VOLUME XIX,  NUMBER 10 - OCTOBER  2017

Rupert wins the battle but loses the war;

At the California Hot Rod Reunion Jason Rupert won the delayed final round from the Nightfire Nationals at Boise, but in doing so, he oiled the Auto Club Famoso track. In fact, he had oiled the track three times during the event before reaching the Boise final round (actually Q3 at Bakersfield) with Ryan Hodgson.

 

Rupert won the round with a 5.65/248.68 over Hodgson’s 5.70/255.25, but that oil-down run was disallowed as a qualifying run and NHRA officials said he would not qualify for the CHRR. With Rupert out of the picture, Hodgson got the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion Funny Car championship.

 

In the AA/FD class, Jim Murphy locked up the championship in the semi when Mendry Fry lost to Jim Young. Murphy and his tuner, Roland Leong, decided to call it a day and let Young solo in the final.

 

In order to make sure the crowd got a show in the finals, Bobby McLennon and the Champion Speed Shop dragster lined up against Young.

 

Brian Losness will have a complete look at the event, which was delayed by several more oil-downs. (Tim Marshall photos)  [10/23/17]

AA/FA driver Henry dies of injuries at CHRR

Driver Brett Henry in the “Iron Mistress” altered had a devastating crash during qualifying on Saturday and succumbed to his injuries late Sunday night in a Bakersfield hospital. He was 50 years old and was from Wichita, KS.

 

Our sincere condolences to his family and friends.  (Jamie Shores-Fraijo photo)  [10/23/17]

PDRA champs clinch championships at Virginia

Lizzy Musi in Frank Brandao’s “King Kong 6” ’15 Dodge Dart (near lane) ran a 3.686-second pass at 206.13 mph alongside Tommy Franklin’s Musi-powered “Jungle Rat” ’69 Camaro running 3.657 at 204.91.

 

Lizzy Musi and Brad McCoy raced to victory Sunday, Oct. 22, for the second consecutive race at the Professional Drag Racers Association World Finals at Virginia Motorsports Park, winning in Switzer Dynamics Pro Nitrous presented by MoTeC and Drag 965 Pro Extreme Motorcycle, respectively.

John Montecalvo won in Extreme Pro Stock during the postponed eliminations. A perfect .000-second reaction time was all Montecalvo needed to drive around recently crowned Extreme Pro Stock world champion Cary Goforth in the final round. Coming off a record-setting 4.020 in the semifinals, Montecalvo drove his Jerry Haas-built ’17 Camaro to a 4.052 at 179.33 over Goforth’s 4.023 at 177.95 in his Dean’s Casing Service/Dewayne Higgins Trucking ’15 Camaro.

 

Pro Extreme low qualifier Terry Leggett earned the event win Saturday night when he defeated world championship runner-up Mattias Wulcan. The Andy McCoy Race Cars Pro Boost event win was awarded to 2017 world champion Jose Gonzales, who was set to face El General Racing teammate Eric Dillard in the final round. Gonzales and Dillard were unable to return for the postponed eliminations Sunday morning.

Cleveland, North Carolina’s Brad McCoy (near lane) earned his second consecutive Pro Extreme Motorcycle victory when he rode his Q80 Racing ’15 Hayabusa to a 4.041 at 175.37 over Terry Schweigert’s 4.062 at 163.97.  (Roger Richards photos)

 

Dillon Voss went back-to-back in East Side Auto Transport Extreme Outlaw 632, winning the event and securing the world championship. Pilot Electric Outlaw 10.5 low qualifier Mike Decker Jr. also raced to victory in the class’s lone appearance on the PDRA 2017 tour.

 

In the PDRA’s sportsman classes, Henry Underwood won in MagnaFuel Top Sportsman Elite 16, Louis Ouimette won in Top Sportsman 32, and Matt Cooke earned the Lucas Oil Top Dragster victory. Tyler Rudolph won on a double breakout in the Campers Inn RV Pro Junior Dragster final round, running 7.877 to Dalton Hayes’s 7.871, both on a 7.90 dial-in. The MegaCorp Top Junior Dragster win went to Kaylee Love, who defeated 2017 world champion Brayden Davis, 7.915 on a 7.90 dial to Davis’s 8.947 on an 8.96 dial. Mandy Teets-Seal won the eight-round Edelbrock Bracket Bash competition.

 

The 2018 PDRA Tour will begin at GALOT Motorsports Park in Benson, NC, with the PDRA East Coast Spring Nationals, April 5-7.  (Roger Richards photos)   [10/23/17]

Zappia record’s worlds quickest blown Pro Mod time

Australian driver John Zappia made the unofficial quickest blown doorslammer pass with a 5.424 at 265.33 mph at Virginia Motorsports Park. As our Australia correspondent, Jon Van Daal, tells the Agent, “He told me he would do it and he did.”  [10/23/17]

You’re never too old to be a champion

Don Enriques, 75, won the Junior Fuel title at the California Hot Rod Reunion. Congratulations, Don!  (Jamie Shores-Fraijo photo)  [10/23/17]

Getting his ‘dry-land’ legs?

The Agent hears that Top Fuel Hydro boat owner Eddie Knox has taken delivery of the former “Black Plague” AA/FC once owned and driven by Jason Rupert. DRO Nostalgia Editor Brian Losness is tracking down Knox to see what his plans are for the car.  [10/23/17]

IHRA SuperSeries Champs crowned

The IHRA Summit SuperSeries champions were crowned Saturday in Top (Box), Mod (No Box) and Junior Dragster. The $200,000 program is the championship competition for IHRA member Sportsman racers and more than 8,000 racers compete in the program annually.

 

Tom Gall from Beresford, S.D., won the Top World Championship. Chris Black from Butler, Pa., captured the Mod World Championship. Luke Schwemler from Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada won the Junior Dragster crown.

Gall, representing Thunder Valley Dragways, defeated Jerry Cotton from St. John, Ind., in the Top finals by just .0012 of a second. His final package was a 5.059-second run at 134.55 mph against a 5.04 dial-in.

Black, representing Quaker City Motorsports Park, had a 6.431-second pass at 100.73 mph against a 6.30 dial-in to claim the Mod World Championship. The final was closely contested as runner-up Travis Loy from Harriman, Tenn., had a slightly quicker, .026 to .028, reaction time.

 

Both championship bounties included $20,000 from Summit Racing Equipment, a seven-night/eight-day vacation for two on the island of Aruba, a world championship diamond ring, and a world championship Ironman trophy.

Schwemler, who earned his spot by winning the Division 5 Team Finals, beat No. 1 qualifier, Nick Ferraro from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., for the Junior Dragster title. Schwemler went down the track in 7.931 seconds at 82.41 mph against a 7.90 dial-in. He was worried that Ferraro, was quicker at the tree with a .060 to .075 reaction time, had beaten him.

 

With the World Championship, the 17-year-old driver won a custom-built JR Race Car Junior Dragster featuring a custom paint scheme from Imagine That Customs, $3,000 from Summit Racing Equipment as well as the world championship Ironman Trophy and diamond ring. [10/23/17]

IHRA SuperSeries Champs crowned

This 1963 split window Corvette from S&W Race Cars is a stock body car that is scaled, set up, and ready to test and tune. It weighs 1950 lbs. with a front to rear weight bias of 52.5% rear and 47.5% front. All chrome moly big block with aluminum heads. She’s a beauty!  [10/23/17]

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