VOLUME XX,  NUMBER 4 - APRIL,  2018

Worsham to take a time out

While competing at the NHRA SpringNationals in Houston, two-time NHRA World Champion Del Worsham announced that his racing operation will be temporarily parked and on the sidelines after the Houston event, while he continues to pursue additional funding for his organization. At this point in time, Worsham has plans for a return to NHRA competition at the Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals, July 27-29 at Sonoma Raceway in California. If funding can be secured in the interim, the team will be ready to compete immediately.

 

"In some ways it's one of the most difficult decisions I've ever made, but in other ways it's one of the easiest," Worsham said. "I don't think it's any secret that we're underfunded and kind of piecing this thing together. We had a little bit of a rough start, performance wise, in Pomona and Phoenix but we fixed the issues and we've been really consistent and real contenders at the last two races.

 

"What I need now is time. These cars are expensive to run, even when things go perfectly, and in addition to that they consume almost all of your time when you have a small organization like ours. I work on it, service it, drive the transporter, tune it, and I drive it. My dad and I have a very talented, loyal, and hard-working crew, but I need to put 100 percent of my focus into continuing some conversations we're having with a number of companies that already see what we have to offer. Hopefully, we can start a few additional conversations, as well. We will have the car ready to go, so if we can land a partnership we'll be able to race at a moment's notice. Otherwise, we'll aim for Sonoma."  (Ron Lewis photo)   [04/23/18]

Funny Car Chaos and more at Mo-Kan this week

Victory NSS racer Clay Kossuth.

 

The Victory Nostalgia Super Stock cars will be making exhibition runs both days at Funny Car Chaos this Friday and Saturday, April 27-28, at MoKan Dragway near the Missouri-Kansas border.

John Troxel's 1971 Dodge Challenger will be trying to make the Funny Car field. Troxel and his driver, Chris “the Flying Butcher” Schneider, are debuting a new custom torque converter that their buddy Larry Reyes had BTE Racing make to his specs.

 

Legendary Funny Car owner and tuner Roland Leong will be on hand as the guest of Red Line Shirts to meet fans and sign autographs. The FC's will be making two qualifying runs Friday evening, then the final qualifier Saturday afternoon with eliminations in the evening.

 

New DRO staffer Todd Silvey will be at Mo-Kan checking on all the action for us.   [04/23/18]

DiMino takes Fling final race win on Friday

Friday at the K&N Spring Fling Million presented by Optima Batteries began with the ‘Fling’s $20,000 Reaction Time Challenge where 20 randomly selected drivers are chosen to take one hit at the ‘tree. Any .00X reaction time earns the driver $100 cash, while a perfect .000 awards $1,000 and the chance to come back and do it again.

 

Do for the second time and the driver gets $10,000. There were no perfect reaction times yet seven drivers recorded .00X with Kalim Menzel, Jeff Devey, Jeremy Hancock, Dale Taros, Aaron Marcum, Mark Yeager, and Andy Taylor each getting a $100 bill for their efforts.

 

Four hundred and twenty cars made the first-round call.

 

In the semifinals Vinnie DiMino might have picked a bad time to miss the ‘tree as Ryan McClanahan was .001 and DiMino an .039. But it was DiMino’s dead-on the dial with a “4” that was too much for McClanahan to judge as the win light shined in DiMino’s lane to move him into the final round with Brian Cireddu.

 

For the final, it was DiMino all the way with the reaction time advantage and a 4.744 on a 4.73 dial to take the money back to New York with him.

 

“This week didn’t start off that good for us,” DiMino said, “as the car was having problems but my crew, Howie, Wink and my brother did a great job fixing it. But the competition here has gotten so tough in all the years we’ve been coming here. I’m just lucky to have done well today.”

 

Next up on the ‘Fling schedule is the K&N Spring Fling presented by Optima Batteries at Galot Motorsports Park in North Carolina on May 1-5 followed by the Fall Fling in September at Bristol Dragway. (John DiBartolomeo photo)   [04/23/18]

Reid is ‘Million’ winner

First up on Saturday, April 21, at the Million Dollar Race at Las Vegas was the Brodix Run For The $50K where a combination of a perfect reaction time along with a dead-on the dial with a “0” earns that driver a cool $50,000. Everyone on the property was eligible for the time trial run where even the three best packages, had no one hit the perfect run, earning prizes. First place received a set of Brodix SR20 cylinder heads, second $2,000 in cash and third, a free three-day entry to the 2019 Spring Fling event.

