FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Penwell Knights Raceway

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Friday qualifying - Session One

(LEFT) Making his season debut in the "Blown Cent-Less" car, New Mexico's Ray Stringer jumped right into contention with a #3 qualifying spot in the "A" field, courtesy of a strong 4.168 - 178.50 pass.

(RIGHT Continuing his string of dominating runs in 2020, Funny Car Chaos points leader Ken Singleton in the "high Risk" car, clocked another low qualifying number with the only 3-second pass on Friday, a very strong 3.845 - 199.29 to cover the field by more than two tenths of a second. Without Terry Haddock to contend with, it looks like the only way he can lose is if he overpowers the track, or has a very late - or too early light. Or, as he did last week in San Antonio, cross the centerline to give away the win.

(LEFT) After a great start to the season with a win in the "B" field at the season opener at Pine Valley Raceway, Steve Vang's fortunes have diminished considerably with a first round loss at last week's event in San Antonio. At that race he pushed hard on the pedal in his "Wicked Weekend Warrior", and ended up in the #7 spot in the "A" field, and an early exit. On Friday at this race he's sitting at the top of the "B" field with a 4.624 - 150.50 and is looking for a better finish in today's eliminations.

(RIGHT) Making his season debut on the Funny Car Chaos circuit, Oklahoma's Fred Farndon punched out a decent 4.387 - 166.98 in his "Play It LOUD" entry. That was good enough for #5 overall and a spot in the "A" field after the second session of qualifying.

(LEFT Still trying to work out the bugs in his "Passin' Gas" entry, Damon Kuhn limped his way to a bottom of the field (#16) spot with a sub-par 6.415 - 98.86 clocking. He's still got one more chance today to solidify a spot in the "B" field.

(RIGHT Making his presence felt right away, Kebin Kinsley launched hard in the nitro burning "Wild Child" Mustang, but shutoff early to a 4.476 - 116.16 pass, putting him in the #7 position on the ladder after the first two qualifying sessions.

Friday qualifying - Session Two

(LEFT) Action continued with the second session under the lights and first our of the lanes was Ken Singleton in the "High Risk" car. To make things interesting, a $200 bounty has been posted for anyone who can beat him in eliminations tonight. And if the bounty isn't claimed, Singleton gets the money. Quite an incentive all-round. At the end of the evening, Singleton still sat atop the ladder in the #1 position.

(RIGHT) A pair of cars that ended up near the bottom of the list came up next, with Jordan Ballew in the familiar "Ballew Thunder" (near lane) putting down a mediocre 5.005 - 138.25, "good" enough for the #14 position, and in the far lane, Randy Meuller in the "Crazy Randy" entry carded an even worse 6.100 - 119.21 for the #15 spot.

(LEFT) In a great side-by-side matchup, Chuck Loftin in the near lane, made a great pass in his blown fueld "Motivation" Mustang, ringing up a 4.095 - 162.51 for the #2 spot behind Ken Singleton. In the far lane, Ray Stringer nearly kept pace in his "Blown Cent-Less" blown alky car, with a 4.168 - 178.50 for the #3 spot.

(RIGHT) Filling the last spot in the "A" field, Chris Schnedier pushed the Troxel & Schneider "Brutus" to a to hold down the #8 spot on the ladder.

(LEFT) After a so-so weekend at San Antonio, Dustin Bradford got off to a good start with a decent 4.448 - 159.01 in the family's American Dream" Challenger, taking the #6 spot on the ladder, well into the "A" field.

(RIGHT) This side-by-side pairing saw both cars end up near the bottom of the ladder, with (near lane) Jeff Cameron in the "Magnolia Missile" putting down a 4.726 - 148.08 for the #12 spot, and Shane Blanton in the "Bad Company" car one spot lower at #13, courtesy of a 4.780 - 146.48 timeslip.

(LEFT) No off-road excrursions for the Colorado-based "High Heaven" team this weekend, as pilot Keith Jackson got the Camaro stopped without incident at the end of his 4.708 - 117.83 pass, that left him well short of the "A" field at #11 after the first two sessions.

