Good day, I'm trying to locate a Whipplecharger. If you have any information, please contact me by email or at 1-800-648-7970 (ext. 167) and ask for OZ. Thank you.

Good morning, Bob. I must first point out that you have a wonderful site and I thoroughly enjoyed surfing through it. I'm hoping you can give me some information concerning trailer rentals in Canada.

Do you know of a company that rents 48' or 53' enclosed trailers to transport race cars? We could discuss your brokering the space on this trailer at a later date. So far, my information points to buying, not leasing. I'm looking for the type of rig the big boys like "Players" etc., have on the road. Can you help?

Wells has tough loss in Round One

Defending Division Five Federal-Mogul Dragster Champion David Wells had another tough loss at this weekend's Matco Tools SuperNationals at Houston Raceway Park. Wells lost on a holeshot to James Thompson Jr., who had a near perfect .408 reaction time (.400 is perfect), and Wells' elapsed time of 5.551 at 258.22 mph just wasn't enough to catch Thompson's 5.587 at 254.81 mph.

Wells, of LeMars, Iowa, qualified No. 4 in his Blue Bunny Ice Cream "Plain Vanilla" entry with a strong elapsed time of 5.468 at 259.91 miles per hour before falling to Thompson in round one. "He got me on the tree, ran a pretty good number, and just got me," said Wells. "It just fell off because it was a little hotter, and we didn't want to get too aggressive and overpower the track like we did at Memphis."

Wells will move back up the road to the Texas Motorplex for the resumption of the O'Reilly Nationals that was rained out last weekend. Wells hopes his fortunes take a turn for the better. "We're just going to head back to Dallas and see if we can get back after it again," Wells said.

Meyer just misses hometown win

Federal-Mogul Dragster driver Jay Meyer just missed hitting a grand slam in front of his hometown fans during this past weekend's Matco Tools SuperNationals at Houston Raceway Park.

Meyer, from just down the road in Freeport, Texas, qualified No. 1 with a near career best elapsed time of 5.416 at 256.16 miles per hour, and made it all the way to the finals before meeting up with second generation racer Gary Ormsby Jr., in the quickest side-by-side race of the weekend. Ormsby edged Meyer with a 5.410 at 261.12 to Meyer's 5.469 at 257.28 mph.

"All weekend, we were fighting a bad set of tires," said Meyer. "We looked all night Saturday night to figure out why the car was moving around so bad, and I woke up an hour early Sunday morning because of the time change. After thinking for that hour, I decided to check the rollout on the tires, and sure enough, they were off. It had blown through the clutch so bad in the first round against Fuentes, we were afraid to put new tires on, so we just put some older ones we had back on. From then on, the car was really good."

"The points race with [Rick] Santos was over with, so we were able to experiment with a few things to get a run on next year. So, even though we runner-upped, it still was a good weekend; the hometown fans were great. We also had a good weekend for our new sponsor Sounds and Signals, and they have decided to come back on board for Dallas next week. Tuning consultant Tom Conway, and my crew chief did great this weekend; we just came up a little short.

After his strong showing in Houston, Meyer looks to close his season with a win during next weekend's resumption of the O'Reilly Nationals at the Texas Motorplex, just south of Dallas. "We've been having clutch problems this weekend," Meyer said. "We're going to put some different parts in the clutch to see if we can get the clutch flatter so it can lock up. We really are making a lot more horsepower now because we are pushing the engine to see how far we can go. We have the race to experiment with for next year, and that's what we are going to do."

For more information on the Meyer team, visit their website at Jay Meyer Racing

Fuentes shocks F-M/D field with 5.51 against Meyer

Federal-Mogul Dragster rookie Joe Fuentes ran a career best elapsed time of a 5.510 at 252.80 miles per hour to almost upset No. 1 qualifier Jay Meyer in the first round of this past weekend's Matco Tools SuperNationals at Houston Raceway Park. Meyer took the win by virtue of a quicker reaction time coupled with a 5.548 at 250.23 mph.

The Austin, Texas based driver experienced problems in the first two qualifying sessions and was only able to muster a 6.78 at 178 mph that put him as the No. 2 alternate. In the final qualifying session, Fuentes' brakes didn't hold on the starting line, and he didn't get a time recorded, even though he was side-by-side with Troy Buff's 5.55 in the next lane. Luckily for Fuentes, No. 16 qualifier Sergio Recio hurt a motor in qualifying and was unable to return, and Fuentes was able to take his spot.

Fuentes said, "I was just happy we got a chance to race. I really didn't think I had a shot at beating Meyer, so I didn't try to cut a light. I guess I learned my lesson there. It was far from a perfect run. I had to pedal it in high gear because it was out of shape, and I clicked it off early. Our tuning consultant Ora Vasquez really has us moving in the right direction."

Given his new found performance, Fuentes looks forward to next weekend where he will return to the Texas Motorplex for the resumption of the O'Reilly Nationals that was postponed two weeks ago due to rain. Fuentes is scheduled to run No. 3 qualifier Brandon Henkelman. "We finally got the car to run like it should," said Fuentes. "We really needed to run like we did this weekend, and now we have some momentum heading into next week. We are really looking forward to it."

Recio qualifies with new car; engine damage ends weekend

Federal-Mogul Dragster driver Sergio Recio had an up and down weekend during the Matco Tools SuperNationals at Houston Raceway Park. Recio debuted a brand new Y2K Brad Hadman chassis and qualified No. 16 with an elapsed time of 5.756 at 240.89 miles per hour, but killed his only engine in the process, taking him out of competition.

The El Paso, Texas native still feels that the weekend was a positive outing for the Cash-n-Go team, given the results. Recio said, "We kicked a few rods out, and hurt a couple of sleeves. With this new "Rhino" Fontana engine block, we could have replaced everything, but we didn't have any more sleeves. The car ran pretty good for it's first full pass, so we are happy."

From Houston, Recio will move west to the Division Seven finale to be held at Firebird International Raceway, just outside of Phoenix. Recio hopes to learn more about his new car for the 2001 season. "We're going to go out there and try to figure the car out a little better," said Recio. "There's a lot more left in it; we're really pleased with this new car Hadman built us."

Engine damage leads to second round loss

Federal-Mogul Dragster driver Shelly Howard had her streak of late round appearances snapped by Gary Ormsby Jr., in the second round of this past weekend's Matco Tools SuperNationals at Houston Raceway Park. Ormsby took the win with an elapsed time of 5.463 at 251.11 miles per hour over Howard's 5.509 at 251.11 mph.

Howard, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, qualified No. 6 with a great 5.496 at 255.95 mph and ran a 5.506 at 256.75 to put away A/Fuel powerhouse Steve Faria in round one. In round two, Howard was ahead of Ormsby at the 330' mark when her motor started to go away in high gear.

"It started nosing over a little bit when I hit high gear, then a lot at the end of the track," said Howard. "We have been having problems with our rev limiter coming in early, and we believe it ultimately caused the motor to go away on the top end of the track. The engine block is cracked pretty bad. We just wish we didn't have those problems; it might have been a different outcome."

From Houston, Howard will move up the road to the Texas Motorplex for the resumption of the O'Reilly Nationals this weekend. Howard will face No. 4 qualifier David Wells in the first round. "We feel a little bit better about going back to Dallas now that we are back running in the 5.40's," explained Howard. "At any rate, Wells will be tough, so we will have to be on our game."

For more information on the Howard team, visit their website at Shelly Howard Racing

Click here to read the "clickable" version.

Site updates! You'll notice a slightly different format at draglist.com starting this week. Here is a rundown on the new features:

Updated Site Search button: If you look below the logo on each page, we have redone our search button. It has come to our attention that some folks didn't realize we had the capability to search the entire 800 pages of draglist.com. We hope the new button will remedy that. Just click on it and you'll be taken to our search form.

Updated Site Updates button. We also moved our "Join our Mailing List for Site Updates" button from the bottom of the page to the top. Our readers tell us they love seeing these weekly updates. Hopefully, with the button up higher on the page, more fans will be able to sign up and get our updates.

A new line of links at the top of each page. We added a new line of primary links at the top of each page. We now have four lines of links that should be able to take you quickly to anything you want at draglist.com. We added new links for Home, Site Search, Get Email Updates, and Advertising. In addition to these new links, our Racing Chat link now goes to the Drag and Auto Forums and Chat section of the DRL Links. This gives our readers dozens of options for racing chat with one click.

Recommend It! The new silver button on the left margin allows you to recommend the DRL to your friends. When you click on the button, a form pops up with a place for a note and the email addresses of your online pals. If you dig the DRL, please do us a favor and turn your friends on to it. Thanks!

October 30:
Drag Racing Story of the Day: Angelle Seeling Wins 2000 NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Crown, plus all Houston results. Jerry Battle files the report on the NHRA's second ever female world champion. Congrats to Angelle and the team. Congrats also to John Force, who clinched his 10th world championship this weekend. motorsport.com provides full results from all classes in Houston.

Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Gassers for the New Millennium. James Morgan with a nice shot of Alan Pittman's Pro Mod Willys.

Drag Racing Movie of the Week: Fuel Funny Cars, British Style. Mark Fawcus with footage of a great side by side run by two of Europe's quickest Fuel Coupes.

October 29:
Drag Racing Story of the Day: Ben and Rachelle's Excellent Bakersfield Adventure. Ben Inglis had an absolute dream weekend at the California Hot Rod Reunion, and he captures it for us in detail.

October 28:
Drag Racing Story of the Day: Ron Fassl Sets Six Fuel Altered World Records in 2000! Scott Fortin checks in to provide a recap of Ron Fassl's superb 2000 season.

October 27:
Drag Racing Story of the Day: First Look! Summit Racing to Unveil First Pro Stock Grand Am at SEMA Show. A DRL Exclusive! John Lindsey provided the text and Alan Rebescher clicked the photo of Mark Pawuk's 2001 Summit Racing Pontiac Grand Am. You saw it here first!

October 26:
Bill Kuhlmann update: John Lindsey of Summit Racing emailed today with terrific news on Bill Kuhlmann's condition: "I've spoken to Bill Kuhlmann several times. He's at home now and recovering quickly. He does plan to race next season, and he will make a full recovery. Take care, John" This news is a day brightener!

October 25:
Drag Racing Story of the Day: Back in the Fives in Las Vegas. Lyle Greenberg checks in to tell us all about his attempt to crack the tough field at the Division 7 points race at Las Vegas.

October 24:
Drag Racing Story of the Day: Sneaky Pete and his "Jack Car." Jim Hill describes a unique and effective (and quickly outlawed) idea by one of the deepest thinkers the sport has ever known.

Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Clay Millican Resets the New England Dragway Track Record. James Morgan captures Clay Millican's eAuto.com Top Fueler at Epping.

How ya doing Big Boy? Well, I need some help from you and your fans. Does anyone know anything about this 1964 front-engine Top Fuel Dragster built by Romeo Palamides?

My hubby (Dave) is restoring it for a friend and we need some background information on it. All we know is that Pete Ogden did drive for Romeo, but not this dragster. This one never went down the track, as far as we know.

This is the only pic I have before it was taken apart. We plan on showing this piece of art in Bakersfield, at the March Meet in 2001. Thanks in advance for any help that anyone can provide!

Why has the OZ counter restarted? We want you down here. Now.

Lawman or Vigilante? "The Sheriff" and his Utah Posse to storm into Lost Wages and attempt to broom out Champion Speed Shop. (Jack Harris to Challenge Champion for # 1 Spot)

As the clutch dust settled after an absolutely scintillating and sphincter-tightening final round two and a half weeks ago at the California Hot Rod Reunion, the holder of the # 5 spot on the Nitronic Research AA/Fuel Dragster List, Jack Harris and his Utah Posse, have issued a Challenge to the Champion Speed Shop team for the coveted # 1 spot on the List.

Inspired by the outcome of the match between what are arguably the two most dominant diggers on the AA/Fuel Dragster scene currently (whereupon Jack "the Sheriff" and his "Nitro Thunder" machine drove around and dropped "Handsome Rance" McDaniel and the Chevy-powered Champion Speed Shop railjob), Harris and his gang feel they have what it takes to broom Champion off the premier spot on the list.

At the Reunion, it was a brilliant and savvy piece of strategy that enabled Harris to chase down and motor past McDaniel as Harris had instructions from his deputies (Lyle & Scott Mason) to grab the volatile high speed leanout if he saw McDaniel at half track. Harris followed orders from his minions and yanked on the leanout and blasted past McDaniel in the lights. Harris won the Reunion with a 6.09 at 237 mph to McDaniel's 6.13 at 227; with McDaniel's gatejob factored in, the margin of victory was less than a hundredth of a second.

Which brings us to the Challenge to take place as Harris and McDaniel face off as the last pair of front-motored Top Fuel qualifiers Saturday afternoon at the Goodguys Fuel & Gas Finals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. McDaniel has been quicker than the proverbial outhouse mouse out of the hole, while "Nitro Thunder" co-tuner Scott Mason has admitted that they have been sawing through the clutch in an attempt to keep from spinning the tires.

"We were tippy-toeing at Bakersfield," Mason said, in reference to (a) an initial soft approach to clutch management at the Reunion; and (b) when they did get more aggressive as Sunday afternoon descended into evening, the plummeting adjusted altitude robbed their team (and by extrapolation, the other fuel teams at Bakersfield) of performance.

There is some conjecture amongst the nitromaniacal bleacheratti that Harris and his bunch will have an advantage at a high altitude track. (Vegas is 4000' above sea level; "The Sheriff" and the "Nitro Thunder" bunch consider the drag strip in Salt Lake City, Utah their home track, which is also over 4000 feet in elevation).

"We've run a 6.21 at both Salt Lake and at Boise," Harris said. The 6.21 at Boise was good for low ET of the Meet at their 29th NightFire Nationals in August and emblematic of how well the car can run at oxygen-starved drag strips.

