 |
     |
 |
|
|
NHRA AMS Pro Modified Challenge - Bristol
|
 |
|
The
latest results from the third stop on the ten-race AMS Pro Modified
Challenge tour
|
By Bobby Bennett Photos by Roger Richards |
SUNDAY - Billes thunders to second 2004 NHRA AMS Pro Modified Challenge victory
(5-3-2004) - Al Billes might want to consider the moniker of “Mr. Silent Thunder.” For the second time this season in NHRA AMS Pro Modified Challenge competition, the longtime drag racer from Barrie, Ont., thundered silently through the field and his actions clearly did all the talking as he defeated Mitch Stott in the final round of the NHRA O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn. The victory from the fifth qualifying position marked his first career victory at Bristol Dragway. His best finish previously was a semi-final run in 1991. This weekend provided his eighth career national event victory. “We all have our ups and downs,” explained Billes. “It’s great when things are going your way. The car is working well and our team is performing great. Our car works great and Tim McAmis builds a heck of a consistent car. The car has been the key to our success.”
The final round also marked the third time in four years that a member of the Stott family had reached the final round at Bristol. Older sibling Quain won in 2001 while Mitch finished runner-up in 2003 and 2004. Eliminations opened with the Pro Modified tuners being thrown a curve ball. The track was 30-degrees cooler and that had some of the elite tuners second-guessing themselves at times. The first pair out provided a rematch of the Gainesville final round and the end result was the same. Billes was the first off of the line and that was all the momentum that he needed to overcome a skating Ed Hoover, who lifted at the 1,000-foot. Billes scored the victory with a 6.230, 226.43. Von Smith was able to beat six-time World Champion Scotty Cannon and his Oakley-sponsored Studebaker on both ends of the track. Smith’s .011 advantage proved to be nothing more than added insurance as Cannon hit the tires at the one-two shift and aborted the run. The winning time for the Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based driver was a 6.243, 227.50.
Stott opened his ride to the finals as he took advantage of Thomas Patterson’s staging miscue to gain a large advantage out of the light. The defending IHRA World Champion never lifted en route to a 6.227, 226.66. Patterson’s 1941 Willys had rolled into the staging lights deep and ran it hard to the strip with a 6.233, 226.58. Of little consolation was the fact that Patterson’s elapsed time was the quickest of the first round losers. Closing out the round was Fred Hahn, who soloed when Mike Castellana, the only nitrous runner in the qualified field, was shut-off on the starting line. Hahn ran the Summit Racing Equipment-sponsored entry on the conservative with a 6.658, 164.73. Billes proved to the quickest winner of the semis as he conjured up a 6.218, 226.24 to get around the low qualifier Hahn. Hahn missed the combination on the starting line and shook the tires necessitating a shut-off 13.175. Stott, on the other hand, had a battle all the way to the stripe against Smith. Smith was off the line first, but his .006 wasn’t enough to fend off Stott’s quicker 6.224, 226.77. Smith was no slouch as he ran hard to the finish line with a 6.244, 227.92.
In the final round, Stott was taking no chances and in his zeal to get the best of Billes out of the gate rolled the beams early with a .168 foul. Billes took his victory lap with a 6.243, 226.24. The next event on the ten-race NHRA AMS Pro Modified Challenge
tour is the NHRA Route 66 Nationals in Chicago, Ill., May 20 –
23.
