The latest update as of June 14, 2023

NAPA Auto Parts NIGHT OF FIRE & THUNDER - May 20, 2023

The latest - and sadly, probably the last - NAPA Auto Parts "Night of Fire and Thunder" went off on Saturday, May 20th at Bandimere Speedway. Six of the eight scheduled Nostalgia Top Fuel cars were in attendance, along with a pair of Nostalgia Funny Cars. The highlight - and lowlight - of the meet was Steve Griboski track record destroying 5.736 - 250.00 pass in his "Mile-High Express" '65 Mustang Nostaliga Funny Car. The lowlight happened just past the finish line as the throttle stuck WIDE open, forcing Steve to pull the fuel shutoff, which grenaded the blower and the body. A true very good news and very bad news event to be sure.

The Top Fuel portion of the show saw Wisconsin's Jimi Young in the "Young Guns Racing" entry take the event win over uber-veteran, Californian Jim Murphy in his mutli-championship winning "WW2" entry. Young also set the track Nostalgia Top Fuel track record with a best e.t. of 5.79. We don't have any exact details on the performances but the photos below will tell the story.

Coming all the way out from Berwyn, IL, Mike Taylor brought his 5-second running, short-stroke Donovan to Bandimere for the first time and put down some hard runs.

(LEFT) Two green cars lining up in this pairing, saw Illinoi's Tim Cullinan (far lane) in his dragster (instead of his usual "Irish Car Bomb" Funny Car), lining up against the six-decades of fuel racing - and counting - California veteran Jim Murphy in his very familiar "WW2" entry.

(RIGHT) It's Murphy (almost) by himself in this shot, as he's left on Cullinan by a bit and pulled away to a convincing victory.

Coming up from his home base in Abilene, Texas, Michael Anderson pushed hard in his still new 2022 chassied fueler.

Closing out the first round was a match between Wisconsin's Jimi Young (near lane) in his "Young Guns Racing" car, against California's Shawn Vanhorn (far lane) in the "Titan Engineering Special". Young took the win as Vanhorn was still working on the tuneup in the Titan car.

(LEFT) Between rounds of the Fuel cars, some of the local Top Dragster competitors came out, including Betsy Peek of the "Peek Family Racing" team. The family has been synonomous with dragsters in Colorado for several decades, from their long run in Top Fuel racing to the current very quick and fast dragster driven by third-generation racer Betsy. Her best numbers of the night came in the first round with a very good 6.107 - 231.91 pass.

(RIGHT) Another member of Colorado fuel racing "royalty", Landon Kaiser in the "Kaiser Brothers" entry didn't fare as well as he failed to crack the tough high 6-second bump spot in the Madcap Quick 16 field.

(LEFT) Similarly to Kaiser, Don McIntosh III in his front-engined blown big-block Chevy entry failed to make the cut in the Madcap Quick 16.

(RIGHT) Running a very cool looking Top Sportsman '57 Chevy Belair, Duane Doffing qualified solidly in the Get Biofuel Quick 16 show, and went all the way to the final round. Dialled in at 7.25 and 7.26 in earlier rounds before setting it at 7.31 in the final, Doffing fell a little short with a very good 7.352 - 183.22, coupled with a brilliant .014 reaction time, but it wasn't quite enough to turn on the winlight.

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