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IHRA
Amalie Oil North American Nationals - Epping, NH
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The
latest results from the tenth stop on the IHRA Hooters Drag Drag
Racing Series |
by Brian Lohnes, Photos by Roger Richards, Bryan Epps |
SUNDAY - Clay Millican wins Top Fuel at IHRA Amalie Oil North American Nationals
(9-7-2003) - The guns were blazing in Epping on
the third and final day of the Amalie Oil North American Nationals.
Clay Millican took home Top Fuel honors, Carl Baker fought his way
through a devilish Sunoco Pro Stock field, Rob Atchison continued
to wow the fans in the funny car category and Shannon Jenkins finally
tasted victory in Pro Mod.
Pro Modified is the class that often times has the best story lines at the national events. This one was no exception. Quain Stott was trying to narrow the gap on brother Mitch, Billy Harper showed up in Epping after leading qualifying number one in Indy, Shannon Jenkins trying to salvage what is left of this season and local racer Steve Salvadore opening everyone’s eyes to New England’s local Pro Mod contingent. Quain Stott made good on his plan to get some rounds on his sibling, but in the process wounded his Corvette on the wall at New England Dragway. As all this action was happening on one side of the ladder, Shannon Jenkins was calmly motoring through his opponents like a hot knife through butter. One by one they fell, Harold Martin, Mitch Stott, and finally Mike Janis to take the win in Pro Mod. It took Jenkins a motor banging, 6.316, 220 mph pass to get by Janis’s hard charging 6.390, 228 mph run. Janis had the starting line jump by three one hundredths. The local hero of the weekend was Steve Salvadore who slammed into the third qualifying slot with a blistering 6.21 pass on Saturday night. He beat Mike Faucher in round one and then was halted by Carl Spiering in round two. Salvadore really rallied the New England fans.
Millican showed once again why the Werner team gets the job done almost every time out. A cool head, great machinery and a good crew got the team to the winner’s circle in Epping. The two cars that all eyes were glued to were of course, Bruce Litton and Clay Millican and the two did not disappoint. Millican lambasted Roger Dean and Todd Paton on his way to meet Bruce Litton in the final. On Litton’s side, he whooped Bobby Lagana Jr., and Grant Flowers to gain access to the final round. When the two cars were brought to the line Litton staged first, and then went in deep. Millican, without an iota of hesitation followed him right in. When the tree fell and the dust settled it was Millican’s 4.752, 310.02 atop a pedaling Litton’s 5.073, 298.70 pass. The New England fans were on their feet for the final round.
The Amalie Oil North American Nationals at New England Dragway proved once again that New England is a hot bed of drag racing activity. Huge crowds packed the facility, almost 600 racecars packed the grounds and smiles were on the faces of fans and winners alike at the end of the evening. The cool, September air here in Epping, provided the fans and the sanctioning body with one of the best shows of the entire season. The next event on the 2003 Hooters IHRA Drag Racing Series is the
12th annual Presidents Cup Sportsman Results
Final round-by-round results from the 8th annual Amalie Oil
North American TOP FUEL: ROUND ONE -- Jack Ostrander, 4.843, 308.11 def. Bobby Lagana Jr, 5.133, 243.11; Bruce Litton, 4.914, 292.87 def. Grant Flowers, 4.956, 299.20; Todd Paton, 4.886, 267.22 def. Donald Sosenka, 6.654, 124.91; Clay Millican, 4.689, 317.79 def. Roger Dean, 5.208, 263.62; SEMIFINALS -- Litton, 4.847, 279.67 def. Ostrander, broke;
Millican, 4.676, 317.68 def. Paton, FINAL -- Millican, 4.752, 310.02 def. Litton, 5.073, 298.70.
ROUND ONE -- Quain Stott, Chevy Corvette, 6.376, 225.33
def. Paul Athey, Corvette, 11.565, QUARTERFINALS -- Q. Stott, 6.315, 227.96 def. Wasko, 6.393, 220.48; Spiering, 6.354, 223.04 def. Salvadore, 6.419, 222.66; Jenkins, 6.288, 224.32 def. M. Stott, 6.268, 226.13; Janis, 6.336, 227.61 def. Castellana, 7.191, 143.47; SEMIFINALS -- Janis, 6.380, 220.42 def. Q. Stott, 9.741,
87.01; Jenkins, 6.477, 218.07 def. FINAL -- Jenkins, 6.316, 220.58 def. Janis, 6.390, 228.83.