 

Larry Webb, Dan Northrop and Mike Bloomfield shared the .003 package number, forcing a “run-off” of sorts. Each name was put into a hat with the first pulled out, Bloomfield, receiving the heads, while Northrop walked away with $2K and Webb a three-day entry to the 2019 Spring Fling Million.

 

Door cars and dragsters competed separately until the seventh round. Round Six winners were Andy Schmall, JR Lobner with two entries, Dylan Stott, Johnny Ezell, Aaron Kinard and Randell Reid.

 

For round seven, Lobner received the bye with his first entry to move that car into the semifinals, while Stott and Kinard also advanced with Lobner’s second entry defeated by Reid.

 

Semifinal round, first up was Stott and Reid with Stott turning on the red-light by -.001. Lobner then made the best of his chances with a reaction time advantage to defeat Kinard. Texas vs. Kansas, Lobner vs. Reid and despite both men’s success on the NHRA side of the fence, there’s little doubt that neither has won more money for a final round.

 

The final round was Texas all the way as Reid held the starting line advantage and never looked back. “It’s really unbelievable,” said Reid, “as this was the first actual time I’ve raced all year. I want to thank my dad and my wife back home who is probably going crazy.” And with that, Reid and his crew were whisked off to a suite at the Cosmopolitan Resort in a custom limousine. (John DiBartolomeo photo)   [04/23/18]

Mid Atlantic .90 Series begins season at Atco

​Chris DePasquale won the Super Comp event last year.The Mid Atlantic .90 Series kicks of its 25th season April 28-29 at New Jersey’s Atco Dragway for the 6th Annual Northeast Shootout. The series consists of Super Comp (8.90 index), Super Gas (9.90) and Super Street (10.90) and is open to any NHRA or IHRA legal cars. Separate races will be held Saturday and Sunday, giving racers two chances to win.

 

The defending champions are Amanda Boicesco (Super Comp). George Smith (Super

Gas) and Martin Ganjoin (Super Street).  [04/23/18]

Coughlin borrows car from Morgan and sees improvement

Jeg Coughlin Jr. has struggled in the first four races of the year, but after getting a loaner car from Larry Morgan (and returning to the classic JEGS yellow) Coughlin qualified second in Pro Stock and made it to the semifinals at Houston, where he lost to eventual winner, Matt Hartford. See the pro classes race report from Houston at here.  (Ron Lewis photo)   [04/23/18]

Adkins and Mother Nature are Gateway Super Quick Series winners

Lester Adkins of Corydon, KY, collected $2,000 by winning the final round of JEGS Super Quick Series eliminations at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois. Adkins defeated Jeremiah Hall of Collinsville, Illinois in the Day 1 final on Saturday, April 21.

 

Other final rounds were

 

Super Pro: Kegan Hagendorn (Hermann, MO) defeated Scott Cook (Festus, MO).

Pro: Nick Curl (Freistatt, MO) defeated Jon Tignor (Hillsboro, MO).

Sportsman: Gary Lewis (St. Ann, MO) defeated Andy Lewis (St. Louis).

Motorcycle: Charles Willis Jr. (Collinsville, IL) defeated Brandon Childress (Altamont, IL).

Jr. Dragster Thunder: Kennedy Hale (Pevely, MO) defeated Bobby Churchill (Elwood, IL).

Jr. Dragster Lightning: Jake Metternich (East Peoria, IL) defeated Paige Teel (Quincy, IL).

Jr. Dragster Run-off: Jake Metternich (East Peoria, IL) defeated Kennedy Hale (Pevely, MO).

 

On Sunday, time trials and the first round of eliminations in the Jr. Dragster and Sportsman classes were completed when the show was postponed due to rain. The JEGS Super Quick Series will be postponed to the Street Car Super Nationals in August. Two qualifying runs will be held, followed by eliminations. Sunday’s qualifying counts toward the postponed date. New entries will be allowed to complete the 32-car field.

