The latest update as of July 17, 2023

Before he started the 1100+ mile trip home to southern Arizona, our ace lensman, "BIG" Bob Snyder, sent us all the eliminations photos from Mo-Kan Dragway. Despite a rather sparse crowd compared to Saturday's packed house, the fans that came out on Sunday were treated to a great show of nitro-burning drag racing. The domination of the show by the NHRA injected fuel Top Alcohol Dragsters became evident throughout the day as all the cars that appeared for the final rounds were out of the Randy Meyer Racing stable. Whether that dominance by one team is a good thing for NITRO CHAOS is open to discussion. However, they do add numbers to the field and force everyone else to step up their performance or fall by the wayside.

NITRO CHAOS - Eliminations - Round ONE - "A" Field

After three rounds of qualifying, the "A" field was an all 3-second affair, ranging from top qualifying Kebin Kinsley at an awesome 3.537, down to #8 Gary Wheeler Jr. at a very good 3.993 e.t. With no breakout in effect, eliminations promised some serious competition.

(LEFT) First out of the gate was the Kebin Kinsley (near lane) versus Gary Wheeler Jr. (far lane) match. This is NOT the burnout, but it's obvious that the "War Wagon" had some serious traction trouble right at the hit. He gave up the run right away and coasted to an 8-second time, while the "Brook & Wheeler" entry sped away to an excellent 3.924 - 202.79 as they advanced to the semi-final round.

(RIGHT) The next pair saw another dragster versus altered race, with Jody Austin (near lane) leaving very hard, carding a .923 sixty foot time, before heading for the centerline as he was forced to shut off the "Bushwhacker" to the tune of a 4.96 - 88 mph time. In the far lane, the Canadian entry, "The Bull" blasted out the best numbers of the weekend for driver Todd Bruce, as his 3.600 - 219.62 set a high bar for the following racers. It also gave him lane choice over Wheeler in the next round.

(LEFT) The next pairing turned into a single run for Rachel Meyer as her scheduled opponent, Donnie Massey was forced to shut off before attempting his burnout. Meyer didn't spare the horses as she pounded out her best run of the weekend, with a best of the round - so far - 3.584 - 222.66 lighting up the scoreboards.

(RIGHT) Closing the first round was another of the Meyer sisters, two-time world champion Megan Meyer, (near lane), facing off against the hard running "Psycho Too", driven by James Gilliland (far lane). The race was all over on the starting line as Gilliland redlighted by .010, then proceeded to blow the motor at the 400' mark, but still managed to stop the clocks at 3.912 - 170.20. Taking the automatic win was Meyer, but she ceded lane choice in the semis to her sister, as Megan's timeslip was "only" a 3.674 - 218.77.

NITRO CHAOS - Eliminations - Round ONE - "B" Field

The "B" group started with Chase Copeland on top at 4.028, then worked down to the bump spot, held by Tod Barker at a solid 4.217 e.t. However, there was one car broken at the end of qualifying, as Mark Hunter, in the "Jailbreak" AA/Fuel altered couldn't run. His place was taken by first alternate Chuck Loftin, giving the "Nitro Psycho" a second chance. With Copeland qualifying #1 at 4.028, the index was set at 3.82 for the first two rounds of eliminations, before the no-breakout final.

(LEFT) Eliminations began with the #4 John Umlauf (near lane) and #5 Joseph Gallegos (far lane) qualifiers pairing off. Getting the jump off the line by seven hundredths was Umlauf in the "Mass Chaos" fuel altered, but the "Nitro Clown" dragster quickly took back the lead and pulled away to a convincing win at 4.007 - 198.24, as Umlauf slowed to a 4.517 - 127.30 for the loss.

(RIGHT) The next match pitted the #2 qualifier, Matt Sackman in the third Randy Meyer Racing entry (near lane), against #7 Tod Barker (far lane) in the injected nitro "Back In Black" Corvette-bodied funny car. Sackman picked up more than two tenths from his qualifying time and took the easy win with a 3.838 pass at an early shutoff 151.36 mph, while Barker gave up at 400' and posted a 4.475 - 127.30 in the losing effort.

(LEFT) Failing to take advantage of his "get out of jail free card", Chuck Loftin (near lane) left second, dropped a cylinder (or two) on the launch and laboured down the track to a losing 4.431 - 131.81 effort in the Mach-1 Mustang "Motivation" entry. Taking full advantage of his plight was Chase Copeland (far lane) in his injected nitro fuel altered, as he cranked out his best run of the weekend, at 3.952 - 191.82 to move into the second round. His e.t. was quick enough to take lane choice over Joseph Gallegos in that matchup.

(RIGHT) The first round closed with a pair of AA/Fuel Altereds, but it turned into a single for Aaron Morrow in the Darby & Morrow "Nitro Relapse", as scheduled opponent Anthony Whitfield failed to fire in the "Mighty Mouse" car. Morrow took it easy with a leisurely launch, with at least one cylinder mis-firing, and stopped the timers with an easy 4.550 - 109.65 time on the scoreboard. That paired him up with Matt Sackman in the semifinal round with Sackman holding lane choice.

NITRO CHAOS - Eliminations - Round TWO - "A" Field

(LEFT)

(RIGHT)

NITRO CHAOS - Eliminations - Round TWO - "B" Field

(LEFT)

(RIGHT)

NITRO CHAOS - Eliminations - FINAL Round - "A" & "B" Fields

(LEFT)

(RIGHT)