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July 7, 2009 | NEXT PAGE » |
Division 6 LODRS at Seattle
"The Olympics of Drag Racing" was the billing for Round 4 of the Division 6 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series at Pacific Raceway on June 19-20. The weather forecast on the days prior to the weekend had looked great and there were some solid fields, especially in Funny Car, that should make this a great weekend's racing. But we were in the Northwest, and as anybody who lives up here will tell you, you cannot rely on the weather forecasts.
Sure enough, Friday morning we had rain showers and more rain showers. What should have been three rounds of Alcohol qualifying with the final session racing into the sunset, turned into two sessions under ominous skies, one on the Friday evening and one early on Saturday.
Finals, due for Saturday evening, ended up on Sunday with Shawn Cowie and Steve Gasparrelli (lead photo) taking home the Wallys.
Also notable was a return to the cockpit for Steve Federlin, who was subbing for his regular driver, Justin Davies. It was great to see the familiar wave to the crowd as he backed the car up after the burnout. |
For Friday, it was well into the afternoon before things got under way but, thanks to the tireless efforts of Pacific Raceway staff and the NHRA safety crew, when the cars did hit the track, conditions were great. By the time night fell, everybody got one round of qualifying in and in the Alcohol classes it was Shawn Cowie in his blown dragster post a pole time of 5.389 at 268.12 mph over Joey Severance, who ran a 5.40. In Funny Car, Gasparrelli took the Mustang to a 5.651 at 255.63 mph for the top spot over Clint Thompson's 5.66.
On Saturday, apart from a couple of short rain delays, it was mechanical issues and oil downs that dragged the day out into the dark and under the lights.
Alcohol eliminations were due to be completed this day so they got their final qualifying hit early in the day.
In dragster, most cars got down the track with only one real surprise, that of Ashley Bart (below). The fine young lady out of Alberta, Canada, stuck a 5.391 at 263.41 mph up on the boards. This team suffered a huge set-back at the start of the year when all the team tools, spares and equipment were stolen, but they have really 
started to show their potential with Ashley's first visit into the .30s.
Cowie (above right) stayed #1 and Severance #2 with Bart taking the third spot.
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