Event preview (Story by Robert Wilson)

(photos by Bill Jeffery, Mark King, Bob Snyder, Robert Wilson and Paul Grant)

The Battle near Seattle

The Bill Miller Top Fuel car will not be at Seattle this year, the first year in over 20, he will be not attending the NW Nationals. Miller and wife Virgie will represent Carson City at this weekend's Republican Convention.

It's been five years since I last attended the NHRA Northwest Nationals and nearly as long since I've been at
any of the "big show" races on the Full Throttle circuit. So long in fact, that so much has changed about the
race, the racers, and the NHRA in general, that it's hard to difficult to list all that has happened in the past
half decade.

The event, the 23rd annual Northwest Nationals, has been without a title sponsor for the past two years after
three years under the Shuck's Auto Supply banner and prior to that, Carquest Auto Parts sponsorship for the
preceding three years. Even the NHRA professional championships, the Full Throttle series, was the Powerade
circuit five years ago. Not only that, but the point series now has a completely different ethos with the
"Countdown to One" feature, instead of the traditional season-long accumulative points earning to determine
the world champions.

Even the distance that the fuel cars race on has been modified, following the tragic death of Scott Kalitta
at Englishtown two years ago, with Top Fuel and (nitro) Funny Car now competing over a 1000 ft. distance.
Additional efforts to slow the cars and improve their safety over the past five years have been numerous,
among them rev limiters, automatic parachute deployment, the Hans device (head and neck restraint), the
shield around the back half of the roll cage on dragsters and many other small, but significant, changes.

The entry lists of racers and their sponsors have seen many, many changes also. When you thought of the
Bernstein team five years ago, the image of a red car with Budweiser emblazoned on it instantly came to
mind. Fast forward to 2010 and the car is blue, Bud is gone and it's now sponsored by Copart. Looking over
the list of Top Fuel racers from 2005, Brandon Bernstein is far from the only racer with different backing.

Other than Tony Schumacher (ARMY) and Cory McClenathan (FRAM), both with Don Schumacher Racing, there's no
one left in the Top Fuel pits still racing for the same benefactors. The number of racers still competing
that were at the '05 edition of the Northwest Nats is seven or eight (if Ron Smith blows the cobwebs off
his Renton racer) in Top Fuel and 8 or maybe 9 in the fuel flopper division.

In the Funny Car sponsorship stakes, the only racer other than John Force of course and his son-in-law and
teammate Robert Hight, still sporting the same colours is Tim Wilkerson's "Levi, Ray & Shoup" team. Ron Capps
is still out there racing for Don Schumacher but the car has changed its "spots" more times since 2005 than a
moulting leopard.

The alcohol divisions don't fare any better, with no more than seven or eight racers still competing in the
funny car and dragster categories that attended the 2005 event. As for sponsorship for those cars, are you
kidding? Sponsorship on an alcohol car is rarely anywhere near what is required to keep those operations afloat.

 

Checking out the NHRA website for the entry lists didn't really shed much light on this year's competitors
other than the usual suspects, as there were only 10 dragsters and 13 funny cars listed in the alcohol categories.
With 16-car fields on offer, the prospects for a less than optimum showing by them are looking very real,
however a last-minute surge of late entries is par for this course.

The fuel fields, also 16-car affairs, with 15 Top Fuelers and 17 Funny Cars entered and a veritable plethora
of Pro Stocks entered with 20 names on the list comprise the pro categories. In the sportsman ranks, the 32-car
Comp eliminator show also has 20 entries, but that's a full dozen short of a complete show. In the lower
eliminators, from Super Stock down to Super Street, a further 250 cars are entered to round out the show.

Of the roughly 350 car entered in this year's event, the Canadian content shows 21 BC'ers and 12 Albertans,
approximately 10 % of the overall entries. Compare that to 2005 when approximately 425 cars competed, with
20 from British Columbia and only 7 from across the Rockies in Alberta. Somewhat surprisingly the percentage
of Canadian competitors was lower then, at less than 7 %, despite cheaper gas prices and lower overall travel
expenses.

