DragRacingOnline.com - Drag Racing From a Different Perspective

Friday was quiet with some sportsman qualifying sessions in the morning but the now-patented NHRA rain was the winner. Chief Starter Rick Stewart walked the starting line one last time as the announcement was made that time trials would begin again early Saturday morning.

This was also the first race without the smiling face of Darrell Russell. A fitting video tribute played on Motel 6-Vision to highlight Russell's very short career.

This race also found a new Goodyear slick that had been mandated by NHRA and the new D2300 tire proved to the liking of most nitro teams without the chunking and separation as was common with the D2096 used by the nitro teams since Bristol earlier this year. A half dozen Goodyear tire experts checked tire pressures and top-end temperatures after every run and made detailed notes on each slick.

Having lost two professional sessions due to rain, Saturday would be critical with Whit Bazemore leading 19 floppers and setting two track records in qualifying; a best of 4.842 bettering the one Ron Capps set in 2001, a 4.949. A total of seven other Funny Cars bettered that number too, but Capps failed to qualify for this meet, getting bumped by Utah's Robert Schwab in the 16th slot. Rookie Eric Medlen grabbed the speed mark with his track record 318.24 mph.

Top Fuel was led by Brandon Bernstein's 4.677 at 308.43, his fourth #1 of the season, and the field was rounded out by "Mr. Magoo" Don Sosenka at 5.547 (above).

Greg Anderson continued his Pro Stock dominance by grabbing the #1 slot in qualifying once again, posting 7.159 for another new Bandimere record.

Eliminations on Sunday were a series of upsets with none larger than Robert Schwab's 5.665 come from behind win over a tire smoking Whit Bazemore.

Schwab, a Caterpillar tractor mechanic at Wheeler Machinery Co. in Magna, UT, builds his own chassis from scratch and brings a crew of friends who also work on heavy machinery.

"This day has just got so out of hand, I don't even have an idea what tune-up is in the car. We didn't expect this to happen," Schwab said. Happen it did with Schwab taking out Eric Medlen in the second round and finally losing to Cruz Pedregon in the semis.

In his first national event entry, the Aussie mentioned that "the crowd was right behind us; everybody was into this with us today." The low buck owner-driver added, "My wife put the new supercharger on her credit card, but we didn't hurt a part all weekend." The team will run some match races in a few weeks and may make the fall Las Vegas race if the funds are available.

Whit seems to attract fans that love him or love to hate him and one Denver fan's vinyl comment said it all for some of them.

The disappointed Bazemore added, "It's extremely disappointing when you qualify No. 1 by almost a full tenth and you lose in the first round to a new driver who has hardly ever even been down the race track."

The Funny Car final came down to two Chevy Monte Carlos: Cruz Pedregon and Phil Burkart, driving the Worsham and Fink car, looking for his second win of the season. Burkhart (shown) left on a tire-smoking Pedregon, grabbing his third career Wally driving the CSK-sponsored Chevrolet to a 5.338/289.69 win.

Once again Bob Glidden seems to be making his mark on Pro Stock. His tuning on Larry Morgan's Dodge has really made a difference this season getting the Stratus R/T to another final round here at Denver. Morgan defeated both Warren and Kurt Johnson, but unfortunately in the final met the brand new Summit-backed Pontiac Grand Am of Greg Anderson (below) in a tight finish with Morgan's 7.199 losing to Anderson's 7.194.

Back in his pit, a smiling Morgan was philosophical after the final round loss, saying, "Someone's got to lose, but I'm not happy about it. I wish we would have won. Coming here to Mopar's race and being in the final, that's a good thing; we are a lot closer than the other guys out here."

Asked if it was now easier since he's no longer an owner, but a part of Schumacher Racing, the Newark, Ohio veteran said, "I like it, it's not over -- he (Don Schumacher) hasn't paid me a damn dime yet. You never know, it may be me and Bob racing out here next year; if it was up to me that's all it would be. Bob works his butt off and he deserves to have it."

Crew chief Glidden (above, left) was harder on himself, "If we'd have done a better job out here we'd have won the race. I just missed the clutch first round and never did get close." Asked if a second team car would help or hurt his tuning effort, Glidden answered, "Right now we've got the two leased cars and that's a load. I've got to worry about all three of them; it's our stuff in those cars and I've got to go all over the pit area to keep track of them. If we had two cars within our pit area we'd be a lot better off."

Winner Greg Anderson commented on Glidden's presence, "You're damn right I think about him, how great he is, all the wins, all the championships. He's going to make Larry a winner. I hope I can hold them off, they are scratching on the door that's for darn sure." Anderson was proud to win with his new car and new sponsor Summit Racing onboard. "You know they've never had much success; they don't know how to act."

Tony Schumacher had problems during his qualifying session with the newly mandated roll bar shields. During the run, the negative airspace behind Tony's helmet forced his head forward and made vision over the cowl very difficult, but prior to eliminations a large hole-saw cleared up the problem.

The Top Fuel final found two-time Championship winner Scott Kalitta driving the Jesse James MAC Tools dragster against the U.S. Army car of Tony Schumacher. Tony had the edge off the line, but the old master, Connie Kalitta, tuned son Scott to

A friend mentioned during this race that a National meet at Bandimere Speedway has the feel of the old NHRA Divisional series of the past when the nitro cars would show up to put on competitive regional shows. There's a smaller feel to the race with lots of local participation from Denver area merchants and vendors with some of the best tasting turkey legs west of the Mississippi. A crowd favorite was the addition of Cal Spas near the starting line, exhibiting the latest in spa technology for perfect relaxation.

In Pro Stock Bike Shawn Gann 7.194/191.62 mph defeated Craig Treble 7.715/172.21 mph

Dean Carter A/ND 7.379/173.78 defeated Bill Kent C/D 7.502/180.09 in Competition Eliminator

Super Stock: James Kunkel SS/CM 10.42/99.71 MPH defeated Darren Wall 11.812/98.06 MPH