Shannon Jenkins (near car)
Words by Brad Turk
Photos by Greg Lortz
6/15/05
It was a spectacular weekend in Grand Bend,
Ontario, Canada for the 6th Annual IHRA Mopar Canadian Nationals.
The weather was hot, humid and very sticky which made for
some tricky track conditions at times. The temperature hovered
around 85 degrees, but with the humidity it felt more like
105 degrees and the track temperatures were well beyond
that. At one point Saturday afternoon the track temperature
was a blistering 141 degrees.
TOP FUEL
The hot conditions affected the Fuel cars in qualifying.
After the final session only one car made a 300-mph pass
and that came from No. 2 qualifier Doug Foley with a 300.20.
Number one qualifier was no surprise.
The big dog, Clay Millican's 4.748 was the best of the class.
It was the first IHRA race for the team since Peter Lehman
sold it to a group of investors including Kenny Koretsky,
crew chief Mike Kloeber and Millican.
Louie Allison, Bruce Litton, the legendary Chris Karamesines,
Rick Cooper, Canada's own Todd Paton, and Paul Athey rounded
out the class.
Septuagenarian Chris Karamasines qualified
at Grand Bend. "The Greek" is currently No. 8
in the IHRA Top Fuel points.