American
DRAGCAR debuted the 1/8th mile heads-up Arizona
Race Company StreetCar Showdown Series on Saturday
May 30th at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park,
and what a show those racers put on.
It
seemed that this much-anticipated debut actually turned
out to be a “let’s see what it looks like”
kind of event for a number of the Arizona heads-up racers
as there were quite a few absent from the staging lanes
on this evening but those who did show up certainly exhibited
hardcore racer hearts as they battled it out under the
lights for money and bragging rights.
First up was the Wallace Motorsports Pro Bantamweight
class being made up of the 8.5 racers. Don
Bonahoom made the trip down from Lake Havasu
City, Arizona to become the #1 qualifier in his RPM Performance
Chevy powered ’91 Mustang at 5.623/127.82 MPH. Travis
Wallace of Peoria, Arizona in the WRE Ford powered
“Crapi” ’81 Capri followed close behind
for the #2 spot with his 5.631/124.53 MPH charge.
In
the semi-final round Don Bonahoom was paired up with Glendale,
Arizona's Justin Robbins in his Wallace
Motorsports ’78 Fairmont. Robbins was at a performance
disadvantage qualifying a bit slower than Bonahoom but
he gave a hard swing as he put a light on Bonahoom, but
the Chevy horsepower was just a bit more than Robbins’
Ford could hold off as Bonahoom took the stripe with a
strong 5.659/127.55 MPH blast. Travis Wallace was paired
up with Queen Creek, Arizona's Preston Osborne in his
’76 Vega for the other half of the round but Osborne
apparently suffered troubles as he failed to make the
call to the lanes and Wallace took the single, running
even better than his qualifying time with a 5.596/123.86
MPH hit.
So for the final, it looked to be Travis Wallace holding
the 3 hundredths slight advantage as Don Bonahoom had
qualified with a 5.623 and Wallace had just posted a 5.593,
but you just never know in drag racing. When the greens
lit, it was Wallace off the line first with a slim 6 thousandths
reaction time advantage but Osborne’s Chevy is notorious
for its top end horsepower charge. The two were side by
side all the way but when the finish line flashed beneath
the two cars, it was Travis Wallace holding on for the
win by that same 3 hundredths of a second, 5.570/123.91
over a 5.593/127.93 charge. That was a spectacular final
indeed.
Next
on the ticket was the USDRAGCAR.com Pro Welterweight
class being made up of the 275 drag radial racers. Clay
Forrester of Gilbert, Arizona in his Forrester
Racing Engines-powered ’93 Mustang qualified #1
with a 5.042/146.46 MPH blast while Jeff Bomyea
from Surprise, Arizona in his Wildside Chevy powered ’68
Camaro took the #2 spot with a 5.150/142.79 MPH effort.
In
this semi-final round it would be the two red Camaros
of the field facing off as Jeff Bomyea lined up against
Glendale, Arizona's Willie Wray in his Auto & Truck
Specialists ’69 Camaro. Wray appeared to be at a
pretty substantial performance disadvantage qualifying
a bit slower than Bomyea had but nothing is ever known
until the win light pops. Wray played the only card he
felt he could to even up the competition and he took a
gamble at the green by leaving when he felt it should
come on. A nice try it was but it did not pay off this
time as the red light flashed and Bomyea was on his way
into the final against Clay Forrester who had gotten the
bye to the final.
Going
into the final it looked to be another tight pairing with
Clay Forrester holding only a 4 hundredths performance
advantage with his 5.04 qualifying shot over Jeff Bomyea’s
5.08 semi-final run. This time the RT advantage would
prove vital as Forrester took a healthy lead from the
light and Bomyea was forced to make up the ground, but
to no avail as Clay Forrester took the finish line with
a 5.051/147.29 over a quicker 5.018/147.01 effort. Certainly
some good racing going on there.
Third on the ticket was the USDRAGCAR.com Pro
Heavyweight class being made up of the 10.5 Outlaw
racers. There
were only two entries for this class this evening but
they were certainly some heavy hitters in the class. They
were Mesa, Arizona's Dana Cook in her
MMR Ford powered 2010 Mustang and Peoria, Arizona's Vic
Brum in his RWR Chevy powered ’70 Chevelle.
After
two rounds of qualifying however, both racers opted to
withdraw from the competition, voicing concerns relating
to the facility, and they were refunded their race fee.
Whatever the trouble, they made for a spectacular pairing
as their best qualifying round had Dana Cook clocking
a 4.76 @ 154 MPH. Hopefully, things can be resolved and
we will see them again at Race #2 of the StreetCar Showdown
Series on September 5th at the Pass.
The
3rd and final race of this mini-series will be held in
Tucson on November 8th at Southwestern International Raceway.
Results
- American DRAGCAR StreetCar
Showdown, Wild Horse Pass in Chandler,
AZ / May 30, 2015
Pro
Bantamweight Semi Finals:
W:
Don Bonahoom, Lake Havasu City, AZ.,
'91 Mustang, RT: .448, ET: 5.659
L: Justin Robbins, Glendale,
AZ., '78 Fairmont, RT: .429, ET: 6.326
W:
Travis Wallace, Peoria,
AZ., '81 Capri, RT: .455, ET: 5.596
L: Preston Osborne,
Queen Creek, AZ., '76 Vega, RT: N/A, ET: Broke
Pro
Bantamweight Final:
W:
Travis Wallace, RT:
.437, ET: 5.570
L: Don Bonahoom, RT:
.443, ET: 5.593
Pro
Welterweight Semi Finals:
W:
Jeff Bomyea, Surprise,AZ., '68 Camaro, RT: .630,
ET: 5.087
L: Willie Wray, Glendale,
AZ., '69 Camaro, RT: LBG, ET: None
W:
Clay Forrester, Gilbert,
AZ., '93 Mustang, RT: .469, ET: 6.183
L: Bye
Pro
Welterweight Final:
W:
Clay Forrester, RT:
.445, ET: 5.051
L: Jeff Bomyea, RT:
.597, ET: 5.018
