There were several brand new AA/FC’s making their competition debut at the Goodguys race including Pennsylvania racer Peter Gallen in his immaculate Hemi-powered  ’74 ‘Vette, Shawn Bowen’s refurbished ’78 Firebird, and Kevin Lennon’s new ’78 Arrow. Of the new Funny Cars that were at the event, Gallen’s was by far the most impressive. He had low ET in qualifying with a 6.106/198 pass on his first attempt Friday. In the first round of Eliminations on Saturday against number-eight qualifier Paul Romine, Gallen’s Vega ran a .997 sixty footer and then the motor  lost fuel pressure and the car slowed dramatically to a high seven.

Shawn Bowen  (Chris Haverly photo)

The Speed and ET records for the DragRacingOnline.com AA/FC Challenge were reset at Indy. Shawn Bowen now holds the ET mark at 6.205 and the Speed record is now held by Newark, Delaware, driver Steve Nichols’ wedge-head Chevy-powered Camaro at 227.38 mph.

The final round between Bowen and Romine will be run in two weeks at the Nostalgiafest race at Cordova (Ill.) Dragway Park June 26-29 and the Goodguys’ “Hemi” Trophy for winning their event will be awarded to the winner. (Thanks to Goodguys Marc Meadors for sending the trophy.) That final round will also determine the DragRacingOnline.com AA/FC Challenge series points lead.

Denver Schutz (Jeff Burk photo)

The Top Fuel show at Indy was one of the best in the Midwest. There were 11 AA/FD cars on hand and they put on a great show. Four of the AA/FD in the eight-car field recorded five-second runs at over 250 mph.

That’s a good show anywhere, but for a Midwest Top Fuel show it was stellar. Veteran Schutz dominated the action with his 392-cubic inch Rodeck/Hemi-powered dragster. (These cars run under a cubic inch-to-weight rule.)  He came out of the box with a 5.87 clocking and never ran any slower. His 5.83 second round win over Jeff Miller was good for Low ET of the meet. 

Illinois racer Randy Bridges shocked the West Coast racers and served notice that all the fast cars are not on the West Coast. In his semi-final race with Schutz he copped Top Speed of the meet honors running 254.23 while trying to hold off Schutz, but his 5.982/254.23 just wasn’t enough to cover Schutz’s 5.87/245 timing. 

Rain prevented the final round action between Schutz and Indianapolis-based Howard Haight from happening. The Goodguys hope to bring those two cars back to their final race of their Midwest tour at Bowling Green to see who will get the coveted Indy winner title.

All other class finals were declared to be a tie by the Goodguys staff.

Next stop in the Midwest for the Goodguys is the Friday Nite Drags July 10-12 at National Trails Dragway in Columbus, Ohio.