IHRA CARQUEST EMPIRE NATIONALS AT LEICESTER, NY

Hahn Fails to Set Pro Mod Mark; Litton wins Second Straight TF Go

The new IHRA Pro Modified rules and an itchy trigger foot resulted in points leader Fred Hahn's bid for a record fourth straight IHRA event title being foiled.

Hahn jumped the gun in Jim Oddy's Summit Performance '54 Corvette in a round two race with Troy Critchley in Johnny Rocca's '49 Mercury and got a red-light for his trouble. This opened the door for Quain Stott's Inman, S.C., '63 Corvette, which went on to record its first win since the IHRA Autumn Nationals last September.

Stott's 'Vette was the car that finally put the brakes on Rocca and Critchley as he sped to an excellent 6.34/222.05 to spill Critchley's 6.525/212.71.

Last month IHRA decided to slow down the blown cars and mandated running a three-speed transmission and a 4.57 or less rear-end gear ratio. These factors and the addition of 50 pounds effectively turned the 6.1-second Oddy-owned Corvette into a 6.4-second car. About the only good thing that came out of the race for the New Yorkers was the fact that they still enjoy a 433-286 edge over second-place man Stott in the Pro Modified points.

If Oddy and Hahn's fortunes soured somewhat the same cannot be said for Top Fuel winner Bruce Litton. At the recent IHRA Amalie Summer Nationals in Cordova, Ill., Litton won the event, but actually lost ground in the points due to his oiling down his lane on three different occasions. That was not the case this weekend for the WIX Filters team.

Litton rolled off times of 4.91/280.72 and 4.82/300.30 in successive wins over Bobby Lagana's "Twilight Zone" entry and Clay Millican in Peter Lehman's stealthsponsor.com dragster to set a final between him and points leader Paul Romine, who was driving the host sponsor's car here.

The normally reliable Romine caught a red-light in the final and Litton wheeled on to a 4.84/257.80 win. Romine still enjoys the IHRA lead in Top Fuel points, but Litton has really put the squeeze on him, trailing by just six tallies.

As a footnote, Litton's young teammate, 18-year-old J.R. Todd, qualified the other Litton team car in just his second national event appearance. Todd lost a tight first round duel to Millican, 4.94/296.93 to 4.96/295.27.

Nitro Harley points leader Jay Turner built on that edge by sweeping the two-wheelers out of his way at Leicester. His best performance came in the final when he scored a holeshot win over Doug Vancil for a 6.63/209.01 to 6.59/207.08.

The Alcohol Funny Car competition was loaded with surprises with Jimmy Rector doing the best job of dodging an ambush. In the final, Rector guided the Holbrook Performance Parts Dodge Avenger past Scott Weney in the Sheetz Racing Pontiac Firebird, 5.94/226.47 to a troubled 6.09/182.29.

Off of the early going, Weney appeared to be the favorite going into the final. In round one, he ruined IHRA champ Von Smith's bid for a third straight national event win, 5.94 to 6.05, and then followed with a 5.93 trouncing of Dale Brand's Co-Line Metal Stamping Firebird.

The most surprising occurrences of the eliminator came in the form of the two semifinalists. Terry Munroe's Firebird and Davis Rowe's Olds Cutlass turned in superb efforts to earn these surprising finishes.

In the Pro Stock final, it was Chevy Monte Carlo's a pair as Ron Miller's Moser Engineering entry squared off with John Montecalvo's Citgo-backed ride. Miller got the edge at the line and sped to a holeshot 6.72/206.23 to 6.69/207.42 win, his third in a row.

The biggest single winner at the event did not occur in any of the marquee classes, but rather Modified and Super Stock. Many-time winner and IHRA champ Anthony Bertozzi grabbed both those eliminators to make his New York weekend stand out.

Other winners:

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