ROUND ONE -- Rob Atchison, Pontiac Firebird, 5.915, 239.80
def. Vincent Rastelli, Chevy QUARTERFINALS -- Thomas, 5.839, 241.15 def. Dobbs, 5.887, 240.38; Tigges, 5.931, 232.55 def. McNeil, 6.046, 232.37; Atchison, 5.902, 242.39 def. Bogolo, 7.024, 136.13; Vouros, 6.096, 233.82 def. Midyette, 9.327, 139.40; SEMIFINALS -- Thomas, 5.865, 241.61 def. Tigges, broke; Atchison, 5.828, 240.83 def. Vouros, 6.081, 231.30; FINAL -- Atchison, 5.816, 241.02 def. Thomas, 5.871, 238.41.
ROUND ONE -- Tim Bell, Ford Mustang, 8.990, 119.96 def. John Montecalvo, Chevy Cavalier, broke; Doug Kirk, Mustang, 6.592, 209.25 def. John Nobile, Cavalier, broke; Jeff Dobbins, Ford Probe, 6.632, 210.62 def. Rick Jones, Dodge Neon, 6.628, 211.26; Chris Holbrook, Ford Escort, 6.656, 209.79 def. Floyd Cheek, Mustang, 6.677, 206.28; Carl Baker, Mercury Cougar, 6.563, 212.66 def. Jason Collins, Cougar, 8.591, 115.31; Brian Gahm, Mustang, 6.527, 212.26 def. Chuck DeMory, Mustang, 6.658, 209.49; Pete Berner, Mustang, 6.604, 210.87 def. John Bartunek, Cavalier, 18.078, 48.80; Frank Gugliotta, Mustang, 6.569, 211.81 def. Elijah Morton, Mercury Cougar, foul; QUARTERFINALS -- Berner, 6.611, 211.06 def. Dobbins, 6.610, 211.91; Gugliotta, 6.581, 211.86 def. Kirk, 6.613, 209.54; Gahm, 6.576, 211.51 def. Bell, 6.617, 210.77; Baker, 6.570, 213.42 def. Holbrook, 8.767, 112.69; SEMIFINALS -- Gugliotta, 6.606, 212.06 def. Berner, 13.073,
65.38; Baker, 6.580, 213.47 def. FINAL -- Baker, 6.567, 213.47 def. Gugliotta, foul. Sunday Notes
(9-7-2003) - Just when you thought it was safe to go outside - John Bartunek’s weekend of nasty luck continued in the first round of eliminations today. Bartunek launched his car and a wheelie bar broke on the hit, causing the car to get crossed up and forced him to abort the run. This freakish breakage comes after the mystery valvetrain break earlier this weekend that almost didn’t allow Bartunek to make a single qualifying pass. You mean all this happened in the first 100 feet? - John Vouros made a vintage fuel altered pass this morning. The problem was that he was driving an alky funny car. After seeing the red eye in his opponent’s lane, Vouros decided to land on it anyway. The car immediately began to spin the tires hard. John pedaled, tried to save it, but the car had different ideas. With the centerline looming large he decided to call it a day.
Dewey defeats Truman - No one at New England Dragway had given Roy Wasko a fighting chance in round 1. Billy Harper was qualified #1 and Wasko was struggling. He barely made it into the field in the 16th spot. Harper left the line and broke the tires loose, pitching the car sideways and allowing Wasko to zip by for the win. And the results are in - The official count for the Pro Modifieds.com Fans $500 is 23. Josh Moore from Stratroi, Ontario Canada was the first to guess 23 correctly and is the winner of the Fans $500 from Pro Modifieds.com And it sucks to be this guy - Josh was not the only person to guess 23 Pro Mods here at the Amalie Oil North American Nationals. A member of our message board correctly guessed 23 and even guessed the low ET, dead on. Unfortunately he did not fill out an entry form and only
posted his number on the board, so he kissed 500 clams good bye. Postcards from the edge - Wheelstander driver/
stuntman Al Barber made contact with us this morning. He is very
sore, but otherwise uninjured. The truck is already disassembled
inside his garage. Al will be back… but will be performing
at circle tracks where left hand turns are far less destructive. SATURDAY - Millican, Harper, Gahm, and Atchison lead final qualifying at Amalie North American Nationals
(9-6-2003) - The second day of qualifying has
ended at the IHRA Amalie Oil North American Nationals at New England
Dragway in Epping, NH and the leader board looks much the same as
it did yesterday. The quickest IHRA Sunoco Pro Stock field in IHRA
history, a track ET record for Clay Millican and possibly the most
monstrous crowd in New England Dragway history were highlights of
the day.
