Departments - Missed Races

record number of Top Fuel cars showed up in San Antonio to vie for a slot in the elite eight-car field at the second annual IHRA Amalie Oil Texas Nationals but Top Fuel -- as it has been for several years --continued to be a private playground for Peter Lehman's Top Fuel team, who won yet another IHRA national event.

The Pro Mod contingent (32 cars) was much larger than last year's with every hitter in Pro Mod, with the notable exceptions of Jim Oddy's 2002 'Vette and Mike Ashley's '67 GT500E Mustang, making the trip to Texas. As usual the Pro Mods put on a great show. Nineteen-year-old phenom Zach Barklage set both ends of the track record in getting the pole while Canadian Glen Kerunsky came from the 16th and last qualifying position to win the race.

The mountain-motored Pro Stock division featured a classic Ford vs. Chevy finale with John Montecalvo's "Stovebolt" Hemi-Chevy getting the nod over John Nobile's Ford.

Then there was the spectacular jet truck exhibition that closed the show in front of a packed 10,000-seat grandstand on Saturday night. In the words of a neophyte journalist, "A good time was had by all."

TOP FUEL

There were twenty Top Fuel cars entered at San Antonio, an IHRA record. To be sure, that number included four non-supercharged, injected cars, but nevertheless twenty cars were entered in Top Fuel. There were no surprises in qualifying or race day, though, as Clay Millican and crew chief Mike Kloeber picked up right where they ended the 2003 season -- winning. Millican qualified on the pole with a 5.63 and the Werner-sponsored team were the only ones that ran in the 4.50 zone.

Despite that performance edge on the rest of the field, they could have easily been taken out in the semi's by Todd Paton, but in an old fashioned, tire smoking, pedal-fest Millican drove like a champion and got to the stripe first with a 5.79 to Paton's 5.97.

That race turned out to be the final round as Bruce Litton had a tire failure while racing Grant Flowers in the other semi and experienced a harrowing 300-mph crash. Fortunately Litton was unhurt but was taken to the hospital for observation. That gave Millican a final round bye run for the title. The Lehman team returned and made a single for the money, recording a fine 4.596/311.49.

Top Fuel notes

Humble, Texas racer Mark Kinsella made one of his rare Top Fuel appearances at the San Antonio race. Kinsella had tuning help from NHRA Funny car wrench Rob Flynn and qualified second with a 4.669. The only other races currently on Kinsella's schedule are the NHRA events at Houston and Dallas.

The Stevens family fueler is based out of Oblong, Ill. The team showed at San Antonio with a new driver, golfer Rick Cooper from Boise, ID. Cooper got his license at San Antonio and then qualified into the eight-car field with a respectable 5.027 on his last pass, bumping out Bobby Lagana.

Bruce Litton's Brad Hadman chassis had only eight laps on it when it crashed. Litton was extremely lucky as he drove without any sort of head/neck restraint device other than the "donut" that fits under the helmet. Supposedly Litton is having Hadman put together a new chassis for him to drive at Houston in a couple of weeks.

PRO MOD

Pro Modified was perhaps the most entertaining of the professional classes at the Texas Nationals. This year saw nearly twice as many entries at this event than attended last year. Upsets were the order of the day.

In the first round most of those who qualified in the top half of the field, including number one qualifier Zach Barklage, lost. After the second round the only driver left who qualified in the top eight was Harold Martin behind the wheel of his nitrous oxide/EFI Pontiac Grand Am. Martin was the only driver from the top half of the field to get out of the second round.

In final round action Glen Kerunsky's supercharged '57 Chevy met Martin who got to the finals after a bye run when Rick Distefano ran out of parts and couldn't answer the bell for the third round. The final was a supercharger vs. nitrous, '57 Chevy vs. 2004 Grand Am match that could have been a classic but was anti-climatic when Harold Martin's engine shut itself after about 400 feet.

Pro Mod notes

Pro Mod winner Glen Kerunsky became one of the few, if not the first IHRA Pro Mod racer to win from the 16th qualifying spot. Kerunsky, from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, competes mostly on the West Coast but this year has hired car builder Tim McAmis to fly in and tune the car wherever he races.

Another Canadian, Carl "Big Dog" Spiering, purchased McAmis' '63 'Vette from last year and is campaigning that car on the IHRA tour this year.

Both Mike Castellana and Shannon Jenkins qualified for the IHRA event. Neither qualified for the NHRA event at Gainesville the previous week and there was a rumor circulating the pit area that they would withdraw from NHRA competition this season.

Pat Musi drove the '57 Chevy owned by the McManama family and became, I believe, only the second Pro Mod in recent IHRA history to qualify for a race using an EFI/nitrous oxide injection engine combination. In IHRA at least there is a competitive balance between nitrous and supercharged cars. At San Antonio six nitrous cars qualified for the field and there were an even amount of nitrous and supercharged cars in the field after every round of eliminations.

