3rd annual FUNNY CAR CHAOS Classic

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

From a list of pre-entries that peaked at 54, there were 50 (mostly) ready to run cars in the pits at the Texas Motorplex when qualifying started on Friday afternoon. Things started a little slowly, with some breakage, notably Jade Cook who broke her ProCharger drive on the burnout, and three single runs before the action heated up when the first pair of nitro burners amped up the volume. But it took an NHRA Top Alcohol car, the 2022 FCC champion, Kirk Williams to break the performance ice with the first 3-second run of the weekend, a 3.674 - 209.17. That number only held up for a few minutes, until another NHRA top ten runner, Kyle Smith, took over the top spot with a great 3.637 - 208.08 that held the top spot at the conclusion of the session.

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Qualifying Round ONE

(LEFT) The first pair out of the lanes became a solo as Jade Cook broke on the burnout, leaving Chris Schneider in the John Troxel-tuned "Brutus" Mustang to be first down the track. His opening effort of 4.233 - 171.22 was a solid start to the weekend.

(RIGHT) This was planned bye run, as Jordan Ballew didn't have an opponent to line up alongside. He put down a 4.436 - 158.79 in the "Ballew Thunder" for a sure to be temporary hold on the #2 spot on the ladder.

(LEFT) Another bye run came up next, as the Oldsmobile-bodied "Blown Retirement" car, driven by Robin Rish, had a so-so start to his season with a 5.027 - 143.10 clocking.

(RIGHT) Lighting up the tires with a hard burnout, Alex Barker in the "Back In Black" GTO didn't make it to the starting line as the crew shut him off after the burnout.

(LEFT) Things got very loud, very quickly, as the blown fuel "Nimrod" of Joey Haas laid down a decent 4.232 - 122.08 pass that would have been much quicker and faster if the chutes hadn't come out at the 60' mark.

(RIGHT) Running in the lane opposite to Haas was the injected nitro funny car out of the Randy Meyer Racing stable. Driven by Julie Nataas, the car had an eminently forgettable appearance at last year's Classic, but this time around they showed they'd done their homework and the 4.049 - 144.55 jumped to the top of the ladder and gave them something to tune from.

(LEFT) The fuel cars were followed by a pair of alky burners, with Danny Smith in his Top Alcohol-legal "Snafu" (near lane) paired up with Wayne Hofmann in the new body and wrap "China Syndrome" car. Hofmann didn't get very far under power, coasting to an 8.113 e.t. at 51 mph.

(RIGHT) Faring even worse was Smith as he left before the tree was activated and didn't receive a timeslip.

(LEFT) Sticking with his tried and true "Hombre" Vega-bodied entry, veteran Mike Buchanan didn't get the numbers he was looking with a mediocre 5.476 - 108.43 coming up on the scoreboard.

(RIGHT) After years of running the short wheelbase Vega-bodied "Scorpion", Justin Herbst updated to a later body style and new "Executioner" name. His first run ended early with instant tire shake, leading to a 10-second clocking.

(LEFT) The ever-improving "Maximum Overdrive" entry of Smiley Cordero burned out before launching hard and moving to the top of the list with an almost-in-the-3's 4.006 - 183.86 pass.

(RIGHT) Running alongside Cordero was Coloradan Doug Schneider in the unlettered "Milliken Monster". He had to pedal early, leading to a 4.819 e.t. but he kept the loud pedal down to the finish line with a 192.00 mph trap speed.

Back for another season of competition, Shane 'Smokey' Blanton had a rough start to the race, pedaling the "Bad Company" several times enroute to a 4.747 - 132.63 clocking. The bad news didn't end there though, as the engine gave up and laid down enough oil to halt proceedings for 45 minutes while the cleanup crew went to work.

(LEFT) The Heritage Series-legal blown fuel Plymouth Arrow "Illinois Thunder' of Levi Keenen to a good 4.074 - 170.86 time to grab a spot near the top of the ladder. However, with many cars remaining in the staging lanes, it wasn't going to keep him in the "A" field very long.

(RIGHT) Making the switch from Fuel Altered competition to Funny Car racing, Keith Zimmerer debuted the "Penny Pincher 02" and immediately broke into the 3-second zone with a great 3.910 - 173.74 effort.