So what hasn't changed at the Northwest Nationals or Pacific Raceways? It's certainly not the ticket prices,
which have continued on a steadily climbing trajectory. The $33 general admission and $38 reserved ticket
prices for Friday in 2005 have jumped to $41 and $46 this year. Even stiffer are the weekend seats which ranged
in price from $41 to $45 and have now hit $49. Worse still are the weekend reserved seats which have gone from
a low of $51 to a high of $58 in '05 to the current levels that range from $59 to $62.

On reflection, these ticket price increases aren't that bad for the reserved seats, but are quite significant,
in the 20 % range, for general admission seating. Still, if the show is worth the tariff, then no one is going
to complain too loudly about the rates being charged. But does the entertainment, and make no mistake, NHRA
Full Throttle Drag Racing is entertainment, justify the prices?

 

Do the creature comforts, ie.. comfortable seats, readily available and reasonably priced food and drink, clean
convenient restrooms, easy access and egress to and from the venue provide enough value for the prices charged?
My last trip to Pacific Raceways found many of those areas lacking, but I'm sure that in the interval some
serious improvements have come to many of the features of the facility. On the other hand, the conditions may
not be much better than they were 20 or 30 years ago when it was Seattle International Raceway.

The race track is still the same basic strip of asphalt that was first laid in 1959, and only repaved partially
and improved occasionally over the past half century of racing. If you can, think back to the early years of
the past decade, after the Fiorito family terminated the Jim Rockstad lease and took over direct control of the
track, and announced some very grand plans for the aging race plant. Plans that would see a total renovation
of the venue, with a dragstrip running in the opposite direction, completely new grandstands, parking lots and
spectator conveniences.

That seems like such a long time ago, and I'm sure the Fioritos would prefer that no one remembers it anymore,
but the plans were announced, then slowly but surely shifted under the carpet as the years went by and no progress
was made. Planning delays, financing holdups, any and all manner of real and/or imagined impediments have repeatedly
stalled the dream of a new and much improved Pacific Raceways. When I arrive at the track on Friday morning, I'm
not sure if there will be any sign of the "new era" or just a lot of "same old, same older" in view.

Despite all that we can find fault with, Pacific Raceways is in a great location, set in the forests southeast of
Seattle, at a fairly low elevation with good atmospheric conditions for its summertime event. The racers like to
run at Seattle, although the travel to reach the track can be daunting for many of the lesser-funded teams, but
the atmosphere is always upbeat and positive in the pits and the spectators continue to turn out in serious numbes
year after year for an event that seems like a permanent fixture on fans, racers and NHRA's calendar.

With a great, in fact, almost too good weather forecast for the weekend, the only battle may be to find traction
on a hot and slippery track on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. That's just one of the reasons drag races are run
on a track and not on paper or in dyno rooms.

Keep checking this website throughout the weekend for all the stories, photos and news from the Northwest Nationals.

Team Previews

Team Ace preview

The Western Canada-based sportsman racing family of Eddy Plaizier under the Team ACE Racing banner along with support from Sandstar Utility Products (of Las Vegas) will be headed to Seattle this coming weekend for the NHRA Northwest Nationals. That will mark the beginning of a very busy summer schedule for the team. In fact it will be the 9 races in 7 weeks (!) for 20-year old son Casey Plaizier.

Casey will be pulling double duty wheeling the C/SA Firebird in the Stock eliminator category plus the Competition Eliminator B/SMA Cavalier for car owner Ken Reich, backed by Specialty Auto.

 

Going along for 6 races will be the team leader and my father, Eddy Plaizier, who will campaign his 48 Anglia after a 3 year hiatus in Super Gas, then switching gears and adding his Top Dragster for the delayed Mission and Seattle divisional.

