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IHRA at Rockingham
Words by Ian Tocher
Photos by Ian Tocher and Jeff Burk
4/29/04

ack-to-back wins were the order of the day Apr. 25, at the IHRA's 34th Annual U.S. Sports Scene.com Spring Nationals presented by Advance Auto Parts and Castrol at Rockingham Dragway. Three of the four pro classes featured repeat winners from the season-opening race at San Antonio, TX, with Clay Millican doubling up in Top Fuel, Mark Thomas turning the trick in Funny Car, and John Montecalvo going two for two in Pro Stock. Only Mike Janis broke the pattern with his win in Pro Mod, as San Antonio winner Glen Kerunsky fell to Janis in round two.

TOP FUEL

Millican reset both ends of the track records for e.t. and speed with a 4.550-second blast at 317.42 mph when he earned the number-one spot in the first round of qualifying. Nineteen cars showed up trying to make the eight-car nitro field, with John Sipple taking the bump spot after three rounds with a 4.895-secs pass.

In the final round, number-three qualifier Danny Dunn, who beat Rick Cooper and Bruce Litton to get there, performed his burnout with sparks trailing the back of his car and opted to just idle down the racetrack, handing Millican his second straight unopposed final round. (Litton crashed after winning in the semis in Texas.) Undaunted, Millican made a 4.636-second solo pass to finish out the day.

Chris Karamesines qualified fifth with a 4.773-secs pass. "The Greek" won his opening round against Tim Cullinan, but unfortunately, a reverser malfunction prevented him from answering the call for a semi-final match-up against Millican.

"I was actually really nervous going up to the final," Millican's crew chief Mike Kloeber admitted later. "Dunn has Mike McLaughlin over there tuning him now and I didn't know what to expect. Mike (McLaughlin) has been around a long time and knows how to work on these cars. We're used to racing Bruce (Litton) and his guys, and we know what to expect from them, how they're going to race us, so it was different to have another car in the final."

FUNNY CAR

Perhaps the biggest news in Funny Car eliminations was who wasn't there when the final call came to stage. Defending series champion Rob Atchison came out and qualified on top with a 5.809 on Friday, but then fell ill and didn't even make a lap on Saturday. In fact, he was so sick and dehydrated that the trackside medical staff hooked him up to an IV drip to help him regain strength. Feeling a little better on raceday, Atchison lined up against Chris Sipple in round one, but had to shut off early when his car went into severe tire shake.

Mark Thomas (near lane) left with a .047 reaction to Chris Foster's .067 in the final round.

Thomas said he felt bad for Atchison, but knew he had to take the opportunity to get ahead while the champ was down. "Rob's a great guy and a great racer, but we're out here to go rounds and win a championship, so we have to take advantage of this while we can."

After defeating John Bojec, Neal Parker, and Terry McMillen in the prelims, Thomas lined up in the final round against Chris Foster, who took care of David Ray, Sipple, and Dan Roman on his side of the ladder. When the green came on, Thomas got the jump by .020 on Chris Foster in the Alky Funny Car final, then ran his slowest pass of the day at 6.043 to take the win. Meanwhile, Foster had a decent run going until just past half-track when his car suddenly nosed over.

"It actually had the nose out in front of Mark when it went bang! It broke a rotor in the supercharger and blew the side of the case off," Foster explained. "It lifted the blower off the intake when it let go and it was doing the dance on the intake while I was getting it stopped."

PRO STOCK

Elijah Morton, from nearby Jacksonville, NC, fell to Nobile in the semis for the second-straight race. "We've got some New Yorkers out here taking over and we would've liked to beat then, especially since this is our home track," Morton said. "This engine is getting a little tired, so we'll take it back and let Jon (Kaase) do his magic on it and we'll get 'em next time."

Pro Stock action was marred at Rockingham by a violent rollover crash suffered by veteran driver John Bartunek just after posting a 6.551-second pass at 211.79 in Saturday's final qualifying session. Fortunately, Bartunek escaped the accident shaken but uninjured, but his 2003 Cavalier was an almost total write-off.

Top qualifying honors went to John Nobile with a 6.520, with Carl Baker rounding out the 16-car field at 6.601 seconds. Fifteen drivers went home early with a DNQ beside their names.

"You couldn't write a better script than what we're going through," John Montecalvo said after scoring his second win in as many races this year. "The car's fast, the team is working well, I'm driving good, and we're having fun!"

Montecalvo, the number-three qualifier, overcame a holeshot by Floyd Cheek in the opening round, had the second given to him by a redlighting Tony Gillig, and beat Pete Berner in the semis after starting with a stellar .006 light. On the other side, Nobile easily outdistanced Baker and Ron Miller before taking a very narrow victory over Elijah Morton in his semi final.

So, not only did "The Rock" produce a repeat winner in Pro Stock, but Nobile also finished runner-up for the second-straight time as Montecalvo put together a .011/6.520/212.66 combination to the .049 reaction followed by a 6.552/212.23 effort in Nobile's lane.

PRO MOD

Paducah, KY's Billy Harper was the best of five nitrous entries that made the show, qualifying fourth with a 6.200 at 223.32 mph. No. 3 qualifier Mike Janis ran an identical elapsed time, but went three mph faster.

Rumors abounded before and during the race that a blower overdrive reduction rule was coming for the supercharged cars, but nothing was done at Rockingham. Thirty-nine Pro Mod entries vied for 16 raceday positions, with West Seneca, NY's Fred Hahn leading the

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way after three rounds of qualifying with a 6.144 pass at 229.12 mph. Only Hahn, number-two qualifier Rick DiStefano, and eventual race winner Janis ran in the teens all weekend.

Al Billes, from Barrie, ON, qualified his blown '53 Corvette fifth and raced through Steve Salvadore, Billy Harper, and Scotty Cannon to reach the final round. It was a particularly expensive weekend for Cannon, who blew up two engines and received two "black flag" penalties for oiling the track. "If hindsight is 20/20," the Pro Mod legend said, "I probably would have preferred to lose in the first round and have both motors intact, than to win two rounds and lose both motors." Janis, meanwhile, overcame a holeshot by Mike Castellana to win his first round, cut an unreal .003 light on his way to an easy win over Kerunsky in round two, and disposed of DiStefano after a brief pedaling contest in the semis.

Mike Janis (near lane) and Canada's Al Billes squared off in the Pro Mod final, with Janis taking the win home to Lancaster, NY.

Although not producing a repeat winner this year, the Pro Mod final was a repeat of last season's Spring Nationals at Rockingham, with the same result. In the final round, Janis left first and went 6.274 at 227.69 to beat the 6.364/223.88 combo put together by Billes.