NHRA Sony/PC Richard.com Open at Atco, NJ

Ondrejko, Heaps team up for wins

Words and photos by Phil Hutchinson

Ryan Ondrejko won his second Top Sportsman race in three events as teammate Warren Heaps won his first 2009 race in his John Ondrejko built Top Dragster at the Sony/PC Richard.com NHRA Open at Atco Dragway.

The Atco event, traditionally the lid lifter for the NHRA Northeast division, had its share of adversity, namely a total washout during Friday’s qualifying forcing the finals to Sunday. In addition to the rain, high winds limited the action to eighth-mile racing throughout the weekend. The racers and the NHRA crew did a great job with downtime kept to a minimum and the race completed under sunny, albeit windy, skies.

Ondrejko, driving his Jerry Bickel-built Pontiac, qualified on the Top Sportsman pole with a 4.408 at 160.28 mph that allowed him to keep lane choice throughout eliminations.

“Mickey Thompson Wheels and Tires provided us with time slips that are carbon copy run after run and our 760 ci Steve Schmidt Commander Racing Engine had us qualified at the front of the pack, which was crucial for lane choice,” Ondrejko said after his win. “All of this hardware is harnessed within our Jerry Bickel chassis which, as usual, had me wondering why I even have a steering wheel.”

Ondrejko’s final round opponent was the ’63 Corvette of Michael Kaufman and both drivers had good reaction times with Ondrejko’s 0.007 making the difference at the stripe with Ondrejko running a 4.470 on a 4.43 dial to Kaufman’s 4.626 on a 4.59.

With the win at Atco, Ondrejko is off to a great start in 2009 in the Speed Shop at Atco Dragway Top Sportsman Series, having won the Gainesville Lucas race along with a strong finish at the Bradenton event in February and he leads the D1 Top Sportsman points.

Heaps, who had Ryan’s dad John build his Top Dragster during the off season, has been on tour with the Ondrejko family throughout the spring, mostly hitting the Division Two winter meets. His performance with the dragster during the tour had been spotty with a nitrous backfire at Bradenton and an early exit in Gainesville, but at Atco Warren got his dragster from A to B in quick style.

In the finals of Top Dragster, Heaps’ Power Tune-sponsored Back in Black dragster took out local favorite Kevin Sway in an extremely close race with Heaps’ 4.311 (4.31 dial) edging out the 4.745 (4.73 dial) of Sway.

After the win Warren said, “The final round against Kevin was the most challenging. Sway is an accomplished racer and an intimidating force for any one to face. The race was so tight at the finish line that I didn’t even know who the winner was until my win light came on.”

Competition eliminator went down to a pair of V6-powered doorslammers with former NHRA Lucas Oil World and Division champ Sal Biondo taking the win over the I/A Oldsmobile of Richard Schonberger. Sal, driving the Mayo’s Automotive I/AA Beretta got the win as Schonberger’s Philadelphia Engines-sponsored Cutlass left too early.