Funny Car Chaos - Eddyville Raceway Park - Oskaloosa, IA

It's the fourth installment of the eight race schedule for the FUNNY CAR CHAOS CHAMPIONSHIP TOUR (2021), this week at Eddyville Raceway Park (Oskaloosa, IA) with our southwestern correspondent and ace photographer BIG Bob Snyder on hand to provide us with news and photos of the action. Two qualifying sessions were run last night, with the second round run under the lights and there were some great performances from the 27 cars that made it to the starting line. We'll start with the first session photos, then fill in the details and get the second session posted later today.

There were four no-shows from the pre-entry list, with the "Chi-Town Hustler", owned and driven by Mike Minick having the tow rig break down enroute, while another nitro burner, Vic Tiffin in the "Gold Digger" was unable to appear due to a back injury. The other two no-shows, Robin Rish and Jim Hidy went AWOL and aren't on the next event pre-entry list either.

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

(LEFT) This is a weird looking photo, with smoke billowing off the tires, lots ofdeath smoke coming out of the pipes and a big redlight showing on the tree. It's hard to believe that Chuck Loftin could be having this much trouble on the launch in his "Motivation" Mustang, but judging by his #26 showing on the qualifying list with a 9.694 - 51.53, all the clues must add up to a wasted attempt and some wasted parts

(RIGHT) The surprise of the season is the string of strong performances out of what should be the most underpowered car in the field, but Jade Cook and her nitrous assisted "Nemesis" continuing to make good on that nickname for the car as her 4.388 - 156.47 effort put her solidly in the middle of the "B" field at #12

(LEFT) Making her series debut was Mary Reep in the flopper-bodied "Grim Reeper" after a decade or two of competing as an Outlaw Fuel Altered. She made her first passes count, finishing the day in the #7 spot on the list with a very good 4.096 - 181.97 pass to her credit

(RIGHT) Series regular Chris Schneider in the Troxel & Schneider "Brutus" put down a decent opening pass of 4.323 - 165.93 that left him in the #10 position, well into the "B" field going into Saturday's final qualifying session. As always, the fans loved his seriously smokey burnouts

(LEFT) After a strong performance at the season opener at the Texas Motorplex with several runs in the 3.80's, FCC sophomore Levi Keenen put down an excellent 3.892 - 189.47 in his "Illinois Thunder" Arrow that saw him finish the day in the #4 spot, in the middle of the "A" field

(RIGHT) We're not 100% certain that this is John Umlauf Jr. (or is it Sr.?) in the "Mass Chaos" car, but his name appeared well down the qualifying sheet in #20 at 4.697 - 101.90 and a spot near the bottom of the "C" field. This car has much more potential, but he's only got one more chance on Saturday to show what it's capable of

(LEFT) Getting more than a little sideways coming out of the water is the familiar "Wicked Weekender" of Oklahoma's Steve Vang, and he put himself near the top of the "B" field with a Friday best of 4.252 - 160.37, leaving him in the #9 position

(RIGHT) This is the first of the NHRA Top Alcohol "refugees" to show up in our coverage as the Williams Bros. team, with Kirk Williams driving blasted into the 3.70's for the provisional #1 qualifying spot at 3.732 - 200.62. In the final qualifying session tomorrow he will face Ken Singleton in the rain-delayed final round from the previous race at Odessa, TX

(LEFT) Blitzing the tires on a big burnout, the "Detroit Tiger" of Steve Timoszyk blasted out a 4.049 - 173.08 to place him in the #6 position and solidly into the "A" field as he returns to the FCC circuit after skipping the last two Texas events

(RIGHT) Making his first appearance at Funny Car Chaos, Michigander Phil Landram launches his Camaro-bodied "Easy Money 2.0" to a mediocre best for the day of 6.882 - 66.86 that ended up in the #25 spot on the list and just below the bottom of the "C" field. It may be the perspective from the angle of the car, but it appears that the body is much wider and a little longer than the chassis as the wheels are oddly inset front and rear

Here's two views of Chris Foster, burning out (left) and launching (right) in what he hopes will be "Everybody's Nightmare" as he returns to FCC for the first time since last season's visit to Eddyville. He's usually seen at NHRA races but likes to run with the Chaos crew when they come to Iowa, and he made a decent pass on Friday, despite shutting off early to a 4.342 - 129.80, good for #11 on the list and a spot in the "B" field

(LEFT) Warming the tires on the "Jake's Speed Shop" entry, Texan Jeff Cameron fell just short of the provisional "B" field, with a 17th best 4.513 - 149.60 pass leaving him well down the ladder