After Seattle, the lengthy line up of races they will compete in includes Sonoma (including the completion of the Phoenix national event there), Mission, Spokane, Cordova, Minnesota, then finishing off with a double header event back at Seattle (postponed Mission Div 6) plus the actual Seattle Divisional event.
"The highlights of this trip will be racing at tracks that we have only read about but have never seen," said Eddy Plaizier. "Then we have the bonus of competing back at Mission, BC during the Nostalgia Funny Car race in July."
Over the last 3 years Casey has been driving the ACE Manufacturing backed '56 Chev in Super Street.
"Although giving up the Super Street ride was tough, adding the Stocker will give me more opportunities to run 2 classes at the races we enter," said Casey Plaizier. "Having another shot at the tree is always an important advantage."

"It has always been my goal to fly in and have Casey drive the rig to the races and to compete at more than 2 races in a row," added Eddy. "With the support of Harold Parfett and the Ace Manufacturing family, we were able to do that this year. Ace Manufacturing has been with us since 1995 and we can't say enough about the relationship we have."

(Drag Race Canada and SpeedZone Magazine photos)

 

July 6, 2010

Event preview:

KENT, Wash. --

The 23rd NHRA Northwest Nationals, 14th of 23 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Drivers in three categories - Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock - earn points leading to 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series world championships.
WHERE: Pacific Raceways, Kent, Wash. The track is located 10 miles east of Interstate 5 on Highway 18. >From I-5, use Exit 142A (Auburn exit) and travel east 10 miles on Highway 18, following the signs to the track. From other points, use Highway 18 and exit S.E. 304th St. or S.E. 312th St.

WHEN: Friday through Sunday, July 9-11

SCHEDULE:
FRIDAY, July 9 - LUCAS OIL SERIES qualifying at 9:15 a.m.
FULL THROTTLE SERIES qualifying at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, July 10 - LUCAS OIL SERIES eliminations begin at 9:15 a.m.
FULL THROTTLE SERIES qualifying at noon and 3 p.m.

SUNDAY, July 11 - Pre-race ceremonies, 10 a.m.
FULL THROTTLE SERIES eliminations begin at 11 a.m.

TELEVISION:
Saturday, July 10, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 10 p.m. (ET).
Sunday, July 11, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise NHRA Race Day, a 30-minute news magazine show, at 11 a.m. (ET).
Sunday, July 11, ESPN3.com will televise three hours of coverage starting at 7 p.m. (ET).
Sunday, July 11, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise two hours of coverage starting at 11:30 p.m. (ET).

2009 EVENT WINNERS: Antron Brown, Top Fuel; Tim Wilkerson, Funny Car; Mike Edwards, Pro Stock.

TRACK RECORDS:
Top Fuel - 3.802 seconds by Tony Schumacher, July '08; 316.90 mph by Schumacher, July '08
Funny Car - 4.056 seconds by Robert Hight, July '08; 304.39 mph by Hight July '08
Pro Stock - 6.556 seconds by Mike Edwards, July '09; 211.03 mph by Edwards, July '09

Top Fuel and Funny Car race distance is 1,000 feet; Pro Stock is 1,320 feet)

NATIONAL RECORDS:
Top Fuel - 3.771 sec. by Tony Schumacher, Oct. '08, Richmond, Va.; 324.98 mph by Schumacher, March, '10, Gainesville, Fla.
Funny Car - 4.022 sec. by Matt Hagan, June '10, Joliet Ill.; 316.38 mph by Ashley Force Hood, March '10, Charlotte, N.C.
Pro Stock - 6.509 sec. by Mike Edwards, Oct. '09, Richmond, Va.; 212.46 mph by Greg Anderson, March '10, Charlotte, N.C.

(Top Fuel and Funny Car race distance is 1,000 feet; Pro Stock is 1,320 feet)

TICKETS: For tickets call (253) 639-5927. Tickets also are available online at www.ticketmaster.com.

