FUNNY CAR CHAOS - San Antonio, TX - Alamo City Motorplex - June 12 - 13, 2020

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

It's race day in San Antonio as FUNNY CAR CHAOS is in the house at Alamo City Motorplex for the third stop on their 2020 schedule. Our hard working correspondent, BIG Bob Snyder, is on site and has sent along pictures from Friday night's two (of three) qualifying sessions. Late in the evening, NHRA big show fuel coupe racer, Terry Haddock brought the house down with a record-vaporizing 3.545 - 234.74 pass that obliterated the previous FCC marks. That record was set last year at North Star Dragway by Allan Middendorf in his awesome American Outlaw, but Haddock's performance moved the bar to a very high level, especially in the mile per hour department. The big question in my mind is "can he do it three times in a row this evening?".

After a 26-car turnout at the previous event, it was disappointing to see just 17 cars in the pits for the Alamo City event. At least there's enough cars to fill both (A & B) fields.... as long as the breakage bug that plauged the Eddyville race doesn't take its toll on the machincery. If you were keeping score, there were SIX broken cars after qualifying finished at that race.

Here's the launch and the results from Terry Haddock's second qualifying session run. We'll have more photos and details posted from Friday night as soon as we can. Then stay tuned tomorrow for all the results from eliminations.

Funny Car Chaos - Alamo City Motorplex - Friday Qualifying Session One

(LEFT) One of the first cars out of the lanes was Magnolia, TX native Jeff Cameron in the Dooley & Sons-sponsored "Magnolia Missile" and the results were similar to his Eddyville outing (two weeks ago), with a middle of the pack 4.631 - 152.23 that put him #10 on the overall list.

(RIGHT) Hoping to parlay his success at the last race into a round winning pattern, Steve Vang wheeled his "Wicked Weekend Warrior" into the #7 spot on the ladder with a solid 4.235 - 168.04 pass. However, instead of being one of the bigger dogs in the "B" field, he's possibly looking at a very tough "date" in the first round of the "A" field.

(LEFT) After skipping the last event (Eddyville, IA), and having a terrible time at the season opener (Lufkin, TX), Nick Poloson was looking for redemption at Alamo City Raceway and pounded out a very good 3.856 - 198.59 to slot solidly into the "A" field in the #5 spot.

(RIGHT) Literally coming out of nowhere, series newcomer Johnathan Johnson jumped right into the thick of it, cranking out some good numbers on his first attempts at Funny Car Chaos competition.

Friday wasn't a good start to the weekend for Robert Slaughter as he failed to get his "Smokey Bear" Corvette to the finish line under power, clocking a "best" of 8.590 - 55.60 to leave him at the bottom of the "B" field heading into Saturday's final qualifying session.

Friday Qualifying Session Two

(LEFT) It wasn't a stellar start to the event for Damon Kuhn in his "Passin' Gas", as a best for the day of 5.988 - 124.55 left him near the bottom of the "B" field in the #15 spot overall. However, with just 17 cars in the pits, he was almost assured of at least one round of racing on Saturday night.

(RIGHT) In a side-by-side matchup we've got (near lane) Chris Schneider in the "Brutus" Mustang hitting a decent 4.388 - 161.52 to sit at the bottom of the "A" field, while in the far lane, Jordan Ballew laid down a 4.994 - 139.15 in his "Ballew Thunder" to land in the middle of the "B" field; provisionally of course.

(LEFT) Cranking up the noise a bit in the near lane, Chuck Loftin pushed his blown fuel "Motivation" Mustang to an excellent 3.819 - 194.47 that was good for #4 on the grid, while (barely visible) in the far lane, Tod Barker motored the "Back In Black" Corvette to an early shutoff 4.641 - 122.45 pass that put him in the middle of the "B" field.

(RIGHT) Showing that a blown alky car can outrun a nitro car, Ken Singleton cranked out one of his best licks over in the "High Risk" car, stopping the clocks at 3.713 - 204.92 that temporarily - read on to find out the whole story - take the low qualifier spot.

(LEFT) In the (near lane) Ronny Young in one of the best tribute cars around, the fabled "Blue Max", hit a very strong 3.887 - 193.47 pass to move into the #6 spot in what was shaping up to be a very tough "A" field. In the far lane Johnathan Johnson broke into the 3.70's on this pass, with a great 3.757 - 202.34, good for the #3 spot and lane choice in the first round of "A" field eliminations.

(RIGHT) Not getting the result he was looking for, Clay Cunningham in the "Still Crazy" could only put down an early shutoff 4.537 - 131.31 that left him just outside the "A" field (#9 overall) heading into Saturday afternoon's last-ditch qualifying session.

