IHRA crowns champs at Tournament of Champions
Thompson, Washington, Beard, Darroch, Manuel, Ruff and Forster take top prize
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (October 13, 2012)
– From a 17-year-old fresh out of the ranks of Junior Dragster to a
64-year-old reveling in one more shot at glory, the 2012 IHRA Summit
Racing Equipment Tournament of Champions featured just about everything
you could cram into an event.
Rookies,
veterans and everything in between were on hand at Memphis
International Raceway over the weekend for the IHRA Summit Racing
Equipment World Finals and at the end of the day 10 drivers were left
standing as the 2012 class of IHRA World Champions.
2012 IHRA World Champions
Among
them were rookies, multi-time champs and even a few that probably
weren't supposed to be here, but all 10 were able to walk away from
Memphis with the biggest prize in IHRA sportsman drag racing during the
Summit Tournament of Champions and Summit SuperSeries championship
races.
A
grand total of 10 world champions were crowned on Saturday led by Top
Sportsman TOC winner Mike Thompson (Naples, Fla.), Top Dragster winner
Wesley Washington Jr. (King George, N.C.), Super Stock winner Michael
Beard (Seagrove, N.C.), Stock winner Brent Darroch (Monaca, Pa.), Quick
Rod winner Corey Manuel (Winston Salem, N.C.), Super Rod winner Mike
Ruff (Orlando, Fla.) and Hot Rod winner Patrick Forster (Pittsburgh,
Pa.). From the Summit SuperSeries were Top winner Tim Butler (Sarasota,
Fla.), Mod winner Shane Kay (Ragland, Ala.) and Junior Dragster winner
Austin Johnson (Pearisburg, Va.).
Among that class only Michael Beard has claimed a prior IHRA championship.
After
a grueling season nearly 200 drivers made their way to Tennessee from
20 different states and four Canadian provinces to participate in the
Summit World Finals culminating with the two championship tournaments
Saturday evening. All of the drivers had to earn their way into the
tournament and, once there, had to compete on the track to decide the
champions in each of the 10 classes.
One
of Saturday's most surprising winners was 17-year-old Corey Manuel. The
younger brother of 2010 Super Rod World Champion Cameron Manuel, Corey
wrapped up his Junior Dragster career just two years ago and snuck into
the 2012 Tournament of Champions in a big car via a big win at the
Richmond TOC qualifier back in May. Clearly excited, but with no real
expectations to go multiple rounds, Manuel surprised everyone by
following in his brothers footsteps and storming through the field to
take his first championship in the Quick Rod category all before the
young man can even vote.
"It
just feels like a dream. It doesn't feel real, but here I am holding
this trophy," Manuel said. "It feels awesome knowing I am carrying on
the name and doing well just like my family. To do it so early is just
so exciting."
17-year-old Corey Manuel won the Quick Rod championship
Manuel
whittled down a Quick Rod field with wins over Michael Pennington, Dale
Scates, Carey Long and Scotty Campbell before meeting Patrick Forster –
who had just won the championship in Hot Rod – in the final.
Despite
the intimidation factor going up against a man who had already won one
championship on the evening, Manuel showed no fear and hammered the tree
with a .001 light while Forster went red giving the North Carolina
native a win he will never forget.
"It
was just another run and just another race for me," Manuel said. "I
didn't treat it any different and we were able to come away with the
win."
Another man that probably shouldn't have been in the winner's circle is
Michael Beard. While you might find that statement odd considering
Beard's former championship successes, but Beard was certainly not
having that kind of weekend in Memphis.
"I
was having problems staging. Every time I would try to come up on the
converter the thing was trying to die on me and if I went the other way I
red lighted which I did on Friday. I honestly thought I didn't have a
chance at this thing," Beard said. "I didn't look at the weather all
night, all my times slips stayed in my pocket, I didn't put anything in
the log book. I just thought we were going to be putting the thing on
the trailer.
"But
a number of people came through for me helped get it fixed and I
couldn't have done it without them. It really was an unbelievable turn
of events to be standing here right now."
Among
those helping Beard get the car fixed was Tim Sloan, Mark Nowicki and
Stock champion Brent Darroch. Once Beard got things back on track, he
recorded round wins over Gianni Cantusci, Michael Crumpler and Brandon
Peterson – someone who had been giving him fits as of late, before
meeting Emily Volkman in the final.
In
the championship tilt Beard had a .034 light and ran a 10.781/122.39 on
a 10.73 dial in his 1980 Volare to edge Volkman's 10.234/125.33 on a
10.19 giving Beard his first career Super Stock title.
Beard got into the tournament by via his Division 2 Super Stock title.
Multi-time champion Michael Beard took the win in Super Stock
Helping
Beard to that title was Stock racer Brent Darroch who had his own luck
on Saturday with another unexpected championship behind the wheel of his
'94 Camaro.
Darroch,
a two-time championship runner-up, came to Tennessee with a brand new
motor and a brand new clutch after breaking the car the week prior.
Despite the new parts and pieces and several big issues early, Darroch
finally got the monkey off of his back this weekend and picked up his
first career championship.
