American
DRAGCAR celebrated the completion of five full drag racing
seasons at southern Arizona’s Tucson Dragway during
the December 3rd & 4th weekend Pentennial Season Celebration
Event and if you missed it, this event offered up a guaranteed
$5,000.00 winner’s payout to Sunday’s level
5 ($100) DragSport Eliminator entrants and the possibility
of there becoming two separate $5,000.00 winner’s
pays with one being a quick 16 Top DragSport Eliminator
field if the total DragSport entry list reached 200 or
more entries. This event also offered a different kind
of bracket event for Saturday which incorporated DRAGCAR’s
own race fee/payout structure option with two Pro light
brackets and a full tree bracket. And there were also
races for the Junior Dragster racers as well as a Lady
DRAGCAR race and a DRAGCAR Shootout between American DRAGCAR’s
Central and Southern Series’ top points finishers.
StreetCar Showdown was on the list for both days but with
a competing street car event in Phoenix and an “illegal”
happening somewhere else on this same weekend, the Showdown
was not able to be run.
One
of the non-racing highlights of the weekend was the special
appearance of Jeff Senour and the CTS band who came down
from Phoenix to provide the musical entertainment for
the Saturday evening festivities including an outstanding
performance of their original drag racing favorite, “Quarter
Mile” which everybody thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks
to them for making the trip down!
Saturday December 3rd, 2016
Saturday saw some exciting breakout racing action with
a 4 tenths Pro light bracket, a 5 tenths Pro light bracket,
and a full tree bracket proving that electronics and non-electronics
can indeed be run together when using the Pro light tree.
The
Pro 400 BreakOut saw approximately a 2:1 ratio of box
vs. no-entries but in the end it wasn’t the box
that eliminated the no-box racers in the field as they
were going out with red-lights, breakouts, and off-dial
performances. Not one no-box racer was defeated by a decisive
reaction time advantage taken by a box car which lends
creed to the theory that the Pro light serves well to
equalize the field. In the end though, it did end up a
final between two delay boxed racers as Ron Shelly in
his Vega on a 9.65 dial took the go signal almost 2 seconds
before Jose Luis Garcia in his dragster on a 7.82 dial.
Garcia took a big reaction time advantage from the green
but at the end he was too far in front as he stopped the
clocks 6 thousandths of a second early for the breakout
giving Shelly the win, 9.684 over a 7.814.
In
the Pro 500 Breakout, there were only a couple of box
cars entered and they went out early, one by attrition
and one by the red light. So, the final ended up a no-box
battle between Matt Ballard in his Vega on a 10.47 dial-in
and James Sorenson in his Nova on an 11.10 dial. After
the ambers flashed, both racers showed very respectable
reaction times but Ballard still had a couple hundredths
advantage with his .016 light and though Sorenson hit
the finish line first by 4 thousandths of a second, it
was Ballard turning on the win light with the lesser of
the breakouts in the double breakout battle, 10.465 over
an 11.081.
Then
there was the Full Five BreakOut strictly for non-electronics
racers where Kyle Holbrook in the Underdog Racing Fox
body running on a 12.76 dial-in lined up against Dustin
Passerby in his deadly consistent Malibu on a 12.29 dial
for the final round showdown. Once both trees had fallen,
it was Holbrook holding more than 7 hundredths advantage
with his double O-2 light and Passerby was unable to take
this one as he was still behind at the stripe allowing
Holbrook to take the win by 3 hundredths with a 12.794
over the 12.286 breakout effort.
Finally,
the Junior BreakOut Final proved to be one of those strange
ones where both drivers were playing with the throttle
and running well off their numbers as they crossed the
stripe. Tripp Breikreitz took the tree first on his 8.90
dial-in while Dylan Smith waited and gave chase a half
second later on his 8.25 dial. Smith took with him a 5
hundredths advantage off the line and at the finish line
he was able to secure the deal with an 8.465 over the
off dial 9.235 effort.
The
Central vs. Southern DRAGCAR Shootout (shown below: Chris
Holbrook / Mustang and Marvin Wolfmeier / Vega) was a
special competition being held for “bragging rights”
among the top finishing members of the Season V Arizona
Differential Specialists Central Championship Series and
the Micro Import Service Inc. Southern Championship Series.
This was to be a two round shootout between two teams
of eight racers being scored just the same as the season
series’ are scored with the winning team being decided
by the total team points score. In the end it was Tucson’s
Team Southern coming away the victors with the bragging
rights to Arizona’s Best in the West drag racers.
In
Lady DRAGCAR, it came down to yet another Ballard/Wray
battle as Geanine Ballard (pictured) faced off with Neva
Wray in a quite familiarly seen DRAGCAR pairing. The ladies
being who they are, thought that they decided this would
not be a race for anything other than just an exhibition,
but little did they know that American DRAGCAR and DRAGCAR
member Michael Porter would not have any of that as Porter
had already put up a $100 to go to the Lady DRAGCAR finalists
in addition to the Winner’s trophy. And after the
lights fell for the final time of the day, Geanine Ballard
was once again the Lady DRAGCAR winner for the second
year in a row after Neva Wray drew the red light on the
starting line.
