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No 200mph: No Pro Stock cars were able to reach the 200 mph mark at the race. The fastest Pro Stocker at the race was Rickie Smith's Camaro which recorded a 199.20 in eliminations. .400 Reaction Times: For the first time in recent memory there were a couple of perfect reaction times in a Pro Class. In the semi-finals of Pro Stock Greg Anderson put a perfect .400 light on Warren Johnson to get to the final round and then in the finals Krisher cut a perfect .400 light of his own to drop Anderson. Those who didn't anticipate the tire smoking nitro finals probably
should have. In its former life as an AHRA track, if you didn't run
the nitro burners early enough in the evening, the dew would inevitably
creep in and screw up the traction. Even though not a single shred of
the old track remains, you just can't fool Mother Nature, can you? -
JL Drag racing legend Chris Karamesines was on hand and suffered through a tough weekend. Driving an ex-Scelzi dragster, the Greek killed an engine on his first lap in qualifying. With some guest tuning from Lance Larson, the Chicago Icon improved to a 5.12/275.63 effort on his third lap, but was unable to step up enough to crack the final elims lineup and was headed home early Saturday. - JL No more underdog, feel-good stuff for Ron Krisher! Not only did he grab the pole in qualifying, he dominated the race from start to finish. He brushed aside Terry Adams, Kenny Koretsky, Rickie Smith, and Gred Anderson on his way to his second win of Y2K. In a race full of upsets, his win no longer fits that profile. - JL The most impressive Top Fuel lap may have been that of Luigi Novelli. His 4.81/308.14 blast put him in the show in the 13th spot, probably his best effort yet. It wasn't that long ago that Novelli was mired in the 5.40-range, light years away from where he wanted to be. Good to see the lesser known racers enjoy some success. - JL
Tommy Johnson Jr. returned to action in the Hofmann family ride, but had a rough go of it. A few mechanical gremlins and tune-up woes later, T.J. and new friends found themselves on the outside looking in. They get another chance to get it right at the upcoming Bristol "special" event after a stop for a match race at his home track of Eddyville, Iowa. - JL Mike and Louie Cavalieri showed up with a Top Fuel entry, aided by the Peek Brothers, with Glen Mikres driving and tuning. The new team had a decent weekend, narrowly missing the show with a 4.98/298.80 best. - JL
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Tractionless
Gateway Int'l Raceway could only muster a best overall nitro speed of
316 mph by…really, who cares? But you might care about this: The Sears
Craftsman Nationals marked the second straight race where an NHRA top
speed failed to eclipse an IHRA national event best. Shirley Muldowney's
319.22 mph charge at the IHRA Amalie Oil Summer Nationals on June 10
was better than anything turned at the NHRA races at Columbus or St.
Louis (Madison). Ya have to go back to the 1980s before you find figures
like that. - CM
