Foley Defends Title in Toronto

By Mike Perry / IHRA.com
Photos by Greg Lortz and Steve Embling
8/2/05

Last season Doug Foley won the first of his three rookie year Ironmen at Toronto Motorsports Park. This year he won his first in Toronto again.

Foley (Sewell, N.J.) defeated Bruce Litton (Indianapolis, Ind.) in the Top Fuel final to claim his first Hooters IHRA national event victory of the season and fourth of his career at the ACDelco Nationals at Toronto Motorsports Park. He also passed Litton in the world championship points standings and has his sights set on Drummonds, Tenn., resident Clay Millican, IHRA Top Fuel's top gun. Foley is 13 points ahead of Litton and 137 behind Millican.

"We don't give up, we stay focused on winning round by round," Foley said. "That's our job. A lot of things have to happen for us to be able to come up on Clay, but we intend to put pressure on him. He has a great team over there and they have a lot of experience. They have eight or nine full-time crew guys and that's a big advantage over most other pro teams. They are a world-class team."

Foley was the #1 qualifier at the ACDelco Canadian Nationals, the third time he has claimed the top post this season. He defeated Louie Allison (Denver, Colo.) in the first

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round and teammate Rick Cooper (Boise, Id.) in the semifinals to advance to the championship. In the run for the Ironman Litton shook his tires at the 330-foot mark and lifted out of the run, enabling Foley to cruise to the championship with a 4.795/299.13 pass.

The weather in Toronto was tricky for Foley's Crew Chief, Doug Kuch, to figure out.

"When the sun is on the track for 15 hours the first round really tells a lot," Foley said. "The guy that finds the tune-up to get him down a hot, greasy track means he doesn't really have to change anything. We didn't even change the tires, and we have never, ever not changed the tires during a race. But we left the same set of tires on it all day. Doug picked at it here and there with a few little timing changes, but it wasn't broke. Why fix it?"