(RIGHT) Looking like the same story as Kirk Williams's as Robbie Massey made his first FCC start since last year's Eddyville race, with the expanded name "Moats & Massey & Grimm" on the car this year. Despite much race action over the past 18 months, Massey put down an excellent 3.875 - 190.19 that held up for the #3 on the ladder and possible lane choice in the first round of eliminations in the "A" field

(LEFT) Our last pair of cars in the first qualifying session featured another series newcomer and longtime NHRA Top Alcohol runner, Lance Van Hauen in the Van Hauen Bros. entry that didn't set the timers on fire with a first effort of 4.873 - 109.46 that left them in the #21 spot and in the middle of the "C" field

(RIGHT) Leaving hard in the beautiful "Man O' War" nitro-burning Mustang, Shayne Lawson broke into the 3-second zone with a very good 3.992 - 168.22, albeit with a slowing speed as he crossed the finish line. That placed him #5 on the list and well into the "A" field going into the evening session

Moving on to the second qualifying session, with cooler temperatures and presumably slightly better track conditions, we've got the under the lights shots to show you. With the longer days as we near the summer solstice, the skies don't get really dark as at the races earlier in the year, making for easier photography and better images. Even better, we've got lots of side-by-side shots in this batch. Since we don't know which session each racer turned their best times, we've only listed their best e.t.'s and speeds for the day.

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(LEFT) Coming out for his second shot at the track, Chris Foster in his black and red "Everybody's Nightmare" failed to improve on his earlier 4.342 - 129.80 clocking

(RIGHT) Here we've got Foster launching his Top Alcohol car in the near lane, while Levi Keenen in the "Illinois Thunder" is putting out some flames on the far side. As with Foster, he failed to improve on his earlier 3.892 - 189.47 clocking

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(RIGHT) Burning out before making his second qualifier, Kirk Williams in the "Williams Bros. Racing" entry stayed with his best of 3.732 - 200.62 and held down the #1 qualifying spot going into tomorrow's final qualifying session

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We've got the photos from the final round of qualifying at Eddyville, taking place on Saturday afternoon. This time the angles are a little different, with the cars coming at our photographer with the chutes out in the shutdown. As a bonus, the first pair down the track were not only trying to improve their qualifying positions, but were also running the rain-delayed final round from the previous race at Odessa, TX. It was a titanic battle, with both drivers giving it all they had trying to secure the win, the $5000 winners purse, and the all-important points towards the season championship.

FINAL QUALIFYING SESSION

(LEFT) The battle for the event win from race #3 (Odessa) saw Kirk Williams (left lane) take on Ken Singleton (right lane) and it was all over at the tree as Singleton left too early, handing the automatic win to Williams. But the top qualifier spot was still up for grabs and Singleton laid down his best run of qualifying at 3.861 - 201.79 in a vain attempt to take back the #1 spot on the ladder

(RIGHT Cruising past with one chute out, Kirk Williams won the race and held onto the top spot with a good 3.76 - 202 pass that was a little slower than his best Friday effort of 3.732 - 200.62

(LEFT) Adding insult to injury, Singleton's chutes came out late and he wound up going off the end of the track, but fortunately got it stopped before going into the trees. There was no damage to the car and they were able to get it ready for eliminations without any major stress

(RIGHT) Making good on his last shot, Chris Foster pushed his "Everybody's Nightmare" into the "A" field, improving on his Friday best of 4.342 - 129.80 to a #5 qualifying 3.955 - 192.88 that was much more representative of the car's capabilities

(LEFT) The last shot for Justin Herbst saw him improve from Friday's 4.577 to a 4.564 - 152.80, but he fell two spots from #18 to #20, remaining in the "C" field

(RIGHT) On the flip side, Phil Landram knocked more than one second off his previous best (6.882 - 66.86) and moved up one spot from #25 to #24 with an improved 5.546 - 124.41 to slot in near the bottom of the "C" field

(LEFT) There's actually two cars in this photo, but in the far lane - and far, far back - is Monty Stotz, while in the foreground is Robbie Massey in the "Moats, Massey & Grimm" entry. Massey didn't improve over his Friday best of 3.875 - 190.19 but it was still good enough to hold on to the #3 position

(RIGHT) Long after Massey went by, came down, trailing two chutes despite a 'no improvement' that wasn't quicker than his previous 4.505 - 144.28 and saw him drop out of the "B" field into the "C" group. As it turned out, that wasn't such a bad thing for series newcomer Stotz

(LEFT) Finally starting getting on top of the combination needed to get down the track, Lance Van Hauen made a big leap up the ladder, from #21 to #14 and placed himself solidly into the "B" field with a decent 4.401 - 165.32, nearly half a second quicker than Friday's efforts