Funny Car action was led again by Rob Atchison. His 5.783, 241.80
mph run, made yesterday in the second round remains the mark for
all to shoot for. Mark Thomas leveled both barrels at the Atchison
camp and let fly with a 5.795, 243.50 mph. The funny car category
will be exciting tomorrow. Eliminations are set to begin tomorrow with major, season-ending
consequences. The Stott brothers will be battling for end of the
season bragging rights and the Kirk vs. Baker Pro Stock battle will
be played out before a full house here at New England Dragway. First-round pairings for professional eliminations Sunday for the 8th annual Amalie Oil North American Nationals at New England Dragway, the tenth of 12 events in the 2003 Hooters IHRA Drag Racing Series. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. Top Fuel -- 1. Clay Millican, 4.604 seconds,
318.58 mph vs. 8. Roger Dean, 5.671, Pro Modified -- 1. Billy Harper, Dodge Viper,
6.186, 228.48 vs. 16. Roy Wasko, Chevy Funny Car -- 1. Rob Atchison, Pontiac Firebird,
5.783, 241.80 vs. 16. Vincent Rastelli, Pro Stock -- 1. Brian Gahm, Ford Mustang, 6.526,
212.61 vs. 16. Chuck DeMory, Mustang, SATURDAY - Early Saturday Notes from Epping
(9-6-2003) - Hurry up and wait - Bruce Litton’s car and rig arrived before the start of racing on Friday. Since there was no fuel runs made before today the crew really had nothing major to do. When asked what the morning’s activities were, Litton responded, “Just getting ready. Nothing special.” When asked his thoughts on only having 2 qualifying sessions, Litton said, “We’ll take whatever we can get.” Set your Ray gun on stun - Local funny car racer Dave Ray really stepped on his Ford Mustang last night and ran career best 5.90. Unfortunately he wounded the car. His dedicated crew worked through the night to get the Butler Steel buildings funny car back in order. Minutes ago they fired the car and will be making a “safe” pass this round. You mean there’s another race somewhere today? - Fans continue to pack New England Dragway early. The crowd for tonight’s event is sure to be a record buster. Track management judges the crowd to be on pace to annihilate the previous attendance record for the event. Chairman of the board - Bill Bader was spotted chatting with many members of New England Dragway’s board of directors, to which one jokester said, “Hey I thought those guys were only allowed to hang out once a month.” Seperated at Birth - Jack Ostrander and Louis Allison wheeled into Epping earlier this morning. A quick glance at Ostrander and several people agreed that if we gave him a beard trim and muscled him up he would be a dead ringer for Paul, the father on the hit TV show American Chopper. Kaase or can’t he? - John Bartunek may get the worst luck award of the weekend. Bartunek arrived this morning, already missing 2 qualifying shots. Things went downhill from there. When they fired the car a valvetrain piece broke and they had no replacement. John Kaase is here in Epping and is currently trying find a remedy for Bartunek’s situation. Charlie Gam-Blamo! - While Russia may have their Chernobyl incident, Epping now has the Gambino incident. Charlie Gambino, blew his Funny Car up nuclear style while headed through the traps at New England Dragway. Gambino was unhurt aside from a severely rung bell, but the body shattered like fine China.
