Divsion 7 - Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series - NHRA West Region

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The first Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event of the 2025 season kicked off on Thursday under sunny skies in Chandler, AZ. The first day was qualifying for the Sportsman racers and a test session for the Top Alcohol competitors. Friday saw three qualifying sessions for the alky cars, and today (Saturday) is eliminations for them. A total of 12 dragsters and seven funny cars filled the pits and put on quite a show, with some very quick passes. The bump spot for the dragsters was a very quick 5.304, with first alternate Mike Austin just a few ticks behind at 5.318. In a change from the usual injected nitro domination, seven of the 12 cars were running blown alcohol combinations, and five of them qualified for eliminations.

There were no injected Funny Cars in the pits, as to this point, only four of that breed have been in competition, and none of them are based in the western half of the continent. With only seven floppers appearing, there was no bump spot, but the top five cars were in the 5.50's, and the "slowest" car in the field, Steve Gasparelli, was in with a respectable 5.896 e.t. That marked his first appearance as a driver in several years. Missing from the show were a couple of regulars from last season, as Arizona's Hunter Jones, and California's Will Martin have run out of the essential ingredient required to campaign their cars: MONEY.

TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR - Qualifying Session #1

(LEFT) Two familiar faces started qualifying, with Utah's Steve Macklyn in his "B&J Transmissions" sponsored entry in the near lane, while the "rookie", Kirk Kuhns lined up on the far side. Macklyn last competed in NHRA racing in 2021, running twice that year before moving over to the Mid-West Drag Racing Series for the past few years. He laid down a solid opening lap of 5.778 - 246.80 to show that the car could run well. Making his debut in the TAFC class, Kuhns put down a decent 5.830 - 241.41 to get his weekend started on the right note.

(RIGHT) Here's a closer look at Macklyn as he passed our photographer at about 150' off the starting line.

(LEFT) Also returning to NHRA after a three year hiatus was veteran Steve Gasparelli, in a new unlettered 2022 Camaro. The only names on the car were Gasparelli and a tribute to the recently deceased Bob Miner. He launched softly and shut off early to a 'getting acclimated" 6.318 - 161.50 pass.

(RIGHT) Showing that she was ready to compete for another Top Ten spot in the standings, Annie Whiteley ripped off a very strong 5.483 - 266.69 to stake a solid claim for the top spot in the field.

(LEFT) Racing in the lane opposite to Whiteley, was Alaskan Ray Martin in the "Miner Brothers" entry. He ran into trouble before the 330' mark and coasted down the track to a 9.241 - 93.32 to open his weekend.

(RIGHT) Laying down a solid burnout in her newly wrapped "BETA" entry, the 2024 world championship runner-up Maddi Gordon was ready to pick up where she left off at the end of last season. After a decent leave, she ran into tire shake early and pedalled her way to a mediocre (for the Gordon family team) 5.989 - 255.73 pass.

TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER - Qualifying Session #1

(LEFT) You might think this is a shot of Mitch Myers doing his burnout. Unfortunately, it was the launch as he went into instant tire smoke and slowly rolled down track to a 16-second elapsed time.

(RIGHT) After just missing out on a Top Ten finish and ending up #12 in the 2024 standings, the Casey Grisel driven, Jerry Darien tuned machine posted a big mph (225.52) at half track, but only a so-so e.t. of 5.397, coupled with a strong 275.62 mph speed at the finish line. That put them #4 on the ladder, but with two strong pairs of cars left in the staging lanes, he would almost certainly drop a spot or three before the session ended.

(LEFT) After a successful entry to the class last season, Tucson's Jon Bradford laid down a very quick and fast 5.224 - 277.03 pass to grab the early pole position in the field. The car leaves with very good reaction times, .018 on this run, and very quick 60' times, .898 on this pass.

(RIGHT) Running in the final pair of the round, the 2024 World Champion, Canada's Shawn Cowie picked up right where he left off and blasted out a top qualifying 5.216 - 278.52 to grab the #1 spot from Jon Bradford. After Cowie ran a 5.220 - 276.52 yesterday in testing, he picked up a little bit in his first competition pass of the year.

TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR - Qualifying Session #2

(LEFT) The #3 Top Alcohol Funny Car in the world last year, driven by Brian Hough didn't run well (13-second e.t.) in the first session, so he got the "honour" of going first in the second qualifier. He didn't have much better luck, and after a decent .940 short time, shook the tires, pedalled and failed to get the car to hook up before giving up on the run and crossing the finish line with a 7.415 - 151.09 showing up on the scoreboard.

(RIGHT) After a less than successful run in the opening round of qualifying, Ray Martin took another shot at the track and ran very strong for 200' before going into heavy tire shake, forcing him to abort the run and coast across the finish line at 7.546 - 132.00 mph.

