August 15th, 2009
Marion County International Raceway, LaRue, OH Once again the nostalgia funny car world came to LaRue, Ohio for the annual Marion County Nostalgia Funny Car Nationals. This event was sponsored in part by Mickey Thompson Tires, Mikes Roofing, Ramco Rental, Mr. Gasket, Classy Carts and Rays Custom Welding.
For some of the racers the event actually kicked off Friday Morning as Johnny DiLoretto from Fox 28 TV out of Columbus, Ohio did his morning show live from MCIR. Johnny interviewed the teams, talked about the event and what type of drag cars the spectator would see. The show was topped off with a few burnouts and a side-by-side run which pitted the Snakebite Mustang against the Damn Yankee Vega. Johnny and The Fox 28 team had a blast and said they would like to do it again next year.
Photo by Bill Truby |
Photo by Bill Truby |
As the sun came up on race day we knew it would be a dry hot day. Many of the teams had arrived Friday night. The rest of the funny car teams came in Saturday morning along with a long list of gassers and other nostalgia cars.
At ten o clock the racers took to the track for bracket qualifying. This was a good time for the funny car teams to get reacquainted with old friends and mingle with the spectators.
Bill Holder from Muscle Car Review was on hand to document the event for a future issue. Bill picked out 7 cars to photograph for the magazine. These cars were brought up to the line to do burnouts.
The cars that Bill selected were the Blown Money 69 Nova of Shaun McHattie, No Money No Funny 69 Nova of Willie Johnson, Excalibur 82 Corvette of George Reidnauer, Glory Daze 68 Camaro of Kevin Johnson, Solid Rock 70 Mustang of Rocky Ausec, Doran Chevrolet 69 Camaro of Steve Timoszyk and The Illinois Patrol 79 Omni of Mike Johnstone. These guys did some great burnouts and launches. It was exciting to have an opportunity to get magazine coverage.
Midday the funny cars were brought out onto the racetrack for introductions. The cars were lined up facing the spectators on the track just like the big 32 & 64 funny car shows of the past.
Early evening brought the show to a start. First out were some exhibition vehicles. Daryl Arnold had his wheelie golf cart performing along with Jim Brewers Peacemaker wheel stander.
It was now time for the racecars. This year we had over 18 gassers. These cars are as wild and unpredictable as the funny cars with much shorter wheelbase. Next up there were four nitro front engine dragsters, which did awesome halftrack burnouts.
First up were the injected funny cars. This year we had four cars in this class. They were Kevin Johnson's Glory Daze 68 Camaro, George Monahan's Rainmaker 77 Arrow, Willie Johnson's No Money No Funny 69 Nova, and Mike Johnstone's Illinois Patrol 79 Omni, and yes Mike is a real police officer.
Photo by Bill Truby |
First pair was the old school injected Glory Daze Camaro taking on the Rainmaker Arrow. Kevin was out first and hung on, as the Arrow seemed to have an ignition problem and sputtered its way down track.
Next pair was the always-smiling Willie Johnson with his somewhat unpredictable No Money, No Funny Nova taking on the Illinois Patrol Omni. Mike was out first but by the stripe Willie had caught up with an 8.53/140 to a 9.04/144.
Next up, blown funny cars. This year we had nine cars competing in the Chicago style format. They were Blown Money 69 Nova driven by Shaun McHattie, Damn Yankee 77 Vega driven by Mark Horvath, Detroit Thunder 56 T-Bird driven by Bill Hallet, Doran Chevrolet 69 Camaro driven by Steve Timoszyk, Excalibur 82 Corvette driven by George Reidnauer Jr., Fuelish 77 Monza driven by Tracy Klingermen, Mutiny 69 Mustang driven by Rob Pfeister, Snakebite 79 Mustang driven by Mike Klontz, and the Solid Rock 70 Mustang driven by Rocky Ausec.
First pair out was the freshly painted Solid Rock Mustang. This car looks great. Rocky took on the always-tough Damn Yankee Vega. Both cars put on a show for the crowd with long burnouts and a few dry hops. The Vega was out first just slightly and held on for the win at 7.34/183 to Solid Rocks very straight and solid 7.98/169.
Next up the Fuelish Monza against the Blown Money Nova. This pairing looked like it was straight out of the past. The Nova took off early, as it appeared that they were having some mechanical issues. The excitement continued as the Monza got up on the wheelie bars, then unloaded the tires and skated down the track making for a good photo opportunity.