As for track conditions this weekend at Vegas, Mason predicted "a sticky starting line, but a narrow groove that will be absolute grief for the blown fuel cars." He feels that the time for any thermodynamic pussyfooting is over, at least if the driver can keep his fuel dragster in the sweet spot. Despite the factors of a relatively green surface on a new track and the high altitude co-ordinates of Vegas itself, Mason then added that, "if the cars go straight, I wouldn't rule out a 5 (second run)."

How does all this bode for the San Francisco-based Champion bunch? Can an act that has been crushing 'em on the drag strips of California's Bay Area and Kern County play with equal authority in the High Desert?

After a volatile and uneven start this year, the Champion fueler has been propelling itself up both the ladder on the NR List as well as the Goodguys VRA (Vintage Racing Association) Points Race with exquisite precision, holding the #1 position on both charts. Champion has successfully challenged or defended its position on the List without fail; vanquishing Suhr & Lechtenberg, Gotelli Speed Shop and WW2; concurrently they advanced past WW2, Gotelli and Ground Zero to lead in the VRA points tournament, which means their agenda in the Silver State is two-pronged: To finish off business in the VRA points tourney "and" to end the season as the Nitronic Research's Conquering Lions, complementary laurels which would underscore their position as the de facto dominant fueler in the entire circuit.

There are signs in the Champion camp that -- ever since they took over the # 1 spot from Gotelli -- they are a little annoyed by the constant pell-mell attacks by other fuel teams. At the Reunion, after much fanfare and sacrificial totems of plastic mice, the # 3 List holder, Jim "Holy Smokes" Murphy and the WW2 team challenged Champion and came up empty, but it wasn't 24 hours later that the Utah Posse issued the Challenge for the Champion car.

"Being so close to the witching hour, I would check the wires to that button that Jack pushes," McLennan railed, in a sarcastic reference to potential sabotage, referring to the high speed leanout that Harris utilized to propel himself past the Champion car at the Reunion Top Eliminator run. McLennan added that, "rabid mice like to eat wires and they will be all over the Vegas track. Jack will be pushing that button awfully early this go round."

So, after the California Hot Rod Reunion and going into the Goodguys Inaugural Fuel & Gas Finals, here is how the List stacks up:

More Nitronic Research AA/Fuel Dragster Notes:

ITEM:   The more militant and astute observers of the List will note that the # 5 entry shouldn't be able to challenge beyond the # 2 spot, as evidenced by List statute "c", which states "Challenges can advance the winner no more than three positions on the list (i.e., # 4 can challenge # 1, but # 5 can not challenge # 1). "However", because the # 2 holder, the Gotelli Speed Shop, is holding that position ceremoniously and has put the car up for sale (cf. NR Classifieds), Nitronic Research made an exception in this case. Besides, this should be an epic drag race.

ITEM:   It's no secret that the # 6 car on the List, Suhr & Lechtenberg's Orange Crate (aka "the Children of the Corn"), have been hammered by traction woes since August. Not a team to mix metaphors, prior to departure from their shop in Iowa, they issued the following statement, insisting it is harvest time for the Children. It read, "It is corn picking time and we will attempt to pick the corn before the mouse gets to the fields, the sheriff and his deputies trample the fields, WW2 lubricates the fields and the California Trucker goes on strike to halt the delivery of the corn!"

ITEM:   # 9 spot holder Ground Zero may have returned to the form they showed when winning Top Fuel eliminator at the March Meet this year. After losing on a holeshot in the first round of the B main at the Reunion, they returned later that afternoon for a test and tune run that yielded a 6.10 at a crushing speed of 233 mph in the heat of the day. This with a blower that has over 20 runs on it! Driver "Wild Bill" Alexander said he "never even has to turn the wheel", an atribute that may bode favorably for the Vegas strip if the groove there is as narrow as current predictions state.

For more details about where they stand and why, go to:
The Nitronic Research AA/FD List

Howard still looking for that elusive first win

Federal-Mogul Dragster driver Shelly Howard hopes to pick up her first win of the year during this weekend's Matco Tools SuperNationals at Houston Raceway Park. Howard is coming off a string of three consecutive semifinal finishes, and hopes to go one more round this weekend.

Howard, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, only qualified 12th during the rain shortened qualifying during last weekend's O'Reilly Nationals at the Texas Motorplex, just south of Dallas. Howard will be looking to get back into the 5.50's and 5.40 elapsed times she is accustomed to.

"We are just going to try to do like we have done all year; the 'new race, new ballgame' approach has worked pretty well at the last few races," said Howard. "The main thing I am looking for this weekend is a consistency of the car and myself. Houston is a pretty good track, so we should be able to run fairly well. We want to turn consistency into round wins."

Howard won the 1998 Division 4 race at Houston, and qualified No. 3 at the O'Reilly Nationals held at Houston as well. Given her past experiences at this track, Howard hopes to earn her first "Wally" (event winner's trophy) this weekend.

"Even though we want to win, we have to take it one round at a time," explained Howard. "That means worrying about winning the first round, then the second and so on. When you worry too much about winning, sometimes you lose focus on the round at hand."

Qualifying begins on Friday for the Federal-Mogul Dragsters, with the first round of eliminations scheduled for Saturday, and final eliminations on Sunday. Stay tuned to SummitRacing.com's Drag Race Central for round by round updates of the racing action from Houston Raceway Park.

Bray Fast in Pre-Season Test

Five times Australian Top Doorslammer Drag Racing Champion Victor Bray is already hard at work with his Castrol Team preparing for the start of the new season, despite only securing his latest title at the Konica Winternationals earlier this month. The opening round of the 2000-2001 Championship series will be held at Melbourne's Calder Park Raceway on November 4th.

Speaking after returning from another testing session at Willowbank Raceway, Bray commented, "Last season ended up being a real fight to the end with us just winning the championship at the final event. The thing about winning that fifth title for Castrol is it's made us even hungrier to stretch the streak to six in a row and that's going to be a tall order. I think the competition this year is going to be even harder.

Robin Judd, Andrew Searle, Peter Kapiris, Les Winter; all those guys have proved they're fast enough to win and I think the difference will come down to consistency. Dave Koop almost pulled it off this year by being consistent and that's what we're working on with our Castrol car now. The car was a wild child all year and we're trying to tame it.

To win the title we have to be able to get down the track time after time in varying conditions. Today's test was very encouraging. The car responded to each change we made exactly as expected and we finished with a best of 6.32 at 230 miles an hour, which is pretty good in the hot conditions."

With the Australian title set to be most competitive yet, good early round results will be vital to every driver's championship chances. Bray will be hoping for a repeat of last year's Calder Park result when he not only won the opening round of the series, but also claimed the points for quickest elapsed time and highest speed with a new world record mark.

The crowd pulling power of the Top Doorslammer category sees the 2000-2001 Australian Championship being conducted over eight rounds, while all other professional classes of drag racing will only have five rounds, except for Pro Stock, which has six.

Rounds of the series will be held as follows:

Hi, Bob. My husband, Jim Dillinger, raced at Sechelt in August. Now that our own racing season has ended and things have settle down, he would like to send a thank you letter to the Sunshine Coast Drag Racing Association and the Car Club. Can you help me with the names and addresses of contact persons for these two groups?

Fuentes still eager for first win

Federal-Mogul Dragster rookie Joe Fuentes will be looking for what last weekend's rain kept him from doing: scoring his first win. This weekend, he will get another shot during the Matco Tools Fall SuperNationals at Houston Raceway Park. During last weekend's O'Reilly Nationals, heavy rains forced NHRA to postpone the event for two weeks after just two qualifying sessions for the Federal-Mogul Dragsters.

Fuentes, owner of J & D Electric in Austin, Texas, was able to make only one of those two runs due to ignition problems. Fuentes hopes to turn things for the better this weekend at Houston.

"Basiscally this weekend we are going to try to do what we wanted to do in Dallas, but couldn't do because of the rain," said Fuentes. "We found some more weight to take off the car over the week. In total, we took 48 pounds off the car, and that's without putting the beadlock wheels on it. We are a lot closer to our target weight now."

With tuning advice from veteran tuners Ora Vasquez and Tom Conway, Fuentes looks to make a strong showing this weekend. "Ora is still feeling bad, so he will not be able to make it, but we will be in contact with him by phone," explained Fuentes. "Between him and Tom Conway helping us, we have been doing a lot better lately. We really need a good weekend for a boost; we have had a lot of bad breaks this year. We are going to get pretty serious about this next year, and we want to be ready."

Dropped by the ballot box the other day, and cast your... I mean my vote. Now for what's happening with us: I've ordered some needed parts, and of course, everything has a huge delivery time. But fortunately we are a patient group.

This past weekend, I bought a new body for the car. I'll keep you updated on this: big changes coming.

Raisin' Hell '48 Fiat

Meyer to debut new associate sponsor this weekend

Federal-Mogul Dragster driver Jay Meyer will debut new associate sponsor Sounds and Signals during this weekend's Matco Tools SuperNationals at Houston Raceway Park. Meyer won the last national event he attended, the biggest race of the year, the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

Meyer, of Freeport, Texas, is coming into the event after qualifying sixth at last weekend's rain delayed O'Reilly Nationals at the Texas Motorplex near Dallas. Meyer hopes to test some new ideas for next year, but still come away with the win at his home track.

"We are trying to experiment for next year," Meyer said. "Our deal has been changing a lot of transmission ratios and running the inner-liner type wheels and we feel we need to get the beadlock wheels to work. All year long we haven't run any mile per hour, and we are trying to figure out why we have been slipping the clutch so bad in high gear. We tried some of our new ideas last weekend, but didn't get to learn a lot because it started raining."

In addition to preparing for the 2001 season, Meyer has announced a one race deal with Sounds and Signals, that could possibly turn into a full sponsorship deal for next season.

Meyer said, "We are bringing in Sounds and Signals for a one race deal this weekend. They have two locations in Houston, and may be wanting to do a full time deal for next year, so we are going to introduce them to NHRA Championship Drag Racing, and see how they like it."

If Jeff Wilson, who is currently in third place nationally, does not attend the event and win, Meyer will finish No. 2 in the national standings this year. Meyer's previous best finish was tenth in 1986, when he won his first Division 4 Championship, which he also won this year. Meyer has his eye on the World Championship in 2001.

"We are shooting for the championship next season," Meyer added. "Since I redlighted in Hallsville, we kind of lost our momentum. We went and won Indy, then lost the Championship in Noble with another redlight, so it has been real up and down. We just hope to end the season on a high note at these last two races here in Texas to get us in the right direction for next year."

For more information on the Meyer team, visit their website at: Jay Meyer Racing.

I need to see a color pic or two of Judy Lilly's 1968 Barracuda super stocker as it appeared in 1970 or 1971. Got any idea where to find it? Thanks!

How fast do Pro Mods run on the average? Nitrous or blown on alky? Are they consistent or are they more hit and miss? These cars will definitely give Comp a different look. I somehow can't imagine a Pro Mod car "on the chip" waiting for the tree to come down while a VW dragster gets a three second head start and motors down the track. The five tenths tree ought to be a treat for them also.... bring lots of valve springs...

Igor is back!

Just thought people would like to know that Bill Kuhlmann is doing great. He has a pretty bad burn on his nose, but it is healing. No burns on his hands, though. Everybody heard that he did. Even I reported that.

He coughs up some nitro fumes from the fire every now and then, but his pnuemonia and lungs are doing good. Nobody knows he tried to escape from the hospital out in Virginia, but Vicky made him go back. You will not believe what he is up to, but I can't tell because Kepner has dibs on the story.

Just watch Kuhlmann Racing this week. Bill also wants to thank EVERYBODY for all the cards, emails and gifts; they truly touched his heart. Thanks everyone!

Ignition problems cut Fuentes' qualifying short

Federal-Mogul Dragster rookie Joe Fuentes qualified his J & D Electric Blown Alcohol Dragster No. 14 during this past weekend's O'Reilly Fall Nationals. Unfortunately for all the racers, excessive rains drenched the Texas Motorplex, located just south of Dallas, and NHRA officials called the event, which is to be resumed in two weeks.

Due to the heavy rains, the Federal-Mogul Dragster qualifying program was cut from three runs to two. The Austin, Texas, native Fuentes was only able to make one run, and feels that he would be higher in the qualifying order had he made that last run. Fuentes' first run's elapsed time of 5.641 at 248.34 miles per hour put him in the program in the No. 14 spot.

Fuentes said, "We feel that we should have run better than that. My shift light did not come on in that run, and I shifted late. I felt the car start to nose over, and finally shifted, but I knew we lost a little time there."

Fuentes's ignition problems continued from there. After diagnosing a bad shift light from the first run, Fuentes' car would not fire prior to Friday morning's first qualifying run. After the qualifying session was over, MSD ignition specialists tracked the problem to a bad sensor in the ignition box. Due to the heavy rain, the field was set after just two qualifying laps.

"We couldn't get the car to fire," explained Fuentes. "We had some of Jay Meyer's crew over trying to help us find the problem, and we still couldn't figure out why it would not start. After testing the box twice, MSD found a sensor that was bad. After that was fixed, the car fired right up."

From Dallas, the J & D team will move just down the road to Houston Raceway Park for this weekend's Matco Tools SuperNationals. Fuentes looks to pick up where he left off at the Motorplex. "We just want to pick up where we left off," said Fuentes. "We put a new MSD shift light module on it, so hopefully that will fix the shift light problem. We are hoping to hit the 5.50's in Houston, maybe quicker."

Just a quick note on the rules changes for Federal-Mogul Dragster, that you had listed on the "What's New" page. For the screw supercharger cars, they are doing away with the 4.4 pound per cubic inch weight break. They will just have the minimum weight and the maximum cubic inches. This is not true for the A/Fuel car which keeps the existing weight break of 4.8 pounds per cubic inch.