(RIGHT) Showing off his flat black paint scheme, Ivan Mercer slowed after making a big improvement of nearly two seconds and six places in the order, from #24 to #18 and a spot in the "C" field with his 4.477 - 162.45 a vast step forward from a 6-second best on the first day of qualifying

(LEFT) The last pair of qualifying started with Steve Timoszyk in his great looking "Detroit Tiger" Monza, and he stepped up just a fraction, from a 4.049 on Friday to a 4.038 - 180.22, that dropped him back one spot from #6 to #7 in the final order

(RIGHT) Closing out our qualifying coverage, Jeff Cameron stepped up nicely, picking up 17 hundredths and climbing from #17 to #12 and a spot in the "B" field for eliminations with his 4.343 - 143.45 clocking

Before eliminations could begin, there was some serious shuffling of the ladders for the three fields. The #8 qualifier, at the bottom of the "A" field, Mary Reep withdrew with a broken motor. Chuck Loftin didn't have enough parts to repair the damage on his aborted Friday afternoon 9-second qualifier and couldn't make the call for the "C" field, while John Umlauf wasn't able to fix his car after Friday's two sessions and had to drop out of the "C" field also. A big shock was Tom Furches being unable to make a pass all weekend due to a bad input shaft (nobody had one that fit his combination), and saw himself drop from #3 in the points standings to the #5 position.

"A" Field - Round One Eliminations

(LEFT) The first pair out of the lanes featured points leader Ken Singleton in the near lane against Steve Timoszyk in the far lane. Singleton left first by a tad and steadily pulled away going down the track, stopping the clocks with a great 3.826 - 201.70 to overshadow Timoszyk's good try of 4.263 - 171.04 in the losing cause

(RIGHT) Next up were the winner of the last event on the circuit, Kirk Williams (near lane) against the #9 qualifier (inserted to th "A" field due to Reep's breakage) Bill Naves in the "Shooting Star". Williams left first by nearly half a tenth and ran away from his fellow Top Alcohol racer with low e.t. of the round at 3.810 - 201.34 to cover Naves' slowing 4.109 - 149.80 pass

It's BURNOUT time, as Robbie Massey lights them up big time in the left photo, then lines up in the near lane (right photo) against.... nobody, as Shayne Lawson had the chutes pop out before staging and left Massey to run a solo. He didn't take it easy, even cutting a great .026 light, then followed up with a 3.983 - 184.50 to advance to the semi-finals

Another big time tire heater in the left photo, as "Everybody's Nightmare" warms up the track, then Chris Foster (near lane) stages up against Levi Keenen's Arrow-bodied "Illinois Thunder" in a fairly close side-by-side race. Leaving nearly together, Foster took the winlight with a 3.910 - 196.76 over Keenen's solid effort of 4.036 - 184.20. All four winners in the round ran in the 3-second zone, with Massey's 3.983 being the slowest winning time of the group

"B" field - Round One Eliminations

To eliminate possible sandbagging, the FCC rules stipulate that the "B" and "C" fields have an index, fixed two tenths of a second below the lowest qualifying e.t. in the respective fields. With one car broken in the "A" field (Mary Reep) causing Bill Naves to be elevated to the "A" group, the #10 qualifier, Steve Vang, who ran a best of 4.252 in qualifying became the standard bearer for the "B" field and consequently made the index for that group 4.05. Moving down to the "C" group, their quickest qualifer was Jeff Krug with a 4.466 and that made the index 4.27. The index system may sound a little odd, but it's necessary to keep people from going slow in qualifying, then "getting after it" and steamrolling the competition during eliminations. NOTE: The final rounds are heads-up; no breakout.

(LEFT) Leading off the "B" field, Jordan Ballew (near lane) matched wheels with Chris Schneider in the very familiar "Brutus" in the far lane, and the race was over before they left the line, with Ballew turning on the redlight, making Schenider's 4.539 - 162.22 pass the winning timeslip, as Ballew was off the pedal early with a 4.638 - 126.80 coming up on the scoreboards

(RIGHT) Next out of the waterbox were Steve Vang (near lane) against Jeff Krug (far lane). Krug, in the "Obsession", cut a very quick .006 light, leaving half a tenth ahead of Vang and taking the holeshot win, with his 4.314 - 168.22 holding on for the win over Vang's quicker 4.296 - 165.56 losing effort

(LEFT) Old against new, as Jeff Cameron in his late model body (near lane) took on the early Chevy "Dragon Slayer" of Andy Mears (far lane) and came close to the index with his winning 4.105 - 158.84 over Mears' 4.390 - 161.41 second best

