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The latest update as of June 4, 2020
FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Eddyville Raceway Park - Saturday Qualifying - Session Three (FINAL)
It looks like "Chute Shot Saturday" as Bob Snyder trekked down to the deep end of the Eddyville track (at least it's only an 1/8-th mile race distance) for some different angles of the cars as they slowed down after making their final qualifying passes. As Bob has found out over the years, some of the best shots are to be found at this end of the track. Some racers decided against making the final session, preferring to save their equipment for eliminations. However, quite a few teams were looking to either get into the "A" (top 8 cars) or "B" (next 8 cars) fields or gain lane choice for the first round of eliminations. Funny Car Chaos uses a standard pro pairing system; ie. 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, and 4 vs 5.
(LEFT) Sitting near the top of the "B" field, Magnolia, TX racer Jeff Cameron in the aptly named "Magnolia Missile" missed his chance to improve his position and fell one spot from #2 to #3 in the "B" field, thanks to three broken cars ahead of him on the ladder.
(RIGHT) Starting the year on the right note by winning the season opener in the "B" field at Pine Valley Raceway, Steve Vang wanted to move up in the "B" field also. He did that - barely - in his "Wicked Weekend Warrior", improving from a Friday best of 4.491 to a 4.459 - 156.41 but fell four spots from #12 to #16 overall. Again, thanks to the broken cars ahead of him, he ended up #5 in the "B" field.
(LEFT) The biggest improver on the property was North Dakota's Jim Chase and after a tough day Friday (a "best" of 6.796 - 75.77), that left him well outside either field, he jumped to the #2 position overall with a tremendous 3.823 - 191.57 to show that his "Wicked Quick" '57 Chevy was just that.
(RIGHT) Slowly creeping up on the tuneup, John Umlauf bettered his previous clocking of 4.383 - 125.73, with a marginally better 4.346 - 131.35 pass in the "Mass Chaos". He was already solidly in the "B" field in the #9 spot on the list, but fell back to #10, putting him #2 in the "B" field.
(LEFT) Looking to improve on his second qualifying position in the "A" field and move to the head of the class, NHRA hitter Chris Foster failed to advance on his Friday best of 4.118 - 174.89 and his "Everybody's Nightmare" became a personal one as the team found a broken spindle in the rear end when they returned to the pits, as you can see in the accompanying photo.
(RIGHT) Taking one step forward and four steps back was Matt Nissen as he picked up seven hundredths in e.t. (from 4.491 to 4.427), but dropped from #11 to #15 on the ladder. Again, with three cars broken, Nissen kept his "Runnin' Down a Dream" solidly in the middle of the "B" field for eliminations.
(LEFT) Two cars coming to a stop at the far end featured Justin Herbst in the "Scorpion" on the left side, and Nick Johnson in the Reinart and Johnson "Prairie Fire" on the right. Johnson managed to pick up a bunch of e.t., moving from #20 at 6.365 to a much improved 4.666 - 154.59 that only moved him up one notch to #19 on the list. With the broken cars subtracted, it put him on the bubble in the "B" field and a first round date with the #1 car (Chris Schneider).
(RIGHT) If you're not moving forward, then you're going backward, summed up Justin Herbst's last attempt to get into the "B" field, as he dropped from #18 (and out of the show) to #20 (and further out of the show). Even though the old "break rule" came into play, he still sat one spot out of the "B" show and was relegated to the pits for the first rounds of eliminations.
(LEFT) Already sitting at the top of the "A" field with low e.t. and top speed of qualifying at 3.759 - 204.82, it wasn't necessary for Ken Singleton to risk any damage to his "High Risk" entry but he still put in an appearance for the fans.
(RIGHT) In the other lane, Chcuk Loftin needed to find some extra "Motivation" to get into the "A" field with his Mustang-bodied nitro burner. And he found it, catapulting from #14 to #5 on the final qualifying sheet with a much-improved 3.936 - 190.68 pass. Coupled with Chris Foster's withdrawal from the field, it put him #4 in the "A" field and gave him lane choice in the first round.