(LEFT) After an opening pass of 5.778, Steve Macklyn picked up the pace considerably on his second go-round, stopping the timers with a very nice 5.565 - 257.43 result. That moved him up to #3 on the qualifying list.

(RIGHT) Closing out the session was Kirk Kuhns, and he stutter stepped on the launch (1.111 60' time) and slowed a tenth to a 5.938 - 233.52 pass to remain in the #4 position on the ladder.

TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER - Qualifying Session #2

(LEFT) With the bump spot already sitting at 5.456, Madison Payne and crew chief Dana Hopewell knew they had to step up big-time to ensure a spot in eliminations on Saturday. The result was closer to what they wanted, with a 5.331 - 278.12 result to move into the field in the #6 position. With ten more cars in the lanes awaiting their chance, the e.t. wasn't certain to even keep them in the field.

(RIGHT) Running by himself was Mike Austin, as scheduled opponent (Chris Demke) decided to sit out the session after going off the end of the track in the first qualifying session. Austin was sitting at the bottom of the 12-car list, and needed at least a 5.391 to scrape into the qualified field. He did the deed, with a quick 5.318 - 270.59 coming up on the timers, bumping Casey Grisel out of the field, and landing Austin in the #6 spot.

(LEFT) Needing to knock more than a tenth on his earlier 5.456 e.t., Randy Eakins looked good for the first few hundred feet, but fell off by half track and crossed the finish line at 5.574 - 245.81 as he slipped down the list to the #10 position.

(RIGHT) Another of the strong running blown alcohol cars in the field, Shauna Blinzler was solidly qualified in the #5 spot after her first session 5.312 effort, but fell back quickly on this attempt, giving up before half track and coasting to a 5.938 - 183.15 timeslip.

(LEFT) Backing up her previous 5.297 run, Taylor Januik pushed the "Plan B" car to an almost as quick 5.315 - 273.66 to remain in the #4 spot going into the final qualifying session.

(RIGHT) Already sitting at the top of the list, Shawn Cowie not only backed up his first qualifying pass, but bettered it, albeit slightly, in both speed and e.t. The scoreboard shone brightly with a 5.205 - 278.63 glowing brightly in the late afternoon sun.

TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR - Qualifying Session #3

(LEFT) There wasn't any drama going into the final qualifying session for the funny cars, as they were all guaranteed a spot in eliminations. Leading off the session was Ray Martin, in the Greg Miner-owned '24 Camaro. After a pair of troubled runs, 7-and 9-second e.t.'s, the team got it figured out with a strong 5.581 - 263.77 that was good enough to place them 4th on the ladder.

(RIGHT) Getting quicker with each run, Steve Macklyn posted his best numbers of qualifying with a strong 5.546 - 257.33 to hang on to the #3 spot in the field and lane choice in the first round. It appeared that he wasn't driving the car all the way to the finish line as he was under 260 mph on all three qualifying attempts.

(LEFT) Another racer who was having a tough time of it in qualifying, Brian Hough finally got it together and pushed past Martin and Macklyn to take over the #4 rung on the ladder. After 13- and 7-second runs, the "Cascade Motor Coach" crew made a clean strong pass of 5.558 - 265.22 as everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief at their change of fortune.

(RIGHT) Running by herself with the odd number of cars in the field, Annie Whiteley upped the ante as she improved on her low qualifying 5.483 e.t. by running even quicker at 5.454 - 267.75 to give her a full tenth of a second cushion over the #2 qualifier, Maddi Gordon.

(LEFT) Closing out the session was Maddi Gordon, who was looking to take over the top spot in the field.

(RIGHT) After the burnouts were completed, Steve Gasparelli, in the near lane, lined up against Gordon in the far lane. Gordon left first and ran away from Gasparellit at all points down track before turning on the scoreboard with a very good 5.471 - 260.56 result. It wasn't quite enough to grab the #1 spot on the ladder but it might have been closer if Gordon hadn't lifted a little early, as evidenced by her 260 mph speed.

TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER - Qualifying Session #3

(LEFT) Strangely enough, this pair didn't show up on the NHRA Divisional Live Timing Results page, but we were able to deduce the results by watching the race on NHRA's TV and YouTube channels. In the near lane, Randy Eakins made his final attempt to get in the field, but fell short with a 5.438 - 246.93, while Chris Demke (near lane), in what appeared to be a new car, ran into trouble early and shut off to a 9.981 - 81.25, and also failed to qualify.

(RIGHT) Next up were a pair of injected cars, with Madison Payne (near lane) sitting in the #7 spot in the field, and not feeling safe about staying in, while Mitch Myers (far lane) was on the outside looking in. Payne launched hard and powered to a low e.t. 5.175 and top speed 280.49 to vault to the top of the field. Meanwhile, in the other lane, Myers picked up a tenth over his second session 5.495, clocking in at 5.397 - 266.64 to fall short of breaking into the eliminations field.

