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The latest update as of June 2, 2020

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Eddyville Raceway Park - Friday Qualifying - Session One

Friday's agenda included two qualifying sessions for the 25 cars in attendance. One in the hot afternoon sun, and one under the lights in the evening. Although there were some good passes - and a few busted runs - in the first go-round, the racers started throwing down some serious numbers in the second session. The first session, mid-afternoon Friday, saw most of the teams working the bugs out of new combinations and blowing the dust off cars that hadn't been down the track for a few months, and in many cases, since last year.

(LEFT) & (RIGHT) The high country Jackson family team (Lakewood, CO) with their "High Heaven" driven by Keith Jackson, laid down a 4.209 - 165.20 pass that ended in disaster. The chutes didn't open and the car - which had just won the Best Appearing award - went deep into the cornfield at the end of the track. Lots of work by the crew and fellow fuel racer Jack Wyatt saw the repaired car ready for Saturday's eliminations.

(RIGHT) Bringing his "(little) big show" Top Alcohol flopper to the party was Wichita's Kyle Smith and he nearly hit the 3's on his first attempt, clocking a very good 4.066 - 172.94 to land well up the ladder in the "A" field after the first day of qualifying.

(LEFT) Paired up with Robbie Massey in the Vern Moats tribute car (left lane) for the qualifier, Kyle Smith got to the finish ine first, as his 4.066 edged out Massey's close 4.137 - 135.62 effort.

(LEFT) The team of Tiffin & Hess, with Vic Tiffin driving the "Gold Digger" had nothing but grief on Friday (and it didn't get any better on Saturday). On their first attempt (pictured) Vic left before the tree came down, then smoked the tires in the evening session. Result: zero for two. You'll notice that he's WAAAY up on the tires before he passed the christmas tree on his first hit.

(RIGHT Making his debut in Funny Car Chaos, North Platte, Nebraska"s Justin Herbst in the "Scorpion" got to the finish line in his first qualifying attempt with a 4.750 - 147.44 that left him just outside the "B" field, but with the list of broken cars growing quickly, all he had to do was keep the car running to get at least one round in eliminations on Saturday.

(LEFT) After a seriously crossed-up reversing maneuver, Nick Johnson managed to get the "Prairie Fire" straightened out long enough to find the finish line at an on-and-off (and off-and-on?) 6.365 - 144.65 that left the Reinart & Johnson team looking for more luck on Saturday.

(RIGHT In a tribute to Big Show Funny Car pioneer Billy Meyer, Seguin, TX racer Chuck Loftin pushed his "Motivation" Mustang to an early shutoff 4.519 at only 118.08 on Friday. It was good enough to earn a spot in Saturday's eliminations, but nowhere near what he was expecting.

(LEFT) The very definition of a "hard trier" is Scott Cousimano from Las Vegas with his "Nitro Mafia" Arrow, but he's still trying to put down competitive numbers after a number of years running his nitro nostalgia flopper. Another racer whose weekend ended early with a "best" of 11.012 - 43.08 that was punctuated with a broken rod. And apparently not enough parts in the trailer to fix it so a long tow for nothing.

(RIGHT A car that came out of nowhere partway through the 2019 season, the hard running "Detroit Tiger" of Detroit's (coincidence?) Steve Timoszyk jumped right into the thick of the "A" Field with an excellent 3.914 - 182.41 to serve notice that they were ready to rumble.

(LEFT) A regular on the FCC circuit, Clay Cunningham with his "Still Crazy" entry didn't get to the finish line under power, and his 4.559 - 129.09 best put him near the bottom of the "B" field going into Saturday's last ditch session.

(RIGHT Looking suitably nasty in an all-black car, NHRA Top Alcohol heavy hitter Chris Foster in his "Everybody's Nightmare" laid down a very good 3.902 - 174.89 that put him near the top of the "A" field.

(LEFT)& (RIGHT With a big show car, Terry Totten debuted Mark Howard's "Rednecks N' Fuel" flopper and had nothing but trouble on his first - and last - pass of the weekend. The report from BIG Bob Snyder went like this: Totten big show car broke the rear in #1 which tore up the clutch & the motor went over 10000 rpm. Bottom line: not enough parts in the trailer to fix all the damage.

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Eddyville Raceway Park - Friday Qualifying - Session Two

The evening qualifying session - second of three shots to qualify - went off under the lights and with better air and track conditions. We have the qualifying list for Friday - after the second session - but we don't have the first session results so e.t.'s and speeds reported below will be the best numbers recorded by the racers on the day.

(LEFT) & (RIGHT) One of the best looking tribute cars around, and in keeping with the car's theme, actually from Detroit, was Steve Timoszyk with his alky-burning "Detroit Tiger" Monza. The car always looks good and runs good and opened his weekend with an excellent 3.914 - 182.41 to land in the #3 position in the "A" field.

(LEFT) & (RIGHT) Another of the Top Alcohol "orphans" was the sinister looking and titled "Everybody's Nightmare" of North Platte, NB's Chris Foster and he laid notice that he was going to be a serious contender with an opening 3.902 - 174.89 (early shut-off?) pass.

