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STARK'S AFD SETS RECORD AT 271+
After a long absence from the NHRA scene, veteran Federal Mogul dragster
racer Keith Stark has returned with a vengence. At Memphis, the Danville,
Ill. native set the speed record for the FMD class with a 271.24 lap
in the first round that backed up a 269.24 qualifying lap for the record.
On that lap the car gained 58 mph on the back half of the track. Stark's
car is a brand new 298-inch long Mike Spitzer chassis with a 430 cubic
inch Fontana/Hemi between the rails. The small cubic inch engine allows
the car to weigh just 2020 lbs.
Stark has mostly recovered from injuries he sustained at Indy a couple
of years ago and is currently making a living doing fuel systems for
A/Fuel dragsters. He is also seeking some financial help to keep racing
his new A/fuel car.
VENEY, VIDI, VICI … ALMOST!
Part time journalist and full time driver in waiting Todd Veney came
oh so close to winning his first NHRA National event at the wheel of
the Sevice Tech '98 Firebird. Veney got the final round in large part
on his driving. In the final round judging from the sheets Veney's ride
was at a distinct performance advantage. Veney cut an outstanding .418
light but the reaction time alone wasn't enough for the Ohio-based racer
to overcome Chuck Cheeseman's 5.66 lap. Interestingly, in his very first
IHRA final he also cut a great light but didn't have the car to win.
A tip of the DRO glass in honor of Veney's valiant effort.
MILLICAN STUMBLES THROUGH MEMPHIS
Clay Millican, one of the rising stars in IHRA Top Fuel competition,
had a rough time of it at Memphis, despite the generally above par performances.
Millican who holds the IHRA e.t. record at 4.725 in the Mike Kloeber-tuned
eAuto.com dragster, never got it together, making the first alternate
spot with a 5.413/166.64.
PRO STOCK MOTHERTRUCKERS
Memphis was a hog heaven for fans of the Pro Stock Trucks. The sixteen
qualifiers produced the quickest bubble ever for the class with Greg
Stanfield's new NHRA national record 7.438/180.69 and Brian Self's 7.494/178.45
bookending the 16-car field. How quick is that? Well, at the NHRA U.S.
Nationals, Mike Coughlin's 7.605 topped a 16-car field that was bottomed
by Lou Ficco's 7.663. A 7.605 would have put you in the 17th alternate
spot at Memphis, or to be more direct, at the very bottom of the qualifying
list. Rob Slavinski, 1999 Winston champ Larry Kopp, Ruben Celedon, David
Spitzer, and John Lingenfelter all ran 7.49s that did not qualify.
FUNNY CARS RUN AT A RECORD PACE
 Individually,
none of the Funny Cars ran at an astounding clip although No. 1 qualifier
John Force set a Memphis track record with a 4.870. However as a field,
the sixteen cars qualified between Force's bullet and Al Hofmann's bubble
pass of 5.024, which is a record for 16 cars. A whopping 13 of the 16
clocked elapsed times in the four-second zone.
CAPPS GETS WIN
 Ron
Capps ended a 46-race winless streak when he defeated Whit Bazemore
in the all-Camaro Funny Car final.
"It's been an exciting day," Capps said after beating Tommy Johnson
Jr., Bruce Sarver and John Force to get to the final. "To beat Force
in the semifinals, I could've almost gone home after that. It's been
so long since I've won a race, you can't even imagine the feeling. It
just shows what Ace (McCulloch, crew chief) has done with this car this
season."
WEISGUYS GET FIRST 4-SECOND
 Scott
Weis got his first 4-second lap at Memphis
with a 4.956/298.87 which was good enough to qualify him number 9.
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