Sunday Photo Gallery

NOTE" Click on the thumbnails to view the full-size images

Before the "big show" began with the nitro funny cars at noon, Comp Eliminator ran their first round of eliminations. In the first pair, we saw Mark Wolfe with his very fast turbocharged '96 T-Bird (LEFT) and Delta's Terry Spargo in his A/AP Cavalier, which turned a 6.73 - 205.85 in the RIGHT photo

Fort St. John's Mike McKeigue continues to impress in his '06 Dodge Stratus C/AA

LEFT: Victoria's Grant Klohn wheeled his B/A to some impressive laps, while on the RIGHT: second generation racer, Ryan Warter, continues the family tradition with the F/SM Camaro

Wheelstands? We go 'em, including this one with a slight twist to the car as it climbs for the sky (LEFT) and Angelina Boychuk sings the national anthems before the first round of nitro funny car (RIGHT)

A couple of miscellaneous shots, with (LEFT) Dean Murdoch's latest promotional decal for SpeedZone and a souvenir shirt design from Bakersfield worn by Don Macgowan of Quick-Times magazine (RIGHT)

Return to the Top of the page

Getting it waaaay up there on the launch, Mission's Jim Isherwood lifts the front wheels on his '67 Belvedere and has so much fun he does it again on the 2-3 shift, enroute to a 9.37 - 127.55 mph clocking

LEFT: Pat Byron burns out in his slick-looking 6-second C/Dragster, while on the RIGHT, Marshall Dawson backs up from his burnout

LEFT: Dawson launches hard in his blown alcohol BAE-powered Pontiac Firebird, and on the RIGHT we've got Taren Smith leaving the line in her Top Dragster

A pair of shots of the Lanz Racing doorslammer: burning out on the right and launching hard against Marty Zazula's blown alky dragster on the left.

LEFT: Turning the camera towards the stands for a moment allowed us to get this shot of three women intently studying the action. I could tell you a story about two of them.... but then I'd have to kill myself. So we'll just leave that vignette for the archives. RIGHT: And just in the nick of time, Darin Bay comes smoking into the frame in the Twig Zeigler nitro funny car.

It's Todd Losenko in the Steve Pleuger owned and tuned "Jolly Rogers" car in the other lane and he lays down a long, hard burnout before blasting off to a 6.00 - 235.56 pass in a losing effort to Bay's 5.85 - 246.03 effort

In the upper pair of photos, we see Tim Nemeth executing a big honkin' burnout in his "Iceman" Mustang, then it all comes undone in the bottom pair as an oil leak forces him to shutoff and get pushed back behind the line in his semifinal pairing against Tim Boychuk

LEFT: Benefitting from Nemeth's misfortune, Boychuk takes a solo into the final round, with a very strong 5.72 at 250.62 mph to set low e.t. and top speed of the meet. RIGHT: Quickly following after a short cleanup of Nemeth's oil, the Northwest BB/Funny Cars are out again, with Ron "Tikiman" Huegli burning out first

LEFT: While the paint on the "Hart Breaker" cars is beautiful to look at, it's very difficult to photograph at the best of times, and today wasn't one of those times. The end result looks like something taken with an instamatic back in the 80's. From the ridiculous to the sublime: back to the real world of 2011 digital photography, with an attractive subject in the foreground, another photo wretch trying to hide in the background and the winlight and scoreboard still glowing in the distance

LEFT: It's "King 'Kuda" hisself, as Randy Parker blazes the hides in his purple primered 'Cuda flopper. RIGHT: Nanaimo's Brent Murray starts heading out of the groove once again in his "Damn Yankee" car, but kept it straight enough to take the winlight over Parker with a 7.32 - 188.36 decision over Parker's breakout (by one hundredth of a second!) 6.84 - 207.37 timeslip

If one's good, then two must be that much better, eh? Here's two shots of Royce Taylor executing the smokey burnout in his Mustang: one by myself, one with Greg Howland putting "Zeus's" nose into the shot

There's a lot of captions..... trust me, a LOT of captions for these two pics, but in everyone's best interests, I'll just leave it up to the viewers to draw their own conclusions