"This
means everything. We have been working so hard for a couple of years
chasing points and I have been second in the world twice. To get the
monkey off of my back was incredible," Darroch said. "After the troubles
we had with the new engine and clutch, to win the whole thing was very
unexpected. But I am not a person who gives up. If it is not hard it is
not worth it and trust me we worked hard for this one."
Darroch,
who got into the TOC thanks to his divisional championship in Division
3, went five rounds on Saturday with big wins over Rob Bihl, Jacob Pitt
and finally B.J. Bianchi in the final. With a championship on the line
Bianchi got off the line first .008 to a .022, but Darroch ran the
numbers with a 10.608/118.18 on a 10.60 dial while Bianchi broke out by
.005.
Two
drivers that suffered the cruelest twist of fate at the World Finals
were Michael Ruff and Wesley Washington Jr. Both drivers entered into
the Tournament of Champions earlier in the weekend and both drivers lost
in the first round, setting them up for a potentially bad weekend –
that is, until Saturday.
Washington
was most affected by the early weekend woes, not because it hurt the
car or his confidence, but because he did it one day and immediately had
to race on the 13th the next which, for a superstitious man like
Washington, was not a good thing.
"I
am very superstitious and racing on the 13th was not something I
particularly wanted to do," Washington said with a laugh. "I didn't
think we would be racing, but then things got moved up due to weather
and I thought we were in trouble, especially after losing on Friday.
"But
once I won first round it was like a monkey was lifted off my back and
we got on a roll. This is a great thing Summit puts on to support us
class racers. I had an up and down year, but thanks to them, I am able
to say I am a champion."
Wesley Washington came through in Top Dragster
Washington
snuck into the tournament via a third place finish in Division 1 on the
Summit Pro-Am Tour and went five rounds in the Tournament of Champion's
deepest class to pick up the win. Washington had wins over Claude
DeBonis, Jeremy West, Brett Nesbitt, Jamie Tupper and Greg Slack – all
heavy hitters – to get the win. In the final Slack made it easy for the
North Carolina native, going red by .017 to give Washington the win and
his first career championship.
In
Super Rod Ruff suffered a similar twist of fate with a terrible weekend
leading up to Saturday that included a blown tire on the 900 mile drive
to the track, two losses on Friday and a major hit to their confidence.
But once Saturday came about and Ruff started rolling out round wins,
things began to turn around in a hurry.
"This
is a great opportunity IHRA has given everybody for all of the
champions to come to one race and duke it out for the title," Ruff said.
"We didn't do a bunch of races this year, but we got in and even though
this weekend was a struggle from the start, we are coming away with the
big trophy and I think that is what really matters.
"We
were never upset with the car, we just plain got beat on Friday, but
when we finally found our groove it was hard for us to stop."
Ruff
, driving a '67 Camaro, recorded wins over Jason McCandless, Jeff Estep
and Shannon Brinkley to advance to the final, meeting Division 4 champ
Joe Collier in the final. Collier had the better light in the money
round by four thousandths at the tree, but Ruff won a battle of
breakouts with a 9.890 on the 9.90 index to Collier's 9.884.
The
man that almost walked away from Memphis with two of the big trophies
was Patrick Forster. Forster won the championship in Hot Rod and
immediately had to be back in the lanes for Quick Rod, losing to Manuel.
But one is better than none and Forster can now call himself a world
champion after defeating former champ Donald Webb in the final.
Brent Darroch got the monkey off his back with his first championship in Stock
Forster,
driving a '78 Monza, went five rounds against Skip Saddler, Steve
Dweck, David Bills and Max McGlothin before meeting Webb in the final.
With it all on the line, Forster nailed the tree with a .008 light and
ran a cool 10.912 in the 10.90 class to pick up the win. Webb broke out
by .026.
"We
would have loved to take home two, but we aren't complaining about this
one," Forster said. "This was a big weekend and we were very excited to
be here. To walk away from here with a championship really is amazing."
Forster got into the tournament via a third place finish in Division 3.
Wrapping
up the champions from the Tournament of Champions is 64-year-old Mike
Thompson. Sitting at the opposite end of the spectrum from young Corey
Manuel, Thompson has been racing for two decades longer than Manuel has
been alive. But despite all of the miles he has logged, Thompson still
treats each win just as he did when he was younger.
"It
means a lot to me to win this thing because I am 64 and I might not
ever have the chance to do it again," Thompson said. "I have been racing
for over 30 years and this is as exciting as they come. I have been
doing this a long time so I was relaxed out there, but it was still
exciting to get the win."
Behind
the wheel of his shiny 2003 Chevy Cavalier, Thompson went five rounds
against Don Rudd, Russell Marr, Kamron Wright and finally Donny Urban to
get the win – essentially a who's who in the Top Sportsman division.
After surviving a grueling day against the classes best, Thompson saved
his best for last with a .011 reaction time and a 7.438/180.26 on a 7.42
to drive around Urban who had a .028 light and a 7.156 on a 7.16 dial.
All
of the World Champions received $10,000 courtesy of Summit Racing
Equipment and AMSOIL and a special championship Ironman trophy as the
IHRA closes the books on the 2012 racing season.