So, you can run whatever you want, as long as it is 466 cid or less. For 2001 only, racers with motor sizes over 466 inches can continue to run them by adding five pounds for each cubic inch over 466. With a 470 combination, you would have four cubic inches over the 466 maximum, each at five pounds, equalling twenty pounds added to the minimum weight of 2025, for a new minimum weight of 2045.

Rain cuts qualifying short in Dallas

Federal-Mogul Dragsters and Funny Cars fought an unsuccessful battle with Mother Nature during this weekend's O'Reilly Fall Nationals, held at the Texas Motorplex, just south of Dallas. The event was postponed two weeks after persistent rains haunted the track all weekend.

The Federal-Mogul Dragsters were able to get two qualifying sessions in before the field was set due to the rain. In the toughest FM/D field of the year, last race's winner Troy Buff once again led the B&J contingent in the category. Buff qualified No. 7 with a 5.547 at 254.47 mph. Right behind Buff was this year's Division 6 Champion Mark Hentges who took the eighth spot with a 5.550 at 256.55 mph.

In round one, B&J customers to watch will be:

The Federal-Mogul Funny Cars only were able to complete one session of qualifying, and will be allowed a second shot at qualifying when the race is resumed in two weeks. Once again, Randy Fleming led the way for the B&J funny cars. Fleming recorded a 5.812 that put him fifth after Friday's first session. The surprise of the session was B&J distributor Pat Austin not making it down the track during the first session, leaving the Tacoma, Washington, native not qualified. Look for Austin to step up during the final qualifying session on November 3rd.

Yeah, I must have thought the overdrive changes were going to be implemented for all the alcohol cars (not just the funny cars). (Hey, here's someone else who didn't read all the fine print in the new rules. At least I'm not alone!).

We're still happy with the new deal though, but there are a lot of ticked off funny car guys. I wonder how upset the dragster (screw blower) guys are; those with small engines are kind of obsolete now with the 2025 pound minimum weight.

Please contact your local Dayco Imperial Eastman hose distributor and check to see what prices you can get on the following items. Please check to see if they stock the items as well, or how long it would take to get them.

    DL803 hose
    KF0303NL fiting
    KF425-81 ferrule
    90 degree versions of the KF0303NL fitting
    -3 SAE o-ring fitting hose end for the DL803 hose

Note: This email appears in clickable form at: Drag Notes.

New exclusive BONUS photos: Les Welch provides us high quality pictures from NHRA's O'Reilly Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex. Les says, "Okay, so they're only 'people pictures' but that's all I could get. Only two pro vehicles, one pair of trucks, got on the track this weekend, so everything on the page was shot in the pits. The page will be updated after the race is run, too."

October 23:
Drag Racing Story of the Day: The Burnout King Turns 40! Jay Mageau tells a hilarious tale of a friendly rivalry and of a unique birthday celebration.

October 22:
Drag Racing Story of the Day: When Fuel Cars Raced at Divisional Events. A few words from me about the days when little guy fuel racers hit all the divisionals.

October 21:
Drag Racing Story of the Day: How to Drive the Ramchargers Funny Car. Clare Sanders checks in to tell us the secret to getting the Ramchargers car to go straight and true.

October 20:
Drag Racing Story of the Day: NHRA Rules Changes for 2001 Announced. motorsport.com provides a list of some of the most interesting new rules to come out of Glendora in a long time.

October 19:
Drag Racing Story of the Day: Cacklefest Memories. Bill Ott continues his entertaining Bakersfield saga with a tale of persons met and odd jobs performed at the 2000 CHRR.

October 18:
We were down for almost 24 hours from the 16th to the 17th. The server at the hosting service would not reboot. To top it off, they think it was a problem with one of the Microsoft FrontPage files on draglist.com. I think it's time I hit the 'net for reviews of other development tools. Right now, I'm looking at a three way tie between HomeSite, Hot Dog Pro, and WebFusion. Anybody have any experience with any of these?

FrontPage does a lot of things right, but too many things wrong. It's quirky as heck, but I've just figured it all out over time. Still, it would be nice not to have to do mental work-arounds. I mean, there is NO WAY anyone else can just pick up and do the stuff I'm doing in FrontPage. Hopefully, with something else, Denise can fill in a bit. The search is on!

October 17:
We got an update from Bret Kepner last night regarding Bill Kuhlmann's condition. Bill awoke for the first time yesterday. Amazingly, he remembers all the events of last weekend when he suffered a huge fire in his Summit Racing Corvette Nitro Coupe at Virginia Motorsports Park. It looks to be at least another week of hospitalization for Bill. The race car is completely destroyed.

It might be worth a look to see what I have posted in regards to the year end Division Six incidents. The Grapevine

You folks should know that Darrell Webb, aka "The Burnout King" and I have a good natured rivalry going on. We are almost neighbours, but if the opportunity exists to GET the other guy, it will be done.

At the spring car show in Edmonton this year, Darrell unveiled to the world, his new speed secret, his "BYE JAY" license plate on the back of his Corvette Funny Car. I must have run against Darrell twenty times this year, and did my best to make him eat that plate, but it still picked my butt.

Well, "the smoky one" turned 40 this summer. My crew and I planned a special birthday surprise for him. It took us about three weeks of clandestine planning to pull it off. We know how much Darrell likes to race, and considering his entry into the world of geezerism, we thought it would be appropriate to build him a new racer for his advanced age.

The annual funny car race in Saskatoon was a week before his birthday, so with the help of the IBAA (International Blown Alcohol Association) gang in attendance, we got him BIG TIME!

I work in the medical equipment field, and we "acquired" an old beater wheelchair. This was Darrell's 40th birthday gift. We, being racers, felt that the chair needed some upgrading, so we built a nice set of zoomie headers, a huge shifter, Goodyear slicks, SFI approved upholstery, wheelie bars, a line lock (for Darrell's big burnouts), SFI seat belts, and most importantly, an SFI approved ballistic diaper (Attends undergarments!)

At the Saskatoon race, the promoter invited all the funny car drivers to the starting line for introductions to the fans, and to sing the anthems. Unknown to Darrell was the fact that the entire staff of the race track was in on this "GET". After the anthem was sung, the announcer informed the 5000 fans that Mr. Webb was turning 40, and that we had a special gift for him. My crew ran out from under the tower with his new funny-chair. Darrell turned pale. The fans roared.

Darrell graciously rode his new machine back to the staging lanes, only to discover that we had swapped his evil "Bye Jay" license plate with one that more aptly proclaimed "The BURNED OUT KING..."

He ran the plate at that event, but it was missing at the next event. I don't know why! Racing isn't just about performance, it's about fun too. And boy, do we have fun!

My only concern now is, what is he going to do to get us back....? Check out the pictures below. And follow the adventures of "The Prospector", Canada's only '57 Chev Funny Car, at Mageau Family Racing's web page

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I just have to thank you for running the link to the CHRR pictures in Backfire! Although I've never worked on a front-engine fueler, I have witnessed the push start ritual and my eyes leaked a little reliving the old days. Even old guys need to be reminded that the good old days were "good". Thanks again.

"Back in the 5's at Las Vegas"

The NHRA Pacific Division held one of the most competitive Federal-Mogul Drag Racing Series events of the year last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Lyle Greenberg Motorsports Funny Car was one of 15 cars attempting to get into the elite eight car qualified field. With their best performance of the year, Greenberg ran his "VLENDER.COM" sponsored car to a 5.99 second elapsed time at over 242 mph on his last qualifying effort.

Read the race story at our website. Catch up on sponsor announcements and shop updates by going to the home page. Scroll down to the "What's New" section and click on the story of your choice.

We've added some new products in our "New Products from the Aftermarket" feature. Master Lift Trailers by Master Street Rods and Rochester Carburetor Service which offers custom tri-power systems. Find more info on the Products page.

HotRodder.com has become an affiliate partner with Racesearch.com so if you're in the market for parts, use our link to them at the bottom of our homepage.

We'd like to call your attention to their "Race Search 2000 Sourcebook for the Professional Motorsports Industry". This comprehensive 610 page, spiral bound desktop reference book has over 9000 listings in over 400 categories, updates on all of Racesearch listings, over 3000 new listings throughout all sections since 1998, expanded internet resource section, and hundreds of new suppliers to the motorsports industry. Purchase it now for only $29.95 and also receive special internet offers via email.

We'd like to remind you once again about our new Custom Logo Design service. We've contracted with a great graphic designer who'll do up a custom logo for you, featuring your car and name, race team name, or even your car's "pet" name in a snazzy design for use on your website. It can even be put on address labels or you can use the design on your business cards or whatever print material you'd like. For more information, please go to the logo page.

And if you're a business owner who'd like a really professionally designed logo, you won't be disappointed if you work with us to create a logo that's unforgettable. We're also able to have your logo printed on shirts and hats. One shirt or 1000, now you can have your race team, car club or company polo shirts, t-shirts or whatever imprinted with your logo. Contact us today at Team Apparel if you'd like more information.

Although we've become affiliates with RaceSearch.com, I do get over to Summit for race results and to check out their specials. I've ordered parts from them in the past and I have been very happy with their online catalog. But, when I was there I found they have this cool "Tech Test" which is a series of 10 question quizzes that tests your tech knowledge. I can't resist trivia stuff so I started taking the tests. I made "Master Mechanic" on a few of the first quizzes (that's answering eight right out of ten). After a while though, I got demoted to "Squeegie Tech". Oh well. Why don't you try it out at Summit Racing.

BEATERz.com.    Their mission is to depict the automotive oddities that are all around us and screaming for attention. These vehicles are a national treasure and need to be documented so that future generations may enjoy them as much as we do today. This slightly irreverent site is a hoot! Beater car pix, unusual paint jobs, onliners and more.

Just finished reading the rules changes. Unless I'm missing something, it looks like we should be able to run right with the screw (blower) cars now. I've e-mailed my thoughts to Serge (Dion, driver); I think he'll be pretty happy that we just have to buy pistons and rods this winter. We'll probably go up to 4.500" bore and push the cubes out to 541 (just short of the 542 maximum) and not have to add any weight to the car, which is 2050 lbs. right now.

I'm pleasantly surprised by the outcome; all that's left to do now is offer a little more first round prize money. Thanks for the info.

It goes without saying "ya had to be there" at the California Hot Rod Reunion. This page gives an idea of what it was all about. An unreal experience.... And get a load of the burger joint at the end. These are LOUD cars. I've been to that restaurant; the regular folks probably thought they were in Beirut :-)

How are y'all? I attended the Winternationals and thoroughly enjoyed the racing, as well as getting a lot of good pics. The only problem was that I was suffering all weekend from a case of Bali Belly and remained anchored to the one place all weekend. Willowbank enhanced its reputation a heckuva lot and I cannot wait to race there myself.

Well, we will be making our first tentative steps towards racing in open competition, when we, hopefully, debut the Torana at the November 10th Street Meet at Calder Park. The gas_186 name no longer applies, as it has a 192 (out to 208), although I am looking to a future running one of the gas classes. We will still be calling ourselves Fatal Attraction Drag Racing though.

The car itself will be running as both my street & strip machine. Gone is the auto sludgebox, replaced by a Bathurst Spec M21 manual box. The initial tuneup will be reasonably soft as I learn to drive the car, especially with the four-speed in it.

After we sort it out and I'm confident, a new, expensively ported head with sweet roller rockers will be going on and eventually a change of cam will take place. First though, we need to get the car down the track and then decide what class to run.

One thing is for certain: I will be entering Modified, or Pro Street, at any Shootouts. I like DYO racing and I got pretty good at it, racing in street bracket races at Heathcote last season. But heads up racing appeals to me and as I can't afford to race Pro Stock, Pro Street is the only other way to go heads up racing.

With the tuneup I'm planning for the first meeting, I'm hoping for high 12's at best. After the new gear goes on, I hope for a lot more! Super Street looks to be the class I will run in at ANDRA Open meetings with Nostalgia and Street Shootouts on the agenda.

So much money has been invested in this car, that I can't get it painted in time, but if you are at the track, look out for a light tan coloured LJ Torana. Basically I'm wishing to go out and kick some V8 butt and have fun doing it!

Next in the planning will be another LJ as a street-show car for my girlfriend Sarah. It will have a six cylinder (would I build anything else?), XU-1 body kit, Cheviot mags, hot sound system, purple paint (possibly interior as well) and will run on LPG. See ya's at the track!

I was recently going over my logs and I see I get some hits from your links section. I'm more than happy to add you to my links section, but I went browsing around your site and looked for a logo but didn't find one. Is it possible you could get me a logo to go with your hyperlink? If not, I will try to make something up in Headline Studio or something. Let me know. Thanks. PS: Nice site.

Bob: you, Burgan and me at Indy 2001 and then drive the Chevelle back to Vancouver... sounds like a ROAD TRIP!!! I really wanted to get the Chevelle sooner, especially after my friend Danny McCord and Frank Johnson pulled a little trick on me. Did you hear that one?

They sent me an email with a photo (black and white) of my Chevelle. Wrecked so badly that only two wheels would sit on the ground at one time. I know it was my car because it had the correct plates on it and was exactly the same model as mine.

They told me a story about thieves breaking into his barn and stealing the car and Danny taking shots at them as they drove out the driveway from the barn behind his house. They called the police and the chase was on. They chased them for about 12 miles and there was a high speed crash, totalling the car.

I was devastated. I couldn't even watch the real life TV shows where the police were chasing people and crashing cars. McCord said they would strap it to a big pallet and ship it to me so I could fix it here. I explained that would be like trying to fix a Holden Commodore in the U.S.; not easily done.

Naturally, I had no insurance on the car as it was in a barn with no battery. I could never understand why they would take my Chevelle when Danny's was a much better car. Oh well, just my luck. I told them to remove the engine and trans and ship it to you in Vancouver when they got a chance. I'd get you to bring it over when your Chaparrall comes over.

I moped for days after that. A few months later my daughter was born and I emailed the photos and info to a lot of people. Danny's wife Wanda was one of the people who got the info. She emailed me back the congratulations on Samantha and the PS at the bottom said "You know your car is still in the barn."

