FUNNY CAR CHAOS - EDDYVILLE RACEWAY PARK - Oskaloosa, IA

NOTE: Click on the thumbnails to display the full-size images

After taking a six-week break since the last event at Cordova Dragway, the FUNNY CAR CHAOS gang got back in action over the weekend at Eddyville Raceway Park. A full contingent of cars - 33 in all - including some new faces and old faces in new cars made for a great weekend of racing. There was some added - and unplanned and decidedly unwelcome - excitement as not one, but two, cars went off the end of the track (no chutes) and deep into the 8-ft high corn field. Luckily there were no physical injuries but Dave Gallegos' "Nitro Clown" AA/FC is history.

With all the top ten cars in the points standings in attendance, plus a bunch of other series regulars, the 33 racers that made the tow to the event were ready to put on a show for the Iowa fans. As a bonus, the Funny Car Chaos managers added a "D' Field shootout, in addition to the three 8-car fields already scheduled. Our coverage starts with the first round of qualifying early on the Friday evening.

One very good bit of good news to report was the return of Ken Singleton to the circuit, after his devastating accident at the season opener at the Texas Motorplex. While he won't be driving, he's back as a tuning consultant for Shayne Lawson's Mustang-bodied Man O' War car. Everyone was overjoyed to see Singleton back with his friends and former competitors at the Chaos.

Friday - 1st Qualifying Session

(LEFT) First out of the lanes was the newly twin-turbocharged '77 Pontiac Grand-Am "Rat-A-Tude" of Daniel Butherus and after a late leave and a sluggish 60' time, he was able to get it going downtrack and stopped the clocks at 4.556 - 162.28 to start his weekend.

(RIGHT) Coming out of Illinois, Vic Tiffin in the Tiffin & Hess "Gold Digger" Mustang was putting out some big nitro noise and looked ready to lay down a big number on the well-prepped track. He launched decently, but never really got up on the tire and slowed on the top end to a 4.657 - 124.14 clocking.

(LEFT) Out next was Nebraska's Matt Nissen in the "Runnin' Down A Dream" Corvette, with a big-block Chevy under the body. Running in the 4-second zone as everyone had up to that point, the scoreboards read 4.540 - 161.07 for Nissen on his first pass.

(RIGHT) Coming back on tour after missing three races due to major engine damage at the season opener, Nick Johnson brought the Camaro-bodied "Razzle Dazzle" back out and laid down a decent 4.323 - 163.10 on his first pass in four months.

(LEFT) Always ready to put on a good show with the Lew Arrington tribute Mustang-bodied "Brutus" is Chris Schneider in the Troxel & Schneider entry. He did a massive burnout, was ably backed up with his Roman warrior back-up boy, but after a decent launch, the car ran out of power and limped down track to an 8-second e.t. at less than 50 mph.

(RIGHT) Taking a break from the NHRA circuit, Mike Newkirk blasted out a nearly 400 ft. burnout before backing up. But then things went sour as the crew had Mike shut the car off.

Running by himself as his opponent Mike Buchanan in the "Hombre" broke on the burnout, North Dakota's Jim Chase in the unique '55 Chevy bodied "Wicked Quick", equipped with a BIG Brad Anderson Hemi, laid down one of the best numbers of the first session. He left hard with a .987 time at 60', then pedalled it just past the 330' mark before clicking it to a 4.004 - 154.64 time, good enough for #2 on the provisional qualifying sheet.

(LEFT) All the way down from Washington State, the sharp looking "Atomic Punk" Camaro of Don Knoblauch was ready to continue his chase for the FCC championship, as he came into this event in the #5 spot in the standings. He laid down a strong burnout, then launched hard, but started drifting to the guardwall early, forcing him to shut off to a 5.026 - 96.73 pass.

(RIGHT) Another NHRA "refugee" was out next, as the Van Haeun Brothers entry, driven by Lance Van Hauen, pounded out a very good 4.068 - 172.85 after a .988 time at the 60' clocks. That placed him #3 on the list at this point.

(LEFT) A very familiar sight, the '77 Monza-bodied "Detroit Tiger" of Steve Timoszyk laid down a strong burnout before his "Call Out" match against Wayne Hofmann in the Chevy-powered "China Syndrome". Timoszyk turned on the winlight with a strong 4.283 - 165.26 that placed him well into the qualified field.

