The latest update as of June 20, 2024

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Eliminations Round #1 - "A" Field

When the smoke had cleared after three hard fought qualifying sessions, there were several wounded beyond repair cars in the pits. Highest qualified car to drop out was "The Heckler" of Kevin Newburgh, as he relinquished his #10 spot near the top of the "B" field. Also staying in the pits was Mary Reep as the "Grim Reeper" #11 in the field also reported in damaged. Filling their spots were first alternated Danny Mann and second alternate Mike Buchanan.

The last alternate to gain admission to eliminations was #35 qualifier, Rick Stockman, who brought his "Hell Raiser" into the top spot in the "D" field, filling in for Jeff Krug and his still being sorted out blown fueld combination in the "Obsession" entry. With all the changes out of the way, it was time to make some serious as the "A" field led off eliminations. And it was a tough field indeed, with a bump spot of 3.817 (Lance Van Hauen). Even the "B" field was mostly 3-second cars, with five of the eight cars in that group qualifying under the 4.00-second mark.

(LEFT) Leading off eliminations were the #2 and #6 qualifiers as FCC runs on a sportsman ladder, unlike the more traditional pro ladder as NHRA uses for the fast cars. Ray Drew had his "Cobra" off the line first in the far lane, but it was courtesy of an -.024 redlight, making Kirk Willims in the near lane the automatic winner. It was a fortunate bit of luck for Williams as the "200 Proof" entry stumbled badly and shut off to a 6.591 - 89.32, while Drew wasted a decent 4.165 - 189.98 in the losing effort.

(RIGHT) Second out of the lanes were low qualifier, Dave Hirata and #5 Bill Bernard. With a full three tenths advantage in qualifying e.t.'s, it was almost certainly Hirata's race to win, and he didn't disappoint with a very strong 3.462 - 216.31 from the Motry family's "Drastic Plastic". Almost obscured in the near lane was Bernard's "Grinder", which left first, and made its best run of the weekend at 3.683 - 205.79, but came up a few car lengths short at the finish line.

Photos posted courtesy of FUNNY CAR CHAOS

(LEFT) The next pairing featured the closest match of the first round. It featured #4 qualifier Robbie Massey and #8 Lance Van Hauen. With both cars running NHRA Top Alcohol equipment and capable of running in the 3.70's or better, it promised to be a good matchup. Massey took the winlight due to his much quicker .032 to .123 reaction. On the scoreboards the verdict was much closer with Massey one thousandth quicker at 3.797 - 198.73 to Van Hauen's 3.798 - 198.58 quicker.

(RIGHT) Here's a closer look at Massey's car in full flight just past the 60 foot clocks.

(LEFT) A mix of new-ish and definitely old-school cars came up next, with #3 qualifier Shayne Lawson in the "Man O' War II" Mustang, in the near lane facing the '55 Chevy of Bismarck, ND's Jim Chase in the very cool "Wicked Quick" entry. It was a wild race when the lights went green, as Chase left first with a great .016 light, but drove into tire smoke instantly. In the near lane Lawson went up, up and almost away as his went into a big wheelie but still recovered to post an extremely good 4.024 - 192.00 that easily disposted of Chase's 8.567 - 48.77 timeslip.

(RIGHT) Here's an even closer look at Shayne Lawson's serious wheelstand action. Hard to believe that he could bring it down quickly, stand on the throttle and nearly make a 3-second run to boot.

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Eliminations Round #1 - "B" Field

(LEFT) With the two dropouts (due to breakage), "B" field eliminations opened with first alternate Danny Mann (far lane) facing #14 qualifier Chris Schneider (near lane) in the John Troxel owned and tuned "Brutus" entry. As can be easily seen in the photo, Mann didn't give his "Pony Up" Mustang much "giddy up" off the line, finally stopping the reaction timers at .417. That was pretty much the end of the story, but Schneider added injury to insult with a much quicker and faster 4.141 - 175.32 to Mann's weaker 4.985 - 136.50 losing effort.

(RIGHT) The next pairing showed another early advantage as Bob Alberty Jr. in the beautifully painted "Thunderin' Okie" (near lane) quickly pulling into a substantial lead over Chuck Loftin in the "Bucket List" car. Besides leaving a tenth behind Alberty, Loftin shut off early to a 6.511 - 76.02 clocking. Alberty nearly matched his qualifying time (3.831) with a very strong 3.835 - 191.00 winning pass.

(LEFT) Next up was a rather weird pairing with Rodger Eckhardt in his ultra-cool Demon Hunter II" '67 Nova in the far lane facing the totally iconic Chi- Town Huster" of Mike Minick. The Hustler dates back to nearly the beginning of the Funny Car, and making this tribute car even more legit, the son of the original driver, Pat Minick, still owns and drives it. Eckhardt left late but finished first, overcoming a nearly comatose .314 reaction time, but stopping the timers with a decent 4.381 - 123.84 for the win. Minick left with a decent reaction time of .091, but ran into serious directional trouble instantly, heading for the centerline.