If he’s here how can he be? - Billy Harper who had the #1 qualifying spot at the Indy Pro Mod challenge currently sits on the top of the heap here at Epping. If this goes well I feel bad for everyone else? - Ed Hoover’s 6.42 yesterday is deceptively tame. It turns out that that car was on a mid 6.20’s pass, but it blew top gear out of the transmission, essentially throwing the car into neutral. Hoover coasted to that number. He claims that they missed the clutch, but they are not sure which way to go with it. His first pass today should be interesting. I love the night life - Steve Salvadore is loving life today. Sitting pretty in the 4th spot of Pro Mod the team is all smiles. The goals for today are pretty simple, this afternoon they plan on going conservative and just getting the car down the track, tonight they are going to step on it and try to better the numbers. Bad Batch of Rubbers - All tires are not created
equal and the Sunoco Pro Stock drivers here in Epping know that.
It seems that the batch of Goodyear tires that all the teams are
running on are, well, weird. No one is having any luck getting the
tires to bite. Needless to say, there’s a lot of activity
in the pits today. FRIDAY - Harper, Atchison and Gahm lead first day professional qualifying at Epping
(9-5-2003) - A good crowd, record runs, and fine weather all contributed to a banner first day at the Amalie Oil North American Nationals at New England Dragway in Epping, NH. The first day of qualifying, which did not include fuel cars, showcased banner performances from local and traveling racers alike. Early qualifying leaders include Brian Gahm who broke the existing track Pro Stock ET record with a blistering 6.52, 212.26 mph, Billy Harper in Pro Mod with a 6.20, 228.48 mph and Rob Atchison in Funny Car with his revolutionary Chevy powered funny car with a 5.78, 240 mph. Local racer Steve Salvadore from Barre, Massachusetts is currently qualified 4th in Pro Mod with a 6.23, 228 mph. David Ray and David Rowe, both New England natives, are comfortably in the funny car field sitting in the 5 and 12 slots respectively. New England racers Dave Bureau and Terry Hall lead their packs in Top Dragster and Top Sportsman. The Pro Stock field is qualified very tightly. Holding the first 5 spots are Brian Gahm, Pete Berner, Carl Baker, Chris Holbrook and Doug Kirk. All 5 are Ford powered machines and the spread between them is only 4 one hundredths of a second. Pro Modified is shaping up very well for the weekend. The mix of nitrous to blown cars is fairly even and the nitrous camp may have a shot at claiming their second ever victory here at Epping. Billy Harper pulled out the whooping stick with a 6.20, 228 MPH for the pole. Mitch Stott holds the second spot with a 6.22. Mike Janis, Steve Salvadore, and Paul Athey round out the field. The Rob Atchison traveling road show continues with yet another strong performance. He sits on the pole, leading number two qualifier Mark Thomas by 2 one hundredths of a second. John Vouros, Ronnie Midyette and Northeast racer David Ray round out the top 5. With a high pressure weather system approaching, the talk at the track is that below sea level air could be present tomorrow. If that proves to be true, the evening qualifying sessions could be record breakers. Atchison is currently 6 one hundredths off the Pro Funny car record and seeing as Gahm already broke the track elapsed time record and he sits only .05 off the national record anything could happen. With a bona-fide Top Fuel field chomping at the bit to run, day 2 of the Amalie Oil North American Nationals promises to be even more speedy than day 1. Results Friday after qualifying for the 8th annual Amalie Oil North American Nationals at New England Dragway, tenth of 12 events in the 2003 Hooters IHRA Drag Racing Series. Qualifying will continue Saturday for Sunday's final eliminations.
Funny Car -- 1. Rob Atchison, Pontiac Firebird,
5.783, 241.80; 2. Mark Thomas, Dodge Pro Stock -- 1. Brian Gahm, Ford Mustang, 6.526,
212.26; 2. Pete Berner, Mustang, 6.546, FRIDAY NOTES - New Qualifying Procedures? Early candidate for the "Doh!" Award
(8-24-2003) - If all else fails - Go with what you know. Brian Gahm, who has been having some “issues” with his new Mustang brought an insurance policy with him…his 2002 Championship car. If he did not have a good run during 1st round qualifying he was going to pull the old car out of the trailer and run that. He currently sits on the pole after round 1 of qualifying. When 40 Miles = 2.5 hours - Chock this story up
in the classic lore file. John Kaase, Chuck DeMory, and Paul Trussell
were slated to fly into a local New Hampshire airport. Unfortunately
for them, the airport was shrouded in fog and other nasty weather
conditions so their flight was diverted to Boston, which is about
45 miles from New England Dragway. The three men piled into the
same cab for what they thought was to be a pretty boring ride to
their hotel here in New Hampshire. Their cab driver, spoke very
little English and apparently had never left the city of Boston
before. The unnamed driver was hopelessly lost minutes outside of
the city. After a while of aimlessly driving around, the three intrepid
travelers started directing the driver. In the process, he drove
past the exit they needed 3 times, was accelerating to over 90 mph
and then landing on the brakes for no reason, and riding the center
line and outer boundary lines of the road. According to Trussell,
“I thought I was on an ocean liner. I was sea sick from rocking
back and forth so much.” Apparently Kaase was the first of
the trio to snap and demanded that the driver pulled the car over
until they could find someone who knew the area to guide them home.