And
that was some of day one of the American DRAGCAR Pentennial
Celebration racing action but there was still an evening
to be had with Jeff Senour and the CTS band as they performed
right there next to the Tucson Dragway beer well in a
very intimate atmosphere playing directly to all of the
racers who stayed for the night’s entertainment
which also included some DRAGCAR Season awards presentations.
Sunday December 4th, 2016
Sunday‘s main event was the 5K DragSport Eliminator
which guaranteed $5,000.00 to win for only a $100.00 entry
with four other race entry level options allowing racers
to enter for as much as they felt comfortable with while
still going for some good pay return with the lowest ($20)
level still paying out a cool guaranteed $1,000.00.
But
as the two hundred entry requirement for a quick 16 Top
DragSport Eliminator field was not met, there was only
to be one 5K winner’s payout but there were still
some fast hot rods in the lanes to make for another one
of the fastest fields American DRAGCAR has yet seen. Number
1 on the qualifiers list was Jose Luis Garcia of Hermosillo,
Mexico in his wicked 2014 big inch Camaro after ripping
off a stout 7.623 at 181 mph charge. The #2 spot went
to Tucson, Arizona’s Gene Igo in his big inch Chevy
powered rear engined dragster with a 7.790 at 171 mph
while the #3 spot was nailed down by Jose Luis Garcia
Jr. of Hermosillo, Mexico in his big Chevy powered rear
engined dragster with a 7.815 at 172 mph. The #4 top spot
went to Maricopa, Arizona’s Chris DeVaney in his
turbocharged small block powered ’87 Mustang while
Tucson, Arizona’s Josie Vasquez rounded out the
5K Fast Five with her 8.917 at 147 mph in her big block
Chevy powered rear engined dragster.
Some of the First Round highlights included the Season
V Grand Championship DRAGSTAR Dustin Passerby taking a
9 hundredths win in his street trimmed Malibu over Patrick
Marback in his hot looking Cougar, 12.225 on a 12.25 over
10.781 on a 10.75 index. Then there was the Season V Central
Championship DRAGSTAR Chris Holbrook in his trusty Mustang
fastback edging out Geanine Ballard in her blown Camaro
by just 3 hundredths with an 11.633 on an 11.65 over a
quicker 9.160 on a 9.20 effort. But Season V’s Southern
Championship DRAGSTAR Marvin Wolfmeier in his Old School
Vega fell victim to the red light as he was going up against
Gary Cope in the Fox body Mustang. In the closest race
of the round, Neva Wray in her Nash overcame a one hundredth
of a second hole-shot advantage by Paul Polito in his
Fox body Mustang to take the stripe by just 16 thousandths
of a second running 12.450 on her 12.50 over the strong
10.528 on a 10.55 effort. And Mike Gardner in his Falcon
came away a round winner when Gene Igo drew the red in
his dragster.
Second
Round was the buy-back round and had some even tougher
racing as some of the first round racers had been re-indexed
after their under-index performances. Central DRAGSTAR
Chris Holbrook continued on as he faced Paul Polito who
drew the red light. Southern DRAGSTAR Marvin Wolfmeier
went red again by just 2 thousandths of a second allowing
Gary Cope to move up another round. Grand Championship
DRAGSTAR Dustin Passerby edged out another 3 hundredths
win over James Sorenson in the Nova running 12.231 on
his 12.25 over an 11.072 on an 11.05 index. Neva Wray
however took a disqualification as she ran a 12.308 on
her 12.45 index in front of Mike O’Donnell’s
10.189 on his 10.15 index so O’Donnell and his GTO
were on to the next round. Mike Gardner nailed down a
double O-2 light against Patrick Marback and backed it
up with a nice 10.924 on a 10.90 to show he was here for
the win. And the closest race of round 2 came when Howard
Devore in his Nova used an O-1-5 light paired with a nice
10.796 on a 10.80 index to cross the stripe just 19 thousandths
of a second ahead of Jose Luis Garcia’s dragster
running 7.590 on a 7.60 index.
Round
3 saw Chris Holbrook take another round win as he took
out Mark Ballard in the Delray with a hole-shot and an
11.766 on an 11.65 over an off pace 9.258 on a 9.10 index.
Dustin Passerby also put a hole-shot on Willie Wray in
his wheels up Camaro to take the win with a 12.252 on
a 12.25 over another off pace 10.234 on a 10.15 index
effort. Mike Gardner got a gift when Robert Taylor exceeded
his .015 barrier in his turbocharged Fox body Mustang
running 9.733 on his re-adjusted 9.85 index ahead of Gardner’s
10.941 on a 10.90 giving Gardner the pass into the next
round. And the closest race of this round again saw Howard
Devore go double O-7 against Gary Cope’s .028 light
to take the win by just 3 hundredths with a 10.851 on
a 10.80 over a 10.563 on a 10.50 index.
