NOTE: Refresh this page each time you visit it to ensure you see the latest updates
The latest update as of June 15, 2009
The Monday Morning Armchair Crewchief
Englishtown Pro Mods Go Wild
Despite the weather challenges and a barely full field, the NHRA Pro Mods put on a tremendous show at the Supernationals. Running well into the evening yesterday after a series of rain delays, crashes and oildowns, the eventual winner, Ray Commisso, among many others, put on a display that will be long remembered.
Coming out of the low qualifier position (5.894 - 244.60), Toronto, Ontario's Commisso set a new national record with a backup pass of 5.896 at even faster 245+ mph in the first round. That was short-lived however, as later in the round, Tommy Gray took it away with a slightly quicker 5.882 (backed up with his best qualifying effort of 5.933).
Commisso ran a very consistent 5.894 - 244.83, then unloaded a "can you top this?" new national record in the semi-finals, with a 5.881, nipping Gray's record by a mere one-thousandth of a second, at an even-faster 245.49. Making the victory all the sweeter, he buried Gray's tire-shaking, out-0f-shape 18-second pass in the process.
So what could Commisso do in the final to top any of his previous achievements on the day? How about win the event? How about set another new national record and low e.t. of the meet? How about set top speed? Well, in this case, two out of three was definitely good enough, as Commisso ran his best of the weekend, 5.856 - 245.58 to down Danny Rowe by a full car length and a bit, and only missed the trifecta in the speed department.
Top speed of the meet was set by the insanely powerful twin-turbo '68 Camaro of Indiana's Brad Personett, at a very fast 251.34 in a first-round losing effort. Of note though was Personett's competitive e.t. of 5.959 indicated that this one-off combo is getting close to being a serious threat to the blower contingent in the Pro Mod wars.
And On the Other Hand...
we have the IHRA Pro Modified field of seven. Seven? Yes, seven cars for an ostensibly 16-car field at a national event. After seeing what had to be the smallest field in IHRA history at the Texas Nationals two weeks ago, with just six cars competing in the official show, IHRA is starting to look pretty lame in the class that was virtually the feature attraction just a few years ago. Fields of 30, 40, even 50 cars put on insanely competitive shows where just qualifying was a major victory in itself.
Doing the math, after four events on the IHRA "gold trail", a grand (another bit of hyperbole) total of 42 cars have appeared on the qualifying lists. This has been for sixteen car fields. An average of 10.5 cars for 16-car fields. Hmm....
What this drop in competitors portends for the balance of the season is anyone's guess, and I'm betting the pits at Edmonton's Castrol Raceway aren't going to be too crowded. What may save that show are the regulars of the West Coast Pro Mod Association filling the gaps left by the eastern-based IHRA Pro Mod teams.
Adding salt to the IHRA's wounds at the Amalie Oil Texas Nats was the presence of a locally-based "Outlaw" Pro Mod class, running to the eighth-mile and over-subscribing the eight-car field with 17 racers, all from deep in the heart of Texas. While it's hard to judge fan reaction from this distance, I've got to figure that the local outlaws definitely outran the "real" pro mods in the popularity race.
At least we had another Canadian winner in Pro Mod as the '53 Corvette of Grand Pointe, MB's Kenny Lang came from behind and took a less than one foot victory in the final over Ed Hoover. Lang had to fight his way to the win, coming off a lousy series of qualifying runs, with a best of 6.23, but dialed it in during eliminations, with three consecutive 6.1-second passes, all well into the 230+ mph range.
By the way, this was the second straight final round for Lang, the defending IHRA Pro Mod World Champion, who got off to a rather slow start to the season with a first round holeshot loss (.240 light!), but has been in the final round at three straight races, took over the points lead at Dallas and found the winner's circle at Tulsa.
Come to think of it, I guess we've got a first with Canadian racers taking both major association's Pro Modified titles at national events on the same weekend. Congratulations guys!
Yet another sweep for Canuck power
Tulsa's IHRA Sooner Nationals saw another Canadian car winning, in Top Fuel no less, with Edmonton's Tim Boychuk driving and the Paton family, Barry and Todd (Ontario, occasionally) tuning the Tim Horton's Racing dragster to its first victory of the 2009 season.
After a slow start at the first three events, with first round losses in Baton Rouge and Rockingham, the team broke the drought with a round win at the Texas race and took a close final round win over perennial contender Bruce Litton at Tulsa. With the win, Boychuk moved up to 4th from 6th in the points standings.
Coming out of literally nowhere in a hurry last season, debuting in the seat of the Paton car at the Rocky Mountain Nationals in July, and winning his first round of competition at that event, he took his lumps at the next three races before breaking through in a big way to win the North American Nationals at Epping and the IHRA-season ending World Finals at venerable Rockingham to finish a fast-rising 7th in the Top Fuel points standings.
Boychuk even found the time (and money) to compete at five NHRA events late in the season, starting with three straight DNQ's and moving forward to first-round losses at Las Vegas and Pomona to round out his rookie season.
To see previous updates go to the What's Old page