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y now, it’s business as usual to report that Clay Millican won another IHRA Top Fuel race, thus preserving a perfect 4-for-4 record in 2004. But Millican has company in the unbeaten category this year, as Funny Car ace Mark Thomas also scored his fourth win June 13, at the 5th annual Mopar Canadian Nationals presented by Castrol at the Grand Bend Motorplex in Grand Bend, ON. Joining them in victory lane were Pro Mod veteran Quain Stott and Elijah Morton, who picked up his career-first Pro Stock title.

TOP FUEL

Millican led the nitro contingent with a 4.658 at 304.25 mph in qualifying, while Rick Cooper rounded out the eight-car at 5.001 seconds. Fourteen teams made the trip to Grand Bend, near the Michigan-Ontario border, but only 13 made qualifying attempts as the lone injected nitro entry, owned by Bob Leverich, failed to make a lap.

Millican easily disposed of Cooper in round one, but almost forfeited the win to a tire-smoking Todd Paton in the semi-finals when his car swerved dangerously close to crossing the center line toward the top end. Millican narrowly avoided the line and disqualification, however, setting up a final round match against Tim Cullinan, who beat John “Doc” Sipple in round one, then took out Bruce Litton in the semis thanks to a .054 holeshot.

“I almost gave away that semi-final round,” Millican said. “I was back to my bracket racing days where you look back to see your opponent as you approach the finish line. And you go where your eyes go and I nearly crossed the center line.”

In the big money round, Cullinan obviously felt the need to push the tree again, but left .223 too soon, handing the event win to Millican, who left with a stellar .052 reaction, then went 4.744 secs at 299.90 mph to cap off his weekend.

"I am so proud of this Werner team," Millican said. "We love coming to this race since it is the place where we got our first-ever Top Fuel win (in 2000), so it's always special to come back and win again."

After four of 11 races on the 2004 schedule, Millican leads the IHRA Hooters Top Fuel points chase with 544 points. Litton is second at 406 and Cullinan follows with 291.

FUNNY CAR

Like Millican, Thomas began his march to victory from the top of the qualifying order, going 5.831 secs at 236.96 in the final session to steal away the number-one spot from local hero and defending class champion Rob Atchison. Only the top five qualifiers were in the .80s (and only Thomas managed it once on raceday), including John Evanchuck, a fellow Canadian who entered in Atchison’s back-up car, marking the first time the Atchison team fielded two cars at one event. Six Canucks broke into the 16-car F/C field, easily making it the most well-represented pro class for the Canadian faithful.

John Evanchuck (L), from Edmonton, AB, wheeled a second entry for Rob Atchison’s London, ON-based team at the Grand Bend Motorplex. (Photo courtesy of Atchison Racing)

In round one, Thomas overcame a holeshot by Mike Etter to advance to a second round date with Ronnie Midyette. After a relatively easy win over Midyette, the former five-time series champ faced off against Terry Munroe in the semis with similar results. On the other side of the ladder, Atchison trailered Paul Zgoda, Scott Wildgust, and Jeff Burnett to reach his third final this year.

Thomas was there for the taking in the final round, with a .105 reaction time, his worst of the day -- but Atchison suffered an uncharacteristic redlight start, leaving .016 too soon and watching Thomas streak to the win in 5.917 seconds at 238.79 mph.

In obvious reference to Atchison’s claim after losing in Virginia that Thomas is guessing on the tree, Thomas later said, “My lights have been good all year, and today was no different.” He then added, “I like Rob and know how big of a race this is for him. But we came here to qualify number one and win the race -- we did both.”

Thomas appears well on his way to a sixth IHRA Funny Car championship with 477 points, with Atchison trailing at 338 and Midyette third with 270 markers after four events.

Z-MAN BACK IN ACTION

Funny Car veteran Paul “Z-Man” Zgoda, from Cheektowaga, N.Y., made his return to the driver’s seat at Grand Bend, nearly two years after experiencing a major transmission explosion during qualifying in August 2002 at the IHRA national event at Cayuga, ON. The accident left him with his left ankle broken in several places, a severed artery, compound fractures of his toes, and required skin grafts on his foot.
Zgoda’s son Chris, who serves as lead mechanic for the team, said he was anxious to see his dad behind the wheel once again. “The time off was hard on him,” he said. “I’ll be really happy when we’re coming back up the return road after the first pass.”

