The latest update as of March 26, 2022
2nd annual FUNNY CAR CHAOS CLASSIC Friday qualifying is in the books
Later today we will post the pictures from last night's second qualifying session at the Funny Car Chaos Classic at the Texas Motorplex. First though, we've still got a couple of dozen photos from Thursday's test session to post and describe. Then on to yesterday's photos and reports. Hopefully, today will be a much better day for the FCC gang after a terrible incident on the last qualifying run last night.
Three time defending series champion, Ken Singleton, who reeled off a 3.60 in testing, and followed up with a great 3.662 - 215.15 in the first session, had a major engine explosion and massive fire engulf the car during his second attempt. The fire was difficult to extinguish and Ken suffered serious burns before he was able to exit the car. He's now in Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas in critical condition in the burn unit. It's very sad news indeed and it will be a very much subdued group of racers and officials at the track today. Our thoughts and prayers go out to him, his family, the "High Risk" team, and everyone involved in what is the worst incident in the history of Funny Car Chaos. We pray for him to make a full recovery as we reflect on just how such a great sport can turn so nasty so quickly.
Here is the report from the "High Risk" team's spokesperson, Tammy Singleton, as delivered on the team's Facebook page.
"He is stable, he is on a ventilator; 2nd & 3rd degree burns on his nose, face, eyes. 26% of his body is burned," the post read. "His hands are severely burned. Face and hands will need skin grafts, and that process will start tomorrow. Torso and back have 2nd & 3rd degree burns as well. He is at Parkland Burn Center in Dallas. Please continue to pray."
The Funny Car Chaos media team offered this statement on their Facebook page.
"CHAOS friends and family we ask for your prayers for our 3-time World Champion Ken Singleton, who was involved in a serious fire during qualifying tonight at the Texas Motorplex. Ken is now at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. Please keep him and the High Risk racing team in your prayers."
After all that, the racing seems so inconsequential compared to the injuries that Ken suffered, and will continue to suffer from for a long time. But the racing community will carry on and do what they do today: run their cars and race to win. If they were consumed by the "what if's" then they simply wouldn't be able to keep racing, but racing is what they do, and we will report on what happens at the race today, despite a very heavy heart.
Friday Qualifying Report
After two qualifying sessions, low e.t. holder is Brad Tuttle in the "Nitro Bandit", leading the field by nearly a quarter of a second and 50 mph, at 3.329 - 264.16. Next best, Kyle Smith, is way back at 3.560 - 211.33 in his NHRA Top Alcohol car. Tuttle's car is a full-on NHRA "Big Show" car, in case you were wondering. Tuttle's best run of the day is still more than a tenth shy of Del Worsham's series record holding numbers of 3.196 - 275.57, turned at last year's edition of this event.
The provisional "A" Field is rounded out with #8 qualifying Lyle Greenberg, who has certainly stepped up his program this year as evidenced by his performance at the March Meet earlier in the month, with a very good 3.759 - 200.86 clocking. Those numbers roughly equate to a mid-to-high 5.60 in the quarter mile. The "B" field qualifiers range from #9 Jeff Cameron, in at 3.802 - 197.13, down to #16 Don Knoblauch, who travelled all the way from Sumner, WA to this event, with his best ever 3.962 - 188.56 times.
The "C" field started with #17 Dustin Bradford, at an improved 3.999 - 180.39, followed by a bunch of low 4-second racers, culminating with Swedish racer Joe Ljungberg at 4.149 - 173.67. Finally, the "D" field ranged from #25 qualifier Dave Gallegos in his "Nitro Clwon", coming in at 4.162 - 142.16, and finishing at #32 Matt Nissen's 4.431 - 165.10. Trailing him were 16 racers, including some series regulars, like Jade Cook, who finished #3 in the FCC standings last year, but currently sits 33rd with a 4.504 - 160.11, with a number of much more powerful cars well below her on the list.
