The latest update as of February 23, 2025

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

TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER - Eliminations Round ONE

After three rounds of qualifying on Friday, the "Quick 8" faced off in eliminations. The field was bunched tightly, between Madison Payne's 5.175 and Braiden Chesleigh's bump spot 5.304. Falling just short of making the show was veteran Mike Austin, who made his best run in quite a few years at 5.318 - 270.59. For a change of pace, five of the eight qualifiers were running a blown alcohol setup, and exactly half of the racers entered (6 of 12) were running a blown alky combination.

(LEFT) Eliminations started with the #4 and #5 qualifiers facing off. In the near lane, Casey Grisel slowed from his qualifying pace, but a solid 5.312 - 277.66 was just enough to hold off Joey Severance in the far lane. It was close at the finish line, but Severance's slightly slower 5.328 - 270.81 left him less than half a car length behind at the finish line.

(RIGHT) Low qualifier Madison Payne (near lane) had a definite advantage over #8's Braiden Chesleigh in the far lane. Chesleigh left first, but went into almost instantaneous tire smoke and slowly rolled to a 13-second clocking. Taking full advantage of his plight, Payne pounded out a consistent 5.241 - 278.63 for the easy win.

Next up were a pair of blown cars, with (relative) newcomer Jon Bradford in the near lane against Shaunda Blinzler in the far lane. Bradford was nearly a tenth quicker than Blinzler in qualifying, but didn't really need all that performance edge when Blinzler finally broke the beams with a nearly comatose .518 reaction time. She gave up a futile chase at half track, stopping the timers with a 6.233 - 152.54 clocking that was far behind Bradford's very quick 5.213 - 277.66 winning effort.

(LEFT) Back after a nearly year-long absence on maternity leave, Taylor Januik laid down a hard burnout in her "Red Line Oil"-backed entry. She qualified in the #7 position with a strong 5.297 - 273.66 pass.

(RIGHT) The final pair of the first round matched another pair of blown cars, with Jaunik in the near lane, and 2024 World Champion Shawn Cowie in the far lane. Nearly a tenth of a second separated them in qualifying, but it was a different story in eliminations. Cowie left first by just a few thousandths (.004), but started to fall behind at the 60' mark as he went into heavy tire shake. He was able to pedal and get the car to hook up but his 5.372 - 276.52 wasn't enough to keep pace with Januik's superior 5.299 - 271.19 mph effort.

TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR - Eliminations Round ONE

With four of the top seven Funny Cars in the 2024 season competing, joined by two returning veterans, and one rookie, competition was guaranteed to be intense, especially in the semifinal and final rounds. One racer, Kirk Kuhns, broke during qualfying on Friday and was unable to appear, making for two bye runs for the first round. One interesting sidenote gleaned from the NHRA.tv broadcast was that Madison Gordon was driving an all-new car, while Steve Gasparelli was in last year's Gordon family car, that finished #2 in the Top Alcohol standings.

(LEFT)) Leading off the show, Annie Whiteley nearly matched her low qualifying 5.454 e.t. with a very good 5.496 - 267.16 on her bye run. That set her up to face either Brian Hough or Ray Martin in the second round; neither of them an easy opponent.

(RIGHT) In the first pairing of eliminations, Maddi Gordon (near lane) took on Steve Gasparelli (far lane) and what looked to be an easy win for the "BETA" team turned into a pedalfest as both drivers shook the tires just past the 60' mark. Gordon recovered first and started to pull away before half track until Gasparelli lifted and coasted across the line at 6.672 - 178.52. Gordon kept the hammer down and rang up a 6.174 - 253.90 that showed she could pedal an errant funny car like a veteran.

(LEFT) Taking full advantage of the absence of scheduled opponent (Kirk Kuhns), Steve Macklyn ran just a hair quicker than his #3 qualifying 5.546, this time carding a 5.544 - 258.47 to advance to the semifinal. Every run Macklyn made to this point was a little bit quicker than the previous effort, as the team was getting on top of the tuneup.

