The latest update as of October 22, 2022

FUNNY CAR CHAOS Championship Finale - Texas Motorplex

After three rounds of qualifying on Friday, eliminations kicked off Saturday afternoon with just 30 cars left in competition. Of the original 48 pre=entries, the field shrunk to 39 cars that made qualifying attempts, and two of them never recorded an e.t. When the ladders were drawn up for eliminations, a total of nine cars showed up broken, leaving two empty spots in the "D" field.

Despite the losses, the "A" field was very strong, ranging from low qualifier Kirk Williams (3.65) to Aaron Morrow, in the #8 spot at 3.83. Topping the "B" field were two 3-second cars, Smiley Cordero with a 3.93 and Clay Cunningham at 3.98. In the #8 spot in that field was Tim Cullinan at 4.07. In the "C" field, e.t.'s ranged from Terry Haddock's 4.26 to Jordan Ballew's 4.39, making for a very tight grouping. Rounding out the show were the "D" field, with Mitch King on top at 4.43 and just one car out of the 4's, Chuck Loftin at 5.95.

Our usual photographer Bob Snyder, and his wife Ginger were stationed deep in the shutdown area for the first round so we'll start our eliminations coverage with images provided by our Colorado correspondent Dale Fackler. Before that though, we have a couple of pre-race photos (from Bob Snyder) to share.

SATURDAY - Pre-Race Ceremonies

(LEFT) It wouldn't be Texas if there wasn't a group of Cowgirls holding a "Stampede of Speed" banner.

(RIGHT) Being introduced to the crowd by the Funny Car Chaos roving reporter is the (now retired) three-time series champion, Ken Singleton, who experienced a horffic and life-altering fire at the season opener at the Motorplex. Everyone was very glad to see him looking well, despite his injuries, and able to participate in the event.

SATURDAY - Eliminations - Round ONE

We lead off eliminations coverage with the "A" field, the eight quickest qualifiers running heads-up, with no breakout.

(LEFT) First out of the chute was Doug Schneider in his unlettered "Milliken Monster" (near lane), and he followed up a great 3.69 qualifier with a pasting of Steve Griboski in his beautiful new early Mustang-bodied "Mile-High Express" (far lane). Schneider's great 3.752 - 194.95 easily trainlengthed Griboski's early shutoff 4.854 - 106.66 effort.

(RIGHT) Improving on his qualifying numbers, Mike Newkirk, driving his "Disturbed", (near lane), laid down low e.t. of the round at 3.712 - 203.98 to easily dispose of Nick Poloson in the "Bucket List" (far lane). Poloson could only muster a 5.842 - 73.44 in a losing cause.

(LEFT) We finish off the first round of the "A" field with Aaron Morrow in the re-bodied (originally a Fuel Altered) "Nitro Relapse", in the near lane, paired up with Kirk Williams, barely visible in the far lane. Williams took the win with a very strong 3.713 - 209.24 over Morrow's fading 4.272 - 136.79 pass.

(RIGHT) Starting the "B" field, Shayne Lawson in the Mustang-bodied "Man O' War" getting some last-second attention from his wife as she de-ices the injector before he pulls into the stage lights.

(LEFT) When the ambers flashed, Shayne Lawson (near lane) left first (.071 to .173 lights) on Smiley Cordero in the "Maximum Overdrive" (far lane). Lawson turned on the winlight with a great 3.994 - 189.46, as Cordero gave up early to a 4.700 - 108.04 clocking.

(RIGHT) The next pairing saw Tom Furches in the Corvette-bodied "Made in America" (near lane), matched against veteran Ronny Young in the Arrow-bodied "Blue Max" tribute car (far lane). Young got to the finish line first, BUT with an index (3.73) in place, he broke out with low e.t. of the entire meet at 3.649 - 204.42 saw it all go for naught, as Furches took the win with an on-and-off 4.618 - 174.08 timeslip.