Round
4 saw Geanine Ballard going up against Matt Ballard, and
after falling behind by 4 hundredths off the tree, she
still managed to drive around Matt’s Vega with a
9.127 on a 9.15 to take the win by 3 hundredths over the
slower 10.559 on a 10.50 effort. Then it was the Central
Championship DRAGSTAR Chris Holbrook drawing the red light
to end his quest as he went up against Scott Niles in
his Dodge pick-up who posted an 11.036 on his 11.00 to
show he was ready for the next round. Mike Gardner then
put a hole-shot on Howard Devore and took the win with
a nice 10.902 on a 10.90 over the slightly quicker 10.799
on a 10.80 index. And Dustin Passerby’s luck was
still with him as he drew the bye into the semi’s
and ran out a nice 12.270 on his 12.25 to make sure he
was up to speed.
So
the Semi Finals had Mike Gardner paired up against Scott
Niles in a near heads-up match and Season IV Southern
Championship DRAGSTAR Geanine Ballard going up against
the new Season V Grand Championship DRAGSTAR Dustin Passerby.
In the first pairing, Niles’ tree came down a tenth
of a second before Gradner’s but the two actually
left the line much closer together than that as Gardner
took a big reaction time advantage and at the finish line
Niles had nothing for him as the Ford took the stripe
by over a tenth of a second running 10.928 on a 10.90
over a strong 11.014 on an 11.00 effort. Then Passerby
performed quite nearly the exact same job on Ballard as
he took a big reaction time advantage off the tree and
held on for the win running 12.248 on his 12.25 over the
9.163 on a 9.15 effort.
So
the Final Round was set with this season’s statewide
champion, Dustin Passerby taking on Tucson’s own
Mike Gardner. Many looked on to see if the box car would
finally take out the no-box car but once the trees had
fallen and both were on their way, it was Passerby again
holding a decisive reaction time advantage over Gardner,
and Gardner was unable to make up the ground as Passerby
took the stripe nearly 3 cars ahead running 12.252 on
his 12.25 over the quicker 10.876 on a 10.90 charge.
Being
a level 5 $100 entrant, Dusting Passerby became the biggest
winner American DRAGCAR has had to date with his win of
this first $5,000.00 race. Add to that his Season V Bonus’
presented to him on Saturday evening plus his Full Five
Breakout Runner-Up finish and he went away from the weekend
with nearly $7,000.00 in winnings. Wow, Congratulations
Dustin!
The
Junior DragSport Eliminator saw only two racers present
on Sunday but both were able to qualify and duke it out
in a best of three match race format just as we do for
the big cars. Dylan Smith who had won the Jr. DragOut
Bracket the day before qualified with an 8.173 @ 79.08mph
while Cody Nelson qualified with an 8.401 @ 78.85 mph.
Due to NHRA’s dial-in stipulation the American DRAGCAR
adjusted indexing program adds 3 tenths of a second “padding”
to the racers’ indexes which then put Smith on an
8.45 adjusted index while Nelson was set on an 8.70. With
this adjustment, both racers are allowed to run 3 tenths
under their shown adjusted indexes and face disqualification
at 4 tenths under-index.
So,
in Round 1 of the match, Cody Nelson took a 2 hundredths
reaction time advantage off the tree and then stretched
out his lead to 7 hundredths of a second as he took the
stripe first with an 8.367 @ 79.79 mph over the 8.167
@ 78.73 mph effort. Nelson’s 8.367 was more than
.320 under his 8.70 adjusted index so this would cost
him a 5 hundredths penalty on his index going into round
two.
So,
coming to line for Round 2 of the match, Cody Nelson was
now on an 8.65 adjusted index while Dylan Smith stayed
on an 8.45. When the tree fell this time, Nelson again
had the edge as he held a slight 13 thousandths reaction
time advantage over Smith, and at the finish line it was
Cody Nelson again taking the stripe by 7 hundredths of
a second ahead of Dylan Smith with an 8.417 @ 79.14 mph
over the slowing 8.279 @ 77.56 mph effort.
Once
the racing was done, and both Junior teams had a better
understanding of how American DRAGCAR’s no-breakout
DragSport Eliminator format works, it seemed that the
racers both really liked this no-breakout format. In fact,
during his trophy and payout collection, Cody Nelson exclaimed,
“I like this kind of racing way better!” Well,
I should imagine so since he won it, but we bet many more
Junior racers will really like it just as much once they
get a feel for it.
The
Double Down DragOut Gambler came down to a battle between
two of the Fast Five qualifiers as Jose Luis Garcia Jr.
rolled up to the line on a 7.80 dial-in against Chris
DeVaney dialed-in at 8.50. DeVaney took a 4 hundredths
reaction time advantage and then was able to hold on for
the win running 8.527 over the slightly quicker 7.813
charge.
This
event had incredible rewards paid out as all in all totaled,
including Season V Bonus’ plus all of the category
payouts, more than $13,000.00 was awarded over this weekend
making this American DRAGCAR’s biggest paying event
ever in its five short seasons, and hopefully it just
keeps getting bigger.
Results
- American DRAGCAR $5K DragSport Eliminator , Tucson Dragway
/ December 4, 2016
Quarter
Finals:
Semi
Finals:
