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March 16-20, 2011 2011 March meet coverage is here 2011 March Meet event coverage is separate for each page. Thursday test, Friday qualifying, Saturday qualifying, Sunday eliminations
2011 Nostalgia feature stories are here.
October 24, 2011 California Hot Rod Reunion. Weekend wrap-up Results are posted (TF and FC) The (other classes)
(story and photos by Bob Wilson) After a weekend of racing, reminiscing and enjoying the beautiful fall weather in central California, the 20th annual California Hot Rod Reunion wrapped up on Sunday evening. Those who stayed until the very end were witness to some incredible runs in the final rounds of the pro (Top Fuel and Funny Car) classes, and some very close and exciting races in the sportsman categories.
John Hale set the bar very high indeed with a new Nostalgia Funny Car record e.t. at 5.58, coupled with a huge speed of almost 256 mph in a final round match with Kris Krabill, who's consistent and very quick 5.78 was left in Hale's wake. The only thing that made the race at all close was the nearly tenth of a second starting line advantage gained by Krabill. Still, it was all John Hale at the finish line. As is his custom, the car left very hard, with the front wheels in the air until well past the 100' mark and just kept charging all the way to the quarter-mile stripe.
The big question to be answered was how could the Top Fuel finalists top that performance? With Steve Boggs tuning the awesomely powerful and very quick Tony "T-Bone" Bartone car it seemed almost anything was possible. He already had the quickest e.t. in Nostalgia history in hand from a first round (Saturday) crushing of Bill Dunlap, with a 5.566 and a big speed of 263.41 mph. Could he top that, just as Hale had done only minutes earlier? Not to be discounted in the final round equation was Utah's Brett Harris in the "Nitro Thunder" entry who had methodically worked his way through the field from the #5 qualifying position, laying down three consecutive 5.7 e.t.'s at mid 250-mph speeds to earn the right to take on Bartone for the title. In young Harris's favour was a definite starting line edge with an average of half a tenth quicker launches to his credit. But would it be enough to overcome the massive performance edge owned by the Boggs-Bartone juggernaut?
The answer came very quickly indeed, and left the New Yorkers disappointed as a .033 second holeshot gave Harris a margin of victory of barely one thousandth of a second. The verdict: 5.725 - 255.73 for the strong running Harris, and a 5.693 losing number for Bartone. What about the speed for Bartone though? Only 269.29 freaking miles per hour. The fastest, bar none, front-engine top fuel run in history. Done in 3500 foot air too. Simply amazing!
The only thing keeping the race from being totally dominated by Bartone was a slightly too soft launch in the final. With the still very hot track temps and a solid performance advantage the "B and B" team must have felt that being just a little safe would work in their favour. Unfortunately, just a little too safe! But they did go home with the best numbers ever recorded in the class and the knowledge that they can run with and away from, anybody.
So
how you do recap an event that was far more than just another drag race? Yes,
the competition was certainly there, with nearly three dozen Nitro Funny Cars
in the pits, and for a pleasant change, a full field of Top Fuel dragsters. The
sportsman categories were mostly well represented, with only Junior Fuel sporting
less than a full show, with only seven cars attending. The A/Fuel dragsters turned
out in strong numbers with 12 cars for
One thing that is hurting both of these classes is the heads-up aspect, with quite a margin between the front runners and those at the back of the pack. If the gap grows even wider, we're going to see fewer and fewer cars showing up in the future. What can be done about it? Not much really, as every time the rulebook tries to legislate equality, it simply doesn't accomplish the objective. Unfortunately, in so many areas of drag racing, it's becoming more of a survival of the fattest (wallet) instead of the fittest. Darwin with a big chequebook in a way.
With a much larger number of competitors and some real diversity in car choices, the Pro 7.0 gang proved to be a big hit with the fans. Helping to some extent were some seriously well-presented back-up "assistants" and the very close, and very fast, racing struck a welcome chord with everyone.
With the hard running required just to qualify, two alternates were inserted into the show, and one of them, Greg Howland, went all the way to the final and tripped the win light, only to lose on a breakout by seven thousandths of a second. Quite a redemption and just nanoseconds away from the victory in one of the most competitive classes at the Reunion. The
other category showing a good mix of cars was A/Gas with a variety of late and
early model machinery, which included a number of very Pro Mod-ish looking entries.