(LEFT) Looks like we've got a problem here as Steve Timsozyk is trying very hard to stop the "Detroit Tiger" without the aid of a parachute or two. You'll note a pair of dark tire tracks behind the car and the rear tires off the track as he nears the end of the braking area at a decent rate of speed.
(CENTER) Here's a better view of the tire tracks that he left, starting soon after the finish line, and continuing until he came to a stop at the deepest end of the deep end. No damage to car or driver and the problem was solved before eliminations.
(RIGHT) Meanwhile, in the other lane, Chris Schneider wasn't experiencing as much excitement as he slowed the Mustang-bodied "Brutus" to an uneventful stop.
(LEFT) Already safely in the "A" field, Robbie Massey took one more shot in the "Moats & Massey" car but failed to advance on his Friday clocking of 4.137 - 135.62. Even though he dropped two spots on the ladder, from #7 to #9, after the math was done, he sat #6 in the "A" field.
(RIGHT) The hard luck story of the weekend - after his no-chutes excursion into the cornfield on Friday - turned brighter as Keith Jackson kept the hastily repaired "High Heaven" beauty in the number seven spot in the "A" field, with a chance to go rounds in eliminations. Certainly a brighter prospect than they were facing 24 hours earlier.
John Force (I believe) once stated so eloquently: "If ya can't be fast, at least be spectacular"... or words to that effect. And Jeff Gardemann in the "Weapon 1" certainly gave that phrase a good try, losing a front wheel (with spindle and A-arm still attached) in the shutdown area and grinding to a stop at the very end of the guardrail at the last turnout. That pretty much wrapped up his weekend as the team completed their testing on a decidely down note.
FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Eddyville Raceway Park - Saturday Eliminations - Round ONE
(LEFT) With more than a few fans in the stands, everyone stood for the national anthem before eliminations got underway, starting with the "A" field.
(RIGHT) The first pair out of the staging lanes came from the middle of the field with the #4 and #5 cars meeting. In the near lane, it looks like Kyle Smith is putting a sizeable holeshot on Chuck Loftin, but it was only due to a MAJOR (as in -.302 r.t.) redlight. Despite moving into the 3-second zone on his final qualifying attempt (3.987 - 182.33), Smith threw it all away with the redlight and an early shutoff 4.646 - 104.77 pass. The beneficiary, Loftin, was able to shut off early too, carding a slowing 4.603 - 117.71 for the win.
(LEFT) In the near lane, it's the #8 qualifier, Illinois' Levi Keenen, putting a holeshot on low qualifier Ken Singleton. Despite the starting line advantage (.100 to .173 reaction times), Keenen's 4.321 - 173.28 fell well short of Singleton's thundering 3.759 - 204.72 clocking. Singleton's e.t. was the event best (to this point) by four thousandths, and the speed was only .09 mph short of his 204.82 best on Friday.
(RIGHT) In the near lane, Jim Chase's elation at his great 3.823 - 191.57 pass earlier in the day turned sour as he was (very) late on the launch (.234 to .140 reaction) and slowed to a 4.663 - 106.76 to take the loss. In the far lane, the "Cinderfella" story continued for the High Heaven team as Keith Jackson parlayed his nearly one tenth reaction advantage into a big win with a solid 4.212 - 159.74 e.t. to advance to the semi-finals.
(LEFT) To close out the first round of "A" field eliminations, Robbie Massey in the near lane, cut a great light (.031) to put a decent holeshot on Steve Timoszyk's late-leaving .128 reaction in the far lane. Despite the early disadvantage, Timoszyk charged past Massey with a good 4.072 - 173.54 pass to easily cover Massey's 4.368 - 138.21 effort. That earned Timoszyk lane choice over Jackson in the semis, while Singleton had his choice over Loftin.
(RIGHT) Showing that Funny Cars can still do burnouts, Chris Schneider (far lane) legged it to nearly the finish line, while Nick Johnson (near lane) "only" went to the 330' mark before they opened "B" field eliminations.