(LEFT) The next pair featured Clay Cunningham in the "Still Crazy" entry (near lane) versus Mary Reep in her purple hued "Grim Reeper" (far lane), and Mary took the automatic win as Cunningham redlighted, making her very good 3.823 - 191.01 the winning number. Clay kept his foot in it to the tune of a 4.416 - 170.53 for the loss.

(RIGHT) It appears that Don Knoblauch launched his "Atomic Punk" (near lane) second in this match with Tim Cullinan's kelly green "Irish Car Bomb" (far lane). That's exactly what happened as Cullinan left on Knoblaiuch by a full tenth (.113 to .222), and was able to hold off the "Punk's" quicker 3.967 - 187.55 pass with a solid, and winning, 4.004 - 178.42 to advance to the semifinal round.

(LEFT) Kicking off the opening round for the "C" field was Keith Jackson in the iconic Colorado-based "High Heaven". He drew a bye run as scheduled opponent Matt Nissen in the "Razzle Dazzle" entry was unable to show. With no breakout in place for the bye run, Jackson leaned on it hard to the tune of a great 3.893 - 168.54, which had to be a near career best e.t.

(RIGHT) Occasional FCC competitor, and long-distance racer, Sweden's Joe Ljungberg brought out the California-based "Raw Valley" car and turned a decent 4.491 - 160.50. However, it wasn't enough to take the winlight as Dustin Bradford (not shown), got there first with a 4.199 - 162.28 pass.

(LEFT) Still wearing several hats, running an NHRA Top Fuel & Funny Car and a Nostalgia flopper, Terry Haddock took a first round win in his old-style Vega-bodied "Fool's Errand". His 4.162 - 181.58 was quick enough to overcome a serious holeshot (.039 to .195) by Jordan Ballew (not shown). The margin at the finish line was about two car lengths as Ballew's 4.408 -161.73 just wasn't enough to stay in front of Haddock's much quicker effort.

(RIGHT) The "D' field ended up with just six cars, and one (Jody Austin) failed to show for the first round. The only close pairing of the round featured Chuck Loftin in his ultra-familiar "Motivation" Mustang (near lane), versus series debutante Mitch King in his Chevy II-bodied "Bone Shaker" (far lane). Loftin left first by a .155 to .219 margin, but his 4.676 - 141.23 wasn't quite enough to hold off King's winning 4.590 - 146.37. The margin at the stripe was barely half a car length in the closest race of the entire first round.

OUTLAW FUEL ALTEREDS - Qualifying Round #2

A total of 16 cars were on the property and punished themselves in a wild qualifying session on Friday night. Their final qualifying round on Saturday afternoon ran immediately following the first round of Funny Car Chaos eliminations. Here's some of the action from that session.

Seeing the 2022 Outlaw Fuel Altered Association championship almost within his grasp, defending series champion Keith Zimmerer laid down a hard burnout in his "Penny Pincher" entry (left), before launching to a low qualifying 3.802 elapsed time.

(LEFT) The Cross & Meyer "Crossways" entry, driven by Clint Cross dipped into the 3-second zone with a solid 3.90 qualifying pass, good enough for #6 on the ladder/.

(RIGHT) Falling on the other side of the spectrum, Donny McSwain was only able to coax a 4.74 e.t. from the "Wild One" to sit near the bottom of the list in the #12 spot.

(LEFT) Launching hard with the front tires dangling, Rick Lewelling ended up further down the charts as the "Midnight Special" was only able to muster a 4.95 elapsed time.

(RIGHT) It was a serious case of smoking the tires for James Gilliland as the Wilkens & Gilliland "Psycho Too" shut off almost immediately and coasted to a 13.80 time to sit at the very bottom of the field in the #16 slot.

SATURDAY - Eliminations - Round TWO (Semi-Finals)

With three photographers at the starting line for this round, we've got various views of each pairing.

(LEFT) After running low e.t. of the first round (in the "A" field), Mike Newkirk (near lane), faced the "Milliken Monster" of Coloradan Doug Schneider in the far lane. Despite cutting a great .013 light, Schneider's tires broke loose immediately, and he pedalled to a losing 5.704 - 99.16 pass. Keeping up his 3.70 pace, Newkirk blasted into the final round with a great 3.773 - 200.80 in his Dodge Avenger-bodied entry.