With a final qualifying session on tap at noon today (CDT), these numbers and positions are certainly subject to change and we'll do our best to download and post the final results as soon as they are posted. Stay tuned for that and for many more photos from Thursday and Friday.
Qualifying Completed at the Funny Car Chaos Classic
We've just received the final qualifying results, and there weren't a lot of changes to the four fields. The #32 qualifier (Smiley Cordero), anchored the "D" field at a solid 4.287 - 169.37, and, despite her best efforts, last year's "Rookie of The Year" Jade Cook remained just on the outside with a much improved (from Friday's best of 4.504 - 160.11) with an oh-so-close 4.296 - 163.67 timeslip. She could still get into the "D" field if at least one of the 32 racers ahead of her is unable to show for the first round of eliminations this evening.
Some "name" racers unable to make the show were Julie Natass in her highly publicized debut in an A/Fuel Funny as the Randy Meyer team could only muster a best of 11.843 - 42.57 after four days of trying to make their new car work. It looks like it's back to the drawing board for them. Another shocker was Kebin Kinsley failing to get the Howard & Shane Farris-owned "War Wagon" into the show, as their Friday pass of 15.433 - 29.32 was their best numbers of the weekend. Quite a shock after they put this car into the record books as a Fuel Altered last year at the Texas FallNationals, with an awesome performance of 5.06 - 304.59 over the quarter-mile. While the e.t. wasn't a record, the speed was the fastest ever for an altered-bodied car.
Other notable non-qualifiers were newly married Keith Jackson in his "High Heaven" Camaro, Anthony Whitfield in his unique blown fuel small-block Chevy "Mighty Mouse", and a host of regulars on the FCC circuit. Of the 57 cars that went through tech, five never made it down the track at all. Having the worst luck of all (other than Ken Singleton of course), was the car chief on the Scott Palmer Top Fuel car, Rick Ducusin who made a test pass on Wednesday in his brand-new NHRA 'Big Show' "Alien Invasion" car. It skated across both lanes, smacked the wall hard and destroyed the front half of the chassis and body before the 330' mark.
When qualifying closed, the "A" field remained exactly the same as it was on Friday, with Ronny Young still on top with low e.t. and top speed (3.329 - 264.16), and #8 Lyle Greenberg holding down the bottom of that field at 3.759 - 200.86.
Jeff Cameron remained on top of the "B" field with a slightly improved 3.793 - 199.27 in the #9 position. Don Knoblauch moved up from his solid 3.962 Friday pass, good for #16 to the #14 spot with a better 3.907 - 188.73. Making a huge leap up the ladder was Dave Hill, as he moved from a 44th best 6.557 on Friday to a #16 qualifying 3.920 - 187.25 on his last attempt to take the bump spot in the field.
In the "C" field, Michael Tobacco dropped from #15 to #17 to take top spot in that group with his Friday best of 3.952 - 181.95 mph. Right behind him was Tom Furches who improved from a 4.004 to a 3.976 - 163.27, despite shutting off early. The last 3-second car was Dustin Bradford who stood on his 3.999 from Friday, but dropped two spots to #19 on the list. Below him, the rest of the "C" field stayed the same, dropping one spot each, with Chris Schneider ending up on the bump with his Friday best of 4.114 - 179.68 in the "Brutus" Mustang.
The final eight started with #25 Joacim (Joe) Ljungberg at 4.149, and closed with Smiley Cordero holding down the last spot (#32) with his 4.287 - 169.37 on his last attempt slightly bettering his Friday 4.297 effort. Even with the improvement, he dropped two spots in the order as Matt Nissen stepped up with a 4.250, good for #30 after his Friday 4.431 best. Falling out of the field, down to #34 on the final tally, was Steve Wiley who dropped from the 31st spot as he couldn't improve on his earlier 4.334 - 155.16 timeslip.
The first round of eliminations is scheduled for 6:30 PM (CDT) and if there are any changes due to breakage, we will update this report before racing starts this evening. As always: Stay Tuned!