While adhering to the Heritage Series rules, I've got to wonder if some of these
cars are really within the spirit of the reunion.
With
31 cars trying to squeeze into the 16-car field, and run no quicker than 7.60,
qualifying was quite a show in itself. The first 14 cars were within .05 of the
index, and the list of 7-second cars stretched all the way down to the #28 car
on the ladder. Some great performances highlighted their show, and just to give
you an idea of the great mix of machines, here's the make of the top six cars
in the field: '53 Studebaker, '65 GTO, The one Nostalgia Eliminator run at this event (NE1), sported 29 in all-run field on a 7.60 index, and did feature quite a variety of machinery: funny cars, altereds and dragsters, with the only common denominator being center-steer driving position. Even a few famous names and cars of the past showed up, with the Chess Bushey - Bruce McDowell (both longtime Top Alcohol competitors) dragster and Phil Lukens in the Blair's Speed Shop '48 Fiat that has been around drag racing about as long as the Christmas tree.
Adding to the show were a large group of A/FX cars, straight out of the mid to late 60's, with an age range of 1963 to 1969 - mostly encompassing the "golden age" of muscle cars. It turned into a battle between Mopar and Ford, with GM cars not well represented, and in the end, a pair of Mopars met for the title, with the '64 Belvedere of Joel Miner acing out the quickest car in the field, Lynsi Martinez, in her '69 Dart. There were a number of exhibition cars to fill some of the downtime (more on that aspect later), ranging all the way from the Fuel Altereds of Darryl Bradford, Ron Hope and "Iron" Mike Boyd, to the "Full Tilt Boogie" wheelstander, a group of six Midwest Gassers (mostly '37 Chevys) and a hodgepodge of old, and in some cases, really old - and frankly, mostly quite slow - race cars. Some of the cacklefest cars even made a pass down the track, slowly of course and mindful of the rules governing their participation, and the highlight of that feature was the Grand Marshall of the event, Steve Gibbs, making a lap in a front-engine fuel dragster. Very cool! And somewhat of an anomaly for the reunion, three rear-engine Top Fuel cars appeared. One, the tribute car to Warren, Coburn and Miller (The Ridge Route Terrors), driven by Brad Thompson, took on Terry Cox in the Cheetah IV front-engine car on Sunday afternoon, while the Shirley Muldowney tribute car (one of her pink English Leather cars) was cackled before pro eliminations started on Sunday morning, while in the middle of the afternoon, the "big show" fueler of Steve Chrisman towed past the grandstands. I have no idea what that was all about. To sum up the event, let's look at the positives and negatives, starting with what went and worked well, as those aspects far out-weighted the bad - or more correctly - the areas that could be improved upon or changed for the better. The concept of the Reunion, twenty years ago was for all the old drag racers to get together and bench-race, and reconnect and have a great time at an historic icon of the sport, Famoso Raceway, literally the birthplace of professional drag racing (the 1959 March Meet). The racing side of the reunion began almost as a sidelight and over the years has nearly overtaken the original concept of the gathering. However, there is a definite difference in the flavour of this event - and I call it that as it's a reunion first, and race second, despite how it's deemed to be by many racers and fans. The March Meet feels like a much more competitive event, with the focus on the racing, and it just happens to be nostalgia race cars. Even though there's lots of the details of the Reunion in place: the Grove, the midway, the pits full of incredible machinery, and the on-track action, the "vibe" is quite different at this annual fall event. And so it should be. Let's look at a few reasons why it is so unique. The people! When you boil down drag racing to its very essence, it's the people that make it happen and make it so worthwhile. And they were here in abundance. While Friday's spectator count seemed a little low at times, I had to keep reminding myself it was a workday and of course there won't be as many in attendance. Saturday was almost overwhelming, with cars lined up for half a mile to enter the parking lot before the spectator gates even opened. By the time the Top Fuel cars took to the track at noon, the grandstands were overflowing and the fans were lined up three deep along the fences all the way to the end of the stands after half track. Another
side of the people equation was the number of "aren't you?" "isn't