Well, the photo (of the wrecked Chevelle) was taken just outside the barn and at first I thought she meant she wanted the car out of the barn. Well, I have known Danny and Wandy since I was 13 years old and after a few days I realized she didn't care what was in the barn... that's Danny's deal. Could she mean.....?

I made a phone call just to suss her out and she laughed, saying by this time they thought I would have figured it out. It was a joke! OK now, how did they pull that off? A mutual friend, Arthur Shrout, had a car identical to mine (he purchased it after I left the USA) and it was his car that was wrecked. (He's done a few of these now).

Anyway, his car was maroon and mine is teal blue green and in a black and white photo they look the same. They took the plates off my car and put them on Arthur's car and took the photo outside Danny's barn. Normally I would be suspect about the black and white picture, but I know Danny. I bet he still has a camera laying around the house with 25 year old black and white film in it.

It was a good joke, but my wife Tracey is really cheesed off because she had to live with me for my grumpy period for nearly two weeks. I just have to think of some way to get McCord back... someday. Any suggestions, anyone?

By the way, over the years there have been a few great "Gotcha's!".
  1.    Metric time
  2.    Amy Joe
  3.    Rooming tax man
and now the "Great Chevelle Switch". In closing, I think your suggestion for Indy 2001 would be a great idea. I'm tingly already.

In regard to your question on "Backfire!", I did NOT receive one word from the paper. Many people whom I forwarded this to emailed the paper and sent copies of their messages to me. If they get a response from around the world, they may respect us more (or a little).

I would please request that everyone take a moment and email the paper and inundate them with the standard drag racers response. Be polite, yet firm.

Howard looking to go one more round at the Motorplex

Federal-Mogul Dragster driver Shelly Howard will be looking to win her first race of the eyar at this weekend's O'Reilly Nationals, presented by Castrol Syntec, at the Texas Motorplex, just south of Dallas. Howard has three straight semifinal finishes at her last three national events, and hopes to improve on that this weekend.

Howard, a registered nurse in Tulsa, Oklahoma, feels that tuning consultant Tom Conway has the car running better than it ever has, and feels confident as ever in her tuner this weekend at the Motorplex.

"I don't think our new found performance has anything to do with me, as a driver. I think it is that Tom has found what our car wants," said Howard. "Tom has had a lot of success with the other Uyehara (chassis) cars he has tuned this year; now he has found what this car likes. Every car is different, even if it is made by the same manufacturer."

"The air was really good in Memphis. It remains to be seen how it will be this weekend in Dallas. Regardless of how we have done at the last few races, we still have to stick with our gameplan that every race is a new ballgame."

In March, at the Division 4 race at the Motorplex, Howard became the third quickest blown alcohol car in the world when she ran an elapsed time of 5.416. Howard hopes to return to the 5.40's again this weekend.

"We have an optimistic attitude about this weekend. I like this track, and I am comfortable here. The car usually runs pretty good at this track. But every race is different, so we will just have to see what happens."

Qualifying begins on Thursday for the Federal-Mogul Dragsters, with the final two qualifying shots to be run on Friday. First round will be run on Saturday, and final eliminations will be on Sunday. Stay tuned to SummitRacing.com's Drag Race Central for round by round updates of the racing action from the Motorplex.

Fuentes hopes to follow learning curve to winner's circle

Federal-Mogul Dragster driver Joe Fuentes has his hopes high for this weekend's O'Reilly Nationals, presented by Castrol Syntec, to be held at the Texas Motorplex, just south of Dallas. With a strong outing at his last race, that was cut short by parts breakage, Fuentes will not only be looking for his first round win, but first event win.

Fuentes, who owns J & D Electric in Austin, Texas, feels with the tune-up veteran tuner Ora Vasquez has given him, he can be a contender this weekend. "We are putting the engine the same way we had it in Noble (Oklahoma - last Division 4 race)," said Fuentes.

"We have the same strategy we had in Noble, except this time we want to win. We cut a bunch of weight off the car and are going to try the beadlocks (lighter rear wheels), so we are going to see how that goes this weekend. We just want to run as good as we could have run in Oklahoma."

Fuentes has raced at the Motorplex twice this year, but feels his two previous outings will not help him with his new Vasquez combination. "It was a totally different combination from when we were with the Buffs earlier in the year," explained Fuentes. "We will be pretty much starting from scratch for a Dallas tune-up; the only thing we are taking from our last two trips is that the track has a lot of bite."

Wells looks to capitalize on missed opportunities at Motorplex

Defending Division 5 Federal-Mogul Dragster Champion David Wells hopes to improve on his last two outings with a strong showing at this weekend's O'Reilly Nationals, presented by Castrol Syntec, at the Texas Motorplex, just south of Dallas.

The LeMars, Iowa resident has gone out in the early rounds of his last two races after qualifying in the top three. At the Advance Auto Parts Nationals in Topeka, Kansas, Wells qualified No. 3 and recorded the quickest pass of the weekend by a blown alcohol dragster, but lost on a holeshot in round two.

At the Autozone Nationals in Memphis, Tennessee, Wells qualified No. 2 with a career best elapsed time of 5.45, but smoked the tires and lost in the first round. This weekend, Wells looks to concentrate on consistency, rather than the aggressive approach that has resulted in the early exits.

Wells said, "We're going to try to calm it down and not be so aggressive with the car; instead of it being so wild. We'll just have to make a couple of passes down there and see what happens." Even though Wells plans to be less aggressive this weekend, he still feels that the all concrete racing surface at the Motorplex will be able to hold some good numbers.

"The track is usually pretty good there," explained Wells. "Normally we run pretty good there; it's just the last few outings there we have had some bad things happen. We'll just make a couple of test spasses, see what happens, and go from there. The first run we'll be looking for a combination that will get the car down the track, then try to improve on that in later runs. We will still stay aggressive in qualifying; we always try to qualify as high as we can."

Hentges ..... looking to round up the competition!

Mark Hentges, the 2000 Division Six Federal-Mogul Dragster Champion, is looking forward to going back to the Texas Motorplex. After a runner-up finish at the Division Four Federal-Mogul Drag Racing Series event in Dallas earlier this year, he is looking for his first Federal-Mogul National Event win.

Hentges Productions, on their southwestern swing, is to hit Dallas, Houston and then Pomona, thus, finishing out their year-end tour with the "Air Time Aviation" dragster.

Mark said, "We have run at the Motorplex a couple of times in the past and we have quite a bit of data accumulated. The competition will be tough, with Santos and Meyer being there, but we are still looking to be in the final to bring up our national points."

Mark is currently fourth in national points. He needs to reach the finals to improve upon his points standing, while looking to pass Jeff Wilson, currently in third. After finishing with runner-ups at the Colonel's Truck Accessories Nationals and the Matco Tools Gatornationals earlier this year, he says, "I feel a national event win is just around the corner."

Hey Guys, great site. I would like to trade links with you. We run the "Fastest All Steel '55 Chevy in the East". It weights 3360 lbs, runs 7.70's, 60 foot's at 1.15. Our website address is Hellfire Racing.

I am also president of N.E.T.O. (North East Timing Organization) Nostalgia Drag Racing Club. There is also a link on my site to the NETO page. Please let me know so I can contact my webmaster. Thank you and keep up the good work.

Wow.... this is unreal. This is pretty spectacular. My sister sent it to me. Isn't this a beautiful picture? This is the message that came with it:

The picture was taken in Bitteroot National Forest in Montana on August 6th. The photographer, John McColgan, is a fire behaviour analyst from Fairbanks, Alaska. He took the picture with a digital camera. Because he was working at the time he took the picture he cannot profit from it; however, we feel the picture is a once-in-a-lifetime shot and should be shared.

Just thought I'd tell you that you're doing a great job with the website. By the way, Top Fuel driver Doug Kalitta has a website too. The address is: Bounty Hunter. Anyways, just thought I'd tell you. Keep up the good work!

To launch the brand new Drag Racing History section of Gary's Drag Racing Pages, we are trying to find out everyone's views on their favourite drag racing moments. We hope to be able to compile a list of the all time top five best drag racing moments.

The best drag race? The best meeting? The worst meeting? The best run? Everyone has their own memories and their own favourites. Well, we want to know. Just go to the Drag Racing History section of the site to add your vote.

B&J takes the win in Federal-Mogul Dragster, runnerup in FM/FC

Federal-Mogul Dragster driver, and B&J Transmission parts distributor, Mike Strasburg, took his first win of the year during this weekend's Division 7 Federal-Mogul Drag Racing Series at "The Strip" at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. B&J Federal-Mogul Funny Car racer John Weaver took runner-up honors in his category.

In FM/D, Strasburg qualified No. 3 in his Cornwell Tools sponsored entry with a 5.557 at 255.92 mph. In round one, he squared off with veteran FM/D driver, and B&J customer, John Shoemaker. Strasburg took the victory with a 5.571 at 255.92 mph.

In round two, Strasburg took out heavy hitter Darren Nicholson with a 5.526 at 256.65 mph, which was the quickest blown alcohol dragster pass of the weekend, overshadowed only by Rick Henkelman's 5.485 in his A/Fuel dragster. In the final, Strasburg cut a great .415 light, and streaked to victory over Duane Shields with a 5.602 at 254.38 mph.

In FM/FC, Weaver qualified his "Dream Weaver" Camaro fifth, with a 5.851 at 250.74 mph. In round one, he took out Ed Marx with a holeshot 5.838 at 252.85 mph. In the semifinals, he put away supercharger guru Mert Littlefield with a 5.908 at 249.72 mph. In the final, Weaver came up short against Russ Parker's entry. Weaver encountered problems, and was forced to lift, giving the win to Parker.

Shields comes up one round short in two-car debut

Federal-Mogul Dragster driver and car owner Duane Shields came away with a runner-up finish during this weekend's Division 7 Federal-Mogul Drag Racing Series event at "The Strip" at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The weekend was the first race for his new two-car Short Line Express race team.

Shields, who runs the Short Line Express Market chain in the Las Vegas area, qualified No. 4 with an elapsed time of 5.591 at 254.28 mph. Teammate Dale Carlson, driver of the second car, qualified eighth with a 5.703 at 243.33 mph.

In round one, both Short Line Express cars came away with victories, as Shields took out Steve Federlin with a great 5.545 at 257.38 mph, that stood as low ET of the round. Carlson upset low qualifier Rick Henkelman with a 5.755 at 239.36 mph. As fate would have it, the Short Line Express cars squared off against each other in the semifinals.

Shields took the victory, streaking to a 5.554 at 245.54 mph, as Carlson had problems and coasted to a 6.44 at 162 mph. In the final, Shields encountered problems of his own after having to put the engine out of Carlson's car in his dragster. Mike Strasburg went on to win the event with a 5.602 at 254.36 mph over Shields' off the throttle 5.862 at 233.12 mph.

Shields said, "We are happy with the outcome of the weekend even though we didn't win. It was a pretty hectic weekend. We had a bolt in the geardrive shear off after the first round, and couldn't get the crank hub off to fix it. Since we had a backup engine ready to go, we put that in for the semifinals. Something got loose in the magneto on that run, and let the timing advance during the run, and it absolutely destroyed that engine."

"So we went back to our first round engine, managed to get the hub off it and fix it, but the hub just wouldn't go back on. Finally, to make the final, we took the engine out of Dale's car, added some weight and went to the lanes with it so we could make the call."

"Mike (Strasburg) had a great .415 light (reaction time; .400 is perfect), but I never saw him until around three quarter track. He pulled around me pretty hard there, and I knew we were at a disadvantage with the engine change, so I just lifted when he went by me."

With the success the team enjoyed in it's first outing, Shields feels confident they will make more of an impact at the season finale in Pomona at the AAA Auto Club Finals.

"We had the No. 1 car running real well, and we figured out what was wrong with Dale's car all weekend," commented Shields. "We found that the intake manifold was warped on his car, and was pushing the o-ring out underneath the blower every run at about 800 feet, thus the low mph. We have a couple of weeks until Pomona to go over both cars really thoroughly, and get them ready. I am excited, with the way the team worked together, at this, the first race. I think we are going to do real well in Pomona."

NOTE: This is the message that Ken sent to the newspaper

I read the Gold Coast Bulletin Saturday morning with the report from the drag racing demonstration last night at the Indy car event. I am very disappointed in your coverage of this event. At an event as big as the whole Indy race, there has to be several negative occurences that take place over the duration of the event, but that doesn't mean we have to wear our heart on our sleeve.

On the Gold Coast, we all have the responsibility to put our best foot forward for the world and the tourists to see. Spending several column inches on page five telling the world about one or two drunken partygoers serves no one on the Gold Coast.

Your reporter, Trevor Paddenburg, gave the report that "families were cowering in fear at the drags..." The report goes on giving drag racing a very bad name. The last paragraph of the article says "The popularity of this event is amazing and there are just a huge bunch of people out there loving it."

I wonder why he closed with that rather than opened with that? 98% of the article was very disparaging to drag racing and the whole Indy event. I am absolutely livid! I am a 53 year old family man with a successful business and have spent my life drag racing and defending drag racing to the ignorant reporters who prefer to slant an article towards their personal bias, instead of reporting what happened at the whole event.

The Indy organizers sell more tickets than they have seats for and the biggest crowd of the entire weekend (including the main Indy car race) is for the drag racing demonstration on Friday night. When drunken partygoers want to see what they paid for, they will climb on top of whatever they can to see what they paid $100 a ticket to see.

Is drag racing to blame for this or is it the fault of the Indy organizers? Unfairly, drag racing got the blame and Trevor Paddenburg is responsible.

Note: This email appears in clickable form at: Drag Notes.

I just finished announcing the two day Ford Fever Classic at Maryland International Raceway, and boy, am I beat. This was my third straight full-on weekend (after the President's Cup and the California Hot Rod Reunion). Saw more Mustangs than you could shake a stick at. Brian Bossone won Super Stang over Jay Allenbach after Billy Glidden broke in the semis.