SATURDAY - Hahn continues Bristol domination during second day qualifying
(5-1-2004) - On a day when every other supercharged Pro Modified entry appeared to have a bad case of automotive asthma, the potent duo of Fred Hahn and team owner Jim Oddy were breathing freely as they continued to run roughshod over the competition on the final day of qualifying for the 4th annual NHRA O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn. Their Summit Racing Equipment-sponsored entry failed to improve on their Friday effort, but a 6.237, 225.71 best on Saturday was demoralizing to the competition nonetheless. Hahn has learned over the years in drag racing, when it is your day at the drags, nothing can go wrong. “We wanted to make sure the run wasn’t a fluke from yesterday and it wasn’t,” explained Hahn. “We wanted to run well in the middle of the day to prepare for Sunday’s eliminations. We are real happy with what we accomplished today and feel very confident with the .23 when many of the top teams were struggling to go below a 6.30.” There’s just something about Bristol that seems to click for Hahn and Oddy. They are the defending champions. “We came up here last week to test before headed to Rockingham and each run was worse than the one before,” confided Hahn. “It was just a terrible experience. We packed everything up and went to Rockingham and ran a 6.14 to qualify number one. We thought we had enough momentum from down there to build on for this weekend and we were right.” Mitch Stott remained the second quickest entry of qualifying as his Friday 6.257 placed him ahead of Scotty Cannon’s 6.267. Ed Hoover was just .001 behind with a 6.268, 226.20. Al Billes had the quickest run of the first Saturday session with a 6.280, but it failed to improve on Friday’s 6.276, 224.70. Billes was joined in that same session in the 6.20’s by Von Smith, who turned in a 6.299. The former Alcohol Funny Car driver made the show with a 6.293. Thomas Patterson reversed his fortunes of the early-season by earning his first final eliminations berth with a 6.297, 222.66. For the second event in a row, only one nitrous-injected entry made the show. That honor belonged to Mike Castellana, who anchored the field in his Western Beef-sponsored Camaro with a 6.306, 219.36. The first round pairings for Sunday will feature Hahn versus Castellana; Stott versus Patterson, Cannon versus Smith and Hoover versus Billes.
First-round pairings for Sunday's eliminations for the NHRA AMS Staff Leasing Pro Mod Challenge, an NHRA exhibition class, being held at the Fourth annual O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Quaker State at Bristol Dragway Bristol Dragway. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday: Pro Modified -- 1. Fred Hahn, Chevy Corvette,
6.201, 228.65 vs. 8. Mike Castellana, Chevy Camaro, 6.306, 220.87;
2. Mitch Stott, Camaro, 6.257, 227.15 vs. 7. Thomas Patterson, Willys,
6.297, 222.66; 3. Scotty Cannon, Studebaker, 6.267, 225.33 vs. 6.
Von Smith, Ford Mustang, 6.293, 227.38; 4. Ed Hoover, Corvette,
6.268, 226.20 vs. 5. Al Billes, Corvette, 6.276, 225.11. Ssssshhhhhhhhaaaaaaakkkkkkkeeeeee |
 |
Saturday notes - Remembering an old friend, The qualifying list narrows and Oddy's engineering
 |
| A little bit of ingenuity is going a long way for Hahn and Oddy. |
Remembering an old racing pal – The one thing that a post-qualifying teardown couldn’t have detected that gave low qualifiers Fred Hahn and Jim Oddy an edge in Saturday was a bit of spiritual help from an old friend. A local racer from Upstate New York named John Bookout passed away last December and left the duo with a ton of memories. A mutual friend amongst all parties involved helped them to take it to the next level. According to Hahn, this friend provided them with Bookout’s ashes. It was Bookout’s dying wish to be cremated and his ashes be placed in the parachute of the Summit Racing Equipment-sponsored Pro Modified entry. Hahn and Oddy obliged and the end result was the quickest run by nearly .05 on Saturday.
Hahn added, “John was a great guy and the kind of racer that made racing enjoyable. I knew we had to provide him with a great run. It was the least we could do. It was a big honor for us.”
Inside the ride - Mike Ashley's sleek Shelby G.T. 500E was selected by Jeg's Mail Order to carry an on-board camera throughout qualifying. Ashley's third qualifying effort will be the run to watch as the car nearly spun sideway in tireshake and Ashley pedaled it through. The run was so violent that ace photographer Dave Kommel captured several Dzus fasteners flying off of the car.