(RIGHT) This photo shows a closer look at Minick's misfortune, as the car is heading straight for the A-board, with the steering wheel presumably cranked fully to the right, but the car not responding to the directional input. Minick lifted almost immediately and coasted to an 11.179 - 47.37 losing time.

The round closed with the second alternate, Mike Buchanan, invited to the dance to replace the broken entry of Kevin Newburgh. Buchanan occupied the far lane in his Vega-bodied "Hombre". In the near lane was the familiar "Gambler" Camaro of Casey Geeslin. The cars left nearly together, despite the disparity that the photo appears to show, but Geeslin pulled away quickly and turned on the winlight with a strong 4.015 - 182.38, while Buchanan trailed with a good 4.375 - 170.45 that wasn't enough to stay with Geeslin's nearly 3-second clocking.

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Eliminations Round #1 - "C" Field

(LEFT) The "C" field became the first of the "indexed" fields, with the top qualifying number (4.098) becoming a 3.948 index. There have been breakouts on an occasional basis but it wasn't likely with nearly everyone running close to their potential during qualifying. Leading the way was Bill Naves in his well-appointed "Shooting Star" entry (far lane), while the mostly obscured "Back In Black" entry of Alex Barker" occupied the near lane. Although Barker reacted half a tenth quicker than Naves, he gave up that advantage early as Naves took out the higher qualified car with his quickest run of the weekend (by nearly two tenths), with a solid 4.124 - 176.21 over the competitive, but not quick enough 4.444 - 161.81 of Barker.

(RIGHT) We've only got one car to show from the next pair, as Tom Furches broke before staging and gave Jade Cook (pictured) a competition bye in her Dodge Avenger-bodied "Nemesis" entry. It appeared that she shut off early on her qualifying passes with a best speed of only 138.43, but her 4.136 - 170.73 was far and away her best pass of the weekend to this point as she advanced to the semi-final round.

(LEFT) A full pair lined up next, with Joe Pirrone in the far lane, now driving the "Super Camaro" (formerly in the "Screaming Eagle", facing Dennis Rotter in the near lane. It was close off the starting line, with Pirrone holding only a slight edge, but he opened up a substantial lead by the finish line, stopping the clocks with a much improved (over his qualifying 4.311), and winning, 4.082 - 179.97. Keeping it close-ish, but not close enough was the losing 4.190 - 174.37 effort of Rotter.

(RIGHT) Here's a closer view of Pirrone's new ride, the early model "Super Camaro", which replaced the later-model Screaming Eagle entry.

Closing out the round was the top qualifier in the "C" field, Wayne Hofmann in the "China Syndrome". He did have an opponent in the near lane, even though we don't have a photo of Justin Malott in his "Must Be Nice" '57 Chevy. Hofmann won the reaction battle with a briliant .017 to Mallott's very good .040, then expanded the lead all the way to the stripe with a 4.105 - 172.39 to easily cover Mallott's trailing 4.353 - 140.87. The numbers show an early shutoff so it might have been a close race for a while.

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Eliminations Round #1 - "D" Field

(LEFT) Bringing up the end of the round were the "D" fielders, a collection of racers that qualified between 4.338 and 4.922, and running on an index of 4.188 seconds. The top qualifier, Jeff Krug in his now nitro-burning "Obsession" entry wasn't able to make the call and was replaced by the 3rd alternate, Rick Stockman in the "Hell Raiser". Coming out first was.... Rick Stockman (near lane), facing Neil Girot (far lane) in his "Twist 'N Shout" entry. On the green Girot literally leaped into an early lead with an .025 reaction time to Stockman's much later .399 light. Despite the wheelstand, Girot was able to bring the car down safely and sped away to a winning 4.318 - 162.94, while Stockman trailed badly with a shutting off 6.095 - 88.22 mph run.

(RIGHT) Here's a closer look at Rick Stockman's still unpainted "Hell Raiser". Nowhere to be seen as he's so far ahead is opponent Neil Girot.

This appears to be the only other photo was from the first round of "D" field eliminations, showing Michael Neal burning out in the aptly named "Burnin' Love" Nova. He came out on the losing end of his race against Jordan Ballew (not shown), losing with a slowing 5.408 - 130.39. Ballew turned on the winlight with a much quicker 4.470 - 157.54, despite a rather sluggish reaction time.

In the other two races of the round, Justin Herbst took an unopposed win in his "Scorpion" Vega as opponent Joe Morrison in the "Hell Bound" entry broke before staging. Herbst slowed a little from his qualifying time but posted a decent 4.505 - 139.23 for the win. In the final match of the round, Howard Seldon picked up a win via Kris Battey's redlight start. Even with the foul start advantage, Battey still crossed the finish line second with a 4.618 - 157.50, trailing Seldon's winning 4.399 - 151.39 time.

FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Eliminations - Semi-Finals

(LEFT) There's not a lot of photos from the semi-finals, as there was one no-show and another car broke before staging, so we've bunched everything together. First is the one pairing in the semis showing - TO BE CONTINUED

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FUNNY CAR CHAOS - Eliminations - FINALS

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