ADRL NORWALK - EVENT NOTEBOOK
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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK - TWO DOUBLE WINNERS HIGHLIGHT LONG WEEKEND IN TWO DAYS
DOUBLE UP - Two of the top competitors in the American Drag Racing League (ADRL) showed exactly why they reign atop their respective classes at Saturday’s Summit Racing Equipment Ohio Drags IV.
Extreme Pro Stock driver Cary Goforth and Pro Extreme Motorcycle rider Ashley Owens both won for the second time in two nights to stay No. 1 in their divisions, capping off a memorable double-race weekend at Summit Motorsports Park.
“To get two wins is just really, really awesome,” said Goforth, who won Dragstock VII on Friday. “Awesome won’t even cover it. This is just wonderful. You always dream about something like this, but you don’t always get it.”
Two other drivers got a chance to celebrate for the first time in the ADRL, as Mick Snyder (Pro Extreme) and Jim Laurita (Pro Nitrous) both picked up their first career ADRL wins on Saturday.
Chuck Ulsch picked up his third win of the 2010 season in Extreme 10.5 and Morgan Benfield got the win in Pro Junior Dragster.
In every respect, the Ohio Drags IV were a memorable event, in part because of Goforth and Owens’ continued dominance.
THE DOMINANT BIKE - Ashley Owens won for an unprecedented eighth time this season and also became the first ADRL competitor in its history to win five straight races.
“You never take any of these for granted,” Owens said. “There’s so much that can happy, you just have to enjoy it.”
In getting his second double-win weekend this year, Owens handed more heartache to Terry Schweigert. Owens went 4.03 in the finals, going a PXM-best 178.28 miles per hour to beat Schweigert in the finals for the fourth time in 2010.
Owens and his Fast by Gast team also had to overcome replacing the motor after the second-round run. It didn’t seem to bother him, as Owens went 4.09 in a semifinal victory.
“I just can’t say enough about our team,” Owens said. “They scrambled to put that back-up motor in and just did an amazing job, every one of the them. I had total confidence in them that they were going to get everything done.”
Goforth went as quick as 4.05 and was consistently impressive for the second straight day in picking up his third win this season.
“I’ve got a good crew and that’s the truth,” Goforth said. “We had a consistent car, but it was also consistently faster and quicker than anybody out there this weekend.”
Snyder went 3.95, but couldn’t celebrate his first ADRL win until replays showed he didn’t move into the right lane.
“I wasn’t sure if I crossed or not. I knew I was close and I was waiting for someone to let me know,” Snyder said. “If you’re going to win, you might as well do it in spectacular fashion.”
Snyder went 3.66 in the first round and then had back-to-back 3.68s to reach the finals – including a victory against points leader Joshua Hernandez – ending his rookie season in PX in thrilling fashion.
“How can you do it any better than this?” Snyder said. “It’s pretty amazing and just caps the year. We’ve been having a lot of fun, but we weren’t winning. This win saves the year, really.”
ANOTHER FIRST TIMER - The race made Jim Laurita’s year, which, like Snyder, is also his first in the ADRL.
On a day filled with upsets and the unbelievable – points leader Rickie Smith was one of many top drivers who did not qualify for eliminations – Laurita hung around and went 3.94 to beat Terry Housley in the finals.
“This is overwhelming,” Laurita said. “The Lord just blessed me here today. There was a lot of luck, but I’m just ecstatic. I’ve had a lot of friends help me the last few years and they’ve really stuck with me.”
Laurita did his part as well, going 4.00 in the second round to beat close friend John Decerbo and adding another 4.00 in a semifinal win against Robert Mathis, who upset No. 1 qualifier Pat Stoken in the first round.
That was simply par for the course on a wild day in Pro Nitrous, where the top eight in points changed multiple times throughout the day.
“It was just perseverance,” Laurita said. “We shook on every pass, but we were able to get through it.”
THRASH PAYS OFF - Chuck Ulsch got a red-light win against Dan Millen in the Extreme 10.5 final, but he wasn’t about to turn it down after his team worked vigorously to repair his car after the semifinals.“Everybody was down there. There was probably about 20 people thrashing on the car,” Ulsch said. “But you gotta get up (to the starting line) to win it. I’m just pumped.”
He had every right to be after Millen couldn’t finish off his previously amazing day.
Millen set a new world E.T. record with a 3.78 and consistently ran in the low 3.80s during eliminations.
It was enough to get him into the top eight in the points standings in XTF, but Ulsch was the one with the Minuteman trophy afterwards.
“We were off here and Dan is the cream of the crop,” Ulsch said. “You couldn’t mess with it. But we’ve got (3.80s) in us and now we have a month to find it.”
CONGRATS - Morgan Benfield became the first Pro Junior Dragster driver in ADRL history to win three races, as she picked up her third this year by going 8.00 in a red-light victory.
