IHRA CAYUGA FINAL RESULTS
Terry McMillen is getting the hang of this whole Nitro thing. After driving in the Alcohol Funny Car ranks for years without finding the Winner’s Circle, McMillen, Elkhart, Ind. won his second IHRA Knoll Gas Nitro Jam national event of the season in the Top Fuel class with a final round win over national points leader T.J. Zizzo during the Canadian Nationals presented by PartSource.
McMillen posted a 3.106 elapsed time at 270.16 mph to knock off Zizzo, who carded a 3.313, 246.03. The race was contested on an eighth-mile format due to weather conditions and track concerns. After heavy rain moisture was seeping through the track near the guard walls, forcing IHRA officials to shorten the race. This tactic was also used at the season-opening race in San Antonio, Texas. The shorter race worked just fine for McMillen.
Terry McMillen is getting the hang of this whole Nitro thing. After
driving in the Alcohol Funny Car ranks for years without finding the
Winner’s Circle, McMillen, Elkhart, Ind. won his second IHRA Knoll Gas
Nitro Jam national event of the season in the Top Fuel class with a
final round win over national points leader T.J. Zizzo during the
Canadian Nationals presented by PartSource.
McMillen posted a 3.106 elapsed time at 270.16 mph to knock off Zizzo,
who carded a 3.313, 246.03. The race was contested on an eighth-mile
format due to weather conditions and track concerns. After heavy rain
moisture was seeping through the track near the guard walls, forcing
IHRA officials to shorten the race. This tactic was also used at the
season-opening race in San Antonio, Texas. The shorter race worked just
fine for McMillen.
“I told Dale (Creasy Jr.) that we were both going to end up in the
winner’s circle at this one and get a big picture for Evan Knoll to put
up on the wall,” said McMillen. “This is just great for us to both win
here in Toronto.”
Though he defeated Zizzo in the final round, McMillen did him a favor
by defeating Bruce Litton, the driver right in Zizzo’s rear view mirror
in the national points chase, in the semifinals.
Dale Creasy Jr., Beecher, Ill., can pretty much start his world
championship victory lap the rest of the season. Creasy had a
hammerlock on the Knoll Gas Torco Racing Fuels Pro Nitro Funny Car
points chase heading into the IHRA Canadian Nationals, and by defeating
Mitch King in the final at Toronto Motorsports Park he padded that lead
to monumental proportions. King crossed the finish line first but was
disqualified for crossing the center line.
“I didn’t even know I won until I got all the way down to the end of
the track and out of the car,” said Creasy. “You have to get lucky a
few times, and that’s what happened here. Mitch made a good run, so
that has to be tough, but we’ll take the win.”
John Russo captured his first IHRA win when he knocked off Carl
Spiering in the Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com Pro Modified final. Russo
clocked a 3.962 at 189.90 mph to defeat Spiering, who could not gain
traction in the other lane. Spiering shook his way to a 6.277.
“This is only the second race we’ve taken this car to,” said Russo.
“It’s an unbelievable and to take it to my first winner’s circle with
IHRA is an unbelievable feeling.”
Former Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com Pro Stock world champion John Nobile
defeating defending world champion Pete Berner in the final round to
win his first race of the season. Nobile used a 4.126 to Berner’s
better 4.117 in a holeshot victory. Nobile had him off the line, 0.025
to 0.042.
“To win the final with a holeshot, and round three, that’s just a
really great way to win,” said Nobile. “This feels great. We’ve been in
a slump, but don’t know why because the car has been awesome. I’m just
so happy…happy for the guys, happy for me, for everybody at home.”
Terry Munroe, Beaver, Pa., claimed his third Ironman of the season by
knocking off Paul Noakes in the Alcohol Funny Car final. Munroe was
late off the line while Noakes was amazing on the tree (0.009 reaction
time for Noakes to a 0.119 for Russo), but the London, Ontario, racer
could not keep it in his lane. He crossed the centerline at half-track
and was disqualified. Munroe finished with a 3.800 at 191.97 mph.
“It feels great to win here today,” said Munroe. “I’m glad the
officials made this an eighth-mile race so we could get it done today,
but I still want to win one on the quarter,” he added, referring to his
win earlier this year in San Antonio.
The next event on the $19.5 million Knoll Gas Nitro Jam Drag Racing
Series is the Suzuki Motor City Nationals presented by Heritage
Newspapers and GM Performance Division, September 21 – 23, at Milan
Dragway.