Tim Nemeth

IHRA Mopar Rocky Mountain Nationals at Edmonton

Nemeth, Delehay highlight pro winners

Words by Larry Crum
Photos courtesy IHRA

After trading the top spot in Nitro Funny Car numerous times throughout the weekend, Tim Nemeth capped off a wild weekend at the IHRA Mopar Rocky Mountain Nationals with a thrilling victory over Tim Boychuk to lead the way at IHRA's biggest event of the season.

Ike Maier (Top Fuel), Joe Delehay (Pro Mod), Damian Cownden (Nitro Bike), Shane Reykdal (Pro 6.90) and Dawn Perdue (Jet Dragster) also were winners Sunday, July 6, at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, Alberta, Canad.

Nemeth and Boychuk, who have combined to win the last five Rocky Mountain Nationals events in Nitro Funny Car, spent the majority of the weekend trading the fast lap for the weekend. Nemeth led the way after qualifying on Friday, but he conceded a great lap to Boychuk on Saturday to give the Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series regular the top qualifying spot.

But on Sunday, Nemeth saved the best for last and drove his way to his second consecutive Rocky Mountain Nationals victory.

"We were really excited about this event. We got here early, got setup and really focused on the possibility of back-to-back wins at one of our favorite tracks," Nemeth said. "We started the weekend off rough. We had a good first round of qualifying, but after that we started to struggle and we thought this might not be a back-to-back weekend after all. But last night, I got everyone together, we had a nice dinner and I told them to suck it up, put the bad behind us and go to work. We got up this morning and everything just came together."

From the No. 2 spot on the Amsoil Nitro Funny Car ladder, Nemeth, in the "Iceman" '77 Firebird, won a thriller over Boychuk with a 5.929-second lap at 238.05 mph. Boychuk, in the "Forever Forward" '77 Firebird, had a 6.190 at 205.19 in the runner-up effort.