FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Eddyville Raceway Park - Oskaloosa, IA - May 29 - 30, 2020

NOTE: Click on the thumbnails to display the full-size images

THURSDAY

After a very long, two-and-a-half month hiatus, the sport's leading independent Funny Car series held a very successful event over the weekend at Iowa's Eddyville Raceway Park. With 27 cars on the pre-entry list, and a live-streamed show hosted on BangShift.com, anticipation was running at a fever pitch for fans starved of drag racing, especially of the nitro-fuelled variety.

Our correspondent made the 1458-mile drive from his home base near Phoenix to Eddyville, and despite some challenges along the way, made it there.... and hopefully back home safe and sound and ready to send some photos to tell the story of the race. At last report, he was more than halfway back to Arizona and should be home tonight and ready to go through his photo files sometime tomorrow. Stay tuned for all the good stuff! Until then, we've got some pit shots from Thursday.

The weather enroute to the race wasn't the best as Bob left Arizona in bright sunshine but the further inland he traveled, the worse the weather got. When he arrived at the track three days later, it was wet, but the rain clouds were clearing and the forecast was fine for Friday and Saturday. WARNING: You may not want to enlarge the photo of Mr. Snyder. Just sayin'....

(LEFT) Warming up the "Fool's Gold" car in the warm afternoon sun is driver Chris King, all the way from West Palm Beach, Florida.

(RIGHT) Emerging from the trailer is the Vern Moats tribute car, driven by Robbie Massey of Des Moines, IA.

(LEFT) Coming down from the high country, Lakewood, Colorado's Jackson family with Keith Jackson behind the wheel of the "High Heaven" entry, sporting a beautiful new paint job on the '70 Camaro body.

(RIGHT) A welcome change from the later-model cars is the aptly named "Wicked Quick" '57 Chevy of Bismarck, North Dakota's Jim Chase.

FRIDAY - Qualifying

Friday's agenda included two qualifying sessions for the 25 cars in attendance. One in the hot afternoon sun, and one under the lights in the evening. Although there were some good passes - and a few busted runs - in the first go-round, the racers started throwing down some serious numbers in the second session. The first session, mid-afternoon Friday, saw most of the teams working the bugs out of new combinations and blowing the dust off cars that hadn't been down the track for a few months, and in many cases, since last year.

(LEFT) & (RIGHT) The high country Jackson family team (Lakewood, CO) with their "High Heaven" driven by Keith Jackson, laid down a 4.209 - 165.20 pass that ended in disaster. The chutes didn't open and the car - which had just won the Best Appearing award - went deep into the cornfield at the end of the track. Lots of work by the crew and fellow fuel racer Jack Wyatt saw the repaired car ready for Saturday's eliminations.

(RIGHT) Bringing his "(little) big show" Top Alcohol flopper to the party was Wichita's Kyle Smith and he nearly hit the 3's on his first attempt, clocking a very good 4.066 - 172.94 to land well up the ladder in the "A" field after the first day of qualifying.

(LEFT) Paired up with Robbie Massey in the Vern Moats tribute car (left lane) for the qualifier, Kyle Smith got to the finish ine first, as his 4.066 edged out Massey's close 4.137 - 135.62 effort.

(LEFT) The team of Tiffin & Hess, with Vic Tiffin driving the "Gold Digger" had nothing but grief on Friday (and it didn't get any better on Saturday). On their first attempt (pictured) Vic left before the tree came down, then smoked the tires in the evening session. Result: zero for two. You'll notice that he's WAAAY up on the tires before he passed the christmas tree on his first hit.

(RIGHT Making his debut in Funny Car Chaos, North Platte, Nebraska"s Justin Herbst in the "Scorpion" got to the finish line in his first qualifying attempt with a 4.750 - 147.44 that left him just outside the "B" field, but with the list of broken cars growing quickly, all he had to do was keep the car running to get at least one round in eliminations on Saturday.

(LEFT) After a seriously crossed-up reversing maneuver, Nick Johnson managed to get the "Prairie Fire" straightened out long enough to find the finish line at an on-and-off (and off-and-on?) 6.365 - 144.65 that left the Reinart & Johnson team looking for more luck on Saturday.