You again? – After meeting in the final round at the Gainesville season-opener, one of the match-ups in the first round will put Al Billes versus Ed Hoover. Billes holds a 1-0 edge.
The Air Up There – None of the 22 entries that made qualifying attempts in the third session improved and with good reason. The air was in the 3300 above range and that killed the efforts of the supercharged entries. It failed to improve much for the final session and the end result was no improvement all day for any of the eight qualifiers.
The list narrows – In last year’s AMS Pro Modified Challenge competition, no one driver qualified for all ten races. The list of drivers with an unblemished record narrowed even more with a few notable DNQ efforts. Just one race ago, finalists Mike Ashley and Zach Barklage could do no wrong. This Sunday, neither will have a berth in final eliminations. Chip King had also qualified at the first two events fell from the list. The four remaining drivers are Mitch Stott, Ed Hoover, Al Billes and Von Smith.
The other side of the fence – While there are four that have qualified in all events, Sunday’s eliminations will feature three drivers that had yet to qualify in 2004. Those drivers are Thomas Patterson, the low qualifier Hahn and Mike Castellana.
Two out of three ain’t bad – Oakley-sponsored Scotty Cannon can now lay claim to two qualifying efforts. This weekend’s third position marks his best effort to date. Maybe it was the location that made all the difference as Cannon has five career Bristol finals to his credit.
I Can’t See – Here’s another Hahn/Oddy tidbit. When the hood was redesigned on their sleek C-5 Corvette, it was in the dead of winter in Buffalo. Historically, there’s usually an abundance of snow and that’s what prevented the team from rolling the car out of the shop and gaining an accurate impression of what it would be like on the starting line. The increase in redesigned height created a visibility problem for Hahn’s driving technique. When the problem was conveyed to team owner Jim Oddy, Oddy felt that the problem could be overcome. That was the case until Hahn began aborting runs for fear that he was going to make contact with the retaining wall. The real problem is that Hahn couldn’t see that he actually had plenty of room to maneuver away.
Oddy went to work to develop a see-through portion in the hood and the end result was debuted in Bristol.
“It’s perfect and I can see what’s ahead on the track and that is going to be a positive thing for us.”
Hahn pointed out that it’s the perfect marketing gimmick and allows the race fans to see the Oddy’s Race Engines logo on the valve covers.
 |
FRIDAY - Hahn thunders to provisional pole at Thunder Valley
 |
| Fred Hahn made a statement in first day qualifying with the top qualifying effort. |
(4-30-2004) - Fred Hahn enjoyed establishing low elapsed time in Bristol last year so much that he decided to do it again during first day qualifications at the NHRA O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn. The defending AMS Pro Modified Challenge champion from Elma, NY., drove Jim Oddy’s Summit Racing Equipment-sponsored Corvette to the top spot with a 6.201, 228.65.
Hahn was unqualified headed into the second session and today’s performance provided enough potential ammunition to ensure that his run will provide a spot in Sunday’s final eliminations. Hahn had yet to qualify in 2004.
Hahn’s run overtook the previous leader Mitch Stott’s 6.257, 228.65. In two qualifying attempts, Stott’s Radiac-sponsored entry produced exact runs to the thousandth of a second.
Six-time Pro Modified World Champion had a good day with his Oakley-sponsored 1953 Studebaker. Cannon produced the third quickest lap of qualifying with a 6.267, 224.51. He improved from a 6.295.
 |
| Mitch Stott was the early leader in qualifying. He duplicated his first qualifying attempt to end up second. |
Rounding out the top half of the field was Ed Hoover, whose second qualifying attempt proved to be his best. Hoover leapt into the middle of the show with a 6.268, 226.20.
Canadian Al Billes was the fifth quickest with a 6.276. His run edged out Tennessean Von Smith, who carded a 6.293.
Thomas Patterson found his way into the field after suffering what
has turned out to be a season of frustration. His 6.297, 222.66
came during the first session.Castellana pushed his Western Beef-sponsored
entry to a 6.306, 219.36.