he?" and "didn't you use to be?" moments that kept popping up constantly. Even "big show" folks like Jim and Chad Head, Del and Chuck Worsham, the Capps (Ron and Jon) the Oberhofer brothers, Gary Densham, John Stewart, Rick Stewart, Robert Hight and the man himself, John Force, were in attendance. Some working, some driving, some just hanging out having a great time. Almost forgot: Linda Vaughn was signing autographs and posing for pictures on Saturday. Collectors items to be sure. People. Just lots and lots of people, all smiling, all happy to be there and enjoying the great weather and having a good time. We could just stop there and leave it at that point. But there's still more to examine. The Top Fuel cars redeemed themselves greatly in my eyes, as their continuous series of oildowns at the last two events here were virtually non-existent, and the general performance levels moved up considerably. The number of side-by-side 5-second passes and close races was even more impressive than the all-time best marks set by Tony Bartone's team. The Funny Cars also stepped up and ran very well as a group, with the second and final qualifying session on Saturday seeing someone bumped from the field after almost every pair went down the track. With a 5.88 bump - and the first alternate also at 5.88 for a 16-car field, you can tell that something good is happening out there. For
the floppers, the only downside was the unfortunately long list of no-shows, due
to a number of reasons, but the 34 cars that did attend and attempt to qualify
more than made up for those that chose not to be there. While this year's entry
list was slightly shorter (34 versus 36) than last year's, we certainly haven't
seen the high-water mark for this category. Not by a long shot. Speaking of which,
what is the limit? 48 cars? 64 cars? We can only The cacklefest contingent was the largest ever, with a total of more than 50 cars entered, some only able to do a static fire-up and others capable of idling (and a bit) down the track. The big show took place just after sunset on Saturday and the amount of nitro in the air would do the most diehard nitroholic proud. So many great cars from the early days of the sport, some beautifully restored, some lovingly recreated, and all burning fuel and making that beautiful noise that drag racing fans just love to hear and feel. The fire-ups and runs followed the overly long - and this is certainly not a knock on Dave McClelland - recitation of all the names of drag racers who have passed on in the last year. Sadly, every year the list gets longer and our heroes move off the planet and we remember them fondly, but with the obvious sadness of knowing they're no longer with us. The significance of the list really hit home as I was leaving the track on Saturday night and ran into Rick Santos, who had accepted the 2011 Honoree plaque on behalf of his very recently deceased father George. Even though it's been a very long time since I raced against them at Seattle back in the mid-80's, I'll never forget the help and assistance of giving me some needed parts that his father offered with absolutely no thought of receiving any money in return. They were a great racing team, and even more, great people, and just like so many names on that long list, George Santos will be missed. Finally, we've got to take a minute to look at some areas that really need help at this event. The track prep provided by the Famoso Raceway crew, led by track operator Blake Bowser is second-to-none. Even with all the work they do it appeared at one point on Saturday that some of the "late to join the party" funny car racers decided they needed more prep done before they could run. I'm not naming names but when people come out of the "big show" NHRA mindset and try to apply it to this sort of race, frankly they are missing the point of it all. The
decision to run the first round of the 16-car pro fields on Saturday has been
standard procedure at this event, but it does put a rather large hole in the entertainment
side of the program for Sunday. Even though the other classes do showcase some
great racing and beautiful cars, the lack of blown fuel cars during the day does
tend to slow down the show. The reasons for doing this are many: the difficulty
for part-time (ie., hobby for the most part) Whatever the case, the fact is that spectator attendance on Sunday was noticeably down from the previous day, especially after the second round of Top Fuel and Funny Car. At that point, only four cars remained in each class and the clock had only just ticked past noon. Thankfully, for those that did remain in the stands, a few of the non-qualifying funnys came out to make exhibition laps, the fuel altereds made another appearance, an impromptu match race between a front-engine and rear-engine Top Fuel car came about and the wheel-stander made another appearance. Oh,
and even more laps by a group of exhibition cars that were pretty much underwhelming.
Yes, they do show just how it was done "in the day" but watching As
a final note, this 20th annual Reunion was very definitely a success and bodes
very well for the future of nostalgia drag racing in almost every area. Long live the California Hot Rod Reunion!
October 16, 2011 Fall Championship event winners (Photos courtesy Bob Wilson) 7.0 winner: Mike Beurksen
Jr. Fuel winner: Dean Carter
JR.