(RIGHT In a tribute to Big Show Funny Car pioneer Billy Meyer, Seguin, TX racer Chuck Loftin pushed his "Motivation" Mustang to an early shutoff 4.519 at only 118.08 on Friday. It was good enough to earn a spot in Saturday's eliminations, but nowhere near what he was expecting.

(LEFT) The very definition of a "hard trier" is Scott Cousimano from Las Vegas with his "Nitro Mafia" Arrow, but he's still trying to put down competitive numbers after a number of years running his nitro nostalgia flopper. Another racer whose weekend ended early with a "best" of 11.012 - 43.08 that was punctuated with a broken rod. And apparently not enough parts in the trailer to fix it so a long tow for nothing.

(RIGHT A car that came out of nowhere partway through the 2019 season, the hard running "Detroit Tiger" of Detroit's (coincidence?) Steve Timoszyk jumped right into the thick of the "A" Field with an excellent 3.914 - 182.41 to serve notice that they were ready to rumble.

(LEFT) A regular on the FCC circuit, Clay Cunningham with his "Still Crazy" entry didn't get to the finish line under power, and his 4.559 - 129.09 best put him near the bottom of the "B" field going into Saturday's last ditch session.

(RIGHT Looking suitably nasty in an all-black car, NHRA Top Alcohol heavy hitter Chris Foster in his "Everybody's Nightmare" laid down a very good 3.902 - 174.89 that put him near the top of the "A" field.

(LEFT)& (RIGHT With a big show car, Terry Totten debuted Mark Howard's "Rednecks N' Fuel" flopper and had nothing but trouble on his first - and last - pass of the weekend. The report from BIG Bob Snyder went like this: Totten big show car broke the rear in #1 which tore up the clutch & the motor went over 10000 rpm. Bottom line: not enough parts in the trailer to fix all the damage.

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Eddyville Raceway Park - Friday Qualifying - Session Two

The evening qualifying session - second of three shots to qualify - went off under the lights and with better air and track conditions. We have the qualifying list for Friday - after the second session - but we don't have the first session results so e.t.'s and speeds reported below will be the best numbers recorded by the racers on the day.

(LEFT) & (RIGHT) One of the best looking tribute cars around, and in keeping with the car's theme, actually from Detroit, was Steve Timoszyk with his alky-burning "Detroit Tiger" Monza. The car always looks good and runs good and opened his weekend with an excellent 3.914 - 182.41 to land in the #3 position in the "A" field.

(LEFT) & (RIGHT) Another of the Top Alcohol "orphans" was the sinister looking and titled "Everybody's Nightmare" of North Platte, NB's Chris Foster and he laid notice that he was going to be a serious contender with an opening 3.902 - 174.89 (early shut-off?) pass.

(LEFT) & (RIGHT) The defending series champion, Ken Singleton, in his beautiful "High Risk" car showed that a consistently hard-running blown alcohol combination can outrun some seriously powerful nitro burners. He did it again on Friday with a low qualifying 3.759 - 204.82 pass to set the standard for the field.

(LEFT) & (RIGHT) Another good looking car that has some serious racing history behind it, the Robbie Massey driven, "Moats & Massey" entry put down a solid 4.137 - 135.62 to slot into the #7 position in the "A" field.

(LEFT) & (RIGHT) A new racer on the FCC scene, in a sharp-looking green and black hot rod, is Jeff Krug with his "Obsession" and he showed the car is competitive right out of the box, with a career best 4.121 - 176.68 that put him into the "A" field. That's where the good news ended though, as breakage kept the car out of eliminations on Saturday.

(LEFT) Rolling through the burnout, Chris Schneider in the Troxel & Schneider "Brutus" (a tribute car to Lew Arrington).

(RIGHT) His opponent for the second session was Nebraska's Matt Nissen in his Corvette-bodied "Runnin' Down A Dream".

(LEFT) The two cars staged up, with Nissen in the near lane, and Schneider on the far side. At the finish line it was Nissen with the win light at 4.491 - 159.63 for the alky burner, while the nitro-fuelled mount of Schneider trailed at 4.687 - 150.40.