Making his Funny Car Chaos debut, Terry Haddock in his Strutmasters-backed "Haddock Racing" entry, absolutely bombed the FCC record book with an awesome 3.545 - 234.74 that rewrote both the e.t. and mph marks, and bumped Ken Singleton out of the top spot on the ladder. With his big-show experience (20+ years on the NHRA national event tour), it was almost like bringing a gun to a knife fight. However, with less than NHRA national event track preparation and conditions, too much power can be as much a detriment as not enough when it comes to FCC racing.

(LEFT) A prominent no-show from the pre-entry list was Mark Billington with his "Sons of Thunder" entry, but a replacement was found in the person of newcomer Randy Mueller in his hastily converted Altered, with an as yet un-repainted body. He managed to get it down the track to the tune of 5.461 - 125.98 to hold down the #14 spot and almost guarantee him a spot in the first-round of eliminations.

(RIGHT) Finishing up the evening with the always entertaining flame-belching show was Ray Kelly in his "Game Xchange" Jet Dragster.

Saturday Eliminations - "A" Field - Round One

(LEFT) Not quite in sync on their starting routine, on the left side of the picture we've got Nick Poloson in the "Bucket List" with the body still up, while on the right side, Chuck Loftin is well into his burnout procedure in the "Motivation" Mustang. It didn't make any difference to the final result though as Poloson took the winlight and upset the higher qualified (#4 vs #5) Loftin.

(RIGHT) Slowing down in the late afternoon sun, the iconic "Blue Max", driven by Ronny Young, also managed to pull off an upset, as he took out #3 qualifier Johnathan Johnson, and advanced to the semi-finals.

(LEFT) Trying to play giant-killer, Steve Vang in the left lane in his "Wicked Weekend Warrior" took on the #2 qualifier, and series points leader Ken Singleton (right lane) in his hard-running "High Risk" car. We haven't got the numbers to report, but we do know that Singleton took the win and advanced to the semi-finals.

(RIGHT) Here's photographic proof of the winning "High Risk" car slowing with the chutes out, as Steve Vang's mount trails in the background.

Saturday Eliminations - Round Two (semi-finals)

(LEFT) In the first pair of the second round, Ken Singleton in the "High Risk" (near lane) left first by almost a tenth on Ronny Young in the "Blue Max" (far lane) and increased the margin as they sped to the finish line. Despite a great 3.803 - 201.52 time for Young, it was covered by an even better 3.731 - 213.78 by Singleton. The MPH for Singleton must have been a career best too.

(RIGHT) Here's a little test: can you tell which car is burning NITRO? If not, then you must be blind! In the near lane, it's Terry Haddock in the "Strutmasters" car putting out some serious big show-style flames enroute to yet another new Funny Car Chaos E.T. record of 3.532, coupled with an "early" shutoff of "only" 216.24 mph. In the far lane, Nick Poloson made a valiant attempt to keep up with a quicker leaving (.082 to .112) launch, but his very good 3.826 - 191.16 just couldn't keep pace with Haddock's big-time pass.

(LEFT) The first pairing of the "B" field semi-finals matched low qualifier Clay Cunningham in the near lane in the "Still Crazy" against Jordan Ballew (far lane) in the "Ballew Thunder". Ballew left first with the best reaction time of the event, an .020, but his tenth of a second advantage at the green wasn't enough to keep his 4.899 - 141.33 pass ahead of Cunningham's much quicker 4.503 - 136.16 clocking.

(RIGHT) Filling the other spot in the "B" field final was Jeff Cameron (near lane) as his 4.565 - 151.11 put the "Magnolia Missile" far in front of an early shutoff 5.480 - 106.84 effort from Dustin Bradford in the family's "American Dream" Challenger. Cameron's e.t. wasn't enough to gain lane choice over Clay Cunningham for the final round though.

Saturday Eliminations - Final Round

(LEFT) In keeping with tradition, the "B" field led off the finals. In the near lane, Clay Cunningham pulled out the big win over (diffcult to see in the far lane) Jeff Cameron to move into the #6 spot (from way down in #13) in the FCC points standings, while Cameron's runner-up performance moved him from #8 to #5 on the list.

(RIGHT) Then it was time for the big finale to the event, with Terry Haddock in the near lane, favoured to blow away the far lane's Ken Singleton with possibly another record setting e.t. and/or mph blast. However, it wasn't to be as Singleton pulled off the big upset in what was a very close and exciting race for the fans. And a great finish to the third (of eight) events on the Funny Car Chaos 2020 calendar.

We don't have the full details, like e.t.'s to the thousandth, or reaction times, but after making three incredibly quick and fast runs, Terry Haddock's bubble burst - but only slightly - in the final as he shut off early to a 3.75 - 184.50 time. Taking the win and stretching his points lead was Ken Singleton with a great 3.72 - 206.33 winning number on the scoreboard. His string of 3.71, 3.73 and 3.72 passes showed power and consistency which led to a very well-deserved win. Haddock's first - but hopefully not last - appearance on the FCC circuit left him in the #14 position in the points.