At Grand Bend, Zgoda put his 1994 Olds Achieva-bodied flopper into the field in 15th place with a 6.205-secs pass at 229.88 mph, but fell to Rob Atchison in round one of eliminations. “Thanks to my wife and kids for putting up with me while I was laid up,” Zgoda said prior to his comeback. “I would also like to thank all of the people who sent their well wishes during that time.”

PRO MOD

Twelve of the 16 qualifying spots in Pro Modified went to supercharged entries, but it was nitrous star Shannon Jenkins who led the way with a 6.221 at 218.12 mph in his ‘68 Camaro. San Antonio winner Glen Kerunsky secured the final spot for raceday with a 6.306 at 222.27 mph in his blown ‘57 Chevy. Eventual race winner Stott put his supercharged 1963 Corvette sixth on the qualifying list with a 6.252-secs pass at 228.77 mph. Notably, Fred Hahn, the number-one qualifier at Rockingham earlier this year, suffered problems in all three qualifying rounds and failed to make the show.

In round one, Stott barely nipped points leader Al Billes at the finish line, going 6.360 to the Canadian’s 6.369. Next, Mike Janis laid a holeshot on Stott, but he passed Janis by the 330-foot marker and won the round by about a car length. In his semi-final against brother Mitch Stott, the two Stotts left with practically identical reaction times, and Mitch led all the way to the 1,000-foot point, but at 1,320 feet Quain had a .007 advantage and led the way by only two feet.

Meanwhile, number-four qualifier Harold Martin steered his nitrous-assisted, fuel-injected 2004 Grand Am past a red-lighting Carl Spiering, an up-in-smoke Mike Stawicki, and a tire-smoking Shannon Jenkins to reach the final round. Regardless of his opponents’ troubles, Martin enjoyed great performance all day, running 6.282, 6.262, and a 6.326 in the semis that was good enough to give him lane choice over Stott in the fourth P/S final of his career.

Both drivers had identical .104 reactions times in the final, but Stott was ahead at each incremental point down the track and won with a 6.344 at 223.55 mph compared to Martin’s 6.389 at 222.60 mph.

“We struggled so hard the first of the year and we don’t like losing one bit. We worked hard over the winter to get the car ready, but didn’t get to test before the season. It took us some time to figure out the setup. Then the rule change didn’t help, but everyone knows that’s just part of racing,” Stott said in a victory lane interview. “I’ve got a crew that has stuck by me through some tough times, when many would have left.”

Martin’s performance at Grand Bend vaulted him to the lead in the Pro Mod championship chase with 248 points, followed by Janis just three points back and Billes, who dropped to third with 223.

PRO STOCK

Fords grabbed the top five positions in the second-quickest IHRA Pro Stock field ever assembled, led by the 6.493 at 211.96 posted by John Nobile’s 2003 Escort. Mike Del Nagro’s 2001 Cavalier held on to the 16th-place bump spot with a 6.571 at 210.82, edging out the ‘02 Cougar of John Konigshofer from nearby Otterville, ON, who ran an identical e.t., but ran only 209.79 mph.

Morton, from Jacksonville, N.C., qualified his ’04 Mustang in the number-two slot and dusted off Dwayne Rice in the opening round. Frank Gugliotta rattled the tires against him in round two, and Morton passed Rick Jones late in their semi-final match to secure lane choice over Brian Gahm in the final round. Gahm edged Tony Gillig in the opener, easily handled Mike Bell in round two, and squeaked out a win by less than half-a-foot in the semis over John Montecalvo.

In the final, Gahm left first with a .030 reaction to Morton’s .081, but by halftrack Morton had reeled him in and went on to win his career-first P/S national event with a 6.557-secs run at 210.67 mph. Gahm ran 6.613 at 209.69 to finish about two feet short at the stripe.

“This is a tough class with a lot of great drivers and great people,” Morton said. “Brian (Gahm) has always been tough, but I had a good feeling all weekend about this race. We were using our second motor. It’s kind of like the backup quarterback. And it took us to the Super Bowl.”

Nobile leads the Pro Stock season points chase with 347, his good friend Montecalvo is second at 341, and Morton now holds third with 335 points. Defending series champ Gahm sits in fourth with 307 points.