At
3 races into American DRAGCAR's five race Arizona Race Company
Street Car Showdown Series with the completion of the March
19th Chandler, Arizona's Race at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports
Park, this last race had yet the largest total number of
Streetcar showdown entrants to date in this first full season..
For
the second race in a row there was a Pro OutLaw field
though it was quite small; nevertheless one racer was
here all the way from Wisconsin? Wow, what a tow! And
for the second race in a row, it was the under-dogged
Rob Parsons coming away the Pro OutLaw winner in his Ford
Lightning.
Scottsdale,
Arizona’s Glen Bolz again had the fastest car in
the field with a 4.652 @ 153mph out of his immaculate
'66 Nova which gave him the bye for the semi-final round
while Campbellsport, Wisconsin’s Nick Mueller in
his impressive '55 Chevy was taking on Scottsdale’s
Rob Parsons. Mueller had the definite performance advantage
with his 5.054 @ 140mph qualifying effort but alas, almost
as soon as he was staged, he leaped off of the starting
line before the greens ever flashed giving Rob Parsons
the pass into the finals.
So
it would have been Rob Parsons and Glen Bolz meeting in
the Pro OutLaw final but Bolz opted not to make the round
thereby sending Parsons away as the Pro OutLaw race winner
for his second race win in a row.
This time we also had a Pro BantamWeight field that had
Lake Havasu City’s Don Bonahoom again sitting at
#1 with a 5.027 @ 149mph out of his Fox body Mustang while
Justin Robbins was able to secure the #2 spot with his
5.888 @ 115mph effort from his Fairmont. Queen Creek's
Preston Osborne in his Vega and Peoria, Arizona’s
Travis Wallace in the "new" Mustang secured
the 3rd and 4th spots respectively as they both struggled
with traction early in the day.
The
Pro BantamWeight semi-final round started out with Preston
Osborne in his little red corv. . . . ., no Vega, taking
on Don Bonahoom in his Fox body Mustang. Osborne did his
job trying to capture the Wallace Motorsports Quick Draw
award as he .499’d Bonahoom’s .525 reaction
time but he just didn’t have enough to hold off
the turbo charge as Bonahoom took the stripe with a 5.926
over a 6.538 effort. Then it was Justin Robbins in his
Fairmont taking on Travis Wallace in his super clean Mustang.
But Robbins was unable to pull off the underdog upset
this time as he left a little later than Wallace and could
not make up the ground, running 6.927 to Wallace’s
5.403 winning performance.
So,
the Pro BantamWeight final had the two blue Mustangs of
the field facing off. Bonahoom was certainly the favorite
with more than a half second advantage showing on paper
but can you ever really go by that? When the greens lit
and the cars left the line, it was anybody’s race
as Bonahoom only netted a 2 thousandths reaction time
lead, but by the 60’ mark, it was the Wallace entry
out in front. And by half track Wallace was ahead by about
a half a car, and Bonahoom never made up that ground as
they went across the line with Wallace in the lead by
5 hundredths running 5.153 over a 5.211 effort making
Travis Wallace the Pro BantamWeight race winner for his
second race in a row.
Now
for the big show, Pro WelterWeight. Yep, that’s
right, the middle class is turning out to be the big draw
as it’s regularly the largest field of the program
with performances matching those so far being seen in
the Pro OutLaw class.
As
qualifying closed, Josh Edwards again in the “Seabiscuit”
2nd generation Camaro taking the top spot with his untouchable
4.679 @ 161mph blast while Clay Forrester in his "Black
Fox" body Mustang coupe took the #2 spot just about
a quarter of a second behind with a 4.922 @ 149mph. Number
3 was held by points leader John Thompson in his "Blue
Fox" body Mustang coupe with a 4.944 @ 148mph while
Jeff Bomyea was back with his "Dredly" ’67
Camaro posting a 4.987 @ 141mph for the #4 spot. Doug
Driggers in “The Truck” had to settle for
#5 with his 4.999 @ 142mph and Dave Welker’s V6
"Flyerbird" Firebird took up 6th with a 5.15
@ 140mph. Dee Pfinster’s "Wild" ’69
Camaro sat in 7th with a 5.31 @ 135mph while Tony Williams
in his "Lowdown" ’56 Chevy rounded out
the 8-car field with a 6.27 @ 124 mph effort. This has
been the tightest Pro WelterWeight field to date with
so many cars hovering in the 4.90 zone.