GENERAL ADMISSION (includes pit pass) - Friday: Adult, $41; Junior (6-12 years), $10; Saturday: Adult, $49; Junior (6-12 years), $10. Sunday: Adult, $49; Junior (6-12 years), $10. Child (5 and under), free in general admission/ pit areas each day.

RESERVED SEATS (includes pit pass) - Friday: Adult, $46; Junior (6-12 years), $15; Child (5 years and under), $5. Saturday: Adult, $59-61; Junior (6-12 years), $20-22; Child (5 and under), $10-12. Sunday: Adult, $59-$62; Junior (6-12 years), $20-$22; Child (5 and under), $10-$12.

Team PR

John Force

KENT, Wash. -- In the movies, Superman wears blue-and-red tights, is faster than a speeding bullet and is able to defy the laws of gravity. In real life, Superman wears a green-and-red firesuit, is faster than a speeding bullet and apparently is able to defy the effects of aging.
At age 61, John Force knows he really isn't Superman, but don't try to tell that to the 20, 30 and 40-somethings against whom he will be racing this week at speeds near 315 miles per hour. At an age when his peers have yielded to younger, stronger and supposedly more enthusiastic rivals, Force isn't just competing on his sport's biggest stage, he is dominating.

Entering this week's 23rd annual NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways, the 14-time champion has taken his Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang to the Funny Car final round in almost half the races thus far contested in the Full Throttle Series (six of 13).

With just five events remaining before the points are adjusted for the NHRA's Countdown to 1 playoffs, Force leads reigning series champion Robert Hight and the Auto Club Ford by 73 points and Matt Hagan and the Die Hard Dodge by 175.

That margin, coupled with his four 2010 wins, makes it appear more and more likely that he will start the Countdown at the Labor Day Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, Ind., as the Funny Car leader, likely making him the first sexagenarian ever favored to win a major championship in, well, professional sports history.

It's not just the fact that he's won more than 70 per cent of all the races he's run over the last 33 years. It's not just that he once won 10 successive championships. It's not that he once qualified for a record 395 consecutive events over 20 seasons. There's that, but there's also the fact that after surviving an accident that threatened his livelihood, after struggling for two seasons, he has regained his legendary superpowers.

The only thing larger than Force's resume, which includes 130 NHRA tour victories, 33 more than anyone else, is his personality, which kept him and in the media spotlight the last two years even though he wasn't winning. Nevertheless, after two seasons during which it seemed like someone found his Kryptonite, Force is back.

"I've got a great team," he said, "(and) not just my crew chiefs - Austin Coil, Bernie Fedderly and Mike Neff. I have a whole bunch of young guys, kids that put my Mustang together, week-after-week."

With Neff making the tough tune-up decisions with support from Coil and Fedderly, Force once again is a threat not only to win, but to qualify his special edition Mustang at the top of the order. He's done so three times this year after failing to start from the No. 1 qualifying position for three entire seasons (73 races).

"Coil and Bernie were like a couple of old dogs up on the porch," Force said. "It took us putting a young pup like Neff over there to get 'em going again."

With improved equipment and a rejuvenated crew, the final essential element in the equation was the health of the driver. After enduring months of rehab after being seriously injured in a 2007 crash at Dallas, Texas, Force admits that he had some physical limitations the last two years that have been resolved through nothing more supernatural than hard work.

