Going toe to toe in Ontario

Words by Larry Crum/IHRA
Photos by Brad Turk

SATURDAY, July 16

Peter Gallen 1, Tim Boychuk 0.

In a showdown that was billed as a battle of the fastest between Pennsylvania's Peter Gallen and Alberta's Tim Boychuk, it was all Gallen on Saturday as the driver of the "Poverty Stricken" 1974 Vega Prostalgia Nitro (AA) Funny Car blasted to a potential world record and a win in front of a capacity crowd at the Mopar Nitro Jam Nationals at the Grand Bend Motorplex in Ontario, Canada.

Gallen put a blistering 5.707 elapsed time on the charts at 247.25 miles per hour to pick up the win, his sixth of the season to wrap up a wild and crazy evening of racing in front of one of the biggest crowds in recent Grand Bend history.

"We felt like we had something to prove. We wanted to go out there and win this thing," Gallen said. "To do that, we knew we had to run some pretty quick numbers and thankfully we were able to do that. The last time I raced Tim we didn't get to race him in the final and we really wanted to go up against that team with a win on the line.

"It felt great from the start to finish. Hopefully we can do this all over again tomorrow and actually take the record back home with us."

Now all Gallen has to do is back up his time with a similar number on Sunday and the new record will be his and his alone.

Other winners from the opening day of the Mopar Nitro Jam Nationals at the Grand Bend Motorplex included Bobby Lagana in Top Fuel, Tom Padilla in Nostalgia Fuel Altered and Steve Dorn in Nitro Harley. In other action Eric Latino topped the charts in the Pro Mod Invitational, while top qualifiers in the sportsman ranks included Kim Dineen (Top Sportsman), Rick Kopp (Top Dragster), Ollie Stephen (Super Stock), Briane Philbrick (Stock), Leo Zynda (Quick Rod), Charlie Kenopic (Super Rod) and Doug Wood (Hot Rod).

Lagana came one step closer to winning his second straight Nitro Jam Top Fuel championship on Saturday with his 10th victory of the year over Litton. Lagana needs only to start Sunday's professional rounds to wrap up the title.

Behind the wheel of the Lucas Oil-sponsored Top Fuel machine, Lagana laid down two very quick laps on Saturday, one in the heat of the day and the other under the lights, to pick up his third Ironman trophy in a row. In the final Lagana ran a 4.882, 306.74, almost identical to his round one numbers, to get around Litton who rattled the tires and pedaled the car before shutting it off near half track.
In round one Lagana recorded a 4.872, 307.51 in a win over Todd Paton, while Litton advanced to the final via a 4.948, 299.66 in a win over Kyle Wurtzel.