(RIGHT A grat example of a pan-blur shot captures Kebin Kinsley launching with the flames up in his "Wild Child". At the end of the session, he sat in the #7 spot in the "A" field going into today's final qualifying session.

This picture is a little out of the ordinary, but having a "stick man" built out of scrap metal seems an appropriate good luck icon for the Penwell Knights starting line.

Saturday Final Qualifying Session

With only 16 cars in the pits and two 8-car fields, everyone was guaranteed at least a first round runner-up... if they could make it to the starting line for the opening round of eliminations. Breakage has plagued several Funny Car Chaos events recently and this race was no exception as several cars failed to appear for the late afternoon last-ditch qualifier. As so often happens in this third qualifier, a number of racers were expected to step up over their Friday performances, and they certainly did.

(LEFT) Leading off the round was Steve Vang in his familiar "Wicked Weekend Warrior" but he failed to improve on his previous best of 4.624 - 150.50 and consequently fell from #9 (top of the "B" field), to #11 on the list, and a tougher first-round of eliminations matchup.

(RIGHT) Despite being at the top of the ladder, Ken Singleton in his "High Risk" entry faced an extra challenge, not only trying to retain his #1 qualifying position, but fight off all comers to retain the $200 bounty placed on him. He didn't up the ante and stayed in what might become a precarious position at the top of the board.

(LEFT) Trying to stay in the "A" field, Dustin Bradford in the "American Dram" improved slightly from a Friday 4.482 - 159.01 to a 4.428 - 158.54 pass, that kept him in the #6 position temporarily. However, when the smoke cleared at the end of the round, he'd fallen three notches down to #9 and top of the "B" field. That was probably a better outcome as it gave him lane choice going into the first round of eliminations, and a much easier opponent.

(RIGHT) Following his so-so pass on Friday, Keith Jackson in the Colorado-based "High Heaven" Camaro, stepped up from an early shutoff 4.708 - 118.93, to a much better 4.169 - 181.60. That moved him up from #11 overall to #5 and the middle of the "A" field.

(LEFT) No movement upward for the Troxel & Schneider team, as Chris Schneider stayed with his previous 4.519 - 156.47 clocking in the "Brutus" entry and fell two spots from the bottom of the "A" field to #2 in the "B" field. A smart tactical move or just good luck?

(RIGHT) Not content with his previous day's 4.095 - 162.51 time that placed him #2 on the board, Chuck Loftin pushed the "Motivation" Mustang to a better 3.944 - 192.06 that saw him drop one spot to #3 in the "A" field.

Two shots (burnout and launch) of Kebin Kinsley's hard running "Wild Child" Mustang as he tried to greatly improve his chances over Friday's mediocre 4.476 - 116.61 early shutoff pass that left him near the bottom of the "A" field. He let it all hang out, clocking a provisional low e.t. and top speed of the meet at a booming 3.744 - 209.69 to let everyone know that he was going to be very tough to beat in eliminations.

Saturday Eliminations - Round One

Saturday Eliminations - Round Two

Saturday Eliminations - FINALS

(LEFT) Leading off the final round were the "B" field finalists, and it was Steve Vang (far lane) in his "Wicked Weekend Warrior" taking the win with a solid 4.394 - 161.12 pass over the Reinart & Johnson "Prairie Fire", driven by Nick Johnson, who trailed with a 4.574 - 151.57 clocking. Vang left first by eight hundredths, and padded his lead all the way down to the finish line.

(RIGHT) To bring the fourth event on the FUNNY CAR CHAOS schedule to a close, we had the "A" field finalist, Chuck Loftin speeding into the night in his "Motivation" Mustang to a winning time of 3.830 - 195.14. Not shown - because he was back in the pits with a broken rearend - was the other finalist, Kebin Kinsley and his "Wild Child" Mustang. A rather anticlimatic ending to what was otherwise a great show.