NHRA Northwest Nationals
Seattle International Raceway - Kent, WA
July 27 - 29, 2001

The Northwest Nationals - Requiem For The Rock!

In its forty-one year history, Seattle International Raceway has hosted many memorable events, from the infamous "Fox Hunts" and "64 - count 'em - 64 Funny Cars" races of the '70s to NHRA National Events. During the Fallnationals era, (1975-1980), the track was reputed to possess the tackiest starting line on the entire NHRA circuit.

During those glory years, the track held an almost mystical attraction to the racers; be they touring pros or locals. Everyone wanted a shot at the great air and traction offered at the penultimate event on the fledgling Winston tour. A quick perusal of the 1976 Fallnationals program shows 26 entries in Top Fuel and 38 in Pro Comp; numbers we don't see at very many races these days.

In those heady days, the track was operated by one of the most famous drag racing promoters in history, Bill "Be There!" Doner, who brought it from the dark days of the late '60s, when the track nearly closed, to its zenith with his innovative promotions and aggressive advertising style.

But times change, and this year's 14th running of the Northwest Nationals will mark the end of an era; bittersweet to some, long overdue to others. For the past 25 years, SIR has been operated by Jim Rockstad, whose lease expires at the end of this year.

During his tenure, the track has seen it's fortunes wax and wane, from the the loss of the Fallnationals and the short-lived affiliation with the AHRA, to NHRA's awarding of the Northwest Nationals in 1988. Since the mid '80s however, SIR has seen a gradual devolution to its current status of one big event a year... and not much else. Even the Federal-Mogul series dropped it from their schedule last year.

So we've come to the end of an era, but where do we go from here? The owners of the facility, the Fiorito family, have announced plans to completely rebuild the drag strip and the road racing course in stages over the next few years. None of these plans however, have been confirmed. Even the NHRA is completely silent on the matter.

We do know, according to Mr. Rockstad, that the national event contract for Seattle expires at the end of this year, and no agreement has been signed for any future events at SIR. One thing we do know with absolute certainty is that the 2001 edition of the Northwest Nationals will be the racer's last chance to attack the current asphalt, or the current management.

With a cursory nod to NHRA's 50th Anniversary promotion, SIR has invited many of the Northwest's pioneer racers to this year's event, among them, Earl Floyd, Jim Albrich, Jack Coonrod and a long list of other names from the past. They've even promised to fire up the old Northwind Top Fuel car, driven to many victories by Ed "The Ace" McCulloch, as part of a special celebration of the sport's history.

But what about the stars of the present? Just how many will be attending this last Northwest Nationals and who among them are the favourites to take the last winner's cheques from SIR?

To answer those questions, we now turn to our pugnacious prognosticator, that encyclopedia of useless knowledge, the inimitable (or is that inevitable?)... Dippy Fixster. He's looked at the nitro and alcohol classes exclusively, as, in his words, "if it doesn't have a blower, or burn nitro, or better still, BOTH... who really gives a flaming fajita?"

TOP FUEL:

This season has seen several cars holding the hot hand and several lead changes in the NHRA points standings. The leading candidate for Pro Rookie of the Year, Darrell Russell, in Joe Amato's car took the early lead, then faded to the middle of the pack. Mike Dunn took over with some very strong performances, but they've slipped back since the tour moved into the warmer weather section of the schedule.

Then Kenny Bernstein started making some big noise very soon after hiring Tim and Kim Richards to get him tuned up again. He's currently at the top, but is not opening up much of a gap over the very consistent car of Larry Dixon. And when either of those guys slip up, Doug Kalitta seems to always be there to pick up a win.

Last year's champion, Gary Scelzi, has "enjoyed" an altogether forgettable season, along with the '99 champion, Tony Schumacher. Both cars have smoked the tires more often that not, and only Scelzi has shown any consistency in recent events.

Of the other Top Ten cars, only Doug Herbert has posed a serious threat to the front runners, winning the most recent event on the tour at St. Louis and turning some stout numbers on a regular basis. Rounding out the group are Aussie Dave Grubnic in the consistently inconsistent Montana Express, and Rhonda Hartman-Smith.

It hasn't been a banner season for the long skinny cars, with barely enough entries to fill the field at most races, and bump spots that would embarass the average Stock Eliminator car at some events. If it wasn't for regular appearances by some of the IHRA gang, the show would be even thinner than it is in the talent department.

