American
DRAGCAR had endured a long absence from Tucson Dragway since
the Season Opener of the Micro Import Service, Inc. Southern
Championship Series in February but were finally back for
Race #2 on June 18th, and yeah, it was hot.
Coming
into this race, there was a DRAGCAR Throwdown Callout
scheduled for Jeff Sefranek and Marvin Wolfmeier, but
both would have had to have been out of the American Walk-In
Coolers DragSport Eliminator eliminations after second
round for that match race to take place. Sefranek honored
his end of the deal by going out in the first round but
Wolfmeier was another story.
Surprisingly,
even with quite a few of the regular Southern Championship
Series contenders absent from the lanes during qualifying,
the field still managed its regular size creating a 5
round race. And we were honored to have a new member joining
the guild with a pretty interesting hot rod of his own.
Mingo
Hernandez was someone to watch back in the late ‘80’s
at Phoenix Raceway Park as he campaigned an ex-Bill Jenkins
“Grumpy’s Toy” ’83 Camaro powered
by a claimed 283 Chevy 10,000 rpm powerplant in front
of a Lenco 4-speed transmission. Well,
imagine the surprise when a new member handed in his membership
form with the name Mingo Hernandez scratched across it.
And guess what else, he’s still running the same
ex-Grumpy car, still being powered by a high winding small
block in front of the Lenco transmission. What a DragCar
that is!
Anyway,
did we mention that the weather was hot? As the racers
pulled into the gates, the air temperature was no less
than 110 degrees, which could explain the smaller than
normal crowd slowly filing into the pits. But that didn’t
stop the Southern Championship Series points leader James
Sorenson from rolling his Nova out of the box, nor did
it stop the Grand Championship points leader Mark Ballard
from bringing his blown Delray wagon out either. And of
course the defending Season IV Southwestern Championship
Series DRAGSTAR Geanine Ballard was also out in the heat
going after her second DRAGSTAR DRAGWAY trophy. Gene Igo
was back out in the American Walk-In Coolers rear engine
dragster too and though he qualified in the top spot with
an 8.378 blast, mechanical issues had him back in the
trailer before the start of eliminations.
So
after qualifying was completed, the Fast Five consisted
of Gene Igo with his 8.378 while Jeff Morgan picked up
the #2 spot with his altered T roadster’s 9.098
charge and new member Mingo Hernandez in his ’83
Camaro took the #3 spot with his 9.375 performance. Geanine
Ballard was in the #4 spot with her blown ’67 Camaro
posting a 9.477 effort and Allen Morris rounded out the
Fast Five with a 9.529 out of his blown big block powered
’71 Nova.
First
round opened with Jeff Sefranek on an 11.10 adjusted index
taking on Mingo Hernandez on a 9.40 adjusted index. Too
bad for the Ford as the red light lit just 9 thousandths
of a second before the green should have come on and just
that quickly, a real ex-Pro Stocker scored the first round
win of American DRAGCAR competition. Southern Championship
Series points leader James Sorenson got the round win
as he nailed a double O7 light for good measure even though
Michael Porter drew the red against him. But Grand Championship
Series points leader Mark Ballard, who was running the
Area 51 tow vehicle due to the wagon suffering mechanical
woes during qualifying failed to get through the round
and allowed Dustin Passerby to collect on the Grand Championship
Bounty award. Marvin Wolfmeier then took out Ray Stephenson
with a very respectable .025 light as he ran 11.078 on
an 11.10 adjusted index over an off pace 15.358 on a 15.20
effort. And in the closest race of the round, Joe Dominguez
used a double O2 light to put a big hole-shot on Jeff
Morgan and then managed to stay in front for the win running
9.571 on a 9.65 adjusted index holding off the quicker
8.977 on a 9.10 attempt. Geanine Ballard then faced off
with Allen Morris in a cool heads-up blown big block Chevy
drag race as both were running on 9.50 adjusted indexes.
Ballard did her job well as she put a 5 hundredths hole-shot
on Morris and stretched out her lead for the win with
a 9.458 over the 9.473 effort.
Second
round opened with a pair of Vegas facing off as Marvin
Wolfmeier on an 11.10 adjusted index was going up against
Matt Ballard running on a 10.80 adjusted index. Mr. Wolf
took a 4 hundredths reaction time advantage off the tree
and then took the stripe by nearly the same margin running
11.033 to hold of the big block’s 10.734 charge.