(LEFT) & (RIGHT) The defending series champion, Ken Singleton, in his beautiful "High Risk" car showed that a consistently hard-running blown alcohol combination can outrun some seriously powerful nitro burners. He did it again on Friday with a low qualifying 3.759 - 204.82 pass to set the standard for the field.

(LEFT) & (RIGHT) Another good looking car that has some serious racing history behind it, the Robbie Massey driven, "Moats & Massey" entry put down a solid 4.137 - 135.62 to slot into the #7 position in the "A" field.

(LEFT) & (RIGHT) A new racer on the FCC scene, in a sharp-looking green and black hot rod, is Jeff Krug with his "Obsession" and he showed the car is competitive right out of the box, with a career best 4.121 - 176.68 that put him into the "A" field. That's where the good news ended though, as breakage kept the car out of eliminations on Saturday.

(LEFT) Rolling through the burnout, Chris Schneider in the Troxel & Schneider "Brutus" (a tribute car to Lew Arrington).

(RIGHT) His opponent for the second session was Nebraska's Matt Nissen in his Corvette-bodied "Runnin' Down A Dream".

(LEFT) The two cars staged up, with Nissen in the near lane, and Schneider on the far side. At the finish line it was Nissen with the win light at 4.491 - 159.63 for the alky burner, while the nitro-fuelled mount of Schneider trailed at 4.687 - 150.40.

(RIGHT) We're not sure how this happened, but it's another photo of Robbie Massey.

(LEFT) A series regular, Jeff Cameron in the Texas-based "Magnolia Missile" fell short of making the "A" field on Friday, as his 4.415 - 156.69 left him in the #10 spot on the overall list. With 8 cars in the "A" field and 8 more in the "B" field, the action promised to be intense during the final qualifying session on Saturday afternoon.

(RIGHT) Yet another Chaos newcomer, Nebraska's Justin Herbst in his "Scorpion" couldn't crack the top 16, with a best on the day of 4.750 - 147.44 to land in the #18 spot.

(LEFT) Following up his season-opening win in the "B" field at Pine Valley Raceway in March, Oklahoma's Steve Vang in his "Wicked Weekend Warrior" put down a decent 4.491 - 153.69 on Friday that put him in the middle of the "B" field, with one more chance to improve his standing on Saturday.

(RIGHT) Long-time competitor Jordan Ballew in his aptly-named "Ballew Thunder" had a troubled run that finally stopped the clocks at 5.847 - 104.19 and put him on the outside looking in from the #19 position. However, with several cars already reporting irrepairable damage, there was a good chance for at least first round redemption during eliminations.

(LEFT) The Bradford family's "American Dream" from San Antonio, dirven this weekend by young Dustin, shut off early to a 4.595 - 125.45 that put him on the provisional bump spot for the "B" field. With lots of experience behind them, the team was looking for something seriously better on Saturday.

(RIGHT) The very cool looking '57 Chevy of Bismarck, North Dakota's Jim Chase didn't quite live up to the car's name ("Wicked Quick") on Friday as he limped to a 6.796 - 75.77 to leave himself a big mountain to climb on Saturday afternoon if he wanted to be running for the money.

(LEFT) Regular FCC competitor Clay Cunningham is still running the "Still Crazy" car, but he didn't put down the numbers he's normally capable of with a best of 4.559 - 129.09 on Friday, leaving him near the bottom of the "B: field.

(RIGHT) Another of the numerous tribute cars running the series, Texas-based Chuck Loftin in the "Motivation" Mustang, got off the loud pedal early as his nitro burner carded only a 4.519 - 118.08, far short of what he was expecting to turn. Like so many others, there's always Saturday and the single suicide session of qualifying.

(LEFT) A rather understated black and gun-metal grey paint scheme kept the John Umlauf driven "Mass Chaos" somewhat incognito, but he let the scoreboards do the talking with an early shutoff 4.383 - 125.73 pass that left him just outside the top eight (#9) on Friday. Greater expectations could be on tap for Saturday.

(RIGHT) Another newcomer to the series - a very common theme at this event - was the Illinois-based and named "Illinois Thunder" driven by Levi Keenen and the nitro rookie put down a decent 4.502 - 164.11 to show that he was ready to race in at least the "B" field.

(LEFT) I took a while to dig up the info on the "Weapon 1" of Jeff (and Shannon) Gardemann but we can report that they were making test passes throughout the weekend.

(RIGHT) The Chicago-based "Fool's Gold" Duster driven by Chris King had a good news - bad news day on Friday. The good was the 4.118 - 171.17 pass that put them temporarily into the "A" field, but the bad news started when the car crossed the finish line as you'll see with the next series of photos.

Even though the car made it to the finish line under power, that's where the good news ended as a total of four rods broke at the 660' mark, putting holes in both sides of the block. Without a spare short block, the team was forced to load up and head home with a damaged (but repairable) block, a badly burned crankshaft, and who knows what else to fix.