Here's the sure bets, long shots, and the no-hopers, listed by their odds:

There will be other entries, among them (in all probability), Bobby Lagana Jr., Paul Romine, Joe Hartley, Brady Kalivoda, Ron Smith, Craig Smith, John Smith (at least that's how they registered at the "No Tell Motel"), and maybe, if we're really unlucky, the immortal, eternal, inflammable, Arley Langlo. The odds on any of these racers getting anywhere near the winner's circle are so far off the scale it's not worth calculating.

FUNNY CAR:

With the continued proliferation of two and three car teams, the flopper fields have been tighter than a freshly honed block. For the first eight races of the season, new record bump spots were set and reset. Four second runs would have put a racer well into the show just last year; now it's no guarantee of even scraping in at the bottom.

Perennial champion John Force hasn't won everything in sight, but he's built a very healthy lead over the surprisingly strong Del Worsham at the mid-way point of the season. They've managed to stage some very exciting races along the way, with Del defeating his life-long hero more than once already.

Following close on their heels are Bruce Sarver, Whit "no bridge left unburned" Bazemore, Force's teammate, Tony Pedregon, and Ron Capps in one of Don Prudhomme's cars. From there, the standings wind down gradually, with a host of strong cars all the way down to the 20th spot on the list.

Two of the biggest (positive variety) surprises of the season have been the solid performances of unsponsored until recently Johnny Gray and underfunded Tim Wilkerson. Both have been consistent qualifiers and able to run with the big guys on a regular basis.

Biggest surprise of the negative variety has been the abject failure of the WWF team of Jerry Toliver and Tony Bartone. Despite vast amounts of money, and legendary crew chief Dale Armstrong, Toliver hasn't gone past the first round all season, when he's even qualified, and Bartone had the lone round win for the team. Note that we wrote had, as Toliver recently parked the second team car to concentrate all his resources on salvaging what he can of the season.

There will definitely be a host of other entries, with fields of twenty five, and more, cars on hand almost everywhere this season. You can add Jim Epler, Chuck Etchells, Al Hofmann, Bob Gilbertson, Johnny Gray, Tim Wilkerson, Jerry Toliver, Dale Creasy, Chuck Beal and possibly, Dave "Nasty" Benjamin to the list.

Several of these cars could well fit into the upsetter category, but look at all the talent they've got above them. Stick to the name brands and you won't go too far wrong.

FEDERAL-MOGUL:

The Federal-Mogul categories are much tougher to pick as none of the cars follow the full NHRA national event schedule. We never get to see all the best cars go head to head at any time during the season. It's even difficult to know which cars will appear at an event. But we've put together the lists based on past history and current performance.

FEDERAL-MOGUL DRAGSTER:

New season, same old Santos. The Oakwood Homes juggernaut rolled over the competition at the first two events of the season, then hit a bit of a trough, losing two consecutive Division Six points races. Since then, they've come back strong, winning their last two Federal-Mogul events and going to the finals at Pomona two weeks ago.

The strongest challenge to Santos' domination this year has come from Mark Hentges, who's been almost unstoppable at the divisional leveli and finally broke through for his first national event victory at the rain-delayed Gatornationals in April. He's slipped back a bit lately, relatively speaking, but still has to be rated as one of the favourites.

The fastest blown alcohol car in the country this year, Duane Shields, could be a very strong threat if he can overcome his propensity for slow reaction times. On the other end of the launch spectrum is the ultra-sharp Steve Federlin, who could be trouble if he can find an extra tenth. A real darkhorse could be Brian Hough, winner of the most recent national event, his first in a blown alcohol dragster.

We can't forget the injected nitro contingent, as there's several killer cars entered, and all have shown the performance necessary to win. As usual, none of them have shown the consistency needed on a regular basis to be more than a threat, instead of a sure bet. The best of the A/FD's are Bernstein, Henkelman, Brown, Baca and Lawrencc, all of whom should lay down at least one earth-shaking run.

FEDERAL-MOGUL FUNNY CAR:

Aside from the usual suspects, Pat and Bucky Austin, and the very strong SoCal car of Steve Gasparelli, there really aren't a lot of cars that could be thought of as having event winning potential.

Jay Payne, if he shows, could be a strong threat, as could former national event winners John Weaver and Larry Miner from California and Oregon's John Hyland. From the longshot side of the ladder, Canada's Roger Bateman might be able to continue his recent strong performances and parlay them into a final round berth. Aside from that, there really aren't a lot of other late round contenders in the mix.

Conclusion:

We haven't been able to list everyone, and we've probably mentioned a few cars that won't even appear, but the best bets to win, or have a chance of winning, are well represented in the previous paragraphs. Let's just hope we haven't jinxed anyone by including them or alternately, ignoring them.