Thomas Alleges Tampering

Words and photos by Ian Tocher
6/11/03

INWIDDIE, VA -- Mark Thomas, the five-time IHRA Funny Car champion and points leader heading into the ACDelco Nationals, did not qualify at the Richmond event -- and not by any reason of his own making, he said.

"We came up here and expected a lot of really good things to happen, but unfortunately we hurt some parts, kept hurting parts and couldn't figure out why. On the first pass, we kicked the head gaskets out and oiled down the track, and that took points away. We just don't do that. We don't live that way and never have," he insisted.

"Then we put another motor in and looked at all the problems and went back out there and pushed the head gaskets out again. You know, [crew chief] Jimmy Rector doesn't race that way; I don't race that way; my guys are good, and we know we've got a deal that can come out here and run with anybody -- and not hurt parts. And it makes me the maddest to come down to the fact that somebody has messed with our hot rod and put a different barrel valve spool in it. That's unacceptable to me."

Mark Thomas wasn't smiling after the Richmond race. (IHRA file photo)

The barrel valve controls the air/fuel mixture going into the engine and the spool is a small, cylindrical part that rotates to alter the flow from idle to wide open for racing. Thomas said his car's tune-up had not been altered since he went to the final round at Grand Bend a week earlier, so there was no way heor any of his crewmembers had made the change, even by mistake.

"The thing is, the spool that came out of there was a one-off piece. Jimmy Rector started with a blank spool and made it for us. It's not like something anyone else has. And that (the suspect piece) is a spool that would work in about 1982-85, back when we had no blower boost," Thomas explained. "Somebody messed with it and that's wrong.

"We don't even have a spool like that in our shop. And we did not have that barrel valve apart from the start of the year even. We spray it with WD-40 to clean it out, but we never take it apart. So for something like that to happen, it is totally impossible that we did it. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, somebody else did that."

If true, it's a disturbing development for IHRA racers. Thomas was recognized as the organization's Sportsman of the Year in 1998, and his competitors agree he is one of the least likely targets for animosity or revenge at the track. "I always considered everybody here my friend," Thomas said. "Should that change? Well, it just did. It changes a lot of your outlook on life. We do this for fun and if somebody wanted to see what it looked like they could've asked me."

Despite Thomas' suspicion, several tuners from the Funny Car and blown Pro Mod ranks in Richmond were skeptical that the barrel valve spool could be changed without Thomas or Rector noticing a change in engine pitch or behavior, even during a warm-up before heading to the staging lanes.