By George Klass
Photos by Mac Fosmire/PhotoMagic Photography
5/10/04

hey say that if you don't like the weather in Texas, stick around for a few minutes and it will change. True statement.

Friday, April 30, started off with serious clouds that looked pretty ominous. Heavy rain and wind abounded all around the greater Houston area, but none at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown. On Saturday, things took a turn for the worse. Heavy rain and wind started in the late morning, washing out racing for the day.

But luck held and Sunday dawned dry and cool, and the racers were lined up at the gate. Fun Ford Weekend was able to get the three-day event in on just Sunday, including True Street and the All-Ford Car Show.

In the Mr. Gasket Pro class, Chuck Samuel (lead photo) qualified No. 1 with a 6.524 at 216.97. Right behind was Joe DaSilva with a 6.674/213.54. Next was Brit Floyd and finally, the much anticipated new car from Doug Mangrum (photo below), making his first runs.

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In the finals it was Samuel (6.488/218.09) over DaSilva (6.554/216.24). Samuel's 6.461 with the .488 back-up will probably constitute a new Pro e.t. record, pending approval from FFW. And as the low qualifier and also the class winner on Sunday, Chuck will also win the Houston Performance Pro Challenge Lottery, which had risen to $3,000, bringing his total purse up to $10,500.

Joe DaSilva added a little extra "spark" to the racing.

In the ProCharger Street Outlaw class, there were two turbo cars, one nitrous car and one supercharged car. Bill Glidden arrived at the track late and made the final qualifying session with a standout run of 7.039/194.66. Chip Havemann, Travis Franklin and Terry Strange rounded out the field. Two guys from Texas and two guys from Indiana.

On Sunday, it was Havemann (photo) over Strange and Glidden over Franklin. Glidden had to install a new clutch after his 7.0 run and if Franklin's transmission hadn't gone away, he might have had a good shot at the win. In the finals, it was Havemann (7.563/183.10) over Glidden's tire shake 7.942/157.59.

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Jumping to the Edelbrock Street Bandit class, the first three qualifiers, Rod Houck (8.685), Matt Jones (8.696) and Ken Compton (8.725) all qualified under the official FFW e.t. record (8.726 held by Jones) and Jones (156.50) also was over the mile per hour record (held by him at 155.94) too. These records seem to rotate between these guys at each event. Cale Aronson and Richard Lelsz (new car) were also in the field.

Compton beat Lelsz and Houck to meet Jones in the final. Compton has been cutting some pretty super lights recently and this was another one decided at the tree. Compton was the winner.

In the BFGoodrich Tire Drag Radial class, there is one name that stands out from all the others, and that of course is Dwayne "Big Daddy" Gutridge. As usual, Big qualified No. 1 with an 8.303/175.68, a new mph record if he could back it up. In the finals it was Big over Manny Alvarez. Looks like Big Daddy intends to bust his own records at every event. Imagine, 8.2's on a DOT tire.

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In the ProCharger Street Renegade class, the first four qualifiers were all under the e.t. record of 8.970 and, other than Manny Geno, were all above the speed record (153.75) too. On the pole was DJ Loiacano with an 8.454 at 175.52. In second spot was Ronnie Wilson at 8.580/162.16, followed by Joe Robinson (8.685/163.69) and Manny Geno (8.892/125.56). In eliminations, with records falling in almost every round, it was DJ (8.587/169.23) over Geno for the win.