(LEFT) Suffering a major blower backfire when he hit throttle to start his burnout, Mike Austin sat helplessly in the car, unable to defend his #7 qualifying position. In the other lane (not shown), Casey Grisel laid down the run that he and partner Jerry Darien had been looking for all weekend, cranking out a very strong 5.235 - 279.85 to jump from outside the field to the #4 rung on the ladder.

(RIGHT) While Shaunda Blinzler (near lane) was safely in the field with an earlier 5.312, her opponent in the far lane, Braiden Chesleigh was sitting in the #9 position with an earlier best of 5.333. Both racers laid down their best runs of qualifying, with Blinzler's 5.295 - 274.89 moving her up to #6 in the final order. In the far lane, Chesleigh bumped his way into the field with a 5.304 - 259.71 despite the car slowing on the top end. Chesleigh's run was just quick enough to bump Mike Austin down to the first alternate spot.

Coming into the final session in the #4 spot, Taylor Januik (near lane) had slid all the way down to #7 when she staged for her final shot at qualifying. In the far lane, Jon Bradford had only dropped one spot to #3 and was looking to move back up the ladder. Both racers had problems on their runs, with Januik backfiring at the 1000' mark, slowing her to 5.541 at only 206.67 mph. On the other side, Bradford launched very hard, with an .893 60' time, and ran strong to half track, but his speed at that point was down 10 mph from earlier runs, and he shut off before the 900' mark to a 5.646 - 194.32 timeslip. He certainly proved that the electronic fuel injection and torque converter combination pioneered by Bob Button was working well.

After three rounds of qualifying on Friday, the "Quick 8" faced off in eliminations. The field was bunched tightly, between Madison Payne's 5.175 and Braiden Chesleigh's bump spot 5.304. Falling just short of making the show was veteran Mike Austin, who made his best run in quite a few years at 5.318 - 270.59. For a change of pace, five of the eight qualifiers were running a blown alcohol setup, and exactly half of the racers entered (6 of 12) were running a blown alky combination.

TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER - Eliminations Round ONE

(LEFT) Eliminations started with the #4 and #5 qualifiers facing off. In the near lane, Casey Grisel slowed from his qualifying pace, but a solid 5.312 - 277.66 was just enough to hold off Joey Severance in the far lane. It was close at the finish line, but Severance's slightly slower 5.328 - 270.81 left him less than half a car length behind at the finish line.

(RIGHT) Low qualifier Madison Payne (near lane) had a definite advantage over #8's Braiden Chesleigh in the far lane. Chesleigh left first, but went into almost instantaneous tire smoke and slowly rolled to a 13-second clocking. Taking full advantage of his plight, Payne pounded out a consistent 5.241 - 278.63 for the easy win.

Next up were a pair of blown cars, with (relative) newcomer Jon Bradford in the near lane against Shaunda Blinzler in the far lane. Bradford was nearly a tenth quicker than Blinzler in qualifying, but didn't really need all that performance edge when Blinzler finally broke the beams with a nearly comatose .518 reaction time. She gave up a futile chase at half track, stopping the timers with a 6.233 - 152.54 clocking that was far behind Bradford's very quick 5.213 - 277.66 winning effort.

(LEFT) Back after a nearly year-long absence on maternity leave, Taylor Januik laid down a hard burnout in her "Red Line Oil"-backed entry. She qualified in the #7 position with a strong 5.297 - 273.66 pass.

(RIGHT) The final pair of the first round matched another pair of blown cars, with Jaunik in the near lane, and 2024 World Champion Shawn Cowie in the far lane. Nearly a tenth of a second separated them in qualifying, but it was a different story in eliminations. Cowie left first by just a few thousandths (.004), but started to fall behind at the 60' mark as he went into heavy tire shake. He was able to pedal and get the car to hook up but his 5.372 - 276.52 wasn't enough to keep pace with Januik's superior 5.299 - 271.19 mph effort.

TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR - Eliminations Round ONE

With four of the top seven Funny Cars in the 2024 season competing, joined by two returning veterans, and one rookie, competition was guaranteed to be intense, especially in the semifinal and final rounds. One racer, Kirk Kuhns, broke during qualfying on Friday and was unable to appear, making for two bye runs for the first round. One interesting sidenote gleaned from the NHRA.tv broadcast was that Madison Gordon was driving an all-new car, while Steve Gasparelli was in last year's Gordon family car, that finished #2 in the Top Alcohol standings.

(LEFT)) Leading off the show, Annie Whiteley nearly matched her low qualifying 5.454 e.t. with a very good 5.496 - 267.16 on her bye run. That set her up to face either Brian Hough or Ray Martin in the second round; neither of them an easy opponent.