(RIGHT) We're not sure how this happened, but it's another photo of Robbie Massey.

(LEFT) A series regular, Jeff Cameron in the Texas-based "Magnolia Missile" fell short of making the "A" field on Friday, as his 4.415 - 156.69 left him in the #10 spot on the overall list. With 8 cars in the "A" field and 8 more in the "B" field, the action promised to be intense during the final qualifying session on Saturday afternoon.

(RIGHT) Yet another Chaos newcomer, Nebraska's Justin Herbst in his "Scorpion" couldn't crack the top 16, with a best on the day of 4.750 - 147.44 to land in the #18 spot.

(LEFT) Following up his season-opening win in the "B" field at Pine Valley Raceway in March, Oklahoma's Steve Vang in his "Wicked Weekend Warrior" put down a decent 4.491 - 153.69 on Friday that put him in the middle of the "B" field, with one more chance to improve his standing on Saturday.

(RIGHT) Long-time competitor Jordan Ballew in his aptly-named "Ballew Thunder" had a troubled run that finally stopped the clocks at 5.847 - 104.19 and put him on the outside looking in from the #19 position. However, with several cars already reporting irrepairable damage, there was a good chance for at least first round redemption during eliminations.

(LEFT) The Bradford family's "American Dream" from San Antonio, dirven this weekend by young Dustin, shut off early to a 4.595 - 125.45 that put him on the provisional bump spot for the "B" field. With lots of experience behind them, the team was looking for something seriously better on Saturday.

(RIGHT) The very cool looking '57 Chevy of Bismarck, North Dakota's Jim Chase didn't quite live up to the car's name ("Wicked Quick") on Friday as he limped to a 6.796 - 75.77 to leave himself a big mountain to climb on Saturday afternoon if he wanted to be running for the money.

(LEFT) Regular FCC competitor Clay Cunningham is still running the "Still Crazy" car, but he didn't put down the numbers he's normally capable of with a best of 4.559 - 129.09 on Friday, leaving him near the bottom of the "B: field.

(RIGHT) Another of the numerous tribute cars running the series, Texas-based Chuck Loftin in the "Motivation" Mustang, got off the loud pedal early as his nitro burner carded only a 4.519 - 118.08, far short of what he was expecting to turn. Like so many others, there's always Saturday and the single suicide session of qualifying.

(LEFT) A rather understated black and gun-metal grey paint scheme kept the John Umlauf driven "Mass Chaos" somewhat incognito, but he let the scoreboards do the talking with an early shutoff 4.383 - 125.73 pass that left him just outside the top eight (#9) on Friday. Greater expectations could be on tap for Saturday.

(RIGHT) Another newcomer to the series - a very common theme at this event - was the Illinois-based and named "Illinois Thunder" driven by Levi Keenen and the nitro rookie put down a decent 4.502 - 164.11 to show that he was ready to race in at least the "B" field.

(LEFT) I took a while to dig up the info on the "Weapon 1" of Jeff (and Shannon) Gardemann but we can report that they were making test passes throughout the weekend.

(RIGHT) The Chicago-based "Fool's Gold" Duster driven by Chris King had a good news - bad news day on Friday. The good was the 4.118 - 171.17 pass that put them temporarily into the "A" field, but the bad news started when the car crossed the finish line as you'll see with the next series of photos.

Even though the car made it to the finish line under power, that's where the good news ended as a total of four rods broke at the 660' mark, putting holes in both sides of the block. Without a spare short block, the team was forced to load up and head home with a damaged (but repairable) block, a badly burned crankshaft, and who knows what else to fix.

SATURDAY - Final Qualifying & Eliminations

Saturday Qualifying - Session Three (FINAL)

It looks like "Chute Shot Saturday" as Bob Snyder trekked down to the deep end of the Eddyville track (at least it's only an 1/8-th mile race distance) for some different angles of the cars as they slowed down after making their final qualifying passes. As Bob has found out over the years, some of the best shots are to be found at this end of the track. Some racers decided against making the final session, preferring to save their equipment for eliminations. However, quite a few teams were looking to either get into the "A" (top 8 cars) or "B" (next 8 cars) fields or gain lane choice for the first round of eliminations. Funny Car Chaos uses a standard pro pairing system; ie. 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, and 4 vs 5.

