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The latest update as of August 16, 2010
Lots of drag racing action on the weekend - from Ashcroft to Hockenheim
This past weekend was so busy that it's hard to know where to start. The closest race to home was at the Eagle Motorplex in Ashcroft, where the originally scheduled AHRA Reunion Tour event morphed into a rather low-key jet car match race with a few doorslammers thrown in. With the apparent demise of the AHRA (again) the track did well to put on any sort of event in what had to be very trying conditions with temps well over the 100 F mark all weekend. Congrats to the Motorplex for putting on the show they did, as minimal as it was.
On the other side of the planet, at Germany's famed Hockenheim track - a combination drag strip and Formula-1 road course, the weather dictated the outcome, as the race wound down to the semifinals before the rain hit. With a strict curfew and no prospects of drying the track in time, the event was abandoned without being completed.
Back on the this side of the world, down in spud country, Boise, Idaho's Firebird Raceway hosted its' 39th annual Nightfire Nationals to a packed house, with dozens of nitro-burning cars on hand and nearly perfect weather conditions. I've never been to a race at Firebird, but for next year's 40th anniversary, I'm already putting it in my calendar. More news from that race a little later this evening.
The NHRA "Big Show" resumed their annual death march across North America, with the final event of the "regular season" at Brainerd Int'l Raceway on the weekend. The weather wasn't as good as Boise, with several interruptions for rain, causing the loss of one qualifying session for the pro and alky cars. But with the small fields on hand, that really wasn't an issue. There were a few bright spots to come out of the Lucas Oil Nationals, the biggest by far being the victory in nitro Funny Car by Bob Bode. For the first time in a very long time, one of the little guys of the sport came out on top. Good on ya Bob!
The other HRA, of the "I" variety continued their Nitro Jam series with an event at Martin, Michigan's U 131 Motorsports Park. Lots of the usual suspects were in attendance, but the performances were better than at many of the races so far this season. Even the much-maligned Pro Fuel dragsters broke out of their slump and put on a much better show. Of course the big stars as has been the case all year were the Prostalgia (nitro) Funny Cars. They even had Pro Stocks at this race... of the sled (aka: snowmobile) variety. Hmm.....
There's no time at the moment to cover any of these events in depth, but after supper I'll put up some links to the results and do a little editorializing on them and some of the topics that have been simmering in my mind for the past two weeks. In no particular order they are: short fields at NHRA events, death knell for top alcohol?, IHRA back on Speed Channel, trouble in Nostalgia Funny Car paradise?, and other items of interest. Stay tuned.
To see previous updates go to the What's Old page