(RIGHT) Losing the Call-Out was Wayne Hofmann in the "China Syndrome" as he got a little anxious on the tree and redlighted by -.094 to hand the automatic win to Timoszyk. Hofmann made a decent pass at 4.684 - 148.27 to sit #9, but with nearly 20 cars remaining in the staging lanes.

(LEFT) One of the shorter wheelbased cars on the circuit, Justin Herbst's Monza-bodied "Scorpion" came out next and "Hot Rod Herbie" laid down one of his patented half track burnouts. The Big-Block Chevy powered entry pounded out a solid 4.654 - 146.29 to grab a provisional spot in the "B" field.

(RIGHT)

(LEFT)

(RIGHT)

(LEFT)

(RIGHT)

(LEFT)

(RIGHT)

Friday - 2nd Qualifying Session

(LEFT)

(RIGHT)

(LEFT)

(RIGHT)

(LEFT)

(RIGHT)

(LEFT)

(RIGHT)

(LEFT)

(RIGHT)

Following Friday's two qualifying sessions for the Funny Cars, the fields were set in the final session, run on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, we don't have any photos from that session, but there were a few changes from Friday's list. Biggest of those was the #7 qualifying Dave Gallegos in his "Nitro Clown" entry. Following a solid 4.080 - 175.17 pass, the chutes failed and he took a very long ride into the corn field at the end of the track. Suffice to say, the car wasn't able to show for eliminations, and that's putting it mildly.

As you can clearly see, the remains of the car will most likely never see another dragstrip. The body was trashed to the point that it appears it was being cut up for souvenirs, the chassis was pretzeled, but the running gear will probably resurface in a new car. At least we hope so for Dave and his hard-working crew. Especially the guy in the center photo.

From the photos that our friendly correspondent "BIG" Bob Snyder provided (while we wait for the results to be posted), it appears that at least two other cars came up lame and were unable to make the first round of eliminations. They included Vic Tiffin in the Tiffin & Hess "Gold Digger" and Chance Biffle in the "Bad Intentions" entry.

On the good news side, Jeff Cameron catapulted from the #27 position all the way up to #3, and first round lane choice in the "A" field in the final qualifier with a great 3.942 - 190.68 pass. Also jumping into the "A" show was Mike Newkirk, improving from his Friday best of 4.226, to a #4 qualifying 4.012 - 184.35. When the fields were set, after subtracting broken cars, the "C" group was anchored by #28 Kris Battey, with the remaining cars slotted into a "D" Field Shootout.

"A" Field - 1st Round Eliminations

Starting eliminations was the FCC points leader, Kirk Williams (right lane) as he powered past the wheelstanding "Maximum Overdrive" entry of Smiley Cordero to move into the semi-finals. Williams stayed in the 3.70-zone, after qualifying #1 at 3.715 - 204.64, and turned on the winlight with a very consistent 3.72 - 205.95 to easily cover Cordero's game effort of 4.0 at 181.6 (incomplete details available from the Facebook video of the run).

The next pair saw Clay Cunningham in the "Still Crazy" car laying down a hard burnout in the far lane (LEFT photo). His opponent, Mike Newkirk (RIGHT photo), appears to be on his way to an uncontested win as Cunningham isn't anywhere in the picture.

More burnout shots, as Lance Van Hauen punished the tires on his NHRA-legal Top Alky car (LEFT photo), while #2 qualifier (at 3.835 - 187.59), Jim Chase lit 'em up in his "Wicked Quick" '57 Chevy (RIGHT photo).

On the launch it was Chase out of the gate first (right lane), and he held it all the way to the finish line as Van Hauen (left lane) was unable to chase him down.

"B" Field - 1st Round Eliminations

After a hard burnout in the Mustang-bodied "Brutus" (LEFT photo), the Troxel & Schneider entry, with Chris Schneider at the wheel, they were able to hold off the hard charge of opponent Shayne Lawson in the later model Mustang-bodied "Man O' War" (RIGHT photo).

(LEFT) The next pair saw an instant win for Dustin Bradford in the "American Dream" (right lane), as Nick Johnson turned on the redlight in the "Razzle Dazzle" in the left lane.

