FIREBIRD FALL SHOOTOUT - Firebird Motorsports Park - Chandler, AZ

One of the three regional events remaining on the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series schedule is underway at Firebird Motorsports Park. Three qualifying sessions were held for the Top Alcohol cars yesterday, and their eliminations will start at 5:30pm today. We received a brief telephone report on the action from our photographer, BIG Bob Snyder, and we expect to see a batch of photos later today and tomorrow. He did indicate that our favourite (almost) local racer, Shawn Cowie was in the #3 spot on the ladder after the first session, and that seven Funny Cars were in attendance.

That was a very skimpy synopsis but we expected to be able to see much more detail from the NHRA.com "Divisional Live Timing" page. That didn't happen as NHRA listed the event as happening on Saturday and Sunday, instead of the actual dates of Friday - Saturday. Then we checked out the usually reliable results website, DragRaceCentral.com, but there was nothing there either as of 7:00am today. We'll just have to stay tuned to see what's happening at Firebird and when we do, we'll be able to generate a report, with pictures and details.

Something somewhat surprising happened on Thursday morning when media credentials arrived for Mr. Snyder to attend the FORD Performance NHRA Nationals at Las Vegas at the end of this month. The surprise was that they usually arrive no earlier than one week before a race and here it was a full two weeks in advance. Snyder's certainly going to be a busy guy for the next few weeks, as there is a request in the pipeline for credentials to the season ending In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at Pomona two weeks later. And we'll be busy too, posting lots of photos and stories to go with the final races of the 2024 Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series.