Phil Mandella Jr. and his G/SA ’69 Chevelle have had a banner year at Auto Club Dragway as he won his sixth straight SCEDA Stock/Super Stock combo race this year. To add to his success at Fontana, the son of chassis pro Phil Mandella (PMR Race Cars) also won the NHRA Pacific Division National Open and Stock Eliminator at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event.

The first race of the Calvert Racing Suspensions/DNB Engineering-sponsored doubleheader weekend saw Mandella defeat Ross Wilson, Darin Grossi, and Shane Cherry before defeating Doug Gibson’s D/SA Camaro in the final (above). On Sunday, he got a round one bye as he was the number one qualifier, and then proceeded to defeat Mike Williams, Gibson, and Tom Ferruggia’s FS/C Camaro in the final round.

SCEDA bracket racing saw Kaitlyn Panis go to both Meziere Super Pro finals, losing to Jim Horne of Reno, NV, in the Saturday final, but getting the trophy in Sunday’s final against Craig Dales. Pedro Valdez drove his Camaro to victory in Saturday’s Pro final, beating Ken Etter’s ’64 Plymouth, while John DeWald won Pro on Sunday with his ’49 Anglia, with Jeff Jones settling for runner-up honors. Nicholas Van Horn drove his ’79 Cutlass to a final round win in Sportsman on Saturday, as Amanda Shelden’s ’67 VW lost after getting a 10 second handicap advantage. Sunday’s Sportsman final saw Bobby Mirizio win for the third time in the last four SCEDA races, beating Brad Bystrom’s ’01 Camaro in the final.

The Saturday Terminator Blocks, Clutches and Accessories Junior Dragster finals included Emily Geers defeating Logan Oliveira in the 6-9-year-old class, Dylan Hegwood beat Garrett Agnew in the 10-12-year-old class, and Chris Klostriech got by Keoki Desa in the 13-17-year-old class. Sunday’s Junior finals saw Brayden Koop win for the fifth time in the past six SCEDA races, this time stopping Carlie Ball in the final. Garrett Agnew went to his second final of the weekend, beating Dylan Hegwood, and Keoki Desa beat Matt Shelden in the 13-17-year-old class. Klostriech and Desa also were the winners of special NHRA “Wallys” for winning the King of the Hill race contested each day.  (Bob Johnson photos)   [09/20/18]

Three hundred and thirty-three racers from all over the U.S. came together for the beginning of the Sparco Fall Fling in Bristol, TN. On Wednesday the final round came down to the Plymouth Duster of Rocky Pintavalle (the only door car in the final 16 competitors) versus the dragster of Chris Cadle. This time the door car got the win and $15,000 prize with Pintavalle off the line with a .006 RT and a dead-on dial with an “0”.

In the American Race Cars/Racetech Tuesday Dragster Shootout, Thomas Bell and Corey Gulitti each walked away with a new dragster. The race continues through the weekend.   [09/20/18]

Gateway Motorsports Park is just 93 miles from Tim Wilkerson’s hometown of Springfield, IL, so this weekend’s race is almost like going home. With Mr. Levi of the Levi, Ray & Shoup long-time sponsor in the hospitality tent this weekend and coming off a final-round appearance at the last event at Maple Grove, Wilk is looking forward to what the race might bring, although he admits there will be a new challenge.

“We're going to have a clutch-pack change there, and that may throw me a little bit of a sidewinder, but I'm hoping not. Hopefully, we can figure out how to make it go so we can keep ruffling their feathers.” Wilkerson continued, “We had a lot of work ahead of us when we left Reading with a motor to service, four sets of cylinder heads, two sets of blowers, and only two days at home. This is testing our resilience, but everyone on this team has the right attitude, and that can make all the difference.”  (Ron Lewis photo)   [09/20/18]

There were a photo and a note from racer Brad Faria in the old mayo jar high atop the Phlegm Building’s second-story penthouse porch this morning.

Brad says: “I finished a project I was working on and decided to put it in the Sonoma County Fair in the Metal Arts Division. I’ve always thought it was cool I had the same birthday as Tom the MONGOOSE McEwen. If you look close you'll see I have something else in common with him -- I got beat by a Snake!

“I can't think of another drag racer that raced Funny Cars that I watched go down the drag strip more than the GOOSE. His cars were always First Class and l loved seeing who his New Sponsors were for the New Year.”

Brad adds this claim to fame: “I was recently in a Forrest Lucas film "Wheels of Fortune" that filmed in Petaluma as an extra.”  [09/20/18]

Last year at St. Louis Greg Anderson qualified No. 1, defeated Summit Racing teammate Jason Line in the final round, and took over the points lead. This year has been frustrating for the KB Racing team, but Anderson, who has only one win this season, is hopeful his luck at St. Louis will carry him to the winner’s circle.

“We left Reading just a few days ago knowing that we had some thinking to do before St. Louis. We needed to nail down what went wrong in Reading, and we certainly hope that the progress we’ve made in that area is going to show.”

Anderson added, “I have every reason to believe that we’ll have our ducks in a row and be up for the challenge of repeating what we did there last year. We’re going to rebound from Ready, and I’m looking forward to it.”

After losing in the semifinals to Vincent Nobile at Reading Anderson is now third in the points behind Tanner Gray and Nobile.  (Ron Lewis photo)    [09/20/18]

The U.S. Army is ending its sponsorship at the finish of this season.  (Ron Lewis photo)

With event 499 under his belt, Tony Schumacher is set to become the first Top Fuel driver to race in 500 events. Seven other drivers have hit that number, among them Schumacher’s teammate Ron Capps.

The Chicago native began his Top Fuel career with a runner-up finish at the 1996 NHRA U.S. Nationals. In the following 22 years, he racked up 499 events, eight world titles, 84 event wins and soon-to-be 20 consecutive Top 10 finishes.

"This is a sport where it’s hard to stay relevant. So many teams have come and gone over the years,” said the son of mega team owner Don Schumacher. “We had a beautiful sponsorship for a long time, we have a championship contending car every year. It’s been an awesome array of people, from Dan Olson, my first crew chief at DSR, to Alan Johnson, Mike Green and now Mike Neff; all of these incredible people helping to produce wins and championships. That’s what helps us stay alive in this sport. We’re constantly fighting to be No. 1; you can only be average for so long. If you’re just average, you’re not going to survive out here. You need to win championships.”

Schumacher and the U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster team enter the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals tied for second in the Countdown standings.    [09/20/18]

Strange Engineering has released a line of chrome moly pinion yokes that accept magnetic sensor collars for data logging. The high strength chrome moly yokes are available with 2, 4, and 8 magnet collars. Applications include 8.8” Ford, 10 bolt and 12 bolt Chevy, Dana 60, and ’57-64 Old rear ends. (Sensor and sensor mount not included.)  [09/20/18]