For a change, we're going to going to concentrate on the Federal-Mogul (nee: Top Alcohol) Dragsters this year, and show my article from the latest issue of SpeedZone magazine. We'll add the latest news and any info we can dig up on the Funny Cars at the bottom of the page.

Let's Get Ready to Rumble....

In it's short but storied history at it's new location, Mission Raceway has hosted some memorable Division 6 points meets.

Sometimes they've been remembered as much for the weather as for the performances, but this year's first (of two) Federal-Mogul Drag Racing Series events is being eagerly awaited for the latter, especially so in the Federal-Mogul Dragster category.

At this writing, a few days before the resumption of eliminations at the Gatornationals, it appears that four of the quickest blown alcohol dragsters on the planet will be in attendance at the May 4-6 FMDRS at Mission.

Add a few more hard-running Northwest regulars, plus as many as six injected nitro cars, and the stage is set for what may well be the quickest and most competitive field in history at an NHRA divisional race.

While the national record, 5.30 - held by California's Mark Woods in an A/FD, may not be in jeopardy, the track record of 5.44, held by Melanie Troxel in another A/FD, is well within the sights of at least half of the expected qualifiers.

Even the all-time quickest field in NHRA Divisional history may be within reach for this star-studded group. For the record, the quickest bump spot was reached at Arizona's Firebird Raceway last year, with eight cars at 5.606 or better.

The wild card, as always, has to be the weather. Mission has seen more than it's share of rain-ravaged events over the years, and being scheduled this early in the season, the weather forecast will be uppermost in the minds of racers and officials. If the jet drier, which has been out of action for more than a year, is not repaired yet it could be another long weekend for everyone.

So who are these racers, how quick have they run, and how quick could they run at Mission this year? Starting from the top, we've got Rick Santos and the almost unbeatable (more about that later) Oakwood Homes entry from California. Then there's Duane Shields from Las Vegas with his Short Line Express entry. Note: he's parked his second car, driven by Dale Carlson, due to the lack of enough crew to properly maintain both cars.

The other California cars confirmed are the "Bud Prince", Brandon Bernstein, in Jerry Darien's A/FD, which ran at Mission last year with Steve Faria behind the wheel, and the other Brandon, Henkleman, in his A/FD from San Jose. Other possibilities from down south are Stockton's Paul Jones, in the Edgecombe Family car and Anaheim's Gary Anderson with his A/FD.

Oregon may be sending as many as three entries our way, with Gregg Lawrence, in yet another A/FD, leading the way. Steve Federlin, always a major threat with his Impatience Racing entry is entered, and if he can complete his license crossgrade in time, Mitch Myers, in, you guessed it, another A/FD, will be on hand.

Further north, two of the biggest names in the division, and on the national event trail, are Mark Hentges' Airtime Aviation car from Federal Way and Mike Johnson's Olympia-based car, with Eugene, Oregon's Brian Hough driving this year. Not to be forgotten is Graham, Washington's Kim Parker in her blown alcohol car.

Add them up and you've got a full field of cars capable of running in the 5.50's and better, and in some cases, much quicker. So where's the local content? Mission's Bob Haffner will be carrying the flag with his Abbotsford Glass car, but apart from that, we may not have any other Canadian cars in attendance.

And why would we, with the performance capabilities of the racers listed above. The Fraser Valley trio of Leo Grocock, Don Clease, Bill Edwards, and Vernon's Dave Brown would simply be so much cannon fodder. Similarly, the Steve Sitko and Serge Dion/Ken Sitko teams from Alberta would be facing very long odds at even qualifying for the elite field.

Even if we discount the "possibles" from the entry list and concentrate on the confirmed entrants, we can see at least nine cars with proven 5.50 (or better) performance capability. Let's look at them in more detail now, starting with the blown alcohol cars.

Topping the list, or almost any list for that matter, is the four time defending World Champion, Rick Santos. He's also the holder of the quickest and fastest times ever for a supercharged alcohol dragster, at 5.31 - 263.00. Driving the Jack O'Bannon car, he's been nearly unbeatable in previous seasons, but just recently has shown that he's almost mortal.

The first sign of that vulnerability surfaced at the recent SummitRacing.com Nationals at Las Vegas, where he qualified behind Duane Shields, and then lost, on a holeshot no less, to Brandon Bernstein's A/FD in the second round of eliminations.

Then, a week later, at Boise, Idaho's Division 6 opener, the almost unthinkable happened, when he not only qualified behind Mark Hentges, but lost in the first round to another A/Fuel car, that of Oregon's Gregg Lawrence, on yet another holeshot.

Is it all over for the Santos - O'Bannon team? Time to start writing their epitaph, shoveling dirt on their grave, calling them has-beens? Hardly. They've been at the top so long that it was inevitable that they would have a few rough weekends eventually.

Will the pattern continue at Mission? While their competitors may hope so, their record indicates otherwise. Santos has always run well here and this event will be no exception. It might take one or two runs to get on top of their tuneup for the conditions, but by Sunday afternoon I would expect them to be ready to run with, and probably defeat, anyone.

Who's next on the list? Shields or Hentges? It's almost a tossup at this point, based on their best numbers, but I've got to give the nod to Mark, especially in light of his tremendous start to the 2001 season.

He's entered four national events, finished runnerup at three (twice to Santos, once to Bernstein) and is still in eliminations at the rain-delayed Gatornationals. His three divisional races have all been victories, and he's been the top qualifier at two of them.

For a racer that's still looking for his first national event victory, he's done everything but take that first big Oscar. And his performances are edging steadily closer to those of Santos, with a best of 5.38 already this year.

