a career best 5.42 in the final session to nail down the sixth spot, while Mark Niver ran a career best 5.40 to qualify in the fifth position.

A 5.59 from Bucky Austin placed him second on the ladder behind Cy Chesterman's 5.58. John Weaver is sixteen spot with a stellar 5.84.
Other noteables include Seattle's John Knox who made the trek South and went 6.03 but hit the sand trap at the short Pomona track during the first session. He was unable to make repairs to continue his quest to qualify at the Winternationals.

In Top Fuel, Clay Millican shocked the field and has the provisional top spot with another career best 4.52 at 326mph. Still not qualified is Andrew Cowin, Dave Grubnic, Scott Weiss, and Jim Head.

Funny Car has Tim "Got Wilk" Wilkerson on the pole after his 4.75 lap Thursday. Gary Densham is in the two slot at 4.77 at 323 with Force in the three hole after a 4.80.

Ron Capps (who had his 4.78 thrown out due to a timing glitch), Del Worsham, Dale Creasy and Frank Pedregon are all on the outside looking in (had to say it, sorry!)

Pro Stock's biggest news is Warren Johnson in the number thirty-eight spot out of thirty-eight cars. Jeggie leads with a 6.79. Five of last year's top ten are not yet in the field.

NEW Gerry Frechette Vegas test pics including some new Northwest cars

After more confusion that you can believe we now have it confirmed that Joe Delehay was not driving the truck picture here. It was the Jay Syvertsen of Surrey. Crew chief Ken Eisler tells Speedzone of Delehay's current plans.

"Joe is at Las Vegas but that's Jay's promod truck .Joe's truck is still being fitted with a BAE hemi at the moment. We should be ready by the end of the month".

Results from Day 3 of NHRA Pro testing at The Strip

LAS VEGAS -- Rhonda Hartman-Smith, driving the FRAM-sponsored NHRA Top Fuel Dragster, turned in the fastest speed on Sunday with a pass of 295.79 mph down The Strip's quarter mile during the third day of NHRA Pro testing.

NHRA testing at The Strip was delayed Sunday morning due to gusting winds. Cars began making full passes at Noon.

With the "breeze" at a manageable level, NHRA Pro teams were able to test under sunny skies. The air temperature is some 10 degrees cooler than Saturday (57 today). A total of 11 Top Fuel Dragsters, five Funny Cars and seven Pro Stocks made passes down The Strip. A number of teams also will test Monday and Tuesday.

Sunday's best runs:
Pro Stock
Scott Geoffrion -- 6.947 sec./197.68 mph.
Mike Edwards -- 6.957 sec./197.22 mph.
Mike Corvo -- 6.961 sec./198.35 mph.
Troy Coughlin -- 6.961 sec./197.94 mph.
Terry Adams -- 6.963 sec./197.94 mph.

Funny Car
Tommy Johnson Jr. -- 4.905 sec./294.11 mph.
Scotty Cannon -- 5.195 sec./216.79 mph.

Top Fuel
Rhonda Hartman-Smith -- 4.663 sec./295.79 mph.
Doug Kalitta -- 4.751 sec./240.68 mph.
Clay Millican -- 4.796 sec./267.32 mph.
Darrell Russell -- 5.003 sec./210.47 mph.

Saturday results:
Pro Stock
V. Gaines -- 1) 6.973 sec./198.20 mph; 2) 7.005 sec./197.68 mph.
Mike Edwards -- 1) 7.042 sec./194.77 mph; 2) 7.064 sec./195.41 mph.
Barry Grant -- 1) 7.099 sec./195.03 mph; 2) 7.105 sec./195.22 mph.
Scott Geoffrion -- 1) 6.999 sec./195.96 mph; 2) 7.012 sec./195.85 mph.
Troy Coughlin -- 1) 6.954 sec./198.73 mph; 2) 6.943 sec./199.20 mph.

Funny Car
Bob Gilbertson -- 1) 5.380 sec./207.62 mph (car was shut down early); 2) 5.038 sec./235.97 mph (car was shut down early).
Scotty Cannon -- 1) 5.165 sec./287.84 mph (car was shut down early); 2) smoked the tires.
Tim Wilkerson -- 1) shut off early.
Tommy Johnson Jr. -- 1) 5.036 sec./250.78 mph.

