PHOTO BY JEFF BURK

Patrick’s Cobra bites field

Robert Patrick and his Jon Kaase 815 inch Ford Hemi had the quickest ET’s of the 20 car Pro Stock field from the first lap to the last eventually recording what is believed to be the quickest eighth-mile time ever for an IHRA legal Pro Stock with a 4.100 ET in the first round of Eliminations.
Patrick backed that ET up for unoffical IHRA Pro Stock ET record for the eighth mile with a second round 4.133. He never ran slower than a 4.15 all day, and he ran that time in the finals against Chevy standard bearer John Montecalvo who has a Sonny Leonard Hemi/Chevy powering his Chevy. The final round was a spectacular race with both men cutting identical .046 lights but Patrick got to the stripe first with a 4.156 to Montecalvo’s 4.171! When these cars get in better atmospheric conditions eighth-mile times will surely dio into the 4.0’s~

The Montcalvo has the higher power!?

While Robert Patrick’s Mustang clearly had the ET advantage on Sunday John Montecalvo’s big Chevy may have the most power. Most agree that the speed equals horsepower and John Montecalvo had tne best speeds with a first round speed of 174.19 and he backed that speed up with a 173.34 which gives Montecalvo and Sonny Leonard the unofficial 1/8th mile speed record at 174.19.

Really Big, Big Motors

Two IHRA Pro Stock racers Rickie Smith and Mike Corvo Jr had 822 cubic inch Chevy engines and two more racers Brian Gahm and John Nobile had 820 inch Fords. Can you say NITROUS?
Robert Patricks engine was only 819 ci.

Bruce Litton on his final-round pass Photo by Jeff Burk

Settles says 1/8th mile racing saves parts and money!

Veteran tuner Dave Settles told DRO that racing an eighth of a mile instead of a quarter saved his team a lot of money. “We would have used about three times as many disposable parts qualifying and going rounds had we been racing a quarter mile instead of a eighth mile.” None of the Pro Teams were heard to complain about the shorter racing distance. Settles told DRO he didn’t damage one piston at the event but did not attribute that to the shorter track.

Walkovers in Top Fuel

Both Mitch King, who was driving in both Top Fuel and Funny Car, and Scotty Cannon, who was returning to the Top Fuel ranks after a long lay off, were no shows during eliminations on Sunday. King was a no-show in the first round and Cannon, who won his first round match-up against Bobby Lagana, couldn’t answer the call in the semi-finals automatically putting T. J. Zizzo into the finals. Nonetheless Cannon and his sponsors enjoyed a successful return to the sport by qualifying and going a couple of rounds.

Foley unofficial 1/8th mile record holder

Doug Foley is now the unofficial IHRA record holder for both speed and ET. He backed up his 3.143 with a 3.111 and also able to back up a 265.27 record with a 273+ lap. The IHRA didn’t award any offical speed or ET records at this race and didn’t award any bonus points.

No Show for Millican

This event was the first IHRA race in almost a decade where Mike Kloeber and Clay Millican didn’t enter and race a Top Fuel car.

for complete T/F round sheet gp to www.dragracecentral.com

Photo by Richard Burk Esq

Patrick, Creasy and Litton open IHRA season with wins

The fact they were racing on the eighth mile instead of the traditional IHRA quarter-mile distance usually reserved for National Event competition had absolutely no effect on the feel or drama of professional class eliminations at the just completed Texas Nationals at San Antonio Raceway.
Top Fuel racer Bruce Litton demonstrated that he was completely recovered from his serious Top End crash late last year by qualifying in the number one spot then getting a final round win over T.J. Zizzo. Defending IHRA Nitro Funny Car champ Dale Creasy Jr. struggled to qualify but once he made the field he made the field pay and beat defending event champ and pole sitter Gary Densham for the victory that began his effort to repeat as the IHRA World Champ. Ford fan favorite Robert Patrick showed that the performance he developed with his Hemi-Ford-powered Cobra was no fluke as he not only ran a mind-boggling 4.100 in the first round of the eighth-mile competition but also had the quickest ET in each round of Eliminations. He beat Chevy racer John Montecalvo’s Hemi-Chevy powered Cobalt in the final to win yet another IHRA “Iron Man”.
Pro Modified competition saw an all supercharged final round but the nitrous oxide injected entry of Burton Auxier did make it to the semi-finals.
Pro Mod veteran Ed Hoover got his first National Event win in a very long time when his opponent Danny Rowe got crossed up and had to lift while Hoover’s car performed flawlessly on his way to the win. Terry Munroe took advantage of a crossed-up defending World Champ Mark Thomas and used a stellar 3.89/187+ to get his victory. (complete individual class coverage follows)