"I live in the gym," said the 2008 Hall of Fame inductee. "If I miss a day, I can tell it. It's what I gotta do to keep myself in the game, but I'm in better shape now than I was before the crash. I'm stronger, especially my legs."
Force at Pacific Raceways:
John Force has won the NHRA Northwest Nationals seven times, but not since 2004. He has beaten all three Pedregon brothers in a final round - Cruz in 1993 and 2004, Tony in 1996 and Frank in 2000.
John's youngest daughter, Courtney, earned won the Top Alcohol Dragster title at last year's Northwest Nationals.
The Breakdown:
At the NHRA Northwest Nationals
22 races, 21 starts, 9 final rounds, 7 wins, 5 No. 1 qualifiers, 46-14 round record (40.0%)
2010 Season
13 races, 6 final rounds, 4 wins, 3 No. 1 qualifiers, 26-9 round record (71.4%)
Career
539 starts, 208 final rounds, 130 wins, 134 No. 1 qualifiers, 1064-409 round record (72.1%)
Notable:
The support team that maintains John's Castrol GTX Ford earned the Full Throttle Hard Working Crew award at the most recent race in the series at Norwalk, Ohio.

http://www.johnforceracing.com For more information about Castrol-branded products and services, please visit us at Castrol.com/US

Robert Hight Preview

KENT, Wash. -- As a long-time baseball fan Robert Hight understands the subtleties of the game. The 2009 Funny Car champion chose to play catcher in high school because he wanted to be involved in every pitch and help control the flow of the game. The subtleties of winning a second Full Throttle Funny Car championship have Hight in a similar position sitting in second place in the Full Throttle point standings behind 14-time champion and teammate John Force, Hight wants every round to count and he wants to have control of the outcome of every round when he is behind the wheel of his Auto Club Mustang.
In 2009 that was not the case as Hight struggled most of the regular season before getting on track in the Countdown. In Seattle last year Hight qualified 10th and was quickly dispatched by Tim Wilkerson in the first round. In his previous four races at Pacific Raceway he had never qualified lower than 3rd and three times was the No. 1 qualifier.

This season Hight, the former crewman turned world champion, and Force have been battling at the top of the point standings for the past two months. The boys of summer will now attack the Western Swing and as the regular season comes to an end Hight wants to finish on a hot streak.

"I have said all season that I want to dominate all year if I am going to have a shot at my second Full Throttle Funny Car championship. John dominated in the 90's and he is still dominating. He has more wins and more finals this season than anyone in the class. He is amazing and I am just trying to stay close to him. (Crew chief) Jimmy Prock and I have a plan and we want to keep our Auto Club Mustang running at the front of the pack. It is so hard to do that this year in Funny Car," said the three time 2010 winner.

"At the last race in Norwalk we were running great on race day and then we ran up against John in the semi-finals. I don't know what happened at the start of that race. When I pull up, I don't look at the Tree. I am looking down track to make sure that my Mustang is straight. I see (Jimmy) out of the corner of my eye stop me and I stop. He does his deal and he walks away. When he walked away (this time), the bottom stage bulb flashed. I stopped in my tracks. I thought maybe he pulled me clear through the beams and (asked myself) 'am I way too far in?' I saw the flash and thought, 'how did that just happen?'

"I rolled forward and the top pre-stage bulbs lit. I blacked that out and never thought of it again until it was over with. I saw John pre-stage. I pulled my (fuel) pump on, took my foot off the clutch and started bumping in. I got staged I looked over and he was staged. I looked at the Tree and I never saw anything. He left. You can see on our video it did flash, the Tree did, but I swear I did not see it. It was a quick one," said a dejected Hight outside the Auto Club hauler."

"For some reason, something was weird and it was a quick flash. I don't know what took place. It wasn't anything more than driver malfunction. I have no idea. I did not see the Tree come down."

Force took the round win and Hight has moved on focused on winning the Seattle race and making a run at the Western Swing.

"John is the only Funny Car driver to win the Western Swing. Of course I would like to join him but there are probably ten or twelve other drivers out here capable of winning three races in a row so I am not going to guarantee anything. You can't call your shot in Funny Car. It is just too tough," said the three time No. 1 qualifier at the NHRA Northwest Nationals.

"I am going to start the Western Swing the same way I started the month of May; with a little baseball. I am going to watch the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night play the New York Yankees after a Full Throttle appearance at a local Wal-Mart. I threw out the first pitch in St Louis before we won the AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals and then we went to the next three finals ultimately coming within one round of winning four races in a row."