(LEFT) Sitting near the top of the "B" field, Magnolia, TX racer Jeff Cameron in the aptly named "Magnolia Missile" missed his chance to improve his position and fell one spot from #2 to #3 in the "B" field, thanks to three broken cars ahead of him on the ladder.

(RIGHT) Starting the year on the right note by winning the season opener in the "B" field at Pine Valley Raceway, Steve Vang wanted to move up in the "B" field also. He did that - barely - in his "Wicked Weekend Warrior", improving from a Friday best of 4.491 to a 4.459 - 156.41 but fell four spots from #12 to #16 overall. Again, thanks to the broken cars ahead of him, he ended up #5 in the "B" field.

(LEFT) The biggest improver on the property was North Dakota's Jim Chase and after a tough day Friday (a "best" of 6.796 - 75.77), that left him well outside either field, he jumped to the #2 position overall with a tremendous 3.823 - 191.57 to show that his "Wicked Quick" '57 Chevy was just that.

(RIGHT) Slowly creeping up on the tuneup, John Umlauf bettered his previous clocking of 4.383 - 125.73, with a marginally better 4.346 - 131.35 pass in the "Mass Chaos". He was already solidly in the "B" field in the #9 spot on the list, but fell back to #10, putting him #2 in the "B" field.

(LEFT) Looking to improve on his second qualifying position in the "A" field and move to the head of the class, NHRA hitter Chris Foster failed to advance on his Friday best of 4.118 - 174.89 and his "Everybody's Nightmare" became a personal one as the team found a broken spindle in the rear end when they returned to the pits, as you can see in the accompanying photo.

(RIGHT) Taking one step forward and four steps back was Matt Nissen as he picked up seven hundredths in e.t. (from 4.491 to 4.427), but dropped from #11 to #15 on the ladder. Again, with three cars broken, Nissen kept his "Runnin' Down a Dream" solidly in the middle of the "B" field for eliminations.

(LEFT) Two cars coming to a stop at the far end featured Justin Herbst in the "Scorpion" on the left side, and Nick Johnson in the Reinart and Johnson "Prairie Fire" on the right. Johnson managed to pick up a bunch of e.t., moving from #20 at 6.365 to a much improved 4.666 - 154.59 that only moved him up one notch to #19 on the list. With the broken cars subtracted, it put him on the bubble in the "B" field and a first round date with the #1 car (Chris Schneider).

(RIGHT) If you're not moving forward, then you're going backward, summed up Justin Herbst's last attempt to get into the "B" field, as he dropped from #18 (and out of the show) to #20 (and further out of the show). Even though the old "break rule" came into play, he still sat one spot out of the "B" show and was relegated to the pits for the first rounds of eliminations.

(LEFT) Already sitting at the top of the "A" field with low e.t. and top speed of qualifying at 3.759 - 204.82, it wasn't necessary for Ken Singleton to risk any damage to his "High Risk" entry but he still put in an appearance for the fans.

(RIGHT) In the other lane, Chcuk Loftin needed to find some extra "Motivation" to get into the "A" field with his Mustang-bodied nitro burner. And he found it, catapulting from #14 to #5 on the final qualifying sheet with a much-improved 3.936 - 190.68 pass. Coupled with Chris Foster's withdrawal from the field, it put him #4 in the "A" field and gave him lane choice in the first round.

(LEFT) Looks like we've got a problem here as Steve Timsozyk is trying very hard to stop the "Detroit Tiger" without the aid of a parachute or two. You'll note a pair of dark tire tracks behind the car and the rear tires off the track as he nears the end of the braking area at a decent rate of speed.

(CENTER) Here's a better view of the tire tracks that he left, starting soon after the finish line, and continuing until he came to a stop at the deepest end of the deep end. No damage to car or driver and the problem was solved before eliminations.

(RIGHT) Meanwhile, in the other lane, Chris Schneider wasn't experiencing as much excitement as he slowed the Mustang-bodied "Brutus" to an uneventful stop.