Then it was Thom Fitch taking a 3 hundredths reaction
time advantage over Dustin Passerby as both racers went
nearly a full tenth of a second under-index with Fitch
taking the win by just 5 hundredths of a second, 12.894
on a 13.00 over 12.215 on a 12.30 adjusted index. Geanine
Ballard then surprised everybody with her 9.312 on a 9.45
blast to draw the DQ against James Sorenson who paired
a stellar .011 reaction time with an 11.057 on an 11.05
adjusted index performance to show he was indeed the man
to beat. Joe Dominguez took a 5 hundredths reaction time
advantage over Scott Niles and it proved to be needed
as he managed to take the stripe by just 5 hundredths
running 9.505 on a 9.50 over the slightly quicker 11.051
on an 11.05 adjusted index. Ron Shelly then closed out
the round by taking out Mingo Hernandez, with a 9.675
on a 9.70 over an off pace 9.526 on a 9.40 effort.
Marvin
Wolfmeier again, opened round three going up against Joe
Dominguez in what would officially be the closest race
of the night. Mr. Wolf nailed an awesome .013 light and
paired that with an 11.022 on an 11.00 to stay ahead of
the 9.521 on a 9.50 by just three hundredths of a second.
James Sorenson was then up against Ron Shelly in the other
Vega in the field. Sorenson took a 13 thousandths advantage
from the light and stretched it out by another 3 thousandths
for the win with an 11.067 on an 11.05 over a 9.670 on
what should have been a 9.65 adjusted index for a 16 thousandths
margin of victory.
Opening
the semi final round was, yep, Marvin Wolfmeier, now taking
on Thom Fitch. Mr. Wolf’s small block powered Vega
was on an 11.00 adjusted index while Fitch’s big
block powered Mustang was on a 12.80, and though Wolfmeier
gave up over 3 hundredths off the tree, his 11.019 caught
and passed the off pace pony’s 12.938 effort while
James Sorenson took the Bye-run into the final.
So,
the final had Marvin Wolfmeier going up against the series
points leader James Sorenson in the final round for the
race points, money, trophy, and a shot at the Southern
Championship Series Bounty. Wolfmeier appeared to be at
a 2 hundredths performance advantage as he had run 11.019
on his 11.00 the round before while Sorenson had run out
his bye-run posting only an 11.089 on his 11.05 adjusted
index. But in fact it was Sorenson having the slightest
of a 17 thousandths performance advantage as he nailed
a perfect 11.050 against Wolfmeier’s 11.017 but
it was the -.024 red light vs. the .018 green that gave
the win to Mr. Wolfmeier.
As
always, the final round proved to be a tough match-up
and again it came down to the drivers’ job at the
tree being the deciding factor in who would go home with
the bigger payout. Congratulations to Marvin Wolfmeier
on his win which puts him just behind James Sorenson in
the Southern Championship Series points standings.
Marvin
Wolfmeier also grabbed up the Southern Championship Series
Bounty on James Sorenson with that final round win and
Dustin Passerby collected on the Grand Championship Series
Bounty on Mark Ballard with his first round win.
The
two American Walk-In Coolers “Best Of” $100
awards went to Joe Dominguez for his .002 first round
Best Reaction Time Of Eliminations and to Scott Niles
for the Best Losing Package with his .098 second round
defeat.
Michael
Porter managed to redeem himself after his first round
American Walk-In Coolers DragSport Eliminator defeat by
going all the way to the final round of the Double Down
DragOut Gambler and then coming away the winner.
Congratulations
to everybody taking home a prize and Thank You to all
who participate in making American DragCar’s races
so exciting to watch. Thanks also goes out to Jim Hughes,
Matt DeYoung, and the rest of the Tucson Dragway crew
for hosting American DRAGCAR, and of course to Micro Import
service, Inc, American Walk-In Coolers, and the rest of
our sponsors for giving the racers something worth while
to race for.
Next
up on the American DRAGCAR calendar is the Arizona Differential
Specialists Central Championship Series Race #4 at Wild
Horse Pass Motorsports Park coming up on July 9th. It’s
going to be hot but it’s going to be fun, so be
sure to be there, and make sure to Bring Your DragCar!
Results
- American DRAGCAR, Tucson Dragway / June 18, 2016
Quarter
Finals:
Winner:
James Sorenson, Elgin, AZ., '73 Nova, Index: 11.05, RT:
.045, ET: 11.067
Runner-up: Ron Shelly, Phoenix, AZ., '74 Vega, Index:
9.65, RT: .058, ET: 9.670
Winner:
Thom Fitch, Mesa, AZ., '83 Mustang, Index: 12.80, RT:
.160, ET: 12.890
Runner-up: Bye
Semi
Finals:
Winner:
Marvin Wolfmeier, Index: 11.00, RT: .138, ET: 11.019
Runner-up: Thom Fitch, Index: 12.80, RT: .103, ET: 12.938
Winner:
James Sorenson, Index: 11.05, RT: .114, ET: 11.089
Runner-up: Bye
Final:
Winner:
Marvin Wolfmeier, Index: 11.00, RT: .018, ET: 11.017
Runner-up: James Sorenson, Index: 11.05, RT: -.024, ET:
11.050