Photo by Bill Truby |
Next up was the Excalibur Corvette taking on the Doran Chevrolet Camaro. Both cars smoked out the crowd and the Camaro came up to the line and gave the crowd a show as this was the only clutch car in attendance this year. The Corvette wandered out of the groove just enough to almost put the car sideways. The crowd was on their feet for that one.
Next pair was the Snakebite 79 Mustang and the Mutiny 69 Mustang. This should have been a good paring but the always-deadly Mutiny team was experiencing some unusual mechanical issues. The Snakebite turned off the timers at 7.23/159. This made the Snakebite #1 qualifier for this round.
Last car out was the gorgeous Detroit Thunder 56 T-Bird. This was a single run. Bill ran a 7.62/171.
Second round again brought up the injected cars first. The Glory Daze 69 Camaro took on the Illinois Patrol Omni. The Camaro brought the front end up hard and had to get out of it to calm down the beast, by then it was too late with the Omni running an 8.91/147.
Photo by Bill Truby |
Next the No Money No Funny Nova took on the Rainmaker Arrow that came all the way from Ontario, Canada. Again Willie was on his game and came out ahead of the Rainmaker Arrow, which seem to have the ignition problems behind them.
The two quickest injected cars were No Money No Funny 8.53 and an 8.91 for the Illinois Patrol. These two cars will compete for the injected title.
Second round of the blown cars started with two cars that had mechanical issues in the first round. Both cars did smoky burnouts and it looked like the troubles were fixed. At the hit the Mutiny Mustang bucked and shuddered and Rob just idled it down the track. The Nova appeared to have some issues at first also, but got it under control and powered down the track.
The Excalibur Corvette was next up to take on the Damn Yankee Vega. Mark was out first with the Vega trying to nail down the Good Vibration Reaction Time Award. The Vega ran a 7.33/178 against the Corvette slower but more exciting run.
Next up were the Snakebite Mustang and the Fuelish Monza. We had been waiting for an outstanding run all night and the Snakebite was the one to do it with a 7.00/198 to the Fuelish personal second best run at 7.39/176. This Fuelish car is starting to come around. They should be tough next month at U.S. 131 in Martin, MI.
The Solid Rock Mustang lined up with the Detroit Thunder. Both cars seem like they were out to make a hard run, they started with great burnouts. As they staged the Mustang was not sounding right so the crew shut him off. The T-Bird made a single at 7.7/164.
The Doran Chevrolet Camaro made a single to bring the round to a close.
Photo by Bill Truby |
The two quickest blown cars were The Snakebite Mustang with a 7.00/198 and the Damn Yankee Vega with a 7.33/178. These two cars will compete for the blown title.
The injected final was first. The No Money No Funny Nova taking on the Illinois Patrol Omni. Both cars were excited to travel all the way to Ohio and get into the finals. They both did hard burnouts and were ramped up for the run. It was a close start and a very tight finish. Mike Johnstone edged out Willie Johnston with an 8.95 to a 9.09.
The blown final was next. The Damn Yankee against the Snakebite who seemed to have this one locked in. The Vega was popping like they had a killer tune up in it. The Snakebite threw down a killer burnout. As the two staged the Vega tried one last dry hop, the car sputtered and stalled. The Snakebite was staged and the starter motioned to Mike for a single. There was some confusion on the line and the timers did not work. That was a shame as the run looked hard and straight and sure looked like it was a 6 second run in the 200 M.P.H. range.
We would like to thank Daryl & Heidi Arnold of Classy Carts in Wooster, Ohio and Ray Hudic of Rays Custom Welding in Evans City, Pa. for putting up traveling money for the injected funny cars.
Good Vibrations from Whittier Ca. sponsored the reaction time award which was won by Mike Klontz with a .519
Len Hughes Magneto out of Bristol, In. put up awards for the following categories.
- Longest tow which was given to Willie Johnson with The No Money No Funny Nova who came all the way from Edison, N.J.
- 2nd. & 3rd. Fastest M.P.H. in the first round which went to The Detroit Thunder T-Bird driven by Bill Hallet at 171 and Solid Rock Mustang driven by Rocky Ausec at 169.
- 2nd & 3rd. quickest E.T. in the second round which went to The Damn Yankee Vega driven by Mark Horvath at 7.33 and Fuelish Monza driven by Tracy Klingerman at 7.39.
- Len also awarded Rocky Ausec with the hard luck award.
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment