7th Annual Funny Car Nationals
U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, Martin, MI
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Photo by Matt B |
Rain shut down this event last year but this year was a different story. After raining almost every day the week of the event, there was concern about getting the event in. But after some real early morning showers race day turned out to be mostly sunny and at times very warm.
By mid morning all of the show cars were in the pits and all of the teams were preparing their cars for the evening show. The nitro cars were headed up with two late model funny cars, Dale Creasy & Jack Wyatt plus Dom Lagana had his Top Fuel dragster there. Corry Hogan was also there to thrill the crowd with his Top Fuel Motorcycle.
The nostalgia nitro ranks were well represented with Troy Matins Chi Ton Hustler, Justin Grants Stardust driven by Mike Lewis; Doc Holliday had the Telstar Arrow along with the ShowTime tribute car driven by Brian Stewart. Shawn Bowen and family had their Violator Transam and Anthony Bronge was out with his Punisher Camaro.
Fran Peppler had her Rock & Roll Thunder jet funny car. The GLNFCC had 8 cars on the grounds. The Supercharged Thunder and The Great Lakes Gassers were also in attendance.
Photo by Matt B |
About mid afternoon some of the show cars made test passes. The round went well except for the Fuelish Monza from the GLNFCC. At the hit the Monza hit the wheelie bars hard and then took a hard right into the wall, hitting the front fender first then scrapping the side pretty good.
Once the car was back in the pits it was revealed that the damage was mostly cosmetic except for a bent zoomie. The repairs were made with time to spare so the Monza would make the evening show.
Early evening came and it was time for the show. First pair out was Rocky Ausecs's Solid Rock Mustang and the Blue Thunder Camaro driven by Monty Stotz. Both cars got the huge crowd screaming with there burnouts. Rocky did a few dry hops ad then the two were staged. The Camaro took off first but the Mustang was on a good straight run crossing the finish line first with a 7.61.
Next up was Bill Hallett with the Red Barn Cuda taking on the DeCort brothers Old & Fuelish Corvette. John really wowed the U.S. 131 crowd with a smoky half-track burnout. The Corvette ran the nights best E.T. 7.08/188 with the Cuda playing catch up.
Third pair was two cars that have been at this for more than a few years. The Klingerman Brothers Fuelish Monza and the Horvath Family Gold Coast Charger. With both cars staged you would have thought it was 1979 and you were in the stands for The Popular Hot Rodding Meet that was held annually at this track. The Charger was out first, but the war scared Monza took the win with a 7.29. Proving that the little mishap during testing did not hurt the car.
Last pair was the Dazed & Confused Camaro driven by Jerry Streb taking on the Snakebite Mustang driven by Mike Klontz. Both cars were too eager for this run as they both turned on the red light. The Snakebite took the win with a 7.14.
Photo by Matt B |
It was getting late and when it was time to run second round the mid Michigan dew had set and it was looking like the racing surface might be a challenge.
The first pair was the Red Barn Cuda and the Fuelish Monza. The racing surface seemed to be OK as both cars made a great side by side run with the Cuda taking the win with a 7.22/185.
Next up were the Blue Thunder Camaro and the Gold Coast Charger. Both drivers did their job on the tree with the Charger turning on a .01 light. The Charger held on for the win but not without the car moving around a little down track.
Winner
Mark Horvath
Driver of Gold Coast Charger
Mark Horvath |
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The Solid Rock Mustang and the Dazed & Confused Camaro were up next. Both cars did great smoky burnouts with a few dryhops. The Mustang ran another great hard run but the Camaro hooked and ran a hard 7.21 for the win.
Last pair was the Old & Fuelish Corvette and the Snakebite Mustang. After his usual hard burnout John staged the Corvette but had issues off the line and was in and out of the throttle all the way down the track. The Mustang took the win, but not without some traction issues of it's own. The Mustang skated down the quarter mile staying away from the wall.
The crowd sure got to see a great show with late model & nostalgia nitro funny cars, alcohol funny cars, a jet funny car, a top fuel motorcycle and dragster. Plus there were also multiple classes of bracket racing.
Mark Horvath with the Gold Coast Charger took home The Good Vibration Motorsports Quick Reaction Time award with a .0118
Thanks to our sponsors Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels, Peak Products, Herculiner, Good Vibrations Motorsports and Pace Performance.
A big thanks to all of the track personnel at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park for providing us a safe and fast track to play on.
Next stop Shannonvile Motorsports Park in Ont. Canada.
PID-Keystone Nostalgia Nationals
Pittsburgh Raceway Park, New Alexandria, PA
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Photo by Bob Wenzelburger |
For the fifth consecutive year, Funny Cars from the GLNFCC participated in the Pittsburgh International Dragway and Keystone Raceway Park Reunion and nostalgia event at Pittsburgh Raceway Park.
Along with the GLNFCC, the event included the Tri-State Stock/Super Stock Association along with a special "Hot Rod" Eliminator for car 1979 and older, Nostalgia Super Stockers, a car cruise, the Southern Slingshots, the East Coast AA/Gas Super Charged Racers Association and a special appearance by the 1989 NHRA Funny Car Champion, Bruce Larson.
The GLNFCC members put on a great show after some exhausting efforts by the track crew of PRP preparing the quarter-mile surface after several days of heavy rain showers.
Local FC shoe Lance Good and his Sharky's Machine '79 Dodge Omni and Greg Mauchmer in the Rat Poison '78 Corvette were the first pair out with Mauchmer slapping a .0891 reaction on Good's Hemi while en route to the win.
It was later discovered at Good had broken an intake pushrod on the run slowing the Omni down right after the veteran driver had hit high gear. Mauchmer slowed to an 8.02, 149 mph run on his first pass at PRP in his Corvette.
The next pair matched the Small Bock 1969 Chevy Nova of Shaun McHattie against Butch "the Showman" Chovan and his 1976 Mustang II.
Photo by Bob Wenzelburger |
Both drivers anticipating the green light turned on the big red bulb with Chovan being the least early on activation picked up the win with an ET of 7.58 at 171.04 mph.
McHattie went the fastest of all first round competitors with a 7.57 at a blistering 180.22 mph. in a losing effort.
The final pair pitted the Visionary 1972 Cuda of Scott Hohensee and the Sweetman Brothers 1979 Chevrolet Citation.
In a very close battle to the stripe, it was the Visionary Cuda edging out Drew Sweetman with a 7.50 pass at 172.28 mph to a slowing 7.60 at 151.52 mph. Sweetman had the advantage off the line but the Hemi powered Citation nosed over as the burst panel let go right before the 1000' mark giving the win to Hohensee.
Both Good and Sweetman made the necessary repairs and were ready to face off in round two but Mother Nature threw everyone a big curve as the showers that missed us earlier in the day came back and ended the event midway through the round. |
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