Top Fuel
Darrell Russell -- 1) 4.783 sec./312.28 mph; 2) smoked the tires.
Rhonda Hartman-Smith -- 1) smoked tires at 330 ft., shut off early.
John Smith -- 1) smoked tires at 330 ft., shut off early.
Doug Kalitta -- 1) shut off at 1/8-mile mark.
Bob Hallock -- 1) problems at starting line, shuts off.
Jim Head -- 1) smoked the tires before 330 ft. mark; 2) smoked the tires again.
Clay Millican -- 1) 4.783 sec./258.52 mph; 2) 4.983 sec./215.51 mph.
Andrew Cowin -- 1) shut off at mid-track.

Pro results from Day 2 of NHRA testing at The Strip;
Hartman-Smith looking for first national-event victory

LAS VEGAS -- Rhonda Hartman-Smith, of Williamston, S.C., is looking for her first NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series victory in the Top Fuel Dragster category. Rhonda and husband John brought their two-dragster team to Las Vegas to test prior to the NHRA season-opener at Pomona, Calif., next weekend.

"The FRAM (Rhonda's) and Prestone (John's) teams are both here in Las Vegas to test a variety of parts, including a clutch that we designed and built in-house during the off-season," said Rhonda. "We debuted the clutch in Tucson last weekend and had great results. I ran my career best speed of 319.14 mph. My focus here in Las Vegas and the entire season is performances to make consistent qualifying runs and win my first NHRA Top Fuel event.

"This is the first year we will actually evaluate parts during a testing session," Hartman continued. "Previous testing sessions were used to train new crew members. We are fortunate to have all crew members from both the FRAM and Prestone teams return, and look forward to having a very performance-oriented season."

Hartman's driving debut came in 1992 behind the wheel of a California Independent Funny Car Association (CIFCA) Funny Car. She won her first CIFCA race that year in Sacramento and finished third in points. She competed in IHRA events from '93-'96.

Rhonda joined NHRA in '97, participating in 17 events that year and finished 16th in points. She competed in three NHRA events in '98, gave birth to daughter, Megan, and took the rest of the season and all of '99 off.

In 2000, she returned to competition and competed in all 24 NHRA national events and finished 12th in points. In 2001, she again competed in all 24 NHRA national events and finished 10th in final points.
In 2002, Rhonda finished ninth in points after posting her career-best speed (319 mph at Englishtown, N.J.) and career-best time (4.57 sec. at Reading, Pa.).

Pro Stock
V. Gaines -- 1) 6.973 sec./198.20 mph; 2) 7.005 sec./197.68 mph.
Mike Edwards -- 1) 7.042 sec./194.77 mph; 2) 7.064 sec./195.41 mph.
Barry Grant -- 1) 7.099 sec./195.03 mph; 2) 7.105 sec./195.22 mph.
Scott Geoffrion -- 1) 6.999 sec./195.96 mph; 2) 7.012 sec./195.85 mph.
Troy Coughlin -- 1) 6.954 sec./198.73 mph; 2) 6.943 sec./199.20 mph.

Funny Car
Bob Gilbertson -- 1) 5.380 sec./207.62 mph (car was shut down early); 2) 5.038 sec./235.97 mph (car was shut down early).
Scotty Cannon -- 1) 5.165 sec./287.84 mph (car was shut down early); 2) smoked the tires.
Tim Wilkerson -- 1) shut off early.
Tommy Johnson Jr. -- 1) 5.036 sec./250.78 mph.

Top Fuel
Darrell Russell -- 1) 4.783 sec./312.28 mph; 2) smoked the tires.
Rhonda Hartman-Smith -- 1) smoked tires at 330 ft., shut off early.
John Smith -- 1) smoked tires at 330 ft., shut off early.
Doug Kalitta -- 1) shut off at 1/8-mile mark.
Bob Hallock -- 1) problems at starting line, shuts off.
Jim Head -- 1) smoked the tires before 330 ft. mark; 2) smoked the tires again.
Clay Millican -- 1) 4.783 sec./258.52 mph; 2) 4.983 sec./215.51 mph.
Andrew Cowin -- 1) shut off at mid-track.

Testing will resume on Sunday at 8 a.m.

Thanks to Phil Elliott we get a look at Jay Syvertsen today in testing at Las Vegas where he ran a best of 7.07/194

January 2003 NHRA Zone

January 2003 NHRA Zone

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