In previous years IHRA has had 16-car fields but cut it
in half for this season and that meant for the first time
in the history of the race there was a full field. Atchison
and arch-rival Mark Thomas qualified first and second respectively
into IHRA's new eight-car Alky Funny field, as is their
custom.
Thomas got past Chris Foster in the first round using
a holeshot to win with a 5.92 over Foster's quicker but
losing 5.89. He tried to do the same in his second round
match-up against Atchison, but had a -.035 bulb giving
the automatic win to Atchison. Atchison evidently didn't
realize that Thomas had red-lighted and legged it all the
way to the stripe. He outran Thomas with a 5.761 to a 5.827
but tossed the rods in the lights, slowing to just 230
mph.
Atchison was to meet number three qualifier, Terry McMillen,
in the finals and McMillen had a bye into the final so
he just idled down the track. When McMillen and his crew
found out that Atchison had grenaded his motor, they all
pitched in to help the Atchison team make an engine change.
The new official slogan of DRO is "No good deed goes
unpunished," and now McMillen's crew understands what
that means as their reward for getting Atchison ready to
race was that he ran a 5.749/242.41 that thumped McMillen's
game 5.92.
CONCLUSION
Overall the IHRA's program has improved in many areas
over previous years but there are still some areas that
need improvement. Safety still seems to be somewhat of
a problem with the IHRA. Despite a serious 30-40 mph crosswind
on Friday afternoon, the IHRA
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opted to run a pro qualifying
session in front of no more than a couple of hundred fans.
The first pair down track was Pro Stockers Dan Seamon
and Jeff Dobbins. Caught by the crosswind, Seamon's chute
caught the back of Dobbins' car and caused it to crash
and catch fire. It took 45 seconds for a safety vehicle
to reach the burning car. IHRA officials asked the racers
before the first car went down if it was safe, but the
call shouldn't be in the racers hands -- their macho won't
let them make the right decision. The sanctioning body
has to make that call and should always err on the side
of safety.
The show itself was well run and for the most part on
time, but as a fan who sat in chilly temperatures on aluminum
seats, I think that the racing should come before a basically
meaningless pre-race show. If the final round is to begin
at, say, 10:00 PM Saturday night, then start the pre-race
at 9:00 or 9:30. Racing fans are only there to see racing
by that time and hurrying the pro cars to the lanes and
the fans to the stands only to make them wait while the
track and themselves get cold doesn't make sense to me
as a fan.
Despite a few glitches that will get fixed I think IHRA
drag racing still offers drag racing fans the best bang
for their buck but it could be better.
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PART 2: PRO STOCK & PRO
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