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The latest update as of June 26, 2010
The Department of Corrections is in session... again
Another day, another mistake. Around here they just keep on coming. As I've said more times than I care to remember, never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Or any story. Good, bad or ugly. Anyways, where do we start with the mea culpas this morning?
First off, the Doug Doucette Pro Fuel Dragster is not being driven by Winnipeg's Scott Murray. It's not even being driven by the driver numbered on the wing, Scott Palmer (who's been driving it off and on for the past year or so). The Doucette Racing injected nitro dragster will be piloted this weekend by none other than Spencer Massey. Yes, that Spencer Massey. The one driving the second Mitch King Top Fuel car.
What's next? The Calgary event coverage last weekend produced a raft of wrongs, and they've continued to float in during the week. The latest one came courtesy of a relative of one of the diesel truck drivers that match raced throughout the weekend.
Because of the event advertising that bannered the Diesel Hot Rod Association as being one of the featured attractions, I naturally assumed (and that word gets me into more trouble than I care to think about) that the big rigs I saw were provided by the association. They, in fact, were not, and it was a very last minute move on the part of Terral and Dan of Lucky 13 Racing to convert their oval track trucks to safely navigate the drag strip.
The main point raised by my correspondent was that the Lucky 13 trucks have NO connection to the D.H.R.A. and that group did nothing to help the event. They provided no vehicles and while I'm not sure why this happened, the fact is that the only two big rigs were those modified at the last minute and brought out by the Lucky 13 folks. And they did put on quite a show for the fans, one that was well received and definitely added to the show. Thanks for the input and corrections to Brenda.
Who's next? Oh, small item here. Tim Nemeth's "Iceman" Mustang Prostalgia funny car is a 1969 model, not 1970 as I've been reporting for the last month or two. Small mistake, but still a mistake. And I've been told by Dean Murdoch about all the changes and problems for the "Mill Road Boys" team of Steve Nichols over the past few weeks.
The all-Chevy theme that I mentioned yesterday took a big change later in the day as they swapped in the repaired 426 Hemi that they've been running this year until both of their hemi engines ended up hurt after last weekend's NItroJam event at Salt Lake City. Emergency parts orders and an awful lot of work by crew chief Ray Zeller in the few days between IHRA events got everything back together yesterday afternoon and the engine swap was made shortly after I walked past their pits and snapped pics of the Chevy engine in the frame rails.
Anymore to report on Bob? Nothing that immediately comes to mind.... oh hold on, the consensus is that this Rocky Mountain Nationals is the 8th annual, not 9th as I've previously reported. Another small detail, but they all count, don't they? But that's it for now, so we'll close this section until the next faux pas shows up and then we'll just add a paragraph or two or three of corrections. This truly will be a "stay tuned" section.
Oh geez, just remembered the Ashcroft stuff I wrote on Thursday and a few misunderstandings entered my thought processes as I wrote it. I've made some changes to the story and will pretty much leave it at that. One impression I want to correct though is that I'm NOT slagging the Eagle Motorplex people in any way and I wish them nothing but success for their July 10 - 11 AHRA Sportsman Series race. With the classes and features announced it looks like a winner and if the weather works too, then we could have quite a race up in the desert.
It's time to direct our attention to the matters at hand, namely the Rocky Mountain Nationals so move over to the event pages via the Edmonton button in the upper left corner of this page or through the Features button. Unless we have some mistakes to correct, or something major happens at the NHRA races happening in Norwalk, Ohio, Woodburn, Oregon and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Other than the Pro Mod crashes at Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Norwalk, or the broken neck suffered by Canuck Pro Mod ace Tony Pontieri. Or the crash by Roger Burgess at the same event. Luckily the injury suffered by Pontieri is not considered to be either life-threatening or altering and he should recover fully. The car, not so much. More news as it comes in.
The news from Edmonton is that we're still racing waaay past dark, in fact, waaaay past midnight. Like the saying goes: it ain't over til it's over, and it ain't ever going to be over, or at least it feels that way. Somebody find me a pillow. I'm done......
AHRA - The gift that keeps on giving
While moseying through the staging lanes earlier this afternoon, snapping pics of the assembling throng of West Coast Pro Mod cars, I happened upon one of the principals of drag racing in Calgary. We commiserated over the failure of the engine in a friend's car, (that he was crewing for) then the discussion turned inevitabily to the major item on everyone's mind in Southern Alberta. What is happening with the AHRA situation?
All sorts of stories are flying around; lies, rumours, innuendo, and then plain old facts. At times though, it becomes difficult to separate fact from fiction as both types blur the distinctions between myth and reality in this case. It was reported today, by a reliable source, that an attempt to serve legal papers on the officers of the AHRA earlier this week in Spokane Valley, Washington was unsuccessful due to the apparent closing of the office and the disappearance of the officers.
When it was pointed out that a media release was issued on Wednesday, hailing the upcoming sportsman series race at Ashcroft's Eagle Motorplex, the quick answer was, "You can post anything on the inernet from anywhere" and that is so true. Additionally, the internal affairs investigation by the police department in Panama City, Florida into the dealings of one of their officers, Rod Saint, the erstwhile President of AHRA, is apparently ongoing.
Earlier today, while talking with a well-known drag racing journalist from eastern Canada, it was revealed that the Toronto Motorsport Park event being held next weekend is showcasing less and less AHRA involvement as the days go by. There's still a couple of AHRA logos on the event poster and track website, but nothing more than that and no mention of the association in any media releases. Frankly, the wise decision for the track and promoter Neil Armstrong would be to establish a large and well-insulated buffer zone between themselves and the AHRA and all its legal troubles.
Nothing else to report on the association that never was (in this century) so let's turn our attention back to a real race that's going on as we write this and appears to be headed for a successful second day of qualifying and Nitro Thunder this evening.
To see previous updates go to the What's Old page