Fuel Qualifying A/Fuel winner: Kin Bates
A/Fuel Qualifying 1 - 7573
- Kin Bates - Anderson, CA - '06 Tuttle - Chry 468 - 6.328 - 220.01 Brandon
Welch was driving the Beal Big show car car. Jpsh Crawford was in their team car.
He used to drive the Blue Max Car. Expect to see Crawford at Vegas and Pomona.
Dwayne Patton in the High Voltage ran 6.05 - 215.13 to 1000' for the best e.t.
of the weekend.
A big ouch for Ryan Davenport captured at the perfect time (by Bobby Thunder) as the burst panel lets go on the Burnout
October 13, 2011 Two busy Weekends in the nostalgia realm. This weekend is the Nostalgia Fall Championships at Bakersfield. It includes the group one and two classes including A/Fuel, Jr. Fuel, 7.0 pro, NEI, NEII, NE III, A/Gas, B/Gas, C/Gas, D/Gas, and Hot Rod. In today's test n tune, a few fuel teams made one or two hits. Steve Nichols was out for the first time this year and he made a couple short squirts. Dennis Taylor did the same in his new car. Dan Horan and Steve Belsky ( in a new Gaynor car) also made a short shot. Josh Crawford was out in his new big show car he made one hit. A number of other NFC and Top Fuel teams will be there as well testing for next weekend's big one the California Hot Rod Reunion. Speedzone has photo journalists (Bob Wilson and Mark King and Bob Snyder) at both events to keep you up to date. A Friday gallery from the Fall Championships is here. This week leading up to the reunion, teams and spectators are already lining up in anticipation of the Reunion. The reunion will be covered here.
'BAKERSFIELD, CA - Dozens of fans with their recreational vehicles, campers and trailers in tow wait to be the first to enter through the gates of the Auto Club Famoso Raceway in McFarland, CA in anticipation of the 20th California Hot Rod Reunion, presented by Automobile Club of Southern California, Oct. 21-23. Gates don’t open until Thursday, Oct. 20, but this doesn’t keep fans from arriving early and setting up temporary residence. “We’ve been hearing from the track that motorhomes and RV’s have been arriving since early last week,” said Museum and Reunion Director Tony Thacker. “The RVs are packing in and ticket sales are booming, these are just some very positive indicators that this year’s Reunion is going to be huge and fans are eager to get it started!” Meanwhile, local community officials contacted us with a few Caltrans highway closures that may affect California Hot Rod Reunion travelers. Highway closures around McFarland will be in effect from October 17 through 25. If traveling North on Hwy 99, please avoid exit Hwy 65 between 7th Standard and James Road. Here are some suggested alternate routes for commuters coming NORTH to Famoso Raceway: Stay
on Hwy 99 and exit Lerdo Hwy to 65 North July 31, 2011
Wild Bill debuted his blown altered and it lasted .8 of a second as he went into a big wheelstand and had to lift there was some suspension and undercarriage damage. ...con't
from the home page.....Racing did go well with
only two delays of any length, and the day was complete by 6:45. Pretty decent
considering there were well over 250 pre 1970 race cars and the feature classes.
While the final of the AA/Supercharged class was the quickest ever at MRP and
in Canada the class this year was week. There were only six cars (seven counting
one that was added to the field as a non member but he broke on his first lap),
and one that made only one run.
Molea and Harris get ready for round one of qualifying.
Scott White had issues in the first couple runs but in the final round he turned in a 6.81 to sit #2. Troy Owens laid down a 6.85 in the final round, one of that teams best runs ever. Brent Murray was back in the game is a solid way as he was the most consistent car through qualifying. The Edmonton driver ran three 6.90's including a 6.97 6.95 and a 6.92 best to sit #4. Mike Molea ended up at the bottom of the field with a struggling 7.23 he made in round one. The second and third laps he has issues that kept him from running under full power. Joel Matton did not get a full lap in, and the added car a driver from Bend Oregon broke just off the starting line.
Final Qualifying 1.
Howard Anderson Applegate Cal 37 Chevy 6.785/205.38 Eliminations
Molea did have an easy win if he wasn't too early. Troy Owens had a single and he shook hard pedaled it a couple times and gave up on the run.
