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Racer Pages |
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Updated: May 16, 2010 |
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Dedicated to Sportsman Drag Racing(No Pros) Sell Out Crowd at Summit Raceway Park in NorwalkJimmy Fallon wins Top Sportsman. What a terrific performance by Jimmy's team. I'll bet Jimmy had a sleepless night after his final qualifying pass under the lights and a packed house was tire shaker. His final attempt before eliminations as he was in the left lane launching the car toward the wall. I'll bet Jimmy had a pant load after that last qualifying pass.His first round was solid 6.94. In the 3rd round, Jimmy was racing a friend Badeye B. and a car that sports the same engine builder. Badeye has been red hot since his win from the season finale at Ohio Valley. Badeye qualified for the quick 4 shootout racing eventual winner Chris Ray. Badeye struggled to find the sweet-spot of his program all last season until he was fantastic at Ohio Valley. It was sweet to find Badeye in the quick four and to see him in the third round at Norwalk. Jimmy has a sweet Corvette with a mechanical injected BIG block. Jimmy is a proud father of a 2 year old daughter that is growing like a weed. Jimmy, in addition to being a great racer, is nice guy and one heck of a gentleman.  The winner of the Quick 4 contest was Chris Ray. Chris was impressive running in the 6.60's all day, all night and any other time of the day. Last year Chris was ready to trash his clutch. Chris is a stick guy. The rest of us are lazy compared to the few stick guys in Top Sportsman. Chris sent the clutch in and got some updates that really agree with his program. If you ever get a chance to see Chris's motor you will need to stand back. This motor is so big, it takes a wide angle lens to see it all. The only thing larger than Chris's motor is the number of feet in the quarter mile. In the Quick 4 final, Chris raced Mark Malcuit a Nitrous powered Big Block Lenco. Mark must have a few extra spark plugs and valves in that motor because near the 1000 ft mark they came out of the motor in a burst of glory. Nice fire works show. I'll bet the you would have liked to leave the fire works show up to Bill Bader family. The race was door to door until the 1000 ft cone where the extra parts decided to exit. In the Top Yard Dart (Dragster) side, a few notable races: Lynn Ellison but a number on John Coughlin with a 0.0001 win. Both had stellar RT's but someone drug the brakes the right amount at the strip. What a great race. James Monroe won by sight amount beating Troy Stone in round 3. Let's give this some perspective. James has a 200 mph dragster. 200 mph is like traveling the length of 1 football field per second. James won by 7 feet. Troy passed James at the finishline going 50 mph faster than James. Can you imagine looking back at a bullet that is passing you by 50 mph as you are covering 1 football field per second. These guys are weekend warriors traveling at Indy car speeds. After all, this is a bracket race. If you hog up the finishline, you loose. To win consistently, you need to win by the smallest margin. Race 1 and 2 of the Lyons Raceway Park VP Quick 32"This Race Was a How's How of Drag Racing Event"What a fantastic Event. The work the LRP staff put into the track, the track support equipment and the promotion. The event was competed with the largest big buck, big speed racers in the nation. Not to name drop, Tom Stultz, there many time speed racers, James Monroe, Shawn Langdon, in the nation, Lester Atkins & Phillip Oaxley, on hand, Jason Lynch, Bud Tharp, Ed Dudley, including Paul Mann's 68 Camaro. The first race was cold and named the LRP Winter Nationals. The track was tight despite the cool weather.The field was let by Brian Buch 4.220 163.49 on the open side and Reed Hughes 4.401 159.63 on the race car side. The first round was brutal with many big hitters being retired first round. Since the track was tight and the rule only allow a dial down of 0.10 seconds, there were many close wins by a thou or two. The semi finalists were Charlie Hamma and Al Peavler on the yard dart side and Reed Hughes (low qualifier) Jason McConnell on the race car side. The digger won the first event with Charlie Hamma taking the $2,000 prize money. Race Two Mother Nature Smiled on Mother's DayWith the same cast of racers and better weather qualifying on the door car side was a nail biter. Tom Stultz had his 3rd try at the LRP tacky 1/8 mile of concrete. On his first try, Reed Hughes led the field with a 4.431 qualifying effort. Tom loaded up the Firebird with a full load of NO2 and a new gear change from yesterday resulted in a tire shaking effort. On the second throw. Paul Mann's Camaro backed up it's first effort while Tom tryed to get a baseline on his last effort. Tom pulled the bottles and decided to do an "All Motor" run. The result was a 4.665 151.12 second place qualifying effort more than 2 full tenths quicker than the best all motor run from last year. Watch out for Tom at the Norwalk NHRA D3 race this weekend. My bet is on him for low qualifier at Norwalk and the Q4 winner.Sunday's final 4 were Christoper Carrico defeated Charlie Hamma on the digger side and Ron Haymen got the break single on the Race Car side as Paul Mann's entry failed to start by a faulty starter. Carrico had the edge over Haymen for the $2,000 victory. Sunday was Sun Day at St. Louis"The Two Big Speed Part Shops Sponsor Win Top Sportsman and Top Dragster"Marco Ambruzzi and Jeggie C. win Top Sportsman and Top Dragster respectively. After waiting all day Saturday to share the stage with the BIG NAMES, the diggers finally got on the track twice and the door slammers once to qualify.The Scheid Diesel Dragster was a crowd favorite with the 200 MPH speed and the cloud of black smoke produced by a 2 stage turbo system down the track. I am sure the Bio Hazard the NHRA was trying to avoid all went up in smoke with the three passes made by the Diesel powered dragster. It was a cool run by an innovative team. The fans appreciated it and when the car did it's burn out, the fans cheered the loudest for this machine. This car brought the loudest applause of the weekend even louder than applause for any Pro. It was truly heart warming to see fans that appreciate something innovative. On the Door Car side it was Rick Corn, Chris Ray and Billy Torrence showing up the Pro Stock Guys in their qualifying times and speed. 14 cars qualified in the 6 second range with an open field. If the field had been like Norwalk last year, god knows how many folks would have been well into the 6 second zone. Saturday night first round was brutal. Many big hitters fouled out needing to hit the tree at night. One former Pro, Dave Connolly was destroyed by Phil Oakley at the finish line. In the end, the best racers survived. In drag racing, you go from hero to zero over night. We had to support the efforts Jay Hullinger and many Top Sportsman have been advocating for years. That is to have a Top Sportsman and Top Dragster race contested at a national event. While there was a good turn out of race cars, I think this will be our last National Event for a while. |
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