LEFT: Russ Parker launched the "High Bucks IV" Mustang on what appeared to be a good pass, but faded to a 9-second clocking. RIGHT: Yet another weird golfcart as a firetruck version rolls by

Two of the Rocky Mountain funny car gang come out next, with Arvid Fonstad laying down a big burnout in his "Happy Hour" 'Stang on the left, while Norm Kolwich comes off the line in his '53 'Vette in the right side pic

LEFT: Lighting up the tires bigtime, Eddy Plazier lays down another big burnout in his '37 'Chevy flopper. CENTER: Getting directions from his crew, Cory Kincaid backs up to the line and RIGHT: blasts off to a losing 7.26 - 195.39 to Plazier's 6.96 - 187.22 winner

Showing how much he loves a good burnout, Calgary's Joe Delehay lays down a long, smokey one prior to the backup to his career best 5.99 - 244 pass that set a new Western Canada record for Pro Mod cars. The backup pass? "Only" a 6.00 - 242.78. Only....

LEFT: Lighting up the tires before she lights up the scoreboard, is Maple Valley, WA's Yvonne Lucas in her gorgeous '68 Camaro Pro Mod. RIGHT: Similarly smoking them up is Dale Pedersen in his turbo car.

LEFT: Leaving Pedersen well in arrears, Lucas slowed slightly from her earlier string of mid 6.30 passes, but still put up a solid 6.42 - 221.13 on the boards to move into the final round of Pro Street against Joe Delehay. Pedersen clocked a decent, but losing 6.61 - 221.34 to show that he's not that far off the mark. RIGHT: We better get this shot of the Rocky Mountain Funny Car group's "music and dance" truck before they head home for Alberta

LEFT: Another Delehay burnout? Must be the final round, which means.... RIGHT: that Yvonne Lucas is right behind him in the other lane, warming the tires for her Bambi vs. Godzilla match

You guessed it: Joe Delehay pulling away to the Pro Street win with a strong 6.09 - 241.15 over Yvonne Lucas' fading 6.44 - 218.34 effort

"Insanity on two wheels" could be an apt description for what happens when you mate an oversize Harley engine with 100% nitromethane and throw on a rider with an obvious death wish. Believe it or not, he kept this bike upright when the front wheel finally came down and coasted through the traps with a 10-second clocking. Just a typical pass for a Top Fuel bike

LEFT: Doing his final burnout of the weekend, Edmonton's Eddy Plazier prepares to take the win in the Rocky Mountain Nostalgia Funny Car Association division over rookie (first race ever!) Norm Kolwich. RIGHT: Here are the two opponents backing up before their final round battle

Leaving first and crossing the finish line first, Kolwich had the victory in his grasp.... except for the unfortunate aspect of the dreaded "breakout" as he ran just two hundredths of a second too quick and his 6.88 - 203.80 was just a tad too good, giving the win to Plazier's slightly slower 7.04 - 196.85 pass

One thing the BB/Funny Cars do very well is burnouts, and here's two shots of the same burnout by Ron Huegli in his "Tiki Warrior" prepping for the final round - and in fact, there's a third shot of him blazing the tires past mid-track as Randy Parker (in the near lane) tries to keep pace before their race. For the record: Huegli took the win with a 6.88 - 200.22 over Parker's hurting 7.48 - 131.15

And then there were two.... nitro funny cars that is, to fight over the final round victory, with (LEFT) Darin Bay and (RIGHT) Tim Boychuk doing their last burnouts of the weekend. Hold on a minute... what is that guy doing standing in the middle of the track, playing chicken with Boychuk's flopper? Oh... it's Rich Carlson. Never mind.

LEFT: Pulling into the staging beams side by side, Boychuk (far side) and Bay (near lane) prepare to race for the Canadian National Open victory in AA/Funny Car. RIGHT: Launching hard, Edmonton's Tim Boychuk wheels the "Troy Lee Designs" Firebird flopper to a winning 5.81 - 243.90 lap over Bay's close, but no cigarillo, 5.87 - 245.49

Return to the Top of the page

---