pHOTO BY JEFF bURK

FUEL QUALIFYING

Going into the final round of qualifying on Saturday night defending IHRA Fuel Coupe Champion Dale Creasy Jr and rising T/F star T.J. Zizzo weren’t qualified for the race today. Zizzo went from the number 10 spot to number two in the field with a 3.132/262 lap. Tuner Dave Settles told DRO that the team hadn’t even had a chance to “Cackle” the motor before they came to the event and that they had no data running on the newly mandated Goodyear tires and that it would probably take at least two laps to get a “baseline.” apparently he knew what he was talking about. Dale Creasy didn’t quite make the same kind of dramatic move but he did manage to get into the field on the last lap. They were the only two cars that cracked the nitro fields on their last lap. The number one spot went to NHRA regular Gary Densham with a 3.222/253.56 lap. Cruz Pedregon, a former NHRA World Champ, and tuner Wayne Dupley weren’t able to make the elite eight-car field.

WHERE THE HELL IS TEXHOMA?

Chuck Worsham when asked when was the last time he raced a fuel car on an eighth-mile track quickely replied “Texhoma.” We’re going to have to look that one up

WYATT MAKES RACE AND QUALIFIES ON A WIND AND NO SPARE

Jack Wyatt was sure that he was going to get a money sponsor over the off season based upon interest he had after finishing second in IHRA points last year. So he spent all of the prize money upgrading his operation while continuing to make his living as a truck driver. Does this story sound like another more famous driver’s life story? At any rate when it came time to come to Texas he found himself without the money to race. His friends stepped up and covered rooms, fuel, entry fees, etc. and Jack came to the race. “I had a brand new car and combination but I really, really needed to get the qualifying money.” He did but you have to think that someone out there will step up and sponsor the IHRA’s version of John Force.

photo by Jeff Burk

KIRK KUHN’S HEMI/CHEVY/WILLYS GOES 4.02
California Pro Mod racer Kirk Kuhns brought his supercharged ‘41 Willy’s Coupe to San Antonio for the IHRA Texas Natdionals. Kuhn’s Coupe is unique in that it is just one of two supercharged Pro Mods that use Sonny Leonard’s Hemi/Chevy heads. He had some handling problems early but a little help from car builder Jim Geese and some tuning help from Sonny Leonard resulted in a 4.022/184.14 lap that put the California native solidly in the field.

BILLES TUNE-UPS/ENGINES RULE AT SAN ANTONIO
Canadian engine builder and tuner Al Billes put three of his customers into the Top three qualfying spots in Pro Mod after qualifying was done. Ray Commisso, Scott Cannon and Tony Pontieri led the field with all three cars breaking into the Threes. Respectivley they ran a 3.962, a 3.966 and a 3.97. Congrats to Al Billes and his clients

PRO MOD PARIETY...MAYBE
Supercharged cars lead the qualifying and only five of the six nitrous cars entered made the 16 car Pro Mod field (Shannon Jenkins) . David Reher told DRO that the biggest engine he was able to build so far for the Shannon Jenkins/Mike Castellana camp was a 762 incher. “I’m waiting on parts like heads, cranks and blocks to make 800inch engines. I think right now we’re at least two months away from building and testing the ‘big’ engines.” Castallana was a DNQ but Jenkins was able to make the field. A high ranking IHRA tech department source told DRO that in all probablity there would be no rule changes for Pro Mod in 2007!