Congrats to wheelstander driver Danny O'Day, who set a new all time world record elapsed time at MIR Sunday, running 8.733 seconds at 154.00 mph in his Superwinch '34 Ford machine. This run reset the new record O'Day established on Saturday, when he went an 8.892. Danny also went 8.88 and 8.94 during four exhibition runs. Royce Miller's $250,000 repaving job at MIR has been spectacular in terms of performance.

This news is late, but our friend Bill Kuhlmann suffered a fire in his Summit Racing Corvette Nitro Coupe at Virginia Motorsports Park last weekend. Bill suffered burns and smoke inhalation when the car caught fire in the traps on a 6.14 - 234 mph run.

Here's the latest update from our friend Talladega Greg: "Just got off the phone with Vicky (Bill's crew chief). He's still in intensive care, but they expect him to be released next week sometime (hopefully!). He's got some burns on his face and hands, plus the smoke did its usual damage, but Vicky is upbeat and they hope to be in attendance at Las Vegas (not running). The car is pretty trashed as is the engine and it needs to be rebuilt. Anybody who's been through a fire understands. You can send cards and letters to the address below."

"Or, you can visit his website for a more detailed explanation of his injuries and email your messages of support. Everybody keep Bill and the other injured drivers around the land in your prayers. They are a dedicated bunch and deserve our respect." Talladega Greg.

October 16:
Drag Racing Story of The Day: Triumph and Tragedy in Shreveport. Larry Sullivan reports the results from the IHRA World Finals at Shreveport. Our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Wayne Bailey, who died in a tragic crash.

October 15:
Drag Racing Story of The Day: These Are The Good Old Days. Joe Buckley makes the case that drag racing is just as good now as it ever was.

October 14:
Drag Racing Story of The Day: "Cacklefest" - A Poem. Jim Davis checks in with our first poem -- a tribute to the moving Cacklefest at the 2000 California Hot Rod Reunion.

Drag Racing Picture of The Day: Pit Crew Pete's Amazing Candy Apple Digger. Robbie Robertson contributes two shots of Pete Starrett's beautiful dragster at the CHRR.

October 13:
Drag Racing Story of The Day: The Birds, The Bees and Push Starts. Surfers alumni Tom Jobe tells what happens when three young men watch a young lady instead of where the push car and dragster are going.

Drag Racing Picture of The Day: Beware the Neon Ground Shaker. James Morgan with a photo of Maine's quickest doorslammer in action.

October 12:
Drag Racing Story of The Day: Flying Blocks at Lions. Wayne King tells the tale of an exploding engine block in Roger Coburn's digger.

Drag Racing Picture of The Day: First to 160 and 170. Pete Garramone provides a great photo of one of the toughest dragsters of the early 1960's.

October 11:
We were down today due to a bug in our web editing program. This prevented us from posting a Story and Picture of the Day. To make up for it, we posted two stories and pictures on October 12.

Drag Racing Picture of The Day: The Magicar in Miniature. Roger Lee builds some of the nicest models you've ever seen. Here's his version of the Astro Magicar AA/Fuel Dragster.

Shields to debut two car team

Federal-Mogul Dragster driver and car owner Duane Shields will debut a two car team during this weekend's NHRA Division 7 Federal-Mogul Drag Racing Series event at "The Strip", Las Vegas Motor Speedway's quarter-mile dragstrip, just outside of Las Vegas.

Shields, who resides in Las Vegas, feels the two car approach will benefit the team in a number of ways, much like the trend to two car teams in the Top Fuel and Funny Car ranks. Experienced driver Dale Carlson has been chosen to drive the second car. Although Shields feels that this weekend will feature a learning curve in making a two car team work, he wants to make it clear that the No. 2 car is not just an "R&D" car; both cars are set up to win.

"We're going to try to run both cars all out," said Shields. "We want both cars to be contenders in the field. The only testing will be minor changes for the track conditions. Both cars are set up pretty close to the same."

"This weekend will probably see a learning curve. Getting everyone to work together as a two car team, and learning the basics of it will be the main focus, but we still want our No. 1 car to be able to win this weekend. The No. 2 car will probably take a little longer to fine tune. We want to have it down to where both cars can be serious contenders in Pomona."

Carlson, who drove for Mike Johnson's team for the last few years, feels optimistic of the chances for the two car team, as well as his shot back in the driving seat. "It feels great to be back in a car," said Carlson. "I couldn't be happier than to work with a team like Duane Shields'. These people are great and they are a lot of fun. So far everything is going great."

Carlson made some shakedown runs today in testing, with a best elapsed time of a 5.72, with Shields running a 5.55 as well. "Today's run was intended to be a soft run," Carlson commented. "This is the first time this car has been down the track in nearly a year. Everything on this car is top notch; we're happy with the way it ran. Now we have a baseline to work with, and we'll see what we can do from here."

Shields added, "The marketing opportunities a two car team offers is a big plus to potential sponsors, as well as data collection. We can learn twice the data with the same amount of runs now."

"If we can get some sponsorship participation, we will certainly look into making this a full time deal in 2001," Shields continued. "Right now the plan is to make this race and Pomona with the two car team, but we haven't ruled out Houston and Phoenix if all goes well; those races are still in the back of our minds."

Qualifying begins at 7 p.m. for the Federal-Mogul Dragsters on Friday, with two more qualifying sessions following on Saturday. Final eliminations will begin on Sunday. Stay tuned to SummitRacing.com's Drag Race Central for day by day updates from Las Vegas.

Thanx for updating me, Bob (about your email address). Saturday was the most amazing day's drag racing I have ever witnessed. Friday was OK, but I suffered from some dodgy airline food. Over the weekend I will be completing my new web page with pics from the Winternationals. I hope to catch up soon.

Also, my Super Sedan should be hitting the track in December sometime. If you eventually race in OZ, I would like to help out as crew to learn some things when you race in Melbourne.

Yes, I watched the first segment of the BCTV report on street racing on the 11:30 news last night, and was told today it is a series of reports. I will be watching, and may have to give them a jingle to come to the track this weekend, as both brackets and street legal are racing.

No worries mate, I will keep my eagle eyes focused, and my ears wide open for this series of reports. I don't think it is fair that they (the street racers) get all the media attention; us real drag racers deserve more!

Oh yeah, did you see the Monday night news? Squire Barnes (sportscaster) showed Schumacher's crash in Memphis; wow, eh?

Bob, my wife and I were back in OZ in March of this year. I normally get home about every two years or so and my brother (who lives about 3/4 mile from Indianapolis Raceway Park, on the other side of Brownsburg from me) tries to go in alternate years. Of course, the good old USA not being a "workers paradise" like Australia, makes it a little harder.

When I tell people here about four weeks annual vacation with a 17% bonus in your paycheque, they usually have a "stunned mullet" look on their faces. And heaven forbid that I try to explain long service leave :-)

As for where I am now compared to my "Crow Eater Capers" days (writing a column for Dragster Australia in the early '80's), I still find it hard to believe that my customers include Force, Alan Johnson, the WWF team and such. Having the thank you note that Scelzi and A.J. gave me after last year's Topeka episode hanging in my office sure gives the business some credibility.

One of my lifelong goals was to get an NHRA Best Engineered award and I now have two national and two divisional trophies, along with a real "Wally" that Bazemore gave me after Chicago in 1998 for all the work that I have done for him over the years.

I will be running a front wheel drive Cavalier at the Import/Sport Compact drags next year, and if my conversation today with Harry Turner from GM Racing is any indication, I will probably not see too many NHRA events, although there is talk of doing some exhibition passes at possibly the Winternationals and Indy.

The body (carbon fibre) is supposed to be ready (finally) next week, so I will be thrashing to get the car together so that we can test in December and debut in February. If you are ever in the Indy area, give me a call.

The Albuquerque, New Mexico based Federal-Mogul Funny Car team of Lyle Greenberg Motorsports will be competing at the NHRA Division 7 Federal-Mogul Drag Racing Series event in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 13-15th. At this event, the team will have sponsorship from VLender.com and Sundance Equipment Company. Any of our friends and fans who can make the event in Las Vegas are encouraged to come by our trailer and say hello.

To go directly to the press release announcing the VLender.com sponsorship, click on Press Release. For the latest informatuion on our preparations for this event, go to our Shop Update page. And for all the information on our team, go to our home page.

Wells overpowers track in round one

Defending Division 5 Federal-Mogul Dragster Champion David Wells qualified No. 2 for the Autozone Nationals, presented by Pennzoil, at Memphis Motorsports Park, just outside of Memphis, Tennessee, but lost in round one to Jeff Bohr when he smoked the tires right off the starting line. Bohr pulled away with an elapsed time of 5.712 at 239.61 mph to put away Wells' 6.141 at 226.77 mph.

The LeMars, Iowa driver is disappointed with the loss, but is still optimistic going into his final races of the season in Dallas and Houston. Wells said, "We had it set up pretty agressive. We had it set up for the way the track was earlier, but the track just wasn't there in the first round. The track really went away. The car just went a few feet and smoked the tires. I had to lift, and got back in it in case he broke or something, but that didn't happen. We got beat."

"We should go to Dallas and Houston if everything goes our way. We'll be back and just pick it up at Dallas."

October 10:
I'm back from the California Hot Rod Reunion. It was absolutely fantastic in every way. The best part was meeting all the great folks whom I've come to know on the internet. I will provide some details soon. I uploaded a Story and Picture of the Day for October 10th before I left, so see them below. Drag Racing Movie of the Week: Tom Jackson Spins Out. Carl Witt provides footage of a wild doorslammer ride.

October 5 through 10: We were at the California Hot Rod Reunion. Since we would not be back until sometime late on the 9th, we set up five stories and photos of the day in advance. To celebrate the CHRR, all our stories and photos were from the old days.

Stories of The Day

October 2:
Tommy Joe invents the Jet Boat. Ralph Crosby brings us another entertaining Tommy Joe Story.

October 3:
NHRA Advance Auto Parts Nationals results. Motorsport.com provides full coverage from Topeka.

October 4:
Rolling Thunder at 4:00 AM. Funny Car and nostalgia fuel racer Bob Barry with a great tale of "youthful exuberance."

October 5:
California Hot Rod Reunion: Hoping to Recapture the Magic. I am hoping to have my soul renewed in the power of real drag racing this weekend.

October 6:
Memories of Bakersfield. John Hamlin tells us what it was like in 1962, when the joint was packed with fuel dragsters.

October 7:
Throttle Whacks - Who's Whacking Who? Pat Foster tells an entertaining tale of a little too much tuner manipulation at the starting line.

October 8:
Front Engine Dragster Cool Stuff Checklist. Bill Pitts provides a short list of rules that would make nostalgia fuel racing fun and affordable.

October 9:
More Bakersfield Memories. Wayne King, Robby Andersen, and Big Gene Townley team up to bring us some memories of Bakersfield events past.

October 10:
Obscure Memories of Lions Drag Strip. Bruce Wheeler with some obscure memories and questions about Lions Drag Strip. Can you answer these?

Pictures of The Day

October 2:
Motzilla! Bob Motz's incredible Jet Kenworth. Mark Hovsepian with an absolutely outstanding photo of the world's greatest exhibition vehicle.

October 3:
Hot Stuff! Terry Monroe's Alky Funny Car. James Morgan just loves flames on race cars.

October 4:
Hakan Nilsson's Swedish '63 Corvette Pro Mod. Anni Valder gets the shot and Bobby Valder tells the tale.

October 5:
Wild Willie manhandles the Winged Express. Rob Potter provides and L&M photo of the master fuel altered driver at the wheel.

October 6:
Push Starts at Aquasco. Bruce Wheeler with a neat shot and some words about a long lost and missed Top Fuel practice.

October 7:
Didn't We Have Fun? TV Tommy Ivo. Bruce Wheeler contributes a priceless photo of TV Tommy Ivo, complete with autograph.

October 8:
The Prussian Attacks! Pete Garammone with a great shot of Maynard Rupp's dragster at full tilt.

October 9:
Eddie Hill 1963. Pete Garammone captures Eddie 25 years before he became the Four Father.

October 10:
Front Motor Simplicity. Gonzo checks in with a pit shot of a nice, restored front engine dragster.

Other neat stuff that happened in the last eight days:
New exclusive bonus photos. Les Welch provides high quality photos from NHRA Topeka and Maple Grove. Updated Personal Best with Steve Klemetti. Steve provides all the updates from NHRA Topeka and Maple Grove, and IHRA Budds Creek. New Millarkey. Part one of Pete Millar's latest cartoon strip. Drag Racing Movie of The Week: Brett Stevens Smokin' Jack Daniels. Paul Rogers, Jr., checks in with a super burnout shot of Brett's Aussie Top Doorslammer. Updated DRL links. Check it all out at The Drag Racing List.

Buff takes win in Federal-Mogul Dragster with B&J

Federal-Mogul Dragster driver Troy Buff dominated the Autozone Nationals, presented by Pennzoil, from wire to wire with his B&J Transmission equipped dragster, qualifying No. 1 and taking the win.

Buff qualified No. 1 with a 5.457 at 251.25 mph, ran a 5.444 in round one to take low ET of the event, and defeated new mph record holder Keith Stark's injected nitro dragster in the final. Buff, who previously won the event in 1998, took a holeshot victory when his TBR entry had engine problems and slowed to a 5.704 at 199.43 mph, but it was enough to hold off Stark's quicker but later 5.667 at 260.56 mph.

Fellow B&J racer Shelly Howard qualified No. 3 and went to the semifinals where she was defeated by Buff. In round one, Howard took out another B&J heavy hitter, Jeff Wilson, who had engine problems and slowed to a 5.801 at 216.93 mph. Howard streaked to her quickest and fastest run of the weekend, a strong 5.452 at 260.11 mph, that was the fastest blown pass of the weekend. In the semfinals, Howard encountered heavy tireshake that broke a framerail in her dragster, and let the coupler come out of the rearend, thus ending the run. The transmission was still intact, however.

