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The latest update as of July 24, 2019

Day One of the Funny Car Chaos event at Pine Valley Raceway (Lufkin, TX)

With the extended break in posting here at NORTHERN THUNDER, we're working hard on catching up on race reports so things may be showing up somewhat out of order. The latest FUNNY CAR CHAOS event at Pine Valley took place on the July 4th weekend, so we're about three weeks late with the pictures (as always, courtesy of Bob & Ginger Snyder) and the catprions, with that information courtesy of Funny Car Chaos.

With a wide variety of race cars in attendance, ranging from the headlining Nitro Funny Cars to Jets, indexed classes and three different groups of old-style Gassers, (LEFT) there was something for everyone. On the (RIGHT) is Larry Bradford in the "American Dream" Dodge Challenger, making a qualifying pass on Friday evening.

(LEFT) Still crazy after all those years.... it's ex-Canadian Fred Farndon in the ex-Shawn Bowen (Violator) car "Play it LOUD" trying hard but ending up in the B-field with a 4.72 - 116 best in qualifying. (RIGHT) After the first qualifier for the fuel cars, it was back to the gassers, with Poison Gas in the near lane and the "Okie Twister" on the far side.

More of the Southern Gassers, Dirty Southern Gassers, and Southern Outlaw Gassers. Don't expect us to figure out who's who, or what's what. Just enjoy the pics of some real grass roots racers having some not-so-serious fun. (LEFT) It's "Gunsmoke" in the near lane and (RIGHT) it's Novadose in the near lane

(LEFT) In the second qualifying session on Friday night, Larry Bradford (near lane) paired up with Jordan Ballew in the "Ballew Thunder" Nova. Ballew made it into the B-field, while Bradford missed the cut and had to wait for the final qualifying session at noon Saturday for his last chance to make the Saturday night show.

(RIGHT) Our final picture from day one features two of the strong A-field runners, with Brandon Lewis in the "Attitude Adjuster" Camaro (near lane) putting down a very strong 4.09 - 174 mph pass to hold down the #3 spot in the A-field. On the far side is the "Motivation" Mustang of Chuck Loftin who whipped his mount to a 4.28 - 168 for the #7 slot in the A-field.

Day Two of the Funny Car Chaos event at Pine Valley Raceway (Lufkin, TX)

More gassers - On the (LEFT) it's "Rolling Thunder an A/G car, while on the (LEFT) it's the "Red Rocket" aka Pop's Gasser, running in C/Gas.

The aptly named Rambunctious" C/Gasser leads off this seven photo sequence, launching into a serious bumper-scraping wheelie that carried the front wheels high past the 60-ft clocks.

One final shot of the Gassers as the Pigford Bros. leave with the wheels up to close out their portion of the show. Then it was back to serious business as the big show was ready to kick into action.

Round One eliminations "A" field

(LEFT) With Funny Cars in the fire-up lanes, drivers suited up and ready, the racers and spectators stood for the national anthem. (RIGHT) The large crowd filled the bleachers, primed for some serious nitro-burning action on the 1/8-th mile strip.

(LEFT) Leaving hard with the wheels up, Ronny Young in the "Blue Max" car laid down a very good 3.92 e.t. as the scoreboards showed (RIGHT) but the winlight came on in the other lane as a much slower, but quicker reacting 4.21 pass advanced Nancy Matter in the "Guardian for Heroes"to the semi-final round. The reaction times were a very good .029 for Matter and a "not so good" .330 for Young.

(LEFT) Here's another angle of the Matter vs Young battle in the first round, with Nancy clearly leaving first, and hanging on for the BIG holeshot win. (RIGHT) The next pair saw Keith Jackson (near lane) in the iconic "high Heaven" car out of Colorado, taking on Brandon Lewis (far lane) in the hard-running 'Attitude Adjuster', and dropping a close 4.08 - 184 to 4.22 - 176 decision. Jackson left on Lewis by nearly half a tenth, but the gap at the stripe was two car lengths.

(LEFT) It's the relatively new "Motivation" Mustang out of Texas, owned and driven by Chuck Loftin, preparing to take on heavy hitter (RIGHT) Nick Poloson in the "Bucket List" entry.

(LEFT) Leaving first on a small holeshot, Chuck Loftin (near lane) challenged Nick Poloson (far lane) for a while, but fell back all the way to the finish line, losing with a 4.41 - 162 to Poloson's much stronger 4.04 - 185 pass. (RIGHT) We're a little out of sequence here, but we just wanted to fit in a closer picture of Brandon Lewis burning out in his "Attitude Adjuster" Camaro.

Two of the seriously fast cars paired up in the final match of the opening round, with (LEFT) Kebin Kinsley burning out in the Tommy Ahrens Motorsports "Wild Child", while (RIGHT) Ken Singleton launches the "High Risk".

(LEFT) Kebin Kinsley (near lane) launches hard in the "Wild Child" enroute to low e.t. and top speed of the meet at 3.80 - 202 mph, but a tardy leave left him in the losers lane, as Ken Singleton took the holeshot win win with a very good 3.86 - 194 pass as the scoreboards display the verdict (RIGHT). The difference was the stellar .019 reaction for Singleton, against Kinsely's .118 time.

Round One eliminations "B" field

With the sky in full darkness, the action continued under the lights as the "B" field took to the track. Due to breakage during qualofying, Robert Slaughter in the popular "Smokey the Bear" car had to be inserted into the field, replacing the broken Larry Bradford in the "American Dream" Challenger.

Round Two eliminations "A" field

Round Two eliminations "B" field

Final Round eliminations "B" field

Final Round eliminations "A" field