(RIGHT) The final pair of the round featured the the two closest qualified cars, the #5 Ray Martin (near lane) matched up against #4 Brian Hough in the far lane. They were only a few hundredths apart in qualifying and they stayed that close on this run until half track before Hough started pulling away. Martin slowed on the top end, with a lot of smoke out of the engine near the finish line before stopping the clocks at 5.646 - 257.58. Taking the winlight after overcoming a small holeshot was Hough with a superior 5.528 - 263.72 pass.

TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER - Eliminations Round TWO

(LEFT) The semifinal round featured a pair of injected cars and a pair of the blown variety. First up were the A/FD's with Madison Payne in the near lane, facing Casey Grisel in the far lane. It was quite a race as Payne left first with a perfect (.000) reaction time to take an instant half a tenth lead over Grisel. However, Casey had erased that margin by the time they passed the 60' clocks and he continued to stretch it as Payne's car dropped cylinders and laboured down to the finish line with an off-pace 5.787 - 239.74 pass. Running away from her was the Grisel & Darien car with their quickest run of the weekend, a 5.223 - 278.00 for the win.

(RIGHT) Closing the round were the blown cars of Jon Bradford (near lane) and Taylor Januik in the far lane. Launching with a torque converter, Bradford left first and blitzed the 60' timers with an .892 short time to open an instant gap on Januik. She managed to stay close to Bradford until the 1000' clocks before getting too close to the centerline and being forced to pull the chutes earlier. The clocks read <5.435 at only 218.83 in Januik's lane, while Bradford laid down another quick pass of 5.254 - 275.56 to advance to the final.

TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR - Eliminations Round TWO

(LEFT) Coming into the round with lane choice, Annie Whiteley (near lane) a small e.t. advantage over Brian Hough in the far lane. Whiteley left first and held the lead until the 330' mark when she was forced to pedal the car to calm it down. For there it was all Hough as he extended his lead all the way to the finish line, where he stopped the clocks with a solid 5.563 - 265.53 winning time. Whiteley coasted across the stripe with a slowing 6.040 - 200.86 in the losing cause.

(RIGHT) The second pair of the round put on a barn burner of a race, with Maddi Gordon (near lane) facing Steve Macklyn in the far lane. The drivers left almost together (.050 to .051 r.t.'s), and from there to the finish line it was a side-by-side race. Macklyn was in front by three hundredths at 330', two hundredths at the 660', and at the 1000' mark he was in front by just one thousandth of a second. From there to the finish line it was all Gordon as she crossed the finish line nearly 10 mph faster, turning a winning time of 5.511 - 267.22 to Macklyn's excelent, but losing, 5.543 - 258.42 effort.

TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER - Eliminations FINAL Round

As mentioned in an earlier report, our correspondent wasn't able to stay for the finals, so we've had to construct the report from the NHRA.tv video. First up was the dragster final, with Jon Bradford burning out first in the blown alcohol entry, while Casey Grisel followed suit with his injected nitro ride. When the ambers flashed, it was all Bradford, as he left first, blasted out an .887 short (60') time, then opened the gap to more than a tenth of a second by the 330' timers. Grisel closed the gap slightly in the mid-range but it was more than a car length between them at the finish line. Bradford's winning 5.195 - 278.46 easily covered Grisel's valiant 5.254 - 276.97 effort.

TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR - Eliminations FINAL Round

The final race of the event featured the #2 qualifier Maddi Gordon, against #4 Brian Hough. Following their nearly synchronized burnouts with a great race. Hough gave it his best shot, leaving first with an .022 to .038 reaction time advantage, but Gordon eked out a small lead by the 330' mark. She increased the margin to half a car length as they neared the top end before Gordon's winlight came on with her best of eliminations 5.471 - 266.85 that was just enough to hold off Hough's best run of the weekend, a 5.511 - 267.64 effort.