Here’s the kicker. The airline had given all the passengers
vouchers valued at $50.00 to cover cab fare to their various destinations.
The bill was $270.00. They flipped the driver the coupon and instructed
him to figure out where the rest of the money was going to come
from. We suspect he is still trying to find his way home.
Changes to come with IHRA qualifying procedures? - This event on the tour only features 2, count’em 2 rounds of Top Fuel Qualifying. The reasoning? Most seem to agree that it is the fact that if a small budget team runs well on Friday evening, they sit out during the sessions on Saturday, when the largest crowd packs the track. This change will put all the teams in the limelight in front of everyone. It also forces them to make good quick because they only have 2 shots to make the show. Fuelah’s make the tow - The North American Nationals typically does not draw a very large crowd of top fuel dragsters (or as they say here in New Hampshire Top Fuelahs). This year has seen an increase in the fuel car count. 11 Top Fuel cars dot the pite here at New England Dragway…well 9 actually. We are awaiting the arrival of Jack Ostrander and Louie Allison. They will make the 10 and 11 cars. Yet another reason that those 2 qualifying sessions will be muy importante…people will be headed home early. When Worlds Collide - Pat Dougherty and the rest of the “Men from Maine” are in attendance this weekend with new teammate and cohort Charles Carpenter. The two nitrous bombers, one North and one South have joined forces this year with good results. Dougherty has been running better than ever this season with his nitrous setup. So Yankee ingenuity and southern hard nosed drag racing know-how have paid dividends. They both hope it will continue this weekend.
Tommy Two-Tone - Tom Howell, one of the premier alky tuners in all of drag racing usually has his hands full. On a recent weekend he was tuning a dragster at a track, and tuning two funny cars via telephone. This weekend his primary focus is the Boston Stock Exchange alky funny car. He also tunes Jay Blake’s NHRA Alky Funny Car, which is driven by Todd Veney. That car is qualified at Indy and Tom is giving the crew some tips, but is concentrating on the BSE car. Blow or Be Blown - Ed Hoover is on the grounds with the blown car this weekend. Team Trussell is trying to iron out the bugs that have plagued the blown entry. Hoover was quite clear on the team’s objectives this weekend, “We are just trying to run the car in IHRA trim.” With a grin he added, “We are not going to be breaking any records this weekend.” Don’t count out those bottle battlers- After 1 rd of qualifying in Pro Mod the Mike Janis “Widowmaker” is on the pole with a 6.22, 231. Nipping on his heels is Paul Athey’s Nitrous injected Corvette’s 6.26, 224 mph. It’s going to be a good weekend. Guess who’s back….back again - Billy Harper is in Epping this weekend. When asked why he didn’t want to stay in Indy and beat up on those guys he answered (with a smile), “We just thought we would come here and beat up on all these guys.” DOH!!! - Luckily this happened on Friday. Al Barber, a new wheelstander driver was attempting to finish up his licensing runs on Friday in his Lil’ Fire Truck Dodge Dakota wheelstander. The pass went well until the finish line when the truck landed with the steering at full left lock. A 90 degree left hand turn into the concrete wall here at New England Dragway ended his weekend and any hopes Barber has of licensing this season. Awww Can I? Can I? - Mike Kloeber and Clay Millican
were spotted with Bill Bader earlier today requesting a chance to
make a pass with the Werner Enterprises Top Fueler. Kloeber was
concerned with the fact that his team would only have 2 chances
to get the car right for the weekend. The results of the conversation
have yet to be seen but as of this writing (3:45pm) no pass has
been made.
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