MONTECALVO DOMINATES

John Montecalvo had his way at the Groundhog Warm-up, setting the meet’s quickest time at 6.607 seconds during qualifying in his Citgo-sponsored ’97 Monte Carlo, then beating Dwayne Rice in Saturday night's Chicago-style Pro Stock final.

John Montecalvo won the Pro Stock final at the Groundhog Warm-Up

"You can go from hero to zero in a hurry, but at least it's a great way to get started," Montecalvo said after going 6.616 at 208.28 mph to defend his 1999 Groundhog title. He said he concentrated on just getting down the track each pass because it was his final testing opportunity before the IHRA season opening Winter Nationals Mar. 9-11, also at Darlington Int'l Dragway.

Defending IHRA Pro Stock world champ Chris Holbrook went 208.42 mph in his BASF-backed Ford Probe to set the Groundhog's fastest speed. Holbrook said he will debut a new Jerry Haas-built Cougar at the IHRA Winter Nats.

SUMMER HEATS UP GROUNDHOG WARM-UP

Former NMCA and NSCA Pro Street world champion Annette Summer brought her bright pink and fiery red ’67 Camaro to prepare for the NMCA opener Feb. 25-27 at Moroso Motorsports Park in West Palm Beach, FL. She was testing her new Gene Fulton-built, 648 c.i. engine with tuning help from defending IHRA Pro Mod champ Shannon Jenkins, but was plagued with nitrous explosions on the start line. The problem became so bad, crew chief Vernon Summer received special permission to run sans hood scoop because he expected another backflash. He was right. As it turned out, someone shipped the Dynagear team the wrong transmission gears and the ratio made the car feel like it was leaving in second gear.

Once the problem was diagnosed, Summer ran during Pro Mod's final Saturday session and pushed the car to a relatively pedestrian 8.036-seconds pass at 145.36 mph.

PLENTY OF ROOM

Despite press release claims of full grandstands, there were plenty of seats available at the IHRA pre-season Groundhog Warm-up. Less than a thousand spectators scattered themselves primarily along the pit-side grandstands, but at least those who did show enthusiastically supported the on-track action.

Likewise, there were plenty of pit stalls available, as no NHRA Pro Stock cars or IHRA nitro Harleys made the trek to central South Carolina, and only one NHRA Pro Stock Truck showed up. A somewhat disappointing field of only eight IHRA Pro Stockers were on hand, but 15 Pro Mod competitors arrived, although many of the sport's heavy-hitters were noticeably absent.