Zach Barklage's supercharged Grand Am was the number one qualifier and Harold Martin's was number two. That was the first time in IHRA history that a pair of late model Pontiac Grand Ams qualified one-two in any doorslammer class.

Early in qualifying Harold Martin broke a wheel, but still came back to qualify No. 2.

PRO STOCK

John Montecalvo's 2002 Cavalier dominated the Pro Stock competition. Montecalvo, using a Sonny Leonard-built 814 c.i. "Hemi" Chevy engine, qualified number one with a 6.533 and had the Top Speed of 213.57. The quickest pass honors went to John Nobile, who shoed his Ford Escort powered by an 814-inch Ford semi-hemi engine to a 6.529 in the second round. That pass put Pete Burner's '04 Mustang in the trailer.

The final round of Nobile's Ford against Montecalvo's Chevy and was a Blue Oval vs. Bowtie Brigade throwdown between a pair of veteran, New York-based, Pro Stock racers. Nobile's Escort maintained a performance edge during eliminations but the Chevy driver, Montecalvo, had much quicker reaction times throughout eliminations. He maintained that advantage in the finals, cutting his third straight sub-.430 reaction time, and used up Nobile on the tree. Nobile recorded his fourth-straight reaction time above a .460 and sealed his own fate. Even though Nobile ran a quicker 6.542 elapsed time, Montecalvo's .427 light combined with a 6.566 e.t. was enough to easily put Nobile in the trailer and get the Pro Stock title for the Chevy fans.

Pro Stock Notes

The 20-car Pro Stock field at San Antonio featured 12 Fords, five Chevys, two Mopars and one lone Pontiac. The field was separated by just over a tenth of a second and the number one qualifier and the number 16 qualifiers drove Chevy Cavaliers.

Two drivers who finished in the Top Ten in IHRA Pro Stock points in 2003 failed to qualify at San Antonio, both Ford racers. Doug Kirk and Jason Collins, who finished fifth and sixth respectively in Pro Stock points, didn't make the cut at San Antonio.

PRO FUNNY CAR

Just seven IHRA Funny Cars showed at San Antonio and that is four fewer cars than made the trek from the South last year. The fact the IHRA alky funnies have their own unique rules keeps NHRA-legal cars from competing at IHRA events. This class was dominated at San Antonio by the same two racers that dominated this class all during the 2003 season: Rob Atchison and Mark Thomas. These drivers qualified first and second with times of 5.853 and 5.856, respectively, and then marched to the finals where Mark Thomas used up Atchison with a .427 light to Atchison's .462 and then held on for the win by just eight-thousandths of a second at the stripe with a winning 5.897 to Atchison's quicker but losing 5.870.

Funny Car notes

Rob Atchison has to be one of the last cars in the Alcohol Funny Car ranks that is able to make a wedge-head engine combination not only run with the Hemis but beat 'em.

Pro Mod World Champ tuner Jimmy Rector was tuning Mark Thomas' car at San Antonio which he has been doing for a couple of years.

Ronnie Midyette did have his '02 Camaro flying in Texas. Even though his best elapsed time was a 6.03, his speed of 240.38 equaled that of Mark Thomas and Midyette did it first.

One official ventured that IHRA may consider expanding the Pro Mod field to 32 cars instead of 16 and just not have an Alky Funny Car field. Judging from the number of Alky Funnies that have shown the last two years in Texas, those racers probably wouldn't mind.

THE SPORTSMAN REPORT, OR .004 OF A SECOND REALLY IS IMPORTANT

Both Top Sportsman and Top Dragster fields were short in Texas with just nine Top Dragsters and 15 Top Sportsman qualifying. North Dakota racer Daniel Fjeldahl got the Top Dragster gold win when his opponent G. Williams went red by .004.

That .004 number was also significant in the Top Sportsman title. Milan, Mich. racer Ricky Adkins, driving his 396 c.i. Chevy-powered '69 Camaro, had a .504 light which forced Darrell Froboese, who had a respectable .536 light, to break out trying to catch him. Adkins ran 7.559 on a 7.53 dial for the win.

Monty Bogan Jr was the Super Stock class winner and that .004 of a second was also a factor in this race. Number one qualifier Bogan ran a 9.196 on a 9.19 dial in his PDA-1 car that beat Michael Lyons' SS/BM pass of 8.756 on an 8.76 dial, which broke him out by .004 of a second. (Just wondering why the results sheets don't list the brand of car, engine size or speed. Guess no one but the drivers care.)

In Stock Eliminator action top qualifier Nick Folk won the class over Bill McClister. Another of the Folk clan who are headquartered in upstate Illinois Ron Folk was the Quick Rod Champion when his opponent Damon Dabbs went red by two thousandths. Folk ran it out the back door and broke out by six thousandths. First or worst rule applied here.

Michael Pennington was the Super Rod winner and Louisiana racer Bill Levatino Jr. got the bucks and trophy in Hot Rod.