First
up for first round was Doug Driggers drawing the hard
to beat Josh Edwards, but when the green lights flashed,
something seemed to be off in the truck as Driggers put
nearly a 3 hundredths hole-shot on Edwards but still fell
behind before the 60’ mark and then lit the tires
shortly afterward before finally lifting completely and
allowing Edwards the honor of going to the next round
with his 4.815 over 7.569. Next up was John Thompson taking
on Dee Pfinster. Thompson was just "on" as he
netted nearly 3 hundredths right off the light and never
looked back, running 5.012 over a 5.479 for the round
win. Then it was Clay Forrester paired up against Dave
Welker, but Welker failed to make the call to the lanes
thereby giving Forrester an easy single into the next
round. Did I say easy? Well, his 4.924 @ 149 showed he
may have been having a contest with Edwards to see who
was more consistent anyway. Finally, Jeff Bomyea was paired
with Tony Williams, and Williams also failed to make the
call to the lanes allowing Bomyea a single into the next
round as well posting a 5.564.
So,
the semis would look to consist of one really tight pairing
and one not so tight pairing as the #4 Jeff Bomyea was
going up against the #2 Clay Forrester with only 6 hundredths
of a second separating the two in their qualifying performances.
When the greens flashed, it was Bomyea scoring more than
2 hundredths in reaction time advantage but as they charged
down track, Forrester caught and passed the red Camaro
at half track and charged on for the win with a 4.904
over a 5.054. Then it was John Thompson with the fate
of facing Josh Edwards in the field dominating “Seabiscuit”,
and knowing he had his work cut out for him, he did rise
to the challenge as he hit the light with a better than
average .467 reaction and paired that up with a stout
4.93 performance, but Edwards was not taking his performance
advantage for granted as he ripped out a .452 reaction
time of his own and followed through with a 4.796 for
the earned trip into the finals.
Clay
Forrester was certainly the underdog going into the final
as Josh Edwards just seemed to be repeating dominating
runs with ease, but “never give up” seems
to be the Forrester way of thinking. And “wow”
is all you can say when after the green lights popped,
Forrester was already a few hundredths behind Edwards
in reaction time but in the first half of the track he
actually closed in on the Camaro. But from the 330’
on, Edwards pulled further away and went across the stripe
in front for the win with a 4.812 over an impressive 4.879
effort for the Pro WelterWeight race win.
This
race dominating performance by Josh Edwards brings him
now to within 24 points (less than 1 round) behind series
leader John Thompson so it will be interesting to see
if anybody can stop his charge in the final two races
of the season later this year.
Congratulations
to Rob Parsons, Travis Wallace, and Josh Edwards on their
class wins, and THANK YOU to all you racers who came out
to show the folks at RPM Magazine a sampling of Arizona’s
toughest outlaw racers. Thanks also to Wild Horse Pass,
and Chuck Sundstrum and the crew for providing some outstanding
track prep allowing for so many sub-5 second performances
throughout the entire day.
The
next race on the Arizona Race Company StreetCar Showdown
calendar is Race #4 in Chandler, Arizona on September
10th along with Race #4 of the Arizona Differential Specialists
Central Championship Series.
Results
- American DRAGCAR Street Car Showdown, Wild Horse Pass
in Chandler, AZ / March 19, 2016
Pro
OutLaw
Semi
Finals:
Winner: Rob Parsons, Scottsdale, AZ., Ford Lightening,
RT: .489, ET: 6.881
Runner-up: Nick Mueller, Campbellsport, WI., '55 Chevy
Belair, RT: LBG, ET: N/A
Winner:
Glen Bolz, Scottsdale, AZ., '66 Chevy Nova, RT: .648,
ET: 4.670
Runner-up: Bye
Final:
Winner: Rob Parsons, RT: N/A, ET: N/A
Runner-up: Glen Bolz, Forfeit
Pro
WelterWeight
Semi
Finals:
Winner: Clay Forrester, Gilbert, AZ., '93 Mustang, RT:
.521, ET: 4.904
Runner-up: Jeff Bomyea, Surprise, AZ., '67 Camaro, RT:
.495, ET: 5.054
Winner:
Josh Edwards, Phoenix, AZ., '72 Camaro, RT: .452, ET:
4.796
Runner-up: John Thompson, Gilbert, AZ., ''92 Mustang,
RT: .467, ET: 4.930
Final:
Winner: Josh Edwards, RT: 467, ET: 4.812
Runner-up: Clay Forrester, RT: .524, ET: 4.879
Pro
BantamWeight
Semi
Finals:
Winner: Don Bonahoom, Lake Havasu City, AZ., Fox-body
Mustang, RT: .525, ET: 5.926
Runner-up: Preston Osborne, Queen Creek, AZ., Chevy Vega,
RT: .499, ET: 6.538
Winner:
Travis Wallace, Peoria, AZ., '95 Mustang, RT: .506, ET:
5.403
Runner-up: Justin Robbins, Glendale, AZ., Ford Fairmont,
RT: .548, ET: 6.927
Final:
Winner: Travis Wallace, RT: 491, ET: 5.153
Runner-up: Don Bonahoom, RT: .489, ET: 5.211