Harris and White ran side by side even though they both had bye runs. They were
supposed to face Matton and the 57 Chevy but both failed to make Sunday eliminations.
Unfortunately for Harris, he broke a lifter in the Miner Bros. hemi and he could not make the repairs necessary to run in the semi finals. Both Anderson and White ended up with singles in the semis. Anderson was set to race Owens but Troy could not fire in the burnout box. Anderson singled to a 6.83/204. Scott made the most of his single as he ripped off a track record 6.627/207.99. That was a statement!
If these cars return to Mission, the group has to make sure they can field at least 8 cars, and really the track deserves 10 of them trying for an eight car field. They have not provided the track with their moneys worth in a few years, as there seems to be less than eight cars for Sunday eliminations on a regular basis. Other exhibition cars at Mission included Cal Tebb in his GTO Funny Car and Hank Weultges in his blown 41 Willys and Reg Deforest in his blown Altered. Cal was asked the weekend before at the Mission race if he would run with the Loafers as they had a couple feature cars cancel at the last minute, and Cal was more than willing to run back to back weekends, al be it with a short crew.
GTO was on rails all weekend long, running between 6.74-6.85. Hank Weultjes unfortunately did not had as good a weekend in his Donovan powered Willys. DeForest
had a wild first run as he went squirrely on his burnout, getting up on three
wheels and bending his wheelbar. He had to shut down and make repairs. On his
second run he launched hard with the wheels up but broke at 300 feet ending his
weekend. Unfortunately for Weultges his weekend was much the same as DeForest,
He had an blower sealing issue that took him until the end of Saturday to get
sorted out and on Saturday's lone run he was on a real good pass, likely a high
'6', but the car shut off at 400 feet. After making repairs Saturday evening he
came out with high hopes on Sunday. Sunday's run lasted about the same length
as Saturday's, but this time it was more disastrous as he kicked the rods out
at around 3-400 feet down track and he weekend was done. A tough break for the
very nice Willys. The other classes at Mission all had great fields and tough competition. In the 'Outlaw' class, it was Mike Lucas in his sweet Bantam Altered taking the win over Bob Rude in his cool short wheel based FED.
Rick Limb lost to TLD in round one and Tyson Wells lost to Martin Dykstra in the same round. Dave Warren broke out in round one to end his day early as well. The other Winners: In
Street Rod 'A"
In Street Rod 'B', Mission Raceway staffer Bill Clifford defeated John Cracknell (sorry don't have the numbers)
In Street Classic 'A', Jim Ward from Langley BC ran a 10.104/124 on his 10.03 dial in and defeated Scott Winterbottom from Port Coquitlam. Scott went .012 red and threw away his 9.661/137.11 on his 9.62 dial in.
The Street Machine 'A' battle was between Warren Jacobsen and John Lackie. They are two hitters in the regular bracket classes at Mission. Jacobsen went .018 at the tree and it was basically over. Lackie was over a tenth late and went under his dial trying to catch the Mission driver. Jacobsen went 11.01 on his 10.94 dial while Lackie was .024 under his 10.92 dial in.
The
Show n Shine was awesome with a couple hundred cars line two in a row for the
fun 1320 feet. The BBQ's put on by Freybe Gourmet Foods was awesome both days
and the after race activities were fun as usual. This is one of the best events
at MRP every year, and if the Loafers car club and MRP can put together a little
different feature class set up in the coming years, it will put the event over
the top.
Outlaw competitors Rich Wood and Mike Lucas
Dwayne Neuman and Eddie Radjo
Don Vickers and Ken Mickey in his new RH built FED
Doug Steele's new Chevy II is real nice. Weultjes and Tebb get ready.
Grant Howell in the 37 and Martin Dykstra in the 23. Phil Davis broke on this burnout.
A new Alberta blown 37 Chevy and a Washington state FED.
June 17, 2011 Langley Loafers Old time drags at the Eagle Motorplex.