Jeff Burk

The IHRA management team and specifically director of Competition Peaco “Skooter” made the historic decision after the Friday Night quaifying was concluded to change the event from a quarter-mile contest to an eighth-mile event. According to the IHRA it was the first IHRA National Event contested at the eighth-mile distance in almost 30 years.
The decision was made after it was discovered that one lane was virtually unusable for racing past the 660ft mark. The San Antonio track managment discovered that the track had been rendered unusable due to the track surface in one lane being weakened by it being ground for smoothness prior to the event. That grinding evidently removed the top coat of paved surface leaving a surface of smooth agregate. The track owners brought in paving equipment and worked all night Friday to actually repaired the track, but with no time to cure and harden enough to withstand racing IHRA’s Skooter Peaco made the obvious decision to shorten the playing field.
“ It was the easiest decision I’ve ever made,” Peaco told DRO. “It was a safety of the racer call.”
DRO applauds the actions of the IHRA Management team including Tech Director Mike Baker, IHRA President Aaron Polburn and the San Antonio track owners for making the right decision for all concerned.
A near capacity crowd watched a pair of stellar qualifying session on Saturday and no complaints were heard from either racers or fans.
As this was written IHRA had made the decision not to establish 1/8th mile records or award points for setting those records but told DRO they were at least still thinking about setting records and awarding the Championship points that come with the records.

T.J Zizzo launches hard in Friday Night qualifying Jeff Burk Photo

The Zizzo family Top Fuel team which won an IHRA National Event in 2006 with the help of veteran Texas tuner, Fuel pump designer and former NHRA Champion driver, Dave Settles have a new sponsor for the 2007 IHRA season from Race News Magazine. The funding allows the team to have more parts and the duo of driver T.J. Zizzo and Dave Settles could contend for a World Championship despite a rough start

Scotty Cannon flames down the track at San Antonio Richard Burk photo

Scotty Cannon was the only Top Fuel car in the four-second zone after the first round of qualifying for the Texas Nationals in San Antonio, TX. He was also the first winner of the IHRA last man standing award which is worth five points and at least for the night puts Cannon in the points lead for the IHRA Top Fuel World Championship

Quain Stott

When Quain Stott pulled into the San Antonio Raceway for the Amalie Oil Texas Nationals this week, he had a few new goals to consider. Defending his 2006 Pro Modified Championship and showcasing his brand new 1963 split-window LeeBoy Corvette, powered by Torco Race Fuels.

While the Corvette may look like a classic Stott setup, it’s all new from the ground up. Stott took everything he learned over the years and put it into the new car. “I got together with Wally Stroupe and put some ideas together for this new car, Stott explained. “Wally did a great job of taking some of my ideas and turned it in to a really nice hotrod. Anytime you start out with a brand new race car, it can be a little nerve racking,” said Stott. “We started testing back in January and this car ran straight down the track right off of the truck.”

Stott will enter the LeeBoy Corvette for the 10th consecutive season, showcasing two of the longest consecutive sponsorships in IHRA history. LeeBoy enters its 10th season with Stott and Torco Racing Fuels its ninth.

“LeeBoy and Quain Stott Racing have been together a long time,” Stott explained. “It’s not that often you find a partnership as loyal and as strong as Kelly Majeskie and the folks at LeeBoy. This is also our ninth season with Evan Knoll and Torco Racing Fuels. I remember starting with Evan a long time ago. Now, it’s hard to imagine what drag racing would be like without Evan and Torco Race Fuels.”

Stott has had success at the Amalie Oil Texas Nationals, he’ll hope to improve this year. Stott tuned a team car to a final round appearance in the 2006 campaign and made a semi-final appearance in the 2005 event. “We’ve had some success here,” Stott said. “This is a brand new year and with some rule changes for the Pro Mods, I guess you could say it’s anyone’s race.”

Stott’s Corvette has had plenty of testing over the winter that proved promising for the LeeBoy team. “We really like our 60-foot times,” Stott said. We haven’t really leaned on the motor yet. But, we’ve had some decent numbers in testing. Everyone looks at some of these pre-season races and they get all excited about the big mile per hour and ET’s. Don’t get me wrong, they’re impressive for any Pro Mod, but it’s San Antonio that counts. Lets see what happens this week.”

Pro qualifying begins at noon on Friday and Saturday with Pro eliminations beginning at 10:30 AM Sunday.