In that stretch Hight won 15 rounds of racing in a row before being stopped by Matt Hagan in the Chicago final. He became just the fifth different driver in Funny Car history to win 15 rounds in a row. Only six Funny Car drivers had ever won three races in a row before Hight accomplished the feat this season, most recently Cruz Pedregon en route to his 2008 Funny Car championship.

Seven drivers including Hight have won three or more races in a row and overall since 1975 there have been 19 occurrences of a driver winning a minimum of three races in a row. In all but two instances the driver who won three in a row went on to win that year's NHRA Funny Car championship. In 2002 Tony Pedregon won three in a row but teammate John Force, another three in a row winner, won the championship. In 2005 Gary Scelzi won the championship at the last race of the season in spite for Force's three in a row run earlier in the season.

Hight is not thinking championship or Western Swing dominance right now. He has his eyes focused on going rounds and giving Prock and his team as much information as possible on his Auto Club Mustang.

"We made some changes at the start of June and really what we need is to make as many passes as possible. In May and early June during that four race stretch on Sundays I made sixteen passes going to those four finals. Last year during that same four race stretch I only went five rounds. We got three times as much information this year versus last year," said Hight. "Last year in the Western Swing I went to two semi-finals but lost in the first round in Seattle. A good start in Seattle could set us up for a strong run on the Western Swing and get us in position for the Countdown."

 

Rested Lucas Oil racer Langdon ready to attack Western Swing

SEATTLE (July 6) – After a well-deserved week away from the track, Shawn Langdon and his Lucas Oil/Speedco Top Fuel dragster team is ready to face the NHRA’s Western Swing head on.

Langdon said he’s spent the week off recharging his mental batteries in preparation for the Western Swing of consecutive races through Seattle, Sonoma, and Denver, which begins this weekend at Pacific Raceways with the NHRA Northwest Nationals.

"Really, I’ve spent the time just relaxing," Langdon said. "I’ve been hanging out at the house with my girlfriend, Jessica. I’ve really just been enjoying the time off. I’ve not had a lot of time away from the racetrack this year been Sportsman racing and the Top Fuel car so it’s been nice to go to the shop every day and slow the pace down."

Langdon is a solid seventh in the Full Throttle Series Top Fuel standings, and he’s hoping the team can crack the victory column before the three-week trek out west ends.

Four races are left before the top 10 in points are locked in and the NHRA’s postseason, the Countdown to 1, begins.

"We’re really going to try to start the Western Swing on the right foot," he said. "Our main thing is to go a couple of rounds here and there, and just let the luck factor fall into place. Our goal is to get one win out of the three-race swing.

"Things are coming around for us right now. We're excited."

It’s a positive feeling that has filtered through the entire Lucas Oil/Speedco team.

"We were racing a lot early in June and not getting the results we wanted," Langdon said. "That was frustrating for the team because we know we can win, but we were making little mistakes that were hurting us.

"The frustration built up and guys got down, but I’ll give them credit, everyone stood together and were ready for the next race. We spent a lot of time together during the Fourth of July weekend, that’s the kind of close-knit team we have, and I think that brotherhood will help us moving forward."

Pacific Raceways holds a special place in Langdon’s memory, so he’s always excited to make his way back there.

"I won my first national event there in 2002," said Langdon, a three-time world champion before he turned professional in 2009. "I’m always excited to get back there. I’ve got a lot of good memories at Pacific Raceways and it’s always great to race at a track where you’ve had some success."

Qualifying begins at 2 p.m. PDT Friday. Eliminations begin at 11 a.m. PDT Sunday. ESPN2 will carry qualifying and eliminations during primetime on Saturday and Sunday.

Contact: Geiger Media at 281-354-5769 or rob@go2geiger.com.

Please visit www.LucasOil.com for more information.