(LEFT) Already safely in the "A" field, Robbie Massey took one more shot in the "Moats & Massey" car but failed to advance on his Friday clocking of 4.137 - 135.62. Even though he dropped two spots on the ladder, from #7 to #9, after the math was done, he sat #6 in the "A" field.

(RIGHT) The hard luck story of the weekend - after his no-chutes excursion into the cornfield on Friday - turned brighter as Keith Jackson kept the hastily repaired "High Heaven" beauty in the number seven spot in the "A" field, with a chance to go rounds in eliminations. Certainly a brighter prospect than they were facing 24 hours earlier.

John Force (I believe) once stated so eloquently: "If ya can't be fast, at least be spectacular"... or words to that effect. And Jeff Gardemann in the "Weapon 1" certainly gave that phrase a good try, losing a front wheel (with spindle and A-arm still attached) in the shutdown area and grinding to a stop at the very end of the guardrail at the last turnout. That pretty much wrapped up his weekend as the team completed their testing on a decidely down note.

Saturday Eliminations - Round ONE

(LEFT) With more than a few fans in the stands, everyone stood for the national anthem before eliminations got underway, starting with the "A" field.

(RIGHT) The first pair out of the staging lanes came from the middle of the field with the #4 and #5 cars meeting. In the near lane, it looks like Kyle Smith is putting a sizeable holeshot on Chuck Loftin, but it was only due to a MAJOR (as in -.302 r.t.) redlight. Despite moving into the 3-second zone on his final qualifying attempt (3.987 - 182.33), Smith threw it all away with the redlight and an early shutoff 4.646 - 104.77 pass. The beneficiary, Loftin, was able to shut off early too, carding a slowing 4.603 - 117.71 for the win.

(LEFT) In the near lane, it's the #8 qualifier, Illinois' Levi Keenen, putting a holeshot on low qualifier Ken Singleton. Despite the starting line advantage (.100 to .173 reaction times), Keenen's 4.321 - 173.28 fell well short of Singleton's thundering 3.759 - 204.72 clocking. Singleton's e.t. was the event best (to this point) by four thousandths, and the speed was only .09 mph short of his 204.82 best on Friday.

(RIGHT) In the near lane, Jim Chase's elation at his great 3.823 - 191.57 pass earlier in the day turned sour as he was (very) late on the launch (.234 to .140 reaction) and slowed to a 4.663 - 106.76 to take the loss. In the far lane, the "Cinderfella" story continued for the High Heaven team as Keith Jackson parlayed his nearly one tenth reaction advantage into a big win with a solid 4.212 - 159.74 e.t. to advance to the semi-finals.

(LEFT) To close out the first round of "A" field eliminations, Robbie Massey in the near lane, cut a great light (.031) to put a decent holeshot on Steve Timoszyk's late-leaving .128 reaction in the far lane. Despite the early disadvantage, Timoszyk charged past Massey with a good 4.072 - 173.54 pass to easily cover Massey's 4.368 - 138.21 effort. That earned Timoszyk lane choice over Jackson in the semis, while Singleton had his choice over Loftin.

(RIGHT) Showing that Funny Cars can still do burnouts, Chris Schneider (far lane) legged it to nearly the finish line, while Nick Johnson (near lane) "only" went to the 330' mark before they opened "B" field eliminations.

(LEFT) After the cars backed up and the burnout smoke cleared, Nick Johnson (near lane) left nearly even with Chris Schneider (far lane), with both drivers under .100 on reactions (.050 to .076 advantage for Johnson). Schneider turned on the winlight with a 4.380 - 160.43 to Johnson's close, but losing, 4.450 - 155.76 timeslip.

(RIGHT) The next pairing saw both drivers a little triger-happy, as they both left before the green, with Matt Nissen's slightly worse (-.013) turning on the redlight (in the near lane), making Steve Vang (early by -.010) (in the far lane) the automatic winner. Nissen shut off early to a 5.411 - 89.11, while Vang legged it almost to the stripe with a 4.463 - 155.87 clocking.

