The latest update as of May 29, 2023

It was a great weekend of racing at the third FUNNY CAR CHAOS event of the 2023 season at Eddyville Raceway Park (Oskaloosa, IA). Making it a true "double down" show was the addition of two full fields of NITRO CHAOS cars, ranging from full-on Nitro Funny Cars, to real Fuel Altereds, NHRA A/Fuel dragsters, front-engine blown fuel dragsters, and just for the heck of it, a blown fuel Pro Mod. The fans certainly got their money's worth with some close racing, great performances like Dale Creasy Jr.'s pass in the second qualifying session Saturday night that lit up the scoreboards with a 3.401 - 215.21. When qualfying came to a close yesterday afternoon, the bump spot for the "B" field in Nitro Chaos stood at 3.991, held down by Levi Keenen's NHRA Heritage series-legal Funny Car. Not to be overshadowed were the Funny Car Chaos contingent which had their entire "A" field qualified at 3.889 or better.

NITRO CHAOS - "A" field FINAL

We've only got time to post one picture this morning, but the "A" field final round clash in the Nitro Chaos division was a classic. In the near lane, in her Gunk-sponsored "Queen Bee" A/Fuel dragster was Megan Meyer. Facing her was the quickest and fastest car of the weekend, the Tek Pak-sponsored "Big Show" nitro Funny Car of Dale Creasy Jr.. When the lights flashed it was Meyer away first by less than a hundredth, but Creasy took an early lead with a stout .892 time at the 60' clocks, and held the lead until the 500' mark. He was forced to lift at that point and "coasted" through the lights at 3.54 - 192.06, while Meyer kept the loud pedal down and rang up a winning 3.54 - 223.10 time. The true-win margin was just .015 seconds. What a fitting end to a great weekend of racing at Eddyville Raceway Park.

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - "A" field FINAL

Usually the feature attraction at Funny Car Chaos races, the "A" final had to play second fiddle to the Nitro Chaos gang. In a bit of a surprise, the Van Hauen Brothers (near lane) took the win over the equally surprising Mike Newkirk (far lane) in his "Disturbed" entry. Newkirk qualified #4, while Wade (or was it Lance?) Van Hauen sat in the #6 position. Both drivers put down solid efforts to reach the final and with their wealth of experience in NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car competition, neither driver was unprepared for the match. It was a very close race all the way to the finish line, but Newkirk came up short on two counts: second across the finish line and taking out the finish line timing block. That invalidated his great effort of 3.79 - 195.99, and to add injury to insult, he ended up against the wall in the circle track area of the facility. In the other lane, Wade (or is it Lance?) Van Hauen took his first ever win at an FCC event, turning on the winlight with an excellent 3.75 - 200.98 clocking, his best of the weekend. A very exciting way to finish the event, and the good news is that Newkirk was uninjured and damage to his car was minor.

NITRO CHAOS - "B" field FINAL

Despite two very different body styles, with Jim Gifford in his "Svengali" Funny Car (near lane) and Gary Wheeler Jr. in the classic front-engined dragster (far lane), but racers were running blown fuel engines. They had qualified at the top of the "B" field, with Gifford #1 and Wheeler #2, so it was very fitting that they met in the final. Both cars left hard, with big header flames, but just past the 330' mark, Wheeler's mount started dancing around, eventually getting up on three wheels before he was able to get it back under control. That opened the door for Gifford to turn on the winlight, with his best run of the weekend, a 3.70 - 195.48, while Wheeler coasted across the line at 4.58 - 104.24 for the loss.

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - "B" field FINAL

The "B" field final pitted two Coloradans, both driving Firebird-bodied cars, and both running Hemis, but Tom Furches (near lane) was running blown on alcohol, while opponent Steve Griboski in the newly rebodied "Mile-High Express" (far lane) was blown on nitro. Griboski had a mishap last week at a match race at Bandimere Speedway, which wiped out his very cool looking '65 Mustang body, but he was able to recover in time to compete at Eddyville. Completing the amazing comeback was his excellent 3.95 - 195.91 pass for the win over a close 4.01 - 179.50 from Furches. There was a large cloud of smoke in Griboski's lane as he crossed the lane but the track was clear and the cars both made the turnout at the end of the track.

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - "C" field FINAL

With four final rounds in FCC competition under his belt, Chuck Loftin (near lane) was primed to take the event win in his "Nitro Psycho". Facing him was Justin Herbst (far lane) in his "Executioner" entry. When the lights came down, Loftin launched into another wheelstand (he'd been fighting them all weekend), but pedalled and kept trying until he gave up just before the finish line. Meanwhile, Herbst was trucking to the tune of a 4.27 - 165.87 winning time. Loftin clicked it off to a 4.48 - 130.55 losing effort. Herbst also brought the wheels up on the launch but kept it under control and glued to the track for the win.