(RIGHT) The round finished with fan favourite Jade "The Giant Killer" Cook (near lane) taking on the big horsepower Top Alcohol car of Lance Van Hauen, (far lane), leaving first by a smidge, then hanging on for the win with a solid 4.314 - 162.69 pass that took the winlight over Van Hauen's 3.930 - 193.30 effort. Can you say breakout? How about BREAKOUT! as Van Hauen went more than a tenth under the index, and his 193+ mph speed shows that he was on the loud pedal right into the lights

"C" Field - Round One Eliminations

(LEFT)The bottom eight qualfiers ran in the "C" field and it opened with Mike Buchanan (near lane) in his "Hombre" Vega leaving second by a ton, "cutting" a .284 light against opponent Daniel Butherus's .062 launch. Starting with a deficit of nearly a quarter of a second, Buchanan made it up and more, crossing the 1/8-mile finish line with a 5.590 - 104.43 pass to easily cover Butherus's slowing 6.106 - 75.20 as he limped through the lights

(RIGHT) In the next pair, Monty Stotz (near lane) left second, but finished first, as he made up for his late launch (.195 to .057) against Dustin Bradford's 'Cuda, putting down a 4.608 - 135.87 to easily outdistance Bradford's 5.201 - 130.32 losing pass

(LEFT) Nearly giving it away with an almost comatose reaction time of .477, Justin Herbst (near lane) had his work cut out for himself, but his much better 4.597 - 149.70 was more than enough to take the win over Phil Landram's losing effort of 5.216 - 132.51 and advance to the semi-final

(RIGHT) Closing out the first round of eliminations, Ivan Mercer, the low qualifier in the "C" field, got to take a single as there was simply no one left in the pits ready to give him a race. He took it easy on the bye, stopping the clocks at a leisurely 5.039 - 116.10 to wrap up the round

"A" Field - Semi-Finals

(LEFT) Opening the round of four with a great battle, Ken Singleton (near lane) cut a not-so-good light with a reaction time of .152, while opponent Robbie Massey (far lane) took a full tenth of a second advantage at the green with his .047 launch. It took all the horsepower that Singleton could muster to turn on the winlight with his 3.804 - 201.34 just holding off Massey's very competitive 3.941 - 188.68 effort. The margin at the finish was barely a car length

(RIGHT) The other pairing of the semi-finals didn't disappoint, as Chris Foster (near lane) left a tad ahead of Kirk Williams (far lane), but couldn't hold on for the win as his 3.893 - 198.24 fell to Williams' superior 3.827 - 200.62 pass. Again, it was only a one car length victory for the winner, but Williams lost lane choice to Singleton for the final round

"B" Field - Semi-Finals

The first pair featured Jeff Cameron (near lane) against Chris Schneider (far lane), with both cars leaving almost together, but Cameron turning on the winlight with a 4.152 - 155.82 beating Schneider's 4.446 - 160.66 second best effort

(LEFT)Putting down a nice burnout, Jade Cook looked like she might have a chance to be advancing to her third consecutive final round, but the car let her down after the tire smoker and she was forced to shut off before staging

RIGHT)The grateful recipient of Cook's misfortune was Jeff Krug and he made his best pass of the weekend, cranking out a very good 4.203 - 173.21 to advance to his first final round of his Funny Car Chaos career

"C" Field - Semi-Finals

(LEFT)Starting the "C" field semi-finals were Monty Stotz (near lane) continuing his good luck ways with a winning 4.503 - 154.64 that was enough to make up for his late leave (.197) and defeat Justin Herbst (far lane), who took a five hundredths advantage at the green and hold the lead until the 300' mark, but saw his 4.767 - 133.93 fall short at the finish line

(RIGHT) The last race of the semi-finals saw both racers sit for a rather long time at the line, as Mike Buchanan's .265 reaction time actually outdid Ivan Mercer's even worse .462 effort. Once they actually got in motion, Mercer's 4.551 - 160.20 overcame his late launch deficit, and easily covered Buchanan's 5.170 - 129.80 losing pass

In the "C" field final it was Monty Stotz (near lane) taking the win in the "Blue Thunder" Camaro in his Funny Car Chaos debut, over Ivan Mercer in his "Mac, Cheese & Joe" entry

Closing out the "B" field eliminations, it was Jeff Cameron in his "Jake's Speed Shop" car (near lane) taking the win over Jeff Krug in "Obsession" (far lane)

In the "A" field final for the BIG money ($5000 + contingencies to the winner), it was Kirk Williams in the "Williams Bros. Racing" entry (near lane) doubling up with his second event win of the day over Ken Singleton in the "High Risk" entry in the far lane. With the win, Williams moved into a tie for the points lead with Singleton at the halfway point of the season

As an added bonus for the fans, they finished the night with an impromptu match race between a funny car, Steve Vang in the near lane, matched up with the "Game Xchange" Jet Dragster of Ray Kelley in the far lane. No times or speeds recorded