GINGLES WINS FIRST EVER, FOSTER HIS SECOND THIS YEAR

Words by Eric Lotz
Photos by Mike Garland

At the August Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Summer Showdown presented by Matco Tools event at Cordova Dragway Park, Canadian Gord Gingles picked up the first win of his Top Alcohol Dragster career and Chris Foster his second of the year in Top Alcohol Funny Car.
           
Gingles was the picture of consistency throughout eliminations, running nothing but 5.30s in the summer heat to outduel a top-flight field that included some of the best cars in the country. The Winnipeg, Manitoba, driver strapped a holeshot on returning veteran Dennis Drath in the final round with an outstanding .016 reaction time and sped to a consistent 5.37 at 267 mph for the victory. Drath, down a couple of car lengths by the half-track mark, shut off to a 6.05 after running between 5.40 and 5.42 all weekend.

Gord Gingles

Drath qualified in the top half with a 5.42 and took out many-time national event champions Marty Thacker and Chase Copeland in the preliminary rounds of eliminations. With a 5.34, his best run of the weekend, Gingles qualified No. 2 behind Randy Meyer, who set low e.t. with the only run in the 5.20s. Gingles was six-hundredths of a second behind Meyer but seven-hundredths ahead of the rest of the field in qualifying and never ran less than a 5.39 or slower than 266 mph all night.

Gingles established top speed of the meet in a 5.39, 269.51 win over Matthew Cummings in the first round. In the semifinals, his 5.35 was too much for Norwalk regional winner Ken Perry, who led at half-track before slowing to a 5.57 at just 208 mph.