In Federal-Mogul Funny Car, Randy Fleming once again had a strong weekend in his B&J equipped Trans-Am. Fleming qualified No. 2 and went to the semifinals before losing to eventual event winner Chuck Cheeseman.

Have you heard of B&J's new TRIPLE SPRAG transmission? Check out their new website for more information on how to get the transmission of the future. B&J Transmissions.com is a part of the RacerPage.com network.

Broken framerail ends Howard's weekend in semifinals

Federal-Mogul Dragster pilot Shelly Howard went to her third straight semifinal round during this weekend's Autozone Nationals, presented by Pennzoil, at Memphis Motorsport Park, just outside of Memphis, Tennessee.

Howard, qualified No. 3 with an elapsed time of 5.487 seconds at 256.55 mph, and defeated heavy hitter Jeff Wilson in round one with a 5.452 at 260.11 mph (career best speed), and Bill Reichert's A/Fuel Dragster in round two with a 5.523 at 254.81 mph.

In the semfinals, Howard squared off against Division 4 rival, and eventual winner, Troy Buff. Howard launched into severe tireshake that broke a framerail, which let the coupler (the equivalent to a car's driveshaft) come out of the rear end, ending the run for Howard. Buff went on to take the win with a 5.484 at 254.18 mph.

"It left really good, and had a really great 60 foot time (.900), then started shaking the tires severely and broke a framerail, and the coupler came out," said Howard. "You can't go anywhere without it, so that was the end of the run for me."

Howard's next event will be the O'Reilly Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex, just outside of Dallas. Howard feels after her 5.4 second performances at career best speeds of over 260 mph, that she is getting closer to her first win of the year.

"I'm happy to see we are finally finding out what the car wants," Howard said. "Of course the air was exceptionally good here this weekend, so we will just shave to see what the conditions are in Dallas to see what the car will run. Traditionally, you can run some pretty good numbers at that race."

For more information on the Howard team, visit their website at: Shelly Howard Racing, part of the RacerPage.com network.

VICTOR BRAY WINS FIFTH CONSECUTIVE OZ CHAMPIONSHIP

Castrol '57 Chevy driver, Victor Bray, is still the only person to have won an Australian Top Doorslammer Championship after claiming the 2000 title by defeating Perth's Robin Judd in the semis at the final round of the series at Willowbank Raceway's Konica Winternationals.

Bray had trailed Adelaide's Dave Koop by just two points and was only 13 points ahead of Perth's Robin Judd going into the event but quickly showed he was on the pace in his Castrol '57 Chevy and ready for a dramatic title showdown. Bray moved up the qualifying ladder with a 6.35 second pass in Friday's sessions to trail his main championship challenger, Robin Judd, by just two hundredths of a second.

Judd had recorded a world record equaling 6.17 back in June in the first session of qualifying before rain intervened, forcing the postponement of the event until this weekend. Although times set back in those cooler conditions still stood on the sheets, the race and championship was certainly going to whoever got on top of the October conditions.

The Ice Break Top Doorslammer category confirmed it's mantel as the highlight of the Konica Winternationals after Friday's sessions saw Andrew Searle 6.30, Robin Judd 6.33, Les Winter 6.34, and Victor Bray 6.35, produce the tightest top half of a field yet seen.

Saturday night's elimination racing began with Championship leader Dave Koop, facing the in-form Andrew Searle in the first round and being eliminated from the title hunt early. Victor Bray, 6.47 seconds, had a first round win over Melbourne's Peter Kapiris, 6.92, to move ahead of Koop in the points and Robin Judd, 6.33, was able to defeat Bray's Castrol team mate Steve Stanic, 6.76, to set up a semi final clash with Bray which was to determine the championship.

In a dramatic title decider, Bray brought the huge Konica Winternationals crowd to it's feet cheering for their home town hero as he triggered the win light with a 6.47 second time ahead of Judd's troubled 7.86. After the euphoria of a fifth consecutive title, Bray red lighted by a narrow margin in the final against Brett Stevens but was far from disappointed as the championship victory had been his major goal from the outset.

A relieved Victor Bray commented "We would have loved to have won the Konica Winternationals, but the championship means so much to us that we're more than happy. Every title has been hard but none was closer than this. Our Castrol team was behind the eight ball a few times but we kept working at it and it came around for us in the end.

"Our guys worked their backsides off this weekend. I've got to thank them along with all our fantastic sponsors that have supported us all the way through. Special thanks also to Hog's Breath Cafe who have just joined us on the car at this meeting. Five championships is fantastic and next month we'll be on the track trying our very best to make it six in a row for Castrol."

Thanks for your reply, I liked it. Just send me an email telling me what your favourite position is and I will send you my pics....

Bob, I have the latest Winternationals news and results and you can use them for a quick fix if you like. The address is: The Black Dyno.

I have also recently completed a site for the NSW Motorsports Party which will help motorsports in New South Wales if they get into parliament.

There is a new method to grilling chicken on your barbecue pit or cooking turkey in your oven and it is called "The Chicken Rocket". Launch your next barbecue by visiting our website.

Have you ever cooked Drunken Chicken or Tipsy Chicken? It is a popular method of preparing and grilling a whole chicken. The new process starts by taking our Chicken Rocket, filling it with your favorite beer or marinade and placing it on the grill. Then take a whole chicken and set it on the Chicken Rocket. Set it for an hour and forget it! Come back later to the best piece of chicken you'll ever put in your mouth.

The Chicken Rocket is a solid molded cast iron device that is built for life. The Chicken Rocket reduces normal cook time while providing a better taste. The Chicken Rocket is an excellent idea for the hard to please person in your life that has everything. We can promise you that they don't have a Chicken Rocket.

In addition, the Chicken Rocket can cook a 12 pound turkey in two hours. That's right, you are only two hours from having moist delicious turkey breast. Also, we are pleased to announce that a portion of the proceeds will benefit the American Cancer Society.

To learn more about this fun product or to purchase the Chicken Rocket online, visit our secure online store. Thank you.

VICTOR BRAY ON THE PACE FOR TITLE SHOWDOWN

Four times Australian Top Doorslammer Champion, Victor Bray, is on the pace in his Castrol '57 Chevy for a dramatic title showdown at today's final round of the series at Willowbank Raceway's Konica Winternationals. Bray moved up the qualifying ladder with a 6.35 second pass in yesterday's sessions to trail his main championship challenger, Robin Judd, by just two hundreths of a second.

Judd had recorded a world record equalling 6.17 back in June in the first session of qualifying before rain intervened, forcing the postponement of the event until this weekend. Although times set back in those cooler conditions still stand on the sheets, the race and championship will certainly go to whoever gets on top of the October conditions.

Ice Break Top Doorslammer is set to be the highlight of the Konica Winternationals after yesterday's sessions saw Andrew Searle at 6.30, Robin Judd at 6.33, Les Winter at 6.34 and Victor Bray with a 6.35, produce the tightest top half of a field yet seen.

Championship leader Dave Koop (at 6.49) takes a slender two point lead over Bray into the event, but will face the in-form Andrew Searle in the first round. Robin Judd will face Victor Bray's Castrol team mate Steve Stanic (at 6.67) in the opening stanza, while Victor Bray has drawn Peter Kapiris (at 6.41).

If Judd and Bray both progress, they will meet in the semifinal for what may well be the championship decider.

Hi Bob. Long time no hear (again). Just thought I'd let you know I'm still kicking and I went to qualifying last night for the delayed Winternationals. Mark (Brew) ran another 5.65 at 247, in case you hadn't heard already. Also, I finally got to see Dave's (Coles) new flouro paint scheme. It would have been really interesting if he'd gone for the Mohawk as well!

Hope to finally see some updates from you before hell freezes over for a second time. By the way, I hope everything is going fine and the money god is shining on you and everything stays on track for the delayed Northern Thunder Winternationals debut.

I've been helping Kevin (Schuurs) get the roadster all together and it's a really good looking car in the making. The numbers should come together after it gets on the track and Kev gets used to the power as well. I'm attaching some photos of the car for you to look at.

Everything in Cornubia is slowly coming together and everyone is doing fine, so I hope the same can be said at your end of the world. All the best.

Thanks for the permission to use the photos. I will certainly give Ted Mannion and NorthernThunder.com credit. If I put the article together and they publish it on-line, I will let you know. I've also updated the link from the Coasters Car Club website to the photos and report for the 2000 Sleepy Hollow Rod Run and Drag Races.

By the way, I'm curious as to where you are located. I've gone through your website a couple of times trying to determine where you live, but to no avail.

I am considering writing a short article for the Sechelt Chamber of Commerce on-line newsletter about the Sleepy Hollow Rod Run and the Drag Races held in Sechelt on August 11 to 13th, 2000. I would like to use two photos from your site. The photo numbers are: sechelt00-07T and sechelt00-22T. I need your permission to do so. Would this be okay with you? Please advise ASAP. Thanks.

WW2 and Champion Speed Shop Challenge Heats up
California Trucker takes on Fuller & Dunlap for # 6 spot

With this year's front-motored fueler drag racing season gradually seeking resolution, various members on the Nitronic Research AA/Fuel Dragster List are using the last couple of meets as an opportunity to catapult themselves towards the top of the standings in order to claim superiority as well as contingency and bounty posted by List sponsors Titan Engineering, Mysterion Screenprint and Pete Millar's Drag Cartoons.

The jockeying for position on the NR list will continue this weekend at the California Hot Rod Reunion at Famoso, California.

Some teams will rely upon the traditional method of moving up, which is via accumulating "points" through outstanding performances in the fields of elapsed time, trap speed and event wins. Others, however, have realized that time is of the essence and have adopted the "Screw Patience! I'm Going To Kill Something" ethic and are using "challenges" as a method of advancing towards the top of the list.

These include the destroked Chrysler entry of WW2, (the slingshot fueler campaigned by nitro veteran Jim "Holy Smokes" Murphy and currently # 3 on the List) who has called out the current top-spot holder; the Chevy-powered Champion Speed Shop entry, ruddered by the cagey and venerable "Handsome Rance" McDaniel.

In this "first or worse" drag race contested during the last pair of qualifying Saturday afternoon, the winner will claim the # 1 spot on the list.

It is no secret that WW2 has been a wounded animal lately, which any sportsman will tell you is the most dangerous kind; furthermore, Murphy elucidates on this battle as a way of setting straight what he considers a misconception about the Chrysler's place in the AA/Fuel Dragster wars: "We believe Chrysler was king in the nostalgia years" he said on the Header Flames internet bulletin board, "and (it) still is...."

Champion Speed Shop majordomo Bob McLennan stated on Header Flames that, "I think it is interesting that as soon as the little small block Chevrolet got back to its rightful # 1 position, the Big Hemi's get pushed out of shape and are lining up to get their shots in." (More details about this war of words and action can be gleaned from the WW2 Racing).

But wait, there's more: In addition to the WW2/Champion Speed Shop ego battle, Lee Jennings and his big block Chevy-motivated "California Trucker" entry (# 7 on the List) is seeking to undo the damage from a challenge at the beginning of the season when the Chrysler-powered entry of Fuller & Dunlap put them down at a Pro Nitro race in Tucson. These two diggers will compete for the # 6 spot on the List Saturday as well, just before the WW2/Champion Speed Shop challenge.

Jenning's bunch, spearheaded by ace tuners Ray Zeller and Gene Amaya, feel they were pretty vulnerable when they lost their position to Dunlap, as they were experimenting with different aerodynamic approaches (specifically, no canard wings) as well as motor positions that never really panned out to their satisfaction. After more or less going in the toilet with that approach, a month or so ago they set up the car the way it was last year when it dominated quite a few contests.

Dunlap, meanwhile, is still sorting out similar gremlins and beyond. After back-halving the car and moving the motor back at chassis builder Dave Uyehara's shop, he has experienced tremendous frustration because of chronic tire spin which some attribute to the position of the engine. Theory has it that this continuing tendency was exacerbated by the recent use of beadlocked tires, which wrinkle more than the liner variety, and apparently are causing the 12" M&H slicks to squat, whereupon the wheelie bar strikes the pavement and unloads the chassis.

This weekend Fuller & Dunlap will be sporting the more conventional 'liner model of M&H's, which would be prudent not only in ending the cycle on the Domino effect of tire spin, but also in the knowledge that beadlocks will most likely be prohibited in competition at Goodguys VRA (Vintage Racing Association) events in 2001.

Regardless of Dunlap's plight, Lee Jennings' bunch feels that they have been bottlenecked behind Fuller & Dunlap all season. With their car running better (semifinal finish at the Goodguys Fall Classic last month, followed by a sweep of the Governor's Cup in Sacramento the next weekend), they feel it is time to end the cycle on this scenario. California Trucker co-tuner Gene Amaya had a rallying cry that summed up the attitude of the entire team. He bellowed, "In the words of the famous boxing referee, Mills Lane, 'Let's get it on!'"

So, going into the California Hot Rod Reunion, here is how the List shakes out:

For more details about where they stand, and why, go to: The List.

Howard sets sights on first victory of the year

Federal-Mogul Dragster pilot Shelly Howard will have her eye on winning her first race of the year during this weekend's Autozone Nationals, presented by Pennzoil, at Memphis Motorsports Park, just outside of Memphis, Tennessee.

The Tulsa, Oklahoma, native went to her second straight semifinal finish in national event competition during last weekend's Advance Auto Parts Nationals. Howard now hopes to move one round further, and ultimately, into the winners circle. Howard said, "Hopefully, the car will be more consistent, and we can run some better numbers. I hope that I can do my job more consistently, and everything will come together."

After recording an elasped time of a 5.511 in last Saturday's first round in Topeka, Howard feels confident about her chances in Memphis. "The weather is going to be a big factor this weekend," Howard commented. "They are predicting a front to move through, and that can really affect things. It just depends on how hot or cold it is to what these cars can run. We're just sticking to our normal gameplan of every race being a new ballgame."

