Marion County International Raceway, La Rue, OH
Saturday, August 6th, 2011
Side Job Photos B&W photo rendition of John Troxel's Mopar Crazy Challenger. Credit: www.SideJobPhotos.com |
By nightfall on Friday night the pits were filled, there were only a few teams left to come in on Saturday.
There was much going on as the teams prepped the cars for the upcoming battle pitting The Midwest funny cars against The East Coast funny cars.
Saturday started with the sun shining. This gave all of the teams a chance to catch up with everyone. This is the only time of the year that some of the teams have an opportunity to see one another.
Late morning the first rain came and we would see it again several times during the day. We found out later that we were lucky as it rained off and on all day around the track.
The show got a late start but we were able to get two rounds of racing in before the rain finally put an end to the day.
Bob Rosetty with the Rollin' Stoned Cuda found out early that he had a problem with a piston and could not run. Dave Cobbs who runs the Finders Keepers Willys gasser also had his funny car project in the trailer. The pistons in his car would work in the Cuda, so they stripped his engine and it became a piston donor. Hats off to Dave Cobb, this is what funny car racing is all about.
Kevin and John Johnson's Glory Daze '67 Camaro provides wheels-up action every time. Credit: Jeff Unfried Photos |
All of the cars were towed down the strip and introduced to the excited crowd. We had 32 cars show up with 31 running down the strip.
First round of the injected cars brought out a great show. Kevin Johnson and the old school Glory Daze Camaro was hanging the front-end way up in the air. Many of the cars did dry hops.
The sun had set so the second round was under the lights. Willie Johnson with the No Money, No Funny Nova made a solid pass, he had some issues the first round. George Monahan came down from Bright, Ont. Canada and made a good showing, with his second pass putting him in the finals against Frank Barnard and the Poison Arrow.
There were a total of 22 blown cars in competition. The drivers were talking smack all day long. The first pair was two drivers that know how to do a burnout. Bob Toth in the Tweety's Rat Vega, and John DeCort in the Old & Fuelish Corvette. This got the crowd fired up.
The heavily favored East Coast Screamin' Eagle driven by Rocky Pirone came out and darn near did a full quatermile burnout. I think he was throwing down the gauntlet.
John Cerchio brought out the beautiful Warpath Buick Somerset all the way from NJ. This is definitely a car you must see in person.
John Troxel with the Mopar Crazy Challenger brought a little tuning help with him, Roland Leong. His tuning tips paid off as Chris Schneider drove the car hard to a personal best E.T. of 7.88
Two times FCN champ Mike Klontz with his '79 Mustang put to rest the idea that the track went away with the rain, as he stopped the clocks with a 6.87/203.
Sue Christohersen was out with her and her husbands new Susie Q '57 Chevy. They finally tamed the beast down and made a nice 7.52 pass that went straight down broadway.
Second round for the blown cars was late and there was concern about the dew setting in.
The second pair up was the Snakebite Mustang taking on the Screamin Eagle TransAm. Many thought they would see this air in the finals. Both cars sounded real stout and came out just boiling the tires. As the TransAm backed up Rocky had the flame show going which got the crowds approval.
The TransAm was denied the ride to the finals as the Mustang took care of business with another six-second pass.
Chris Massarella with the Total Insanity Monza ran at Lebanon Valley Raceway in NY. on Friday night and loaded up to travel the 12 hours just to be a part of this great race.
Rob Bundy with the Shellshock Vega came from Pa and put down two solid 7.60 runs for his first visit to Ohio.
The final round pitted the Snakebite Mustang against the Rollin Stone Cuda.
Due to the rain that threatened the area the attendance was down but it was confirmed that the spectators that braved the weather sure got to see a great show.
Frank Barnard's 2nd event win in 2 years. Takes the injected class again in 2011. Credit: www.SideJobPhotos.com |
As the finals were in the staging lanes the weather turned bad and was the beginning of a storm that laid down 3 ½ inches of water in about two hours. The show was over. The winners were crowned by virtue of the quicker E.T.
Frank Barnard with the Poison Arrow became a two time FCN winner and Mike Klontz with the Snakebite Mustang posted his third consecutive FCN title.
Special thanks to all of the fine companies that help support this event and The GLNFCC. Mike's Roofing, Pace Performance, Peak Products, Herculiner, Good Vibrations Motorsport and Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels.
The following companies posted special awards for the event. Len Hughes Magneto, Sylvanson Web Technologies, Straightline Designs, Minute Man Staffing, Warped Worm Engineering, Classy Carts, and Vic Miller. Check out the website to see the various winners. |
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