(main image by Brad Turk/inset image by Roger Richards)

Words by Jeff Burk
Photos Brad Turk and Roger Richards

Del Cox and tuner Paul Smith got their second IHRA Top Fuel win as did Pro Mod star Ed Hoover at the IHRA Mopar Canadian Nationals in Grand Bend, Ontario. In Pro Stock action Dean Goforth got an upset win over Pete Burner. Bruce Boland won the PMRA title where the track distance was an eighth-mile instead of the standard 1320 feet that the rest of the fields ran.

Once again IHRA’s primo doorslammer classes of Pro Stock and Pro Mod were on the short side with only 14 Pro Stocks and nine Pro Modifieds making the trip to Grand Bend. The race attracted small crowds on Friday and Sunday -- which seems to be the norm at all national event drag races this year -- but had an SRO (Standing Room Only) crowd on Saturday.

TOP FUEL

The 2009 IHRA Top Fuel championship is rapidly becoming a two-car race between rookie Del Cox Jr and his tuner Paul Smith and veteran Top Fuel racer and multiple IHRA champ, Bruce Litton.

After a mid-season swoon, Cox and Smith proved that they will be contenders for the title in the final four races of the season by qualifying on the pole at Grand Bend and then blasting through the field for their second IHRA Top Fuel victory of the season.
 
Despite still trailing Litton in the points chase Cox was very happy after his win.

“We are back on top of the mountain. Paul Smith is the man, he gave me a great car this weekend,” Cox said.

Cox (Downey, Calif.) ran a solid 4.882 elapsed time at 285.77 miles per hour, edging points leader Bruce Litton (Indianapolis, Ind.) who ran a 4.945 E.T. at 256.31 mph in one of the closest battles of the event.

Litton’s fifth final in six races gives him some breathing room in the points battle over Cox. Litton leads Cox by 68 points with four races remaining this season.