 

The Carl’s 4WD Bracket Series scheduled for last Sunday will be completed following the bracket event on Saturday, April 28. The field is frozen for this event, with no new entries allowed.   [04/23/18]

Mid America Dragway joins NHRA

Mid America Dragway, located in Arkansas City, KS, has joined Division 5, the West Central Division.

 

Mid America Dragway reopens with co-owners Jim Maybrier, his son Chris, along with their respective families, taking over ownership of the facility which includes the surrounding land.

 

“Mid America Dragway is an all concrete facility that has held drag racing events since the early 1960's,” said Chris Maybrier. “We are the first owners in the history of the dragstrip to also own the property it sits on. We are looking forward to working with NHRA. NHRA's rich history in the sport is second to none and thus far, the guidance and the assistance we have received from Division 5 has been instrumental to this process.”   [04/23/18]

Dragsters sweep Rockingham Tri-Fives

Second generation bracket racer Nick Womack of Lillington, NC, and South Carolina racers Stewart Newton of Bennettsville and Brian Hicks of Pageland were the big winners in the annual Tri-Fives championship completed Sunday, April 22, at Rockingham Dragway. Each took home a $5,000 share of the cash purse in an event in which coupes and sedans raced against dragsters in a winner-take-all format.

 

In contrast to last year’s race in which doorslammer cars won two of the three major titles, this time it was a clean sweep for the dragsters although Brent Hyatt of Sylvia, NC, in a 1972 Chevy Nova, and William Brewer of St. Pauls, NC, in a ’88 model Ford Thunderbird, managed to reach the finals.

 

In fact, Brewer may have made the best run of the entire weekend in the Sunday semifinals when he was .004 off perfection at the start and dead-on his 6.120 target.

Friday Super Pro: Stewart Newton, Bennettsville, SC, .013, 4.881 (4.830 dial), 142.09 mph def. Brent Hyatt, Sylvia, NC, foul

Saturday Super Pro: Brian Hicks, Pageland, SC, .009, 4.678 (4.680 dial), 145.69 def. Ashley Smith, Winterville, NC, broke out

Sunday Super Pro: Nick Womack, Lillington, NC, .002, 4.599 (4.590 dial), 145.85 def. William Brewer, St. Pauls, NC, broke out

 

Saturday Jr. Dragster: Ethan Locklear, Pembroke, NC, .075, 8.361 (8.320 dial), 76.49 def. Hayden Dial, Lumberton, NC, foul

Sunday Jr. Dragster: Hayden Dial, Lumberton, .009, 7.948 (7.900 dial) def. Budd Trammell, Aynor, SC, broke out

 

In addition to the daily event winners, Tommy Hilburn of Hope Mills, NC, and Taz Holliday of Selam, NC, also shared in the bounty as Gamblers Race winners on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Hilburn topped Brandon Lane of Goldsboro, NC, to get his money and Holliday beat Chad Duke of Loris, SC, for his.  [04/23/18]

Wilwood brings anodizing in-house to meet EPA, California standards

Wilwood has completed the construction of an EPA and California compliant anodizing facility, bringing full production and quality control over all aspects of the caliper manufacturing process in-house to its headquarters in Camarillo, CA.

 

Type III Mil-Spec hard anodizing replaces Type II black anodizing as the standard finish on all base and powder coat finish caliper models. This process produces a thicker, harder surface with a rich, medium-gray appearance. More importantly, it creates a more durable wear surface in the piston bores, with increased resistance to abrasion and corrosion over the entire external surface of the caliper.   [04/23/18]

New Product of the Day

 

Competition Engineering Roll Bar Mounting Plates

Competition Engineering introduces Roll Bar Mounting Plates (PN C3178). These are the same plates that are included in Competition Engineering 8 Point Roll Bar, 10 Point and 12 Point Roll Cage Kit. Based on customer requests, they are now available separately as a 4-pack lot. Constructed out of 6” x 6”, 10-gauge steel (.134-inch thick).  [04/23/18]

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