PSCA at Las Vegas

Krupa, Kendrick, Bieschke, Calvert cash in

Words by Jeff Burk
Photos by Tim Marshall

The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was the site of the third race of the 2013 PSCA season on April 26-28, the MagnaFuel Las Vegas Nationals. There were eight classes for the event with the best attended being the two index classes followed by the Mustang Maddness and the Outlaw 8.5 classes.
                
The class with the most entries, the Super Index class, had 14 entries. The class is unique in that it combines all race cars that can run on either a 7.60, 8.60 or 9.60 index into one class. There were 14 entries in the class with about half racing on either the  8.60 or 9.60 index. There was one entry dialed 7.60 and that was California doorslammer racer Derrol Hubbard and his ’70 Camaro.

The winner, Nick Kendrick, drove a ’65 El Camino that ran on a 9.60 index. He qualified number one with a .001-over 9.601. After getting by Greg Holman’s Mustang in the first round Kendrick had identical 9.601 ET’s IN The second and third round combined with RT’s of .011 and .014. Those strong efforts got him into the finals where he faced up against number-six qualifier Don McDavitt also racing on the 9.60 index.

The final round was a heads-up affair as both finalist were racing on the 9.60 index.  McDavitt delivered  a great 9.602 while in the other lane Nick Kendrick turned in a 9.612.
Winning, as it often does in a bracket/index race was determined by reaction times. Kendrick delivered one of his worst “packages” of the race and still won.  His respectable .031 RT combined with a 9..612 effort was good enough to hold off McDavitt who had had, a.059 RT and ran a extremely good 9.602  but still couldn’t overcome his .059 RT  and Hubbard sailed across the line first for the win.

The second largest class is the PSCA’s Triple Index class where racers not only had three base indexes to choose  (10.60-11.60-12.00) from but also had to estimate their ET to the hundred-thousandths of a second. There were eleven entries in the class and all but two them ran on a 10.600 index.

Charlie Jorgensen from Wildomar, Calif., qualified his ’72 Nova first with a 10.600 perfect pass. In final eliminations Jorgensen met number-seven qualifier Paul Wolfe, who had qualified his ’67 Mustang with a 10.635 on the 10.600 index. Jorgensen left second with a .016 RT to Wolfe’s .012, but Jorgensen got the stripe and the win in a very close finish. He ran a 10.633 to Wolfe’s 10.641. Adding in the RT’s Jorgensen got to the stripe 0.012 seconds before Wolfe to take home the trophy and winner money.