(RIGHT) Making quite an impact in his first appearance on the Funny Car Chaos tour, longtime Nostalgia Top Fuel racer Tim Cullinan (right lane) in his Camaro-bodied "Irish Car Bomb" took on series regular Chuck Loftin in his "Motivation" Mustang in the left lane. Despite running a slower e.t of 4.32 - 159.69, Cullinan took the win as Loftin's much better 3.87 - 161.75 (despite an early shutoff), was simply too quick for the indexed "B" field. With the top qualifying e.t. being a 4.159, the quickest run allowed was 3.959, and Loftin's great performance was well under that mark.

(LEFT) Another newcomer to the circuit, Neil Girot in his flat black "Twist 'n Shout" entry, shown here stopping after his burnout.

(RIGHT) It looks like Girot wasn't able to provide any opposition to Steve Timoszyk and his "Detroit Tiger" Monza, as Timoszyk appeared to be running by himself in this shot. Note the heavy tire shake as he starts heading towards the guardrail just past the 60' mark.

"C" Field - 1st Round Eliminations

(LEFT) Making his first appearance of the season in a new "Rat-A-Tude" entry, with a different (turbocharged) combination, long-time FCC regular Daniel Butherus laid down a hard burnout to prep the car for his first race of the year.

(RIGHT) Nearly buried in the smoke from Butherus' burnout, Wayne Hofmann lit up the tires in the Omni-bodied "China Syndrome", paying homage to one of the names his father Al Hofmann fielded in NHRA Funny Car action in the 1980's.

(LEFT) It's not hard to guess who won this round, as Wayne Hofmann (right lane) left the line strongly, while opponent Daniel Butherus was busy putting on a show in the left lane, with the tires smoking hard and the front wheels in the air on the launch.

(RIGHT)

(LEFT)

(RIGHT)

(LEFT)

(RIGHT)

"D" Field - 1st Round Shootout

The left photo shows the finalists in the "Best Dressed Back-Up Girl" contest, and on the right, holding up the championship belt is the winner, Dave "Nitro Clown" Gallegos' daughter.

"A" Field - 2nd Round Eliminations

(LEFT) The first pair of the semi-final round saw Jeff Cameron (near lane) wheel the "Jake's Speed Shop" entry to a slight upset win over opponenet Jim Chase (far lane) as the "Wicked Quick" Chevy wasn't quite quick enough to overcome Cameron's holeshot.

(RIGHT) In a great matchup of full-on Top Alcohol floppers, Kirk Williams (near lane) overcame an early lead by opponent Mike Newkirk (far lane) and lit up the scoreboard with a great 3.70 - 206.52, for a new low e.t. and top speed of the meet. Newkirk's good try fell short as he stopped the clocks at 3.87 - 190.03, for his best run of the weekend.

"B" Field - 2nd Round Eliminations

(LEFT) Keeping up the pace, Tim Cullinan (far lane) took another winlight and advanced to the final round, as opponent Steve Timoszyk kept it close until the 330' mark, before falling back and coasting across the finish line. Cullinan's 4.21 - 164.84 was his best of the weekend as the team gradually crept up on the tuneup.

(RIGHT)

"C" Field - 2nd Round Eliminations

(LEFT)

(RIGHT)

(LEFT)

(RIGHT)

Final Round Eliminations

It was a close race off the starting line, with Chris Schneider (far lane), leaving first and holding the early lead in the "Brutus", while Tim Cullinan (near lane) had to chase him down him in the "Irish Car Bomb" Camaro. At the stripe it was Cullinan lighting up the scoreboards with a winning 4.12 - 174.22 to cover Schneider's close 4.17 - 173.68 effort. Quite a debut performance for the Illinois team.

The final race of the night featured the low qualifier Kirk Williams (near lane) facing the #3 car Jeff Cameron (far lane), and Williams completed his perfect weekend with an ultra-consistent 3.71 - 205.57 to take the trophy, the cash, and increase his points lead in the championship chase. Unfortunately for Cameron, he lost the race three different ways, as he redlighted, then crossed the centerline, before shutting off and coasting across the finish line with no time recorded.