(LEFT) The best performance of the first round in the "B" field came in the next pair, as Clay Cunningham (near lane) launched with an .004 r.t. and turned low e.t. and top speed of the round at 4.116 - 161.41, to outdistance Jeff Cameron's 4.533 - 151.46 pass. Cutting the best reaction time of the meet was Cunningham, as his .004 launch overshadowed Cameron's very respectable .072 light.

(RIGHT) Closing out the first round of eliminations were John Umlauf (near lane) who left second (.133 to .105 light) - even though it doesn't appear that way in the photo - on Dustin Bradford (far lane) and ran away from the "American Dream" car for the win in his "Mass Chaos" entry. The apparent optical illusion in the launch photo is explained by Bradford's very troubled 14.226 - 36.21 clocking, while Umlauf coaxed the nitro-powered Monza to a much better 4.449 - 125.17 for the win, despite an early shutoff.

For the semi-final round, the pairings will be Chris Schneider over Steve Vang, and Clay Cunningham over John Umlauf.

Saturday Eliminations - Round TWO

(LEFT) The second (semi-final) round was led off by Keith Jackson in the near lane, taking on the "Detroit Tiger" of Steve Timoszyk (far lane) in a battle of two of the best looking cars in the field. Timsozyk took the decision as he dipped back into the 3's, with his best of eliminations 3.975 - 177.37 to overpower Jackson's good try of 4.610 - 114.53 which saw him off the loud pedal well before the finish line. Coupled with a six hundredths advantage at the green, Timoszyk was the easy winner.

(RIGHT) In the other "A" field pairing of the semis, Chuck Loftin redlighted by .095, but took the upset win via the "first or worst" rule as the apparent winner, Ken Singleton in the far lane, crossed the centerline. That infraction negated his low e.t. of the meet effort of 3.741 - 204.27 and gave Loftin's, almost as good 3.844 - 183.00 pass, the victory and lane choice in the final.

(LEFT) In the first pairing of the "B" field semi-finals, Steve Vang cut a great .047 light, but his 4.454 - 155.44 numbers fell short of Chris Schneider's winning 4.340 - 163.34 timeslip. Schneider left second with a .103 reaction, but the math came up with a .058 difference at the finish line, in Schneider's favour. One of the closest races of the event. In fact, the only closer race was between Schneider and Johnson in the first round, with a difference of just .044 seconds. Both times, Schneider had to overcome a holeshot. Could he do it three times in a row in the final? Stay tuned!

(RIGHT) The other semi-final match, featuring Clay Cunningham in the near lane, and John "Mass Chaos" Umlauf in the far lane, saw a runaway victory for Umlauf, by a margin of 4.224 - 149.01 to 4.999 - 117.62. Umlauf had to overcome a late leave (.054 to .139 advantage for Cunningham), but he easily passed him downtrack as Cunningham was off the pedal early. Going into the "B" field final, Umlauf held lane choice over Schneider.

After the semi-finals were run, two of the non-qualifiers - virtually all of the running cars left in the pits - paired up for a consolation match. We don't know who won the "race", but the fans enjoyed seeing the smoky burnouts and fast runs by a pair of blown funny cars. And to see the final round results, scroll down to the next update.

Saturday Eliminations - Final Rounds

(LEFT) In the Alky Digger "B" field final, a pair of blown fuel motors sprang to life. In the near lane, John Umlauf in the "Mass Chaos" car lit up the starting line with big flames on the launch and managed to overcome a major holeshot (.073 to .194 !) by Chris Schneider, driving the "Brutus" Mustang in the far lane. Umlauf's 4.16 - 170 put on the winlight over a close, but not close enough, 4.51 - 159 turned by Schneider.

(RIGHT) The final race of the night saw Steve Timoszyk in his "Detroit Tiger" Monza (near lane) leave first by just a few thousandths on opponent Chuck Loftin in the "Motivation" Mustang (far lane). Timoszyk stretched his lead all the way to the finish line, clocking a 4.26 - 173 to easily cover Loftin's 4.49 - 169 pass. Coupled with his two wins in three FCC events last year, this victory in his first race of the 2020 season shows that he's more than a contender for going rounds, but that he's got a good chance to contend for the season championship this year.