Outdoing Hentges in sheer numbers is Duane Shields, who's consistently been in the 5.30's, with a best of 5.35, at every event this season. His luck in eliminations has been all bad however, with a best finish so far being the semifinals at Houston. He's run some big numbers at Mission in the past and this year should be no different.

Someone has to be the odd man out of this high performance triumvirate, and the "honor" falls to Olympia, Washington's Mike Johnson team. Last year, with Dale Carlson and Gary Ormsby Jr. driving, the car was inconsistent at times, but did manage to bag two national event wins late in the season.

Ormsby's best numbers in the car (5.41 - 262.54) were marginally better than Carlson's (5.42 - 262.44), while this year's driver, Brian Hough, has already notched a 5.43 at over 261 mph. He hasn't gone past the second round at a national event yet, and lost to Hentges in the semifinals at his first divisional event in Boise, but the capability to step up into the 5.30's is definitely there.

Despite that, the Hough - Johnson team must be rated a notch, a small one mind you, below the top three blown teams. Following on their heels is the only female entry, Kim Parker, who has posted a best of 5.65, without a lot of track time. Kim, and her husband/crew chief Randy, are facing long odds to even qualify if all the cars listed above appear.

Oregon's Steve Federlin is a bit of a darkhorse on the list, as he's "only" posted career best times of 5.52 at 255 mph, but he's always out there competing. He runs more events per season than some of the bigger names and makes up for his performance deficit with the quickest lights in the class. If he can qualify, he will be a player.

The other blown alcohol teams, those of Paul Jones and Bob Haffner are both a bit of a quandary, for different reasons. While Jones, in the Edgecombe car, has stepped up his personal bests substantially (to a 5.48 at 254) at Phoenix earlier this year, the team has not filed an entry yet.

They were runner-up at last year's second Division 6 meet at Mission, with their now retired B-1 combination, but with the more reliable BAE engine between the rails of their new Santos chassis, could be trouble for some of the higher rated teams if they attend.

Bob Haffner, who's now back to a screw blower (Whipple), after last season's flirtation with a Rootes, is going to attempt to duplicate his European record setting combination (that yielded the first 5.60 - 250 runs at Santa Pod in England last September) to good effect at Mission. His car, although three years old now, is still fresh, with not very many laps on it yet.

However, it's going to be quite an uphill battle for Bob, with six or seven blown cars capable of outperforming him, and anywhere from four to six injected nitro cars in the field.

Speaking of which, just how quick - and fast - will they run at Mission? The first, and to this point, only A/FD to dominate an event at Mission was Melanie Troxel in Jerry Darien's In-n-Out Burger car back in 1999. She still holds both ends of the track record, at 5.442 and 264.47 mph, but those marks are certainly in danger of being broken before the first qualifying session ends at this year's race.

Topping the A/FD list has to be the heir apparent to the Budweiser Top Fuel ride, young Brandon Bernstein. He's only been driving since the end of last season, but has already notched his first national event win at the recent Las Vegas race.

His best numbers, so far, are only 5.43 at 267 mph, but as everyone who's familiar with nitro cars knows, those could change, substantially, at a moment's notice. A simple nozzle change, "half a flat" on the barrel valve, a few grams of counterweight or "half a turn" of static on the clutch, could suddenly put the car into the 5.30's.... or quicker.

Long-time fuel tuner Jerry Darien owns and crew chiefs the car and has proven his ability to get it down almost any track. He'll also be overseeing the A/Fuel rookie, Gregg Lawrence, as he comes to grips with his ex-Darien car. Finishing runner-up to Hentges at Boise last weekend, beating Santos in the first round with a 5.48 at a top speed of the meet 262.77 mph, it appears that he's getting a handle on the car rather quickly.

Another second generation racer, Brandon Henkelman, driving father Rick's car, has been a regular face in eliminations at west coast events for the past two seasons. He's even surpassed his father's best numbers, with a 5.35 at nearly 270 mph, and went to the semi-finals at Las Vegas, where he lost to Bernstein in a very close race.

So who's left? Gary Anderson, who's regularly attended events at Mission in previous years, and former flopper fanatic Mitch Myers. Anderson has run fairly quickly in the past, with a 5.48 best to his credit, but hasn't shown any consistency lately. Dropped cylinders and smoking tires have been his bane for the last two seasons. If he shows up at this race, who knows what will be in store?

Myers, on the other hand, is just getting his feet wet in an A/FD which he purchased late last year. It's another ex-Darien car, with proven capability, but Myers' business obligations have prevented him from even doing the required cross-grade (from Funny Car) license passes. He's supposed to be at Mission before the FMDRS race for those all important laps, and if all goes well, will be in the pits on May 4th.

So will the injected cars dominate the event? The A/FD's, for all their big numbers still haven't been able to dominate drag racing on a regular basis. While the hue and cry over their continued inclusion in Federal-Mogul competition has for the most part died down, they still lurk in the pits and staging lanes like sharks, waiting for the unwary blown alcohol cars and pouncing on them with a ferocious top end charge that can devour the quicker leaving and harder launching blown cars.

So how will all these possibilities play out on the weekend of May 4th to 6th? Don't expect any predictions from this writer, as there's just too many quick, really quick, cars entered for the event to even hazard a guess at who's going to even qualify, let alone win.

If you're reading this article after the event, and didn't attend, all I can say is that you've most likely missed one of the greatest Federal-Mogul drag races in the history of the sport. In the next issue, we'll bring you all the flavor and inside reports on just what happened and why. Stay tuned.....

LATE UPDATES

Nothing to report as of noon, Wednesday, May 2nd. As always: stay tuned.