After his first attempt saw the car shut off before staging, the FCC race director allowed Alex Barker to make another attempt and it went better, but not great. The final verdict was a 5.136 - 114.45 with dropped cylinders limiting the car's performance.

Running the only blown fuel big-block Chevy in the field, New Mexico's Ray Stringer had a troubled opening pass in the "Blown Cent-Less" Oldsmobile, with the scoreboard showing a 5.550 at only 97.92 mph.

Making his Funny Car Chaos debut, Casey Geeslin brought out the good looking Camaro-bodied "Gambler" and showed that it had potential. His first pass saw him pedal his way to a 5.239 - 143.86 time.

(LEFT) Another newcomer to FCC competition was the Nova-bodied "Burnin' Love" entry of Michael Neal, who made a solo pass to a 5.892 - 121.31 timeslip.

(RIGHT) The next nitro entry was the Paul Gordon owned, John Hale driven "Red Baron". It's difficult to tell if this photo is a burnout or a launch as the car was dropping cylinders and going nowhere quickly on both. The car struggled down track to a 7-second pass.

(LEFT) Things got moving better in the next pairing as Dustin Bradford in the "American Dream" Challenger left slowly but finished fast with a 4.809 - 170.15 clocking.

(RIGHT) In the opposite lane was the early Thunderbird-bodied "Firefighter" entry, driven by Tony Arcuri and he opened his dance card with a decent 4.449 - 163.81 effort.

(LEFT) The next blown fuel car out of the lanes was the gorgeous Corvette-bodied "Cone Hunter" of Lyle Greenberg. His weekend got off to a rough start with an engine expiring on his first warmup, but the team quickly rebounded and pounded out a great 3.710 - 204.32 to jump into the #3 spot in the "A" field.

(RIGHT) Having a tough time after her burnout, Christine Chambless had the crew push her back to the starting line. She was able to get the car into forward gear and was able to lay down a solid 4.073 - 179.82 in her NHRA-legal Top Alcohol car.

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OUTLAW FUEL ALTEREDS - Qualifying Round ONE

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Qualifying Round TWO

(LEFT Two "reformed" Fuel Altered racers faced off with Keith Zimmerer in his "Penny Pincher 02"

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Qualifying Round THREE (Final)

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - "A" Field - Eliminations Round ONE

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - "B" Field - Eliminations Round ONE

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - "C" Field - Eliminations Round ONE

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - "D" Field - Eliminations Round ONE

OULAW FUEL ALTEREDS - Qualifying Round TWO

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - "A" Field - Eliminations Round TWO

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - "B" Field - Eliminations Round TWO

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - "C" Field - Eliminations Round TWO

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - "D" Field - Eliminations Round TWO

Two of the non-qualifiers, John Hale in the Paul Gordon owned/tuned "Red Baron" nitro flopper (near lane), and newcomer to the FCC series, Jonathan Johnson in the "Parts Slinger" (far lane, mostly obscured), met in a Grudge Match. Adding a little spice to the show was the $2500 side bet between the two teams. Neither driver lit up the scoreboards with good numbers, as Hale's lost weekend continued with at least three cylinders out on the launch, leading to a 7.029 - 68.68 timeslip. Johnson took the winlight with a 5.025 - 116.90 to win the bet and go home with something to show for his first appearance on the circuit.

OUTLAW FUEL ALTEREDS - Eliminations Round ONE

Running a "Chicago Style" format where every car ran in the first round, and the two quickest came back for the second, (final) round, 12 of the 15 cars that started the event made an appearance. With the 3.85 index in effect, the five nitro burners were going to have to be careful not to break out and miss the chance to appear for the big bucks in the final.

"D" FIELD FINAL

The "D" field was fairly tightly knit, from top qualifier Tony Arcuri, in at 4.19, down to the bump spot holder, Shane 'Smoky' Blanton with a 4.612 e.t. The field would have been tighter if two cars hadn't shown up broken, Chris Schneider and Danny Smith, who both ran in the low 4.20's. With the index set at 3.99 (two tenths below the #1 qualifier's e.t.), there wasn't much chance of anyone breaking out, but the final round winner, Alex Barker, (far lane) in the GTO bodied "Back In Black", teased with the quickest e.t. of eliminations at 4.121 - 170.38 in the semifinal.