Results Friday after qualifying for the third of 10 events on the NHRA AMS Staff Leasing Pro Mod Challenge, an NHRA exhibition class, being held at the Fourth annual O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Quaker State at Bristol Dragway. Qualifying will continue Saturday for Sunday's final eliminations:
Pro Modified -- 1. Fred Hahn, Chevy Corvette, 6.201, 228.65; 2. Mitch Stott, Chevy Camaro, 6.257, 227.15; 3. Scotty Cannon, Studebaker, 6.267, 225.33; 4. Ed Hoover, Corvette, 6.268, 226.20; 5. Al Billes, Corvette, 6.276, 224.70; 6. Von Smith, Ford Mustang, 6.293, 227.38; 7. Thomas Patterson, Willys, 6.297, 222.66; 8. Mike Castellana, Camaro, 6.306, 219.36; 9. Ricky Stivers, Corvette, 6.317, 224.58; 10. Mike Janis, Corvette, 6.325, 225.22; 11. Rickie Smith, Corvette, 6.378, 221.20; 12. Dennis Radford, Dodge Viper, 6.394, 220.30; 13. Quain Stott, Corvette, 6.405, 222.80; 14. Troy Critchley, Willys, 6.414, 222.18; 15. Scott Ray, Corvette, 6.486, 218.55; 16. Marty McGinnis, 6.610, 209.95.
FRIDAY NOTES – The 20% fuss, Uncle Roy's sponsorship gift and a Tennessee perspective
 |
| Shannon Jenkins broke the four-link on this launch. |
The Scuttlebutt – The most heated discussions within the Pro Modified pits centered on the most recent changes levied by the IHRA technical department. With only four nitrous cars invited to participate in the event, most of the eighteen supercharged drivers voiced their displeasure over the overdrive reduction to 20%. The initial thoughts were that the NHRA wouldn’t adopt the latest round of regulations, but it now appears they will be implemented for the Chicago event which will be a week before the next IHRA event in Richmond.
Whole lot of Shaking Going On – The most violent example of tireshake was provided by Shannon Jenkins in the first round. The four-time World Champion rattled the tires so hard that the car actually broke the four-link and made a sharp right towards the retaining wall. Jenkins corrected, but the second attempt provided nearly a carbon copy except for the parts attrition.
The Unenviable Streak – In 2003, no driver qualified for every NHRA AMS Pro Modified Challenge event. Thus far this season, those teams with unblemished records include Mike Ashley, Von Smith, Mitch Stott, Ed Hoover, Zach Barklage, Chip King and Al Billes. After the first day of qualifying, three of those drivers are unqualified.
Uncle Roy comes through – Chip King rolled to the starting line with a new sponsor today. Team consultant Roy Hill introduced Dean Hembler, of Furniture Luiqidators, to King and the rest fell into place. Hembler has stores in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia and Maryland. The choice to back the team on a one-race deal was something Hembler didn’t think twice about.
“I grew up around Roy and I’ve known him since I was a kid. He came and picked me up today at one of my stores and we just brokered a deal in the car for sponsorship on the car he helps on.”
Details of the sponsorship are pending and it appears to be a one-race deal. Hembler is using this outing as a test marketing venue and success could result in more dates being added to the sponsorship program.”
 |
| Scotty Cannon's first win as a professional drag racer came in 1991. |
Rounding out the field was the lone nitrous qualifier. Mike
First-time winners in Bristol – Mike Ashley is credited with being the first-ever Pro Modified national event winner dating back to 1990. Scotty Cannon followed suit in 1991. The one thing in common about their triumphs? Those victories marked their first-ever as professional drag racers.
He should know - "One thing I know is that
Tennessee fans love their football and country music, but racing
is the one thing they can't live without.” – Tennessee-based
Pro Modified racer Von Smith