This past weekend at the Eagle Motorplex was a weekend that the race track badly needed. It had a little bit of everything. Firstly, it had a decent spectator count, for the first time in a while. (Last year's Old Time drags had a pretty good one as well). Secondly the car count with the race cars totaled close to 280, also pretty decent. And thirdly, we were also blessed with above average weather, and that is the first time this year you can say that. Friday did have early morning showers for the test n tune and it was actually raining in Cache Creek, only 10 minutes away on Sunday. On these, the three most important aspects of a successful race, the 'Plex is graded a B plus. The only slightly down side was the troubles a few of the exhibition cars had. The Doorslammers, a staple of the Loafers race at the 'Plex, put on a great show. Yes their car count was 3-6 less cars than I thought would be there, but there were no delays in their program and a few cars were out with them for he first time this year.
The Altereds booked in did not have the usual weekend they are known for. All three Alberta cars put on a fantastic show at the Mission Loafers race last year, but last weekend, Tavis McDonell made two decent laps but on his second one on Sunday, his chutes did not deploy and he ended up in the Sand trap. No damage to the car, but Tavis did want to pull the motor apart to make sure his no sand of pea gravel got in through the injector. Reg Deforest only made one run and he suffered engine damage on that one so his weekend was done early. Dan Patterson also suffered engine damage. His happened on the burnout Sunday at noon. Dennis Hicks' had his FED out for the first time this with new driver Troy Clayton behind the wheel.
That team with Steve Brant tuning were trying to sort out the new combination and they had a few ignition issues that kept Clayton from making a run at full power. When it does run on all eight, they will haul ass.
Darrell Webb was set to do three or four exhibition runs against Jay Mageau in his Nitro Funny Car (top photo), but Jay had a rod Let go on his first run and after wounding his other engine in Alaska two weeks before, they could not make repairs to continue the weekend. A real unfortunate deal as it would have been a cool match race. Webb then ran against the Hick's FED on one run and made a couple solo laps, doing his patented long smoky burnouts.
The Saturday Show n Shine was its usual self, meaning great with the cars lined up on the track so spectators and rivals can compare their rides. This is one of the many good things about the Ashcroft Loafers event.
The car show in town at all the hotels is also very cool. Robbie's Motel while not being 'Hilton' like, has the perfect backdrop and road set up to display all the cars.
While the exhibition cars all made game efforts to put on a show, their runs that they made were great, especially the side by side with Tavis and Dan in their first altered race (they were 6.76 and 6.81), is was not the kind of weekend a few of those teams wanted.
June 13, 2011 Sunday Doorslammer final qualifying and eliminations for all classes. Sunday morning saw great weather and warm temperatures for the entire day. All the classes got one more time trial and the Canada West Doorslammers got in their final session of qualifying. Two more cars arrived Sunday morning, As Jordie Lazic and Mark Schuppener came out and made the last session. Both got in the field. Kevin Lance made the biggest move in the final qualifier, as he ripped of a career best 7.57 to move to the #1 spot. At sea level, he likely will run a low 7.40 or high 7.30. Final qualifying Kevin Lance
7.57
Here are final round results from the Eagle Motorplex. Doorslammer
Campbell River's Kevin Lance driving his 57 Chevy ran a 7.59/181 to defeat Maple Ridge's Rod Charlton in his 02 Chevy S-10. Charlton ran 7.99 @ 169 mph. Lance had a solid .2 light for Lance as he and the crew got his Transmission and converter issues sorted out and he ripped through the field running 7.50's all day long. The win was the biggest purse in Canada West Doorslammer history, handing out 2,000 to win. A well deserved win for the Lance team as their trip back to Vancouver Island will be a happy one. Rob Charlton as in his sixth final in a row dating back to the final two races of the 2010 season, and seven of the last eight races has seen Charlton in the final round. He has only two wins in those seven finals (both last year), and is winless in the four final rounds this year. But with the final round finishes he is in the point lead. Street Rod: Larry Rhodenizer 46 Ford .046 rt 13.76 / 64 mph def. George Criddle 33 Willys (red light) 9.972 / 131 mph
Street Rod B: Robin Reding 1932 Chevy 13.18 / 103 mph def. Sally Hamilton 34 Pick-up 13.13 / 107 mph
Street Classic A: Jerry Brabander 62 Chevy II 11.18 / 116 mph def. Paul Flett 63 Polara 500 10.33 / 130 mph
Street Classic B: Dave Wren 62 Savoy 11.796 / 109 mph def. John Velchek 55 Chevy 11.72 /115 mph
Street Machine B: Dave Desnoyer 69 Nova 10.25 / 131 mph def. Steve Moore 66 pick-up 11.24 / 105 mph
Street Machine C: Glenn Fillingham 68 AMX 12.33 / 107 mph def. Nathan Wheeler 68 Chrysler 17.20 / 78 mph
Outlaw: Allan Hamm 55 Chevy 10.26 / 128 mph def. Paul Stretch 66 Nova 9.02 / 151 mph
King of the Hill: Allan Hamm 55 Chevy 10.24 / 131 def. Jerry Brabander Chevy II 22.10 32 mph (red light) Gary Hough was out for the first time in his all new FED.
