Drag Racing Online - Race Results

IMPORT DRAG RACING CIRCUIT STARTS 2001 SEASON

By Jim Liaw

It's been particularly rainy in California this year, but despite scattered showers that delayed the start of eliminations, the IDRC ran its first race of the season at LACR on Feb. 18.

A few teams thought it best to call it an early day as they felt that the weather-challenged track wouldn't be able to hold their car's power. The teams that stayed had almost 10,000 spectators who also waited around until the 1:30 p.m. starting time.

The DC Sports All-Motor class featured the first-ever 16-car field. Ten in the field qualified in the 11's. In the finals, Scott Kelley's VW defeated Bisi Ezerioha's SOHC Honda CRX.

Honda's faired better in the Apex Integration Outlaw class as Stephan Papadakis's Civic defeated Ray Lochhead's RX-7 in the final. Papadakis also set a track e.t. record of 8.987 for a front-wheel drive vehicle.

There were 15 Hondas in the 16-car Nitto Tires/Turbo magazine Quick class. Joel Tanzman was the number one qualifier, but was defeated in the semis when his Supra broke, moving Kosuke Kida into the finals. The side-by-side low 10-second contest ended with Kida edging out Heather Zender for the win.

In the Street class presented by Sport Compact Car. Ari Yallon qualified number one in his RX-7, but Robert Lives cut a killer light and sent Ari home early. Lives went on to defeat Roy Navaez in the final.

In the Toyo Tires Pro class, the crowd got a sneak preview of two teams to watch in 2001: the Area 51 Racing Team, campaigning a Lexus SC300 powered by a two-turbo 2JZ powerplant, and the Venom Racing team's Toyota Tacoma, also powered by a turbocharged Toyota 2JZ motor.

Ron Lummus, a legend in the ranks of VW enthusiasts, also brought out his 2001 VW bug. This trio faced the pair of rotaries from the Toyo Tire Racing team. Abel Ibarra's Toyo Tire RX-7 lost a driveshaft and hit the wall in the semi-finals, while teammate Efrez Vazquez took the Toyo Tires R-100 to the final win against Lummus.