(LEFT) After the cars backed up and the burnout smoke cleared, Nick Johnson (near lane) left nearly even with Chris Schneider (far lane), with both drivers under .100 on reactions (.050 to .076 advantage for Johnson). Schneider turned on the winlight with a 4.380 - 160.43 to Johnson's close, but losing, 4.450 - 155.76 timeslip.
(RIGHT) The next pairing saw both drivers a little triger-happy, as they both left before the green, with Matt Nissen's slightly worse (-.013) turning on the redlight (in the near lane), making Steve Vang (early by -.010) (in the far lane) the automatic winner. Nissen shut off early to a 5.411 - 89.11, while Vang legged it almost to the stripe with a 4.463 - 155.87 clocking.
(LEFT) The best performance of the first round in the "B" field came in the next pair, as Clay Cunningham (near lane) launched with an .004 r.t. and turned low e.t. and top speed of the round at 4.116 - 161.41, to outdistance Jeff Cameron's 4.533 - 151.46 pass. Cutting the best reaction time of the meet was Cunningham, as his .004 launch overshadowed Cameron's very respectable .072 light.
(RIGHT) Closing out the first round of eliminations were John Umlauf (near lane) who left second (.133 to .105 light) - even though it doesn't appear that way in the photo - on Dustin Bradford (far lane) and ran away from the "American Dream" car for the win in his "Mass Chaos" entry. The apparent optical illusion in the launch photo is explained by Bradford's very troubled 14.226 - 36.21 clocking, while Umlauf coaxed the nitro-powered Monza to a much better 4.449 - 125.17 for the win, despite an early shutoff.
For the semi-final round, the pairings will be Chris Schneider over Steve Vang, and Clay Cunningham over John Umlauf.
FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Eddyville Raceway Park - Saturday Eliminations - Round TWO
(LEFT) The second (semi-final) round was led off by Keith Jackson in the near lane, taking on the "Detroit Tiger" of Steve Timoszyk (far lane) in a battle of two of the best looking cars in the field. Timsozyk took the decision as he dipped back into the 3's, with his best of eliminations 3.975 - 177.37 to overpower Jackson's good try of 4.610 - 114.53 which saw him off the loud pedal well before the finish line. Coupled with a six hundredths advantage at the green, Timoszyk was the easy winner.
(RIGHT) In the other "A" field pairing of the semis, Chuck Loftin redlighted by .095, but took the upset win via the "first or worst" rule as the apparent winner, Ken Singleton in the far lane, crossed the centerline. That infraction negated his low e.t. of the meet effort of 3.741 - 204.27 and gave Loftin's, almost as good 3.844 - 183.00 pass, the victory and lane choice in the final.
(LEFT) In the first pairing of the "B" field semi-finals, Steve Vang cut a great .047 light, but his 4.454 - 155.44 numbers fell short of Chris Schneider's winning 4.340 - 163.34 timeslip. Schneider left second with a .103 reaction, but the math came up with a .058 difference at the finish line, in Schneider's favour. One of the closest races of the event. In fact, the only closer race was between Schneider and Johnson in the first round, with a difference of just .044 seconds. Both times, Schneider had to overcome a holeshot. Could he do it three times in a row in the final? Stay tuned!
(RIGHT) The other semi-final match, featuring Clay Cunningham in the near lane, and John "Mass Chaos" Umlauf in the far lane, saw a runaway victory for Umlauf, by a margin of 4.224 - 149.01 to 4.999 - 117.62. Umlauf had to overcome a late leave (.054 to .139 advantage for Cunningham), but he easily passed him downtrack as Cunningham was off the pedal early. Going into the "B" field final, Umlauf held lane choice over Schneider.
After the semi-finals were run, two of the non-qualifiers - virtually all of the running cars left in the pits - paired up for a consolation match. We don't know who won the "race", but the fans enjoyed seeing the smoky burnouts and fast runs by a pair of blown funny cars. And to see the final round results, scroll down to the next update.