The latest update as of February 22, 2025

Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series West Region event at Firebird Motorsports Park (Chandler, AZ)

The first Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event of the 2025 season kicked off on Thursday under sunny skies in Chandler, AZ. The first day was qualifying for the Sportsman racers and a test session for the Top Alcohol competitors. Friday saw three qualifying sessions for the alky cars, and today (Saturday) is eliminations for them. A total of 12 dragsters and seven funny cars filled the pits and put on quite a show, with some very quick passes. The bump spot for the dragsters was a very quick 5.304, with first alternate Mike Austin just a few ticks behind at 5.318. In a change from the usual injected nitro domination, seven of the 12 cars were running blown alcohol combinations, and five of them qualified for eliminations.

There were no injected Funny Cars in the pits, as to this point, only four of that breed have been in competition, and none of them are based in the western half of the continent. With only seven floppers appearing, there was no bump spot, but the top five cars were in the 5.50's, and the "slowest" car in the field, Steve Gasparelli, was in with a respectable 5.896 e.t. That marked his first appearance as a driver in several years. Missing from the show were a couple of regulars from last season, as Arizona's Hunter Jones, and California's Will Martin have run out of the essential ingredient required to campaign their cars: MONEY.

TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR - Qualifying Session #1

(LEFT) Two familiar faces started qualifying, with Utah's Steve Macklyn in his "B&J Transmissions" sponsored entry in the near lane, while the "rookie", Kirk Kuhns lined up on the far side. Macklyn last competed in NHRA racing in 2021, running twice that year before moving over to the Mid-West Drag Racing Series for the past few years. He laid down a solid opening lap of 5.778 - 246.80 to show that the car could run well. Making his debut in the TAFC class, Kuhns put down a decent 5.830 - 241.41 to get his weekend started on the right note.

(RIGHT) Here's a closer look at Macklyn as he passed our photographer at about 150' off the starting line.

(LEFT) Also returning to NHRA after a three year hiatus was veteran Steve Gasparelli, in a new unlettered 2022 Camaro. The only names on the car were Gasparelli and a tribute to the recently deceased Bob Miner. He launched softly and shut off early to a 'getting acclimated" 6.318 - 161.50 pass.

(RIGHT) Showing that she was ready to compete for another Top Ten spot in the standings, Annie Whiteley ripped off a very strong 5.483 - 266.69 to stake a solid claim for the top spot in the field.

(LEFT) Racing in the lane opposite to Whiteley, was Alaskan Ray Martin in the "Miner Brothers" entry. He ran into trouble before the 330' mark and coasted down the track to a 9.241 - 93.32 to open his weekend.

(RIGHT) Laying down a solid burnout in her newly wrapped "BETA" entry, the 2024 world championship runner-up Maddi Gordon was ready to pick up where she left off at the end of last season. After a decent leave, she ran into tire shake early and pedalled her way to a mediocre (for the Gordon family team) 5.989 - 255.73 pass.

TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER - Qualifying Session #1

(LEFT) You might think this is a shot of Mitch Myers doing his burnout. Unfortunately, it was the launch as he went into instant tire smoke and slowly rolled down track to a 16-second elapsed time.

(RIGHT) After just missing out on a Top Ten finish and ending up #12 in the 2024 standings, the Casey Grisel driven, Jerry Darien tuned machine posted a big mph (225.52) at half track, but only a so-so e.t. of 5.397, coupled with a strong 275.62 mph speed at the finish line. That put them #4 on the ladder, but with two strong pairs of cars left in the staging lanes, he would almost certainly drop a spot or three before the session ended.

(LEFT) After a successful entry to the class last season, Tucson's Jon Bradford laid down a very quick and fast 5.224 - 277.03 pass to grab the early pole position in the field. The car leaves with very good reaction times, .018 on this run, and very quick 60' times, .898 on this pass.

(RIGHT) Running in the final pair of the round, the 2024 World Champion, Canada's Shawn Cowie picked up right where he left off and blasted out a top qualifying 5.216 - 278.52 to grab the #1 spot from Jon Bradford. After Cowie ran a 5.220 - 276.52 yesterday in testing, he picked up a little bit in his first competition pass of the year.

TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR - Qualifying Session #2

(LEFT) The #3 Top Alcohol Funny Car in the world last year, driven by Brian Hough didn't run well (13-second e.t.) in the first session, so he got the "honour" of going first in the second qualifier. He didn't have much better luck, and after a decent .940 short time, shook the tires, pedalled and failed to get the car to hook up before giving up on the run and crossing the finish line with a 7.415 - 151.09 showing up on the scoreboard.

(RIGHT) After a less than successful run in the opening round of qualifying, Ray Martin took another shot at the track and ran very strong for 200' before going into heavy tire shake, forcing him to abort the run and coast across the finish line at 7.546 - 132.00 mph.

(LEFT) After an opening pass of 5.778, Steve Macklyn picked up the pace considerably on his second go-round, stopping the timers with a very nice 5.565 - 257.43 result. That moved him up to #3 on the qualifying list.

(RIGHT) Closing out the session was Kirk Kuhns, and he stutter stepped on the launch (1.111 60' time) and slowed a tenth to a 5.938 - 233.52 pass to remain in the #4 position on the ladder.

TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER - Qualifying Session #2

(LEFT) With the bump spot already sitting at 5.456, Madison Payne and crew chief Dana Hopewell knew they had to step up big-time to ensure a spot in eliminations on Saturday. The result was closer to what they wanted, with a 5.331 - 278.12 result to move into the field in the #6 position. With ten more cars in the lanes awaiting their chance, the e.t. wasn't certain to even keep them in the field.