His final round opponent, Jade Cook, (near lane), in the "Nemesis" Dodge stayed in the 4.20's in qualifying and the first two rounds of eliminations before smoking the tires on the launch in the final. Barker ran into problems a little further down track, but was able to pedal quicker and get to the finish first with a 5.034 - 166.67, that easily covered Cook's later 5.726 - 153.01 effort.

"C" FIELD FINAL

A rather unique pairing came to the line in the final round, with Ray Stringer (near lane) in the "Blown Cent-Less" Oldsmobile facing the "Mighty Mouse" entry of series newcomer Anthony Whitfield in the money round. Both racers were running Chevy power, both burning nitro, but Whitfield was running a small-block, while Stringer had a big-block between the frame rails. Stringer had lane choice with a very good 4.063 in the semifinal, while Whitfield took an easy 5-second win over his redlighting opponent, Smiley Cordero.

There wasn't much doubt who was going to turn on the winlight from the 60' mark to the finish line, as Stringer easily pulled away from Whitfield, stopping the clocks with a 4.270 - 164.22 over the trailing 4.685 - 160.81 of the Mighty Mouse. The victory was especially gratifying for Stringer as it was his first at the Funny Car Chaos Classic and proved that Chevy power on nitro is a viable combination in the 21st century.

OUTLAW FUEL ALTERED FINAL

The original 16 entries in the Outlaw Fuel Altered class were trimmed down to 12 after the two qualifying rounds. Then the "quick 12" paired up for round one of eliminations in the "Chicago Style" format. That dictates that the two quickest winning cars from the round race for the event title. The quickest car of that round didn't win his pairing, as Raymond Dawson broke out of the 3.85 (or was it 3.80?) index with a 3.798 - 189.75 pass. The beneficiary of his faux pas was Scott Pareso (switching over from FCC to the Outlaw Fuel Altered group), who took a winlight with a solid 3.995 - 176.04 to punch his ticket to the final. Joining him was the quickest winning driver of the round, Jimmy Jones, who tickled the index with a 3.861 - 161.23 (note the low speed/early shutoff).

Both racers left together with great lights (.030 to .034), but Jimmy Jones, (near lane) pushed the "Texas Tremor" to a close win over opponent John Broussard (far lane), in his "Purple Haze" entry. The margin at the finish line was less than two hundredths, as Jones' 4.003 - 186.77 was just enough to hold off Broussard's very good 4.026 - 173.92 pass. It was a great finish to the Outlaw Fuel Altered show.

"B" FIELD FINAL

With a brand new car and new name ("Man O' War II"), Oklahoma's Shayne Lawson (near lane), reeled off two consecutive low 3.70's to reach the final against the blown fuel "Nimrod" of Joey Haas. Haas had rocked the test 'n tune session on Thursday with a 3.49, shutting off early, and looked to be set to give the "A" field some serious trouble. However, his best qualifying run, 3.683, placed him in the "B" field before he stepped up with a 3.585 in the first round. He lucked his way into the final before dropping a bomb on everyone at the 'Plex, blasting out a 3.446 - 247.04 to bring the house down and set low e.t. and top speed (by a bunch), for the win. Lawson's good try of 3.794 - 189.83 came up well short of matching Haas's run.

"A" FIELD FINAL

In the final race of the event, the three-time unlucky FCC finalist, Kebin Kinsley, (far lane), driving the "War Wagon" broke through with his quickest and fastest run of the weekend, a 3.446 - 231.65 to turn on the winlight. He came into the final holding lane choice over the NHRA Top Alcohol racer, Kyle Smith, who gave it a very good effort, leaving first by .034, and running another consistent 3.60-range pass, this time a 3.613 - 208.67 to come up a few car lengths short at the finish line. Despite the horsepower disparity, with Kinsley running a "big show" engine (twin mags, big fuel pump), Smith's high rpm blown alky car was a more than worthy opponent for the blown fuel monster that Kinsley was piloting.