For more information on the Howard team, visit their website at: Shelly Howard Racing, part of the Racer Page network.

Just wondered if you are home from the dentist yet??? LOL !!! Are you around, or shall I look at having someone else do the video???

Wells looks for redemption in Memphis

Defending Division 5 Federal-Mogul Dragster Champion David Wells will be looking for more than just a win, but redemption during this weekend's Autozone Nationals, presented by Pennzoil, at Memphis Motorsports Park, just outside of Memphis, Tennessee.

Wells, of LeMars, Iowa, had a tough second round loss to Keith Stark via a holeshot during last weekend's Advance Auto Parts Nationals in Topeka, Kansas. Wells made the quickest Blown Alcohol Dragster pass of eliminations in his Blue Bunny Ice Cream "Plain Vanilla" entry at an elapsed time of 5.49 seconds that just wasn't enough to catch Stark's holeshot 5.52. Wells looks to erase that memory with a win in Memphis.

"After that 5.49, we have got back to a good baseline again," said Wells. "We're going to make a few changes for Memphis, but basically set the car up the same, except a little softer during the first run to get it down the track." With tuning assistance from two time World Champion Tom Conway, Wells hopes to get close to the 5.40 zone in Memphis.

Wells said, "We should be able to get pretty close to the 5.40's. Normally the track is not quite as good as Topeka, but it's close. Low .50's and maybe some high .40's are what we are looking for. A lot of what will happen this weekend depends on the weather. There's a lot of good A/Fuel cars that will be there this weekend that can run a number in really good weather. It's going to be a challenge, no matter what."

To whom it may concern:

Championship Drag Racing is not illegal street racing. When you confuse the two, you slander me and my profession of 37 years. I'm sure it was an oversight made because you didn't know the difference. Have a look at my Ken Lowe Race Cars website for a view of a Championship Drag Racing supplier and you will not see anything like this on the street.

Suppliers to the Championship Drag Racing industry are a worldwide multimillion dollar industry and reports such as yours affect our business. Drag Racing can only be done at a sanctioned drag strip, much like NASCAR racing only be done at a NASCAR facility, or Indy Car racing done at a sanctioned Indy Car facility. Illegal street racing is called that because it is done on the street.

When you slander Drag Racing by confusing it with illegal street racing, you inflict damage to my business and my race sponsors. I know on your part it was probably unintentional but the damage is still there and that makes you liable for that damage. I'm sure you want to do everything you can to repair any damage that you may have done.

Ken Lowe
Professional Championship Drag Racer

The BAE-6 heads are just a rumour; no such thing, as per Leigh Ann Anderson. If there were such a head, they would dyno it, make it public, then market it as they did with their blocks. They are that type of people.

As for bearings, call Mike Austin at WAR. He might be able to help you out on Clevite 77's; that's where I get my bearings. Finally, thanks for all the support through this great year (less the Mission jinx). Best of luck downunder and keep writing.

When they introduced us as "Professional Drag Racers", I just about wet my pants laughing! We told them we were "legal drag racers" and proud of it, and to tell those kids that there is a race track to go to. So I guess, in VTV's eyes, we are the Professionals. LOL!

The video they used was mine. I couldn't believe they used it, as I just made it that day and it was terrible quality. So I laughed when I saw the real professional (Warren Johnson) on TV, on my terrible tape that I gave the TV station. The three tracks shown on the video were Prince George (1999 National Open; I beat that blown door car by the way!), Mission (2000) and Woodburn (2000 ET Finals).

The story (our segment) was much shorter, as they had to repeat some of the original story that prompted our rebuttal. I guess we let our voices be heard; that is a start, and we know we can't stop them from doing what they do (street racing). But maybe some of those guys will join in with us; who knows?

I want to thank you for all your help in our cause. I just love drag racing and will do anything to protect it from the bad guys. So, even with all my emails to you, you always help out, no matter what's going on in my racing life, you always post them. I even think you're getting a soft spot for us bracket racers, eh? Or is it me? LOL! I have a soft spot for all drag racers, period.

We'll be racing at Mission Raceway on October 14-15th. It's a doubleheader race that was just added to the schedule. The CPSA (Canadian Pro Street Association) are also holding their Northwest Open that same weekend. How about that, eh? See you at the track?

Yes I see you've given me lots of space on Backfire!, but if they don't air it when they say (this time), I may have to do my own Backfire! on VTV! LOL! Thanks for helping us out, you are too kind, and yes, I will pay you back somehow. A beer maybe? LML!

OK, here I go once again. I received a phone call from the reporter at VTV News this morning and he said it will be on the news Wednesday (evening at 6:00 PM). Steve Chao said they have been deluged in e-mail and phone calls asking when it was going to air. I told him there are a lot of real drag racers and fans wanting to see it. So if there is not a death of an important figure, it will happen tomorrow.

All we can say is, it will air, no matter how long it takes to get it on. At least they aren't throwing it on the shelf for highlights; our voices will be heard. So, if he makes a liar out of me, I will ask him to apologize on air to all of us. Thanks for putting up with all my e-mails, but I have to update you and keep you informed.

PS: Here's the link.

Our last scheduled race of the season at Budweiser Motorsports Park (Edmonton, Alberta) was supposed to be a Funny Car vs. Dragster grudge match. Our car, the "Sorcerer" (Steve Sitko's T/AD), John Evanchuk's "Red Wolf" funny car and Rory Christensen's "Reese's" funny car were to participate. This was to happen on September 9-10; of course the weather was un-cooperative as it has been all year.

We managed to get one round off under threatening skies on the Saturday; despite the very cold temperatures, Steve ran a 6.17 at 224 mph, beating Rory's shut off effort. Serge (Sitko Family TA/D) followed by running his career best (at Edmonton) 6.22 at 215 mph. I had blanked all the high speeds (bypasses) because the track was so cold, and the car got down better than it ever has, although it still shook pretty hard in 2nd gear.

For the record, Serge beat Evanchuk's funny car, which was making a pretty good move until the blower belt broke at half track. Sunday was a foregone conclusion, as it was cold and rainy when we got out of bed, and the event was called before 9:00 AM.

The race was re-scheduled for September 24, except that the alcohol show was cancelled due to the anticipated small crowd (too late in the year). John (Evanchuk) and Serge decided to run anyways; they weren't quite ready to put the cars away for the winter yet. I put a small high speed in for high gear only, and we thought that the tire shake would go away on its own.

The track conditions seemed pretty good, but we still shook pretty hard on the first pass. Both John and Serge had major snoozes on the starting line (early hibernation?), with Serge in the .600's and John in the .700's. It was a good race though, as Serge won with a 6.16 compared to John's quicker 6.13.

I took some static (clutch pressure) out for the final, thinking that we could get over the bump without the shake, but I was wrong, and we ran a shaky 6.17 to the Red Wolf's 6.16. It was another very good race; John was making sure he left on time, but was a little too eager with a .352 redlight. The weekend was a lot of fun, and that's why we keep doing this, right?

It's funny how you always seem to run real good at the end of the year. I guess that's why the pros go so fast; they make more runs by March than we do all year. Anyway, we're excited about next year, and as long as the rules changes don't kill us, we should be able to start out on the right foot.

We're not planning to put a screw blower on it yet; it's just not in the budget. We're going to front-half the car to make it more flexible, and will probably lengthen it a bit too. Hopefully this will make the car bite harder and cure the tire shake.

Serge and I plan on running at least one more season together and we have talked about building a brand new car for him after that so I can put something together for my sons to race (probably a Super Comp or Top Comp car). Both Troy and Nathan are itching to get into something faster than a Junior Dragster. By the way, Nathan went enough rounds on Sunday to secure this year's Junior Dragster season championship at Edmonton.

I was impressed by the good words about you on Horsepower Heaven, and am contacting you to say take a look at my website and click on the "Rising Stars" section. We recently added Row 2 and I need drivers for three spots.

My only requirement for this free service is that the driver provide me with timely information on their next race and their finish at the last one. Best of racing luck.

All B&J F-M Funny Car final; Howard reaches semifinal

Federal-Mogul Funny Car drivers Pat Austin and Cy Chesterman made the Advance Auto Parts Nationals final an all B&J Transmission affair. Fellow B&J racer Sam Blue made it to the semifinals where he fell to eventual runnerup Chesterman. In Federal-Mogul Dragster, Shelly Howard worked her way through a tough field to make it to the semifinals in her entry.

Austin came out of the No. 1 qualifying spot to march on to victory lane in his Pro-Max Performance Firebird. In the final, he defeated Chesterman, who came out of an uncharacteristic 15th qualifying spot on his way to the finals. In round one, Chesterman took out No. 2 qualifier Randy Fleming, who set top speed of the event at 255.48 with a B&J transmission.

The final was all Austin, as Chesterman had engine problems and slowed to an elapsed time of 6.631 at 153.91 mph, while Austin streaked to a 5.758 at 250.09 mph. Austin, a distributor of B&J, campaigns one of B&J's new triple sprag transmissions.

In Federal-Mogul Dragster, Shelly Howard led the way for the B&J contingent, qualifying No. 4 and making it to the semifinals where she was defeated by eventual winner Gary Ormsby, Jr. Howard took the holeshot, but Ormsby's 5.521 at 253.66 mph just edged her tireshaking 5.597 at 252.28 mph.

If you haven't heard about B&J's new triple sprag transmission, visit their website to find out more on how to get your hands on the transmission of the future.

If you have a racing operation, you need to have a "knock your eyes out" custom designed logo featuring your car and team name that you'll be proud to display on your website, business cards and handouts, and team shirts. And if you're seeking race sponsorship, it's critical that a professionally designed team logo brands your name in front of the fans and shows potential sponsors that you're serious about your operation. HotRodder.com's logo design services can provide you with a team logo that's built to your specs.

For all you family cruisers and show car afficionados, why not show off your vehicle with a personalized logo that you can use on your personal website or matching family t-shirts while you're cruisin' or showin'? Your hotrod in a graphic design, along with your family name, will give your website a sparkle and shine brighter than the wax job on your set of wheels. Why settle for a boring, generic web graphic when you can have a classic, one-of-a-kind logo that reflects your pride of ownership and the hard work you put into your hotrod?

HotRodder.com has searched far and wide to find an artist that would meet our high standards. Someone that not only had to be one of the best in the business but also had to be a certified motorhead. We've contracted the services of Nick Casale, a professional logo/graphic designer, to provide our members and visitors with customized graphics for their personal use. We know you won't be disappointed.

Go to logos for the whole scoop.

Shields has rough outing at Topeka

Federal-Mogul Dragster driver Duane Shields had a less than memorable weekend that ended on a sour note when he destroyed a motor and transmission in his first round loss to Troy Buff during the Advance Auto Parts Nationals at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kansas.

The 37 year old Las Vegas resident qualified his "Short Line Express" entry tenth with an off pace 5.714 elapsed time at 245.05 mph. In his first round race with Buff, Shields' problems started early, and compounded from there. Buff went on to win with a 5.640 at 245.94 mph to Shields' trouble plagued 5.844 at 221.49 mph.

Shields said, "We had been having problems breaking valve springs at the last few races, and we couldn't figure out what the problem was in qualifying, so we decided to start from scratch and changed the motor for eliminations."

"Somehow, before the run, a metal shaving got into the fuel lines and clogged the No. 6 cylinder fuel nozzle. That caused a lean situation in that cylinder during the burnout that pushed the head gasket out to the inside of the block. It pushed the head gasket all the way out during the run, which caused a big flash fire that burned the air lines going to the transmission. When the transmission lost air pressure, it went back into low gear and kicked the rods out, and hurt the transmission. It was a pretty ugly run."

After that slaughter of parts in Topeka, Shields has opted not to go on to Memphis, Tennessee, as planned, but to go back home and regroup for the upcoming Division 7 race at his home track of Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"We're just going to skip Memphis after all the parts we hurt this weekend," said Shields. "We're going to go back home and get ready for the Las Vegas race where we will debut a second car to be driven by Dale Carlson. We are real excited about that, and with the data from two cars, we feel it will give us an upper hand."

Wells loses close race in round 2

Defending Division 5 Federal-Mogul Dragster Champion David Wells lost a close race on a holeshot to A/Fuel racer Keith Stark in the second round of the Advance Auto Parts Nationals at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kansas.

Wells, who is in charge of mechanical operations at his family's ice cream factory in LeMars, Iowa, qualified his "Blue Bunny Ice Cream/ Plain Vanilla" entry third with an elapsed time of 5.553 at 257.78 mph before losing to Stark in round two.

Wells defeated Dana Stripe with a 5.583 at 255.29 mph before losing to Stark. Wells made the quickest blown alcohol dragster pass of the weekend with a 5.493 at 257.09 mph, but just couldn't catch Stark's holeshot 5.552 at 252.47.

"I just lost my concentration a little bit when Stark deepstaged on me," said Wells. "I wasn't paying attention and he got me on the tree. I had actually caught him at around the 330 foot mark, but his car really started to move around 600 feet and drove back around me and stayed that way the rest of the track."

Wells will move to the next event on the NHRA trail, the Autozone Nationals presented by Pennzoil, in Memphis, Tennessee, where he will be looking for redemption, along with the win.

"It might be a little bit tougher this weekend in Memphis, because I expect a few more A/Fuel cars will show up," Wells commented. "If the weather turns cold where they can make a lot of power, we might have a problem. If it is mediocre weather, I think we can run right there with them."

Howard bounces back with semifinal finish at Topeka

Federal-Mogul Dragster pilot Shelly Howard bounced back from a tough first round loss at the last Division 4 race in Noble, Oklahoma, with a strong semifinal finish during the Advance Auto Parts Nationals at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kansas.