(RIGHT) In the first pairing of eliminations, Maddi Gordon (near lane) took on Steve Gasparelli (far lane) and what looked to be an easy win for the "BETA" team turned into a pedalfest as both drivers shook the tires just past the 60' mark. Gordon recovered first and started to pull away before half track until Gasparelli lifted and coasted across the line at 6.672 - 178.52. Gordon kept the hammer down and rang up a 6.174 - 253.90 that showed she could pedal an errant funny car like a veteran.

(LEFT) Taking full advantage of the absence of scheduled opponent (Kirk Kuhns), Steve Macklyn ran just a hair quicker than his #3 qualifying 5.546, this time carding a 5.544 - 258.47 to advance to the semifinal. Every run Macklyn made to this point was a little bit quicker than the previous effort, as the team was getting on top of the tuneup.

(RIGHT) The final pair of the round featured the the two closest qualified cars, the #5 Ray Martin (near lane) matched up against #4 Brian Hough in the far lane. They were only a few hundredths apart in qualifying and they stayed that close on this run until half track before Hough started pulling away. Martin slowed on the top end, with a lot of smoke out of the engine near the finish line before stopping the clocks at 5.646 - 257.58. Taking the winlight after overcoming a small holeshot was Hough with a superior 5.528 - 263.72 pass.

TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER - Eliminations Round TWO

(LEFT) The semifinal round featured a pair of injected cars and a pair of the blown variety. First up were the A/FD's with Madison Payne in the near lane, facing Casey Grisel in the far lane. It was quite a race as Payne left first with a perfect (.000) reaction time to take an instant half a tenth lead over Grisel. However, Casey had erased that margin by the time they passed the 60' clocks and he continued to stretch it as Payne's car dropped cylinders and laboured down to the finish line with an off-pace 5.787 - 239.74 pass. Running away from her was the Grisel & Darien car with their quickest run of the weekend, a 5.223 - 278.00 for the win.

(RIGHT) Closing the round were the blown cars of Jon Bradford (near lane) and Taylor Januik in the far lane. Launching with a torque converter, Bradford left first and blitzed the 60' timers with an .892 short time to open an instant gap on Januik. She managed to stay close to Bradford until the 1000' clocks before getting too close to the centerline and being forced to pull the chutes earlier. The clocks read <5.435 at only 218.83 in Januik's lane, while Bradford laid down another quick pass of 5.254 - 275.56 to advance to the final.

TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR - Eliminations Round TWO

(LEFT) Coming into the round with lane choice, Annie Whiteley (near lane) a small e.t. advantage over Brian Hough in the far lane. Whiteley left first and held the lead until the 330' mark when she was forced to pedal the car to calm it down. For there it was all Hough as he extended his lead all the way to the finish line, where he stopped the clocks with a solid 5.563 - 265.53 winning time. Whiteley coasted across the stripe with a slowing 6.040 - 200.86 in the losing cause.

(RIGHT) The second pair of the round put on a barn burner of a race, with Maddi Gordon (near lane) facing Steve Macklyn in the far lane. The drivers left almost together (.050 to .051 r.t.'s), and from there to the finish line it was a side-by-side race. Macklyn was in front by three hundredths at 330', two hundredths at the 660', and at the 1000' mark he was in front by just one thousandth of a second. From there to the finish line it was all Gordon as she crossed the finish line nearly 10 mph faster, turning a winning time of 5.511 - 267.22 to Macklyn's excelent, but losing, 5.543 - 258.42 effort.

TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER - Eliminations FINAL Round

As mentioned in an earlier report, our correspondent wasn't able to stay for the finals, so we've had to construct the report from the NHRA.tv video. First up was the dragster final, with Jon Bradford burning out first in the blown alcohol entry, while Casey Grisel followed suit with his injected nitro ride. When the ambers flashed, it was all Bradford, as he left first, blasted out an .887 short (60') time, then opened the gap to more than a tenth of a second by the 330' timers. Grisel closed the gap slightly in the mid-range but it was more than a car length between them at the finish line. Bradford's winning 5.195 - 278.46 easily covered Grisel's valiant 5.254 - 276.97 effort.

TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR - Eliminations FINAL Round

The final race of the event featured the #2 qualifier Maddi Gordon, against #4 Brian Hough. Following their nearly synchronized burnouts with a great race. Hough gave it his best shot, leaving first with an .022 to .038 reaction time advantage, but Gordon eked out a small lead by the 330' mark. She increased the margin to half a car length as they neared the top end before Gordon's winlight came on with her best of eliminations 5.471 - 266.85 that was just enough to hold off Hough's best run of the weekend, a 5.511 - 267.64 effort.