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Fortunately, the car's main frame rails didn't appear
bent and the engine escaped undamaged, so although his test session
came to a premature end, Rocca said, "if we can get a sponsor," he's
looking forward to mounting a 2003 campaign in the popular "Ironhorse"
Pro Mod. He confirmed a tentative deal is in the works; then added,
"it would not be for the IHRA series."
JONES GOES 6.531 IN IHRA-LEGAL TRIM
IHRA Pro Stock regular Rick Jones bettered the official
IHRA elapsed time record by one-thousandth of a second when he went
6.531 on Nov. 22, at Darlington International Dragway.
Rick Jones felt his hemi-equipped Dodge
Neon could've gone even quicker, but its 60-foot time had slowed
a little from the .963 he'd seen the day before |
Rick Jones felt his hemi-equipped Dodge Neon could've gone even quicker,
but its 60-foot time had slowed a little from the .963 he'd seen the day
before.
"The conditions were perfect. The air was perfect and
the starting line here is just phenomenal," Jones said. "I knew it was
on a great pass because it really set me back in the seat, all the shift
lights came real quick, and it was nice and smooth all the way down."
Jones is busy these days at his RJ Race Cars shop in Galesburg,
IL, where he's building new Stratus chassis for the factory Dodge team
in NHRA Pro Stock competition. Despite the Neon's recent success, Jones
also plans to switch to a Stratus sometime next year. "You'll definitely
see the Neon for the first couple of IHRA races," he said. "But there's
going to be more support from Dodge for the Stratus and we can actually
share quite a bit of information with the NHRA teams when we're running
the same chassis and body."
TEST SHOTS
Mt Vernon, NY's Harry Anderson Jr. hangs 'em high in his
nitrous-boosted 512 c.i.'68 Camaro at Darlington. Unfortunately, he
may also have fragged second gear on this pass.
Anderson made the long trek south for testing before a
big race the next day at Englishtown, NJ. Also on hand was fellow Long
Island grudge match racer Ronnie Siders, who put his '63 Pro Mod-style
Corvette and a '68 Camaro through their paces on the Darlington strip.
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