The registered nurse from Tulsa, Oklahoma, qualifed No. 4 with an elapsed time of 5.558 at 252.80 mph. On her way to the semifinals, she took out Chris Dakin in the first round with a 5.551 at 253.71 mph, then Bruce Bowler in round two with a 5.543 at 251.34 mph, before losing to eventual winner Gary Ormsby, Jr., in the semifinals. Howard took the starting line advantage, but Ormsby just edged her out with a 5.521 at 253.66 mph to her right there 5.597 at 253.18 mph.

Howard said, "We are happy with the showing we made this weekend; the year seems to be turning around a little. We had tireshake problems all weekend, but never could get a handle on it, and it finally ended up biting us against Ormsby. They ran a good race and this was their weekend."

From Topeka, Howard will move on to the next race on the NHRA tour, the Autozone Nationals, presented by Pennzoil, in Memphis, Tennessee. With tuning assistance from two time World Champion Tom Conway, Howard feels confident of her chances for her first win of the year.

"We always go into every race with the attitude of 'it's a new ballgame' regardless of how good or bad you did at the last race," said Howard. "There is no telling how good this car will run if we can get the tire shake to go away, so we're just going to take it one run at a time."

For more information on the Howard team, visit their website at Shelly Howard Racing, part of the RacerPage.com network.

I'm not a big fan of the multiple car teams, especially when a team mate takes a dive for the boss. But it does happen, and no matter how cleverly the crew chief or driver tries to conceal it, you know what the outcome is going to be. John Force has been doing this for years, although him and Tony can usually race heads-up because the points are out of reach for the other guys.

It bothered me to watch Scelzi whine twice during the broadcast this weekend about Schumacher "buying" the championship. If Team Winston was only nine points behind the leader, don't you think they would do the same thing? It's not as if Sceliz's operation struggles financially; they have the best stuff that money can buy.

Even the announcers were berating what had happened. I don't endorse throwing a race, but the rules allow it, it is done in every other motorsports format, and it is one of the reasons that multi-car teams are set up in the first place. What do you think?

Hi again. If you thought you missed it on VTV News at Six today, you didn't! The drag racing segment was once again put on hold. It was advertised to air tonight, but they did say in the broadcast that the story will be seen later in the week.

Fast Test Session shows Bray Ready for Title Fight

Encouraging track testing results show four times Australian Top Doorslammer Drag Racing Champion, Victor Bray, is ready for what is set to be a tense three way title fight when the final round of the Australian Championship is conducted at Willowbank Raceway's postponed Konica Winternationals this weekend.

Adelaide's Dave Koop currently leads Bray by a slender two points in the series, while Perth's Robin Judd is only 13 points behind after striking record setting form late in the season.

The event was originally scheduled for June, but rain on the second day forced the remainder of the race meeting to be delayed until October 6th and 7th. Judd is currently top qualifier for the event after recording a best ever run of 6.17 seconds in the only qualifying session on the first day back in June.

The four month postponement may well favor Bray as it has allowed him to undertake a five week research trip to the USA and extensive testing before the final showdown takes place. His team has made several visits to Willowbank Raceway and believes changes made to his Castrol '57 Chevrolet, along with warmer October weather, should see him on terms with the obvious pace displayed by Robin Judd.

He completed his final test session yesterday, recording an effortless 6.30 second run at 224.89 mph, despite very hot conditions and into a twenty mile per hour headwind. Data indicates a run later in the afternoon without timing equipment was even quicker.

Looking forward to the battle Bray commented "Winning a fifth consecutive Australian Championship means a hell of a lot to us. Castrol and all our sponsors and we're doing everything possible to make it happen. Robin Judd has got the pace at the moment, but Dave Koop is still the guy in front. The equation this weekend sounds simple. We have to score more points than Koopsey and make sure Robin doesn't catch us. The fact they're two of the best racers in the country is what's going to make it interesting."

"The atmospheric conditions back in June provided cold, dense air which Robin's car obviously likes. Temperatures this weekend are likely to be into the thirties and the testing we've done in those conditions might give us an edge. Obviously we hope Robin isn't as quick in the hotter weather, but we have to be ready for him if he is.

"We've made a lot of changes to the Castrol Chevy and it has responded beautifully. The car's handling is dramatically improved, allowing us to use a lot more of the power we've got. We're very confident we should be well into the 6.2's, which would make for a great race," he added.

The current season started well for Bray's Castrol Chevy team when he won the opening event in Melbourne and regained the world speed record in the process. He top qualified at the next event in Perth but then the team encountered an awful run of bad luck. A wire came off the battery in the first round and stopped the engine. He lost early again in Adelaide and then had a brand new throttle cable break at the Nationals in Melbourne.

At that stage Victor found himself a long way back in the points, but a win in Perth, combined with bonus points for quickest time and highest speed, followed by a semifinal finish at Willowbank's Castrol Series event has seen him claw his way back to second spot with just the final Konica Winternationals round to go.

While the title battle will be fought out between Bray, Koop and Judd, a large field of racers from all over Australia have nominated for the event, all keen to win the event and capable of influencing the outcome of the championship. They include Melbourne's Peter Kapiris, Adelaide's Marcus Chambers, Sydney's Steve Stanic and local challengers, Andrew Searle, Brett Stevens, Peter Gratz and Les Winter.

October 2:
Drag Racing Story of the Day: Tommy Joe invents the Jet Boat. Ralph Crosby brings us another entertaining Tommy Joe story.
Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Motzilla! Bob Motz's incredible jet Kenworth. Mark Hovsepian with an absolutely outstanding photo of the world's greatest exhibition vehicle.
Drag Racing Movie of the Week: Brett Stevens Smokin' Jack Daniels. Paul Rogers, Jr. checks in with a super burnout shot of Brett Stevens' Aussie Top Doorslammer.

October 1:
Drag Racing Story of the Day: President's Cup Final Results and Notes. Final results and notes from the 2000 IHRA Expressautoparts.com President's Cup Nationals. Larry Sullivan provides the hard qualifying facts; I provide some notes and observations from the pits.
Drag Racing Picture of the Day: The Original Flying Dutchman. Pete Garramone provides a nice pit shot of a "true" funny car (one that looks like the actual car!)
Drag Racing Movie of the Week: Aussie Fuelers Light Up the Night. Simon and Carl Witt team up to bring us nitro flames at night from downunder.

September 30:
Drag Racing Story of the Day: President's Cup Final Qualifying Notes. I called my own number today with some notes from the 2000 IHRA Expressautoparts.com President's Cup Nationals. Larry Sullivan provides the hard qualifying facts.
Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Pure Hell and the Smoky Wheelstand. Rob Potter joins our intrepid crew of photographer volunteers with an absolutely fantastic shot of the Pure Hell Fiat Altered.

September 29:
Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Pete Robinson & the Automatic Cammer. Jim Hill with some great insights into the day Pete tested the C-6 automatic transmission in his fueler.
Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Earthquake! The New York Earthshaker Warms the Hides. James Morgan captures Bruce Peterson's beautiful funny car at Epping.

September 28:
Drag Racing Story of the Day: Workin' Hard and Raisin' Hell - The Life of a Fuel Altered Rookie. Frank Jonkman fills us in on the hardships of converting his blown altered to nitro.
Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Hot for Teacher! Gary Densham's Slick 2001 Firebird. Greg Gage checks in with a shot of Gary Densham's swoopy new 2001 NEC Firebird Funny Car.

September 27:
Drag Racing Story of the Day: Dead On for a Trophy and an A. Doug Simpson shares a great story of his first day at the drags.
Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Purple Flames! Chuck Cheeseman's Funny Car at Route 66. New contributor Lee Ecker provides a nice shot of Route 66 Federal-Mogul winner Chuck Cheeseman.

September 26:
Drag Racing Story of the Day: Return of the Chicken Chokers. Len Cottrell fills us in on what it took to get the Cottrell & Slagle team back on track for the Keystones after their Richmond crash.
Drag Racing Picture of the Day: Nocturnal Bear! Ronnie Hood's Grizzly Pro Mod Corvette. James Morgan captures Ronnie Hood at Epping at night.

OK, this time it is supposed to happen! Our story will be told on the VTV News at Six program on Monday, October 2nd. I was told that it will happen, so stay tuned. I hope I don't disappoint you again.

Payback! WW2 to challenge Champion Speed Shop for # 1 spot on the Nitronic Research AA/FD List!

There is a score to settle in the retro fueler wars and it stems from the semi-final round of the Goodguys recent 11th Fall Classic at Sears Point, and specifically, a bout betwixt the Champion Speed Shop and Jim "Holy Smokes" Murphy and the WW2 entry. In that heat, what hung in the balance was the WW2's realistic chance to claim the Goodguys VRA Points title an unprecedented four consecutive times.

And so it went on a one lane race track at SPIR, as Champion shoe "Handsome Rance" McDaniel zipped off a .484 light and threw down a vicious holeshot time of 6.10 seconds at 214 mph while a frustrated Murphy got aggressive with the tuneup and clutch management and blazed the skins in futility in the tempermental right lane.

As McDaniel eventualy motored on to both Top Eliminator and the VRA points lead, Murphy saw not only his tires go up in smoke, but also a practical chance of defending his title, particularly in light of there being only one more VRA race left uncontested this year (the Goodguys Fuel & Gas Finals at Las Vegas, Nevada, October 28-29).

"We certainly have not given up yet (on the VRA title)," Murphy rationalized, "but we are also realists." So rather than make excuses, the WW2 team has decided to get proactive. Their course of action? To challenge the Cahmpion Speed Shop for their current holding of the # 1 spot on the Nitronic Research AA/Fuel Dragster List, a spot which WW2 held at the beginning of the season.

WW2 currently holds the # 3 spot on the List, but has issued a "first or worse" challenge to Champion Speed Shop owner Bob McLennan because as Murphy puts it, "they are the car to beat and are sitting in the center of the target."

WW2 and Champion are slated to be the last pair of cars down the drag strip as qualifying ends this Saturday evening (October 7) at the California Hot Rod Reunion at Famoso Raceway, just north of Bakersfield.

For the WW2 entry, this is also a matter of pride. "We've always been near the top in (front motored nitro) racing," Murphy explained, "and we feel we've fallen back a little this year and want to get back on top. We all feel this is the first step: by going after the # 1 spot on the Nitronic Research List."

While acknowledging that, not unlike himself, "Handsome Rance" has enjoyed decent success in a wide variety of nitro machinery over a long career, Murphy elaborated that, "we both are really enjoying this form of racing at this time in our lives." He did add, however, that "I think Rance is QUITE a bit older than me -- although you would never know it by his reaction times this year..."

So there you have it, and to mix metaphors, the gauntlet has been thrown down and the rubber will meet the road in front of more than 10,000 spectators this Saturday in Bakersfield. Any self-respecting bleacher bum will be there, because as soul shouter James Brown once bellowed, "Payback is a thing you gotta see."

MORE WW2 CHRR NOTES:

Murphy also put the importance of competition at the Reunion in perspective. He said, "Bakersfield is always a barnbuner, with good air and a good track" and fans should expect "a whole bunch of low 0's." He considers this "the biggest race of the year" for the retro drag racing crowd. He added that a victory here would "make a mediocre season into something special."

Racing itinerary for WW2:
California Hot Rod Reunion, Famoso, CA, October 6-8
Goodguys Fuel & Gas Finals, Las Vegas, NV, October 28-29

Come on, we can't give up the fight for drag racing in New South Wales. We've wasted three years and we will never forget that. Now why are the government screwing us around? They said we can build (a new dragstrip) at Eastern Creek Raceway, so Dave (Cook) and Jim (Read) made a proposal and what did the government say? NO!

Why is this? Why are they such rotten liars and why did they give the ARDC (Australian Racing Drivers Club) the track in the first place? To help cure the problems at ECR or to create more?

The third anniversary of the last race in Sydney is coming up soon, so are we going to let a fourth anniversary happen? We need to get loud and demand more than we already have and not give up the fight.

On a different note, please note that the Black Dyno website is almost finished. Thanks and hope to see you in OZ soon. When are you going to race your Top Alcohol Dragster?

Hi, Bob. Please find attached your itinerary and invoice for the Qantas flight we discussed and booked yesterday. If you are unable to download either of these documents, please let me know and I will fax them to you. Thanks.

PS: Don't forget that the full amount of the airfare is due no later than October 11.

Well, we will have to wait another day for our story to air. If it ever does now! Due to the death of Pierre Trudeau, our story has been put on hold. I will let you know when it will be broadcast.

Just to let you know that the story of the "Drag Racers" will be shown tomorrow (Friday, September 28th) due to the death of the former Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau. Our story will be told a day later on VTV "News at Six".

Just to let you know that while the media has been doing a lot of street racing stories, with all the accidents and deaths, we, as drag racers, are fighting back. The bad name we get when they call street racing "Drag Racing", and when the kids on the news said they had nowhere to race their cars.

Well, we wanted to set them straight: they do have a track to race at, and they should try our drag racing because this is where it should be done, at the track, in a safe, controlled manner.

So we met with VTV News and five of us drag racers told our side of the story and promoted our racing at the track. This news segment is supposed to be on Thursday's VTV News at Six, but we're not sure yet.

This is just to let you know that VTV News has been doing stories about the street racers. We, as drag racers, are fuming that these kids say there is no place for them to race. We want to tell our side of the story, so I did a little research, and the reporter wants to meet with some real drag racers, to interview for Thursday's news segment.

We are meeting with the reporter at Cruiser's Restaurant (21671 Fraser Highway, Langley) Wednesday night at 7:00 PM. If any racers are interested, please attend, and voice your concerns and opinions. Bring video, and/or pictures, to show how our racing is very safe, compared to their street racing.

We want to get out the message to the street racers to come to the track and get into bracket racing, or just come for the test and tune sessions. These are mostly import (car) racers, so they need to know that the doors are open at Mission at just about any race that is on, besides the street legal program.

This is short notice, but they actually wanted to meet with us tonight and that was just too short, so tomorrow (Wednesday) is the date. Let's try to get these kids off the street and on to the drag strip. I know we won't be able to stop them for racing on the street, but at least let them know that there is a place for them at the track.