(RIGHT) Running by himself was Mike Austin, as scheduled opponent (Chris Demke) decided to sit out the session after going off the end of the track in the first qualifying session. Austin was sitting at the bottom of the 12-car list, and needed at least a 5.391 to scrape into the qualified field. He did the deed, with a quick 5.318 - 270.59 coming up on the timers, bumping Casey Grisel out of the field, and landing Austin in the #6 spot.

(LEFT) Needing to knock more than a tenth on his earlier 5.456 e.t., Randy Eakins looked good for the first few hundred feet, but fell off by half track and crossed the finish line at 5.574 - 245.81 as he slipped down the list to the #10 position.

(RIGHT) Another of the strong running blown alcohol cars in the field, Shauna Blinzler was solidly qualified in the #5 spot after her first session 5.312 effort, but fell back quickly on this attempt, giving up before half track and coasting to a 5.938 - 183.15 timeslip.

(LEFT) Backing up her previous 5.297 run, Taylor Januik pushed the "Plan B" car to an almost as quick 5.315 - 273.66 to remain in the #4 spot going into the final qualifying session.

(RIGHT) Already sitting at the top of the list, Shawn Cowie not only backed up his first qualifying pass, but bettered it, albeit slightly, in both speed and e.t. The scoreboard shone brightly with a 5.205 - 278.63 glowing brightly in the late afternoon sun.

TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR - Qualifying Session #3

(LEFT) There wasn't any drama going into the final qualifying session for the funny cars, as they were all guaranteed a spot in eliminations. Leading off the session was Ray Martin, in the Greg Miner-owned '24 Camaro. After a pair of troubled runs, 7-and 9-second e.t.'s, the team got it figured out with a strong 5.581 - 263.77 that was good enough to place them 4th on the ladder.

(RIGHT) Getting quicker with each run, Steve Macklyn posted his best numbers of qualifying with a strong 5.546 - 257.33 to hang on to the #3 spot in the field and lane choice in the first round. It appeared that he wasn't driving the car all the way to the finish line as he was under 260 mph on all three qualifying attempts.

(LEFT) Another racer who was having a tough time of it in qualifying, Brian Hough finally got it together and pushed past Martin and Macklyn to take over the #4 rung on the ladder. After 13- and 7-second runs, the "Cascade Motor Coach" crew made a clean strong pass of 5.558 - 265.22 as everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief at their change of fortune.

(RIGHT) Running by herself with the odd number of cars in the field, Annie Whiteley upped the ante as she improved on her low qualifying 5.483 e.t. by running even quicker at 5.454 - 267.75 to give her a full tenth of a second cushion over the #2 qualifier, Maddi Gordon.

(LEFT) Closing out the session was Maddi Gordon, who was looking to take over the top spot in the field.

(RIGHT) After the burnouts were completed, Steve Gasparelli, in the near lane, lined up against Gordon in the far lane. Gordon left first and ran away from Gasparellit at all points down track before turning on the scoreboard with a very good 5.471 - 260.56 result. It wasn't quite enough to grab the #1 spot on the ladder but it might have been closer if Gordon hadn't lifted a little early, as evidenced by her 260 mph speed.

TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER - Qualifying Session #3

(LEFT) Strangely enough, this pair didn't show up on the NHRA Divisional Live Timing Results page, but we were able to deduce the results by watching the race on NHRA's TV and YouTube channels. In the near lane, Randy Eakins made his final attempt to get in the field, but fell short with a 5.438 - 246.93, while Chris Demke (near lane), in what appeared to be a new car, ran into trouble early and shut off to a 9.981 - 81.25, and also failed to qualify.

(RIGHT) Next up were a pair of injected cars, with Madison Payne (near lane) sitting in the #7 spot in the field, and not feeling safe about staying in, while Mitch Myers (far lane) was on the outside looking in. Payne launched hard and powered to a low e.t. 5.175 and top speed 280.49 to vault to the top of the field. Meanwhile, in the other lane, Myers picked up a tenth over his second session 5.495, clocking in at 5.397 - 266.64 to fall short of breaking into the eliminations field.

(LEFT) Suffering a major blower backfire when he hit throttle to start his burnout, Mike Austin sat helplessly in the car, unable to defend his #7 qualifying position. In the other lane (not shown), Casey Grisel laid down the run that he and partner Jerry Darien had been looking for all weekend, cranking out a very strong 5.235 - 279.85 to jump from outside the field to the #4 rung on the ladder.

(RIGHT) While Shaunda Blinzler (near lane) was safely in the field with an earlier 5.312, her opponent in the far lane, Braiden Chesleigh was sitting in the #9 position with an earlier best of 5.333. Both racers laid down their best runs of qualifying, with Blinzler's 5.295 - 274.89 moving her up to #6 in the final order. In the far lane, Chesleigh bumped his way into the field with a 5.304 - 259.71 despite the car slowing on the top end. Chesleigh's run was just quick enough to bump Mike Austin down to the first alternate spot.

Coming into the final session in the #4 spot, Taylor Januik (near lane) had slid all the way down to #7 when she staged for her final shot at qualifying. In the far lane, Jon Bradford had only dropped one spot to #3 and was looking to move back up the ladder. Both racers had problems on their runs, with Januik backfiring at the 1000' mark, slowing her to 5.541 at only 206.67 mph. On the other side, Bradford launched very hard, with an .893 60' time, and ran strong to half track, but his speed at that point was down 10 mph from earlier runs, and he shut off before the 900' mark to a 5.646 - 194.32 timeslip. He certainly proved that the electronic fuel injection and torque converter combination pioneered by Bob Button was working well.