It is a true nostalgia looking Dragster with a molded body covering the entire cockpit and parachute area of the car, much like the 'Yellow Fang' or the old 'Tommy Ivo Cars' from the 70's. A very nice piece, with the work done by RH Race Cars. Gary has plans to run the car on nitro, but he ran it on a soft methanol tune-up for this past weekend, running a best of 9.30@ 155 mph. It should be a low seven or high six second car before too long.
June 12, 2011 Saturday time trials and qualifying A good opening day for the Langley Loafers Old TIme Drags. Saturday time trials and qualifying for the three Loafers classes went without too mny glitches as Street Rod, Street Machine and Street Classic all got three sessions inIn the middle of the day the always cool 90 minute show n shine took over the track. The Canada West Doorslammers, also got in their three qualifiers and so far it is Dallas Wagner who leads all comers. 12 cars ran and made the 8.99 minimum Saturday, early today (Sunday), two more arrived for one more qualifer at 11:00am. Their race is a $2,000 to win event, the biggest of the year. Dan Paterson ripped off the first 200mph pass in the blown altered 4 car match race, as he went 6.81 beside Tavis Mcdonnell's quicker (6.76). He tripped the mph scoreboard with a 196 mph pass. Reg Deforest took on Troy Clayton in Dennis Hicks' FED and both those cars ran low 7's in their first lap. Deforest and McDonnell had mechanical issues and did not make round two, but both Paterson and Clayton ran low seven's in their final run on Sunday. In the Corvette Funny car Match race between Jay Mageau and Darrell Webb, Mageau's day and weekend ended early when he had a Con Rod failure an his opening run. He layed down a great 400 foot smoker along side Webb, but while backing up Jay felt a vibration and shut the car down. Unfortunately he discovered and hole in the side of his Keith Black block and his weekend was done. Webb went 7.14 on his run, and then has a small oil leak in the second run. He willl be back for Sunday though. A tough deal for Mageau as he has had unfortunate luck at both events here at the Eagle Motorplex in the last two years. Saturday night after a great meal from the Loafers and Frebye Foods, entertainer was provided by a very cool one man show" Ray the Hat Man" out of Vernon or Kelowna. He was a great entertainer nad his songs ranged from current down to a bunch of 70's and 80's rock and country. A great job by Ray and thanks to the Plex for bringing in the entertainment. June 7, 2011 Tucson Fuel Altered Nationals. Story by Jim Maroney (photos Bob Snyder)
On
June 3rd, the WFA pulled into SIR with the largest showing of cars this year,
as part of the
Final
Qualifying
June 8, 2011 Langley Loafers "Old Time Drags" @ the Eagle Motorplex this weekend.
December 29, 2010 A new NFC team in the NW and it is from... no surprise, Alberta.
EDMONTON,
AB - The Sitko Family Racing team and Ace Manufacturing have Team
patriarch, George Sitko has been drag racing for 50 years. He has The
'77 Arrow body will be painted in the very recognizable Team Ace red Sitko
Family Racing would also like to welcome back Hyperion Laser Currently,
Ken Sitko is preparing the team's spare motor, George Sitko www.sitkoracing.com
|
Howard
Anderson
Scott
White and Troy Owens
Brent
Harris
Molea
and Anderson
Owens
had huge tire shake in round one.
White
and Harris paired up even though both had singles.
White
went 6.62 on this record setting run.
The final was a great race. The quickest ever at MRP.
Cal
Teb in the 
Outlaw
final round 
Rick
Limb's Chevy II is a looker. 
.