(RIGHT)

(LEFT) The other semifinal pitted the #1 and #3 qualifiers in what promised to be a great matchup. Lance Van Hauen in the Camaro-bodied "Van Hauen Brothers" entry (near lane) left first by a few thousandths on Kirk Williams and the nearly invincible "200 Proof" Firebird in the far lane. The cars were neck-and-neck past the 330' mark, and the gap at the finish line was less than two car lengths as Williams made his quickest pass of eliminations at 3.677 - 209.44 to take the win over a close 3.768 - 204.42 from Van Hauen.

(RIGHT)

(LEFT) In the first pair of the "B" field semifinal, Shayne Lawson (near lane) really got on top of the "Man O' War" tuneup, with input from Ken Singleton, and made his quickest run of the event at 3.848 - 193.15 to light up the scoreboards. On the losing end was Tim Cullinan in the "Irish Car Bomb" (far lane), who gave it a good try with a consistent, but losing 4.100 - 185.45 time.

(RIGHT)

(LEFT) Qualifying wasn't great for Tom Furches as his "Made in America" Corvette (near lane) landed near the bottom of the "B" field. He got past the first round with a lucky break when Ronny Young broke out, but even his best of the weekend 4.032 - 170.47 wasn't enough in this race. Veteran Mary Reep in her purple-hued "Grim Reeper" Mustang, in the far lane, belted out a 3.929 - 178.54 for the win and a ticket to the final round. Despite a second-best reaction time (.133 to .045 for Furches), she pulled out a car length victory.

(RIGHT)

(LEFT) The first pair of the "C" field semifinal featured Alex Barker, partially obscured in the near lane, against Keith Jackson in the very familiar "High Heaven" Camaro in the far lane. Barker left first by four hundredths, and increased his lead going down the track, stopping the timers with a winning 4.264 - 167.86 to advance the GTO to the final round. Falling short was the good effort of 4.352 - 122.22 by Jackson, as he slowed in the last two hundred feet.

(RIGHT)

(LEFT) Everybody's favourite "hard trier" Terry Haddock in his "Fool's Errand" Vega (near lane), gave up too much real estate on the starting line, as his .180 light paled in comparison to Dustin Bradford's .061 in the far lane. The "American Dream" Challenger didn't really need that much of an advantage as Bradford outran Haddock at both ends of the track for a 4.166 - 162.73 win over a trailing 4.229 - 178.33 time.

(RIGHT)

(LEFT) The only pairing of the semifinal in the "D" field had Chance Biffle, seen here burning out in his "Bad Intentions" entry.

(RIGHT) Facing him was last year's Rookie of The Year, Jade Cook in her nitrous-boosted Chevy-powered Dodge-bodied "Nemesis".

Cook ran a much quicker e.t. at 4.275 - 160.19 to Biffle's 4.506 - 161.30, but something went very wrong for her on the starting line as a .554 reaction time was her undoing. To add insult to injury, Biffle cut down the tree with an .015 light, the second quickest of eliminations.

(LEFT & RIGHT) As the #1 qualifier in the "D" field, Mitch King earned the semi-final bye run in his "Bone Shaker" entry, and he simply took the tree (staged) and shut off to save parts and fuel for the final round.

SATURDAY - Eliminations - FINAL Rounds

Starting with the "D" field and working their way up to the "Stars of the Show", the "A" field, here are the final rounds.

Mitch King - 'Bone Shaker' vs Chance Biffle - 'Bad Intentions'

Alex Barker - 'Back in Black' vs Dustin Bradford - 'American Dream'

Shayne Lawson - "Man O' War"

Mike Newkirk - 'Disturbed' vs Kirk Williams - '200 Proof'

Keith Zimmerer - 'Penny Pincher' (near lane) vs Jimmy Jones - 'Texas Tremor' (far lane)

Closing out the on-track action were a pair of Jet Dragsters that lit up the early evening sky, and got the spectators revved up for the concert and after-party.