Benfield also moved into the top spot in the PJD points race.
ONE RACE LEFT - The ADRL closes out the 2010 season with the LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals VI, which feature the famous Speedtech “Battle For The Belts.” The top eight in each class qualify for a chance at a world title.
The event takes place on Oct. 22-23 at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, TX.
JONES PRIDE HURT WORSE THAN CAR - From the look of the race car, Rickie Jones pride suffered the majority of the damage when he hit the wall in a semi-final match up against John Montecalvo.
A weekend of clean, wreck free racing, came to an abrupt end when Jones, from the left lane, grazed the wall in his lane before coming to a stop in the middle of the track.
“It just started shaking the tires,” explained Jones. “I wish I could have done a better job to save it.”
Hard work will repair the damage to the race car, which appeared on the surface to be far less serious than one would expect. Jones will probably spend a bit more time repairing his pride.
As he answered questions you could almost feel a sense of embarrassment in his words. He truly felt he should have been able to keep the car off the wall.
Cary Goforth, in the pair just behind Jones, knows every driver has lessons to learn and unfortunately some of the lessons are learned the hard way.
“He hit hard. First thing, I'm concerned. I did get on the radio and asked if he was okay,” said Goforth. “It may be war on the starting line, but we care about every one of our competitors.
“These big motors are just so much different then what he's been used to driving. I think he made a couple of errors there; I've made them too. It's just growing pains. I understand he's going to drive a nitrous car; he'll be fine.
“The scary deal, knowing Rickie Jones what little I do, this will just make him more determined.”
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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK -
DRAGSTOCK VII COMPLETE - The action was fast, furious and constant at Summit Motorsports Park in the ADRL Ohio Drags all day Friday.
With fans getting a 2-fer deal - qualifying for the Ohio Drags and elimination rounds for the rain delayed DragStock VII from Rockingham Dragway – there was barely a moment of silence in the Ohio countryside.
At the end of the evening, Ty Tutterrow, Cary Goforth, Spiro Pappas, Dough Riesterer and Todd Tutterow all spent time celebrating in the winner's circle.
The most exciting of the five final round races involved Goforth and Cale Aronson in Extreme Pro Stock and Ashley Owens and Kim Morrell in Pro Extreme Motorcycle.
PRO EXTREME
After watching his young son win in the Junior Dragster final, it was up to Todd Tutterow to pull off the first family double. Tutterow and Joshua Hernandez left the line with Hernandez holding a slight edge, .050 to Tutterow's .063. Hernandez quickly struck the tires and it was all Tutterow as Hernandez clocked a coasting 9.108 second pass to Tutterow's 3.852 at 204.14 mph.
“This is wonderful,” said Tutterow, a grin on his face. “We've never won, both of us together. It's special when you have your family with you and you both get to go to the finals.”
Tutterow watched from a distance as his son rolled to his win and felt “I just knew I needed to do my job then.” Tutterow's wife, Denise works the line with their son's, Ty, junior dragster. They have a daughter who also drag races.
Tutterow wasn't the most dominate racer throughout the long day which started around noon and was still going strong at midnight.
“We made some good runs but we had some lucky runs, too,” admitted Tutterow. “The main thing was getting it down the racetrack. I knew the later it got the quicker it would get.”
PRO NITROUS
The Pro Nitrous final was a near repeat of the Extreme 10.5 performance with winner Doug Riesterer late off the starting line, but first to the finish, as Steve Allen blew off the tires just past the 60 foot mark. Riesterer's .098 was incredibly slow in comparison to Allen's .012 light. Allen never recovered, leaving Riesterer unchallenged.
“We came out here hoping to go a few rounds and get into the Battle of the Belts,” admitted Riesterer. We never expected this in a million years. I won and was stunned. It is a dream to win Rockingham; I would have loved to have won it there but this will do.
“Hopefully, we'll do good tomorrow. We did way more that we'd hope to today, we'll have to see where the points fall tomorrow.”
Riesterer admitted the night was going to stretch into the early morning for himself, because, “the crew's going to the motel and the driver's working on the car.”
PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE
“Like normal, I guess,” said Owens. “It felt good. Everything went smooth this weekend.”
With the wind gusting to over 30 knots, Owens said it was never a problem.
“I didn't notice it. Some people notice it, but I didn't it. Kansas was a lot worse.”
Owens, who has dominated the division all season long, feels his chances of doubling up in Norwalk at quite good, saying, “The motor just seems real happy. We're just making laps right now; changing little things.”
Having dominated the field all year, Owens would love to find the magical sub four second run.
“It may not over come. You can hit a wall. If we get the right track conditions it might happen.”
EXTREME 10.5
“We are on the right track, finally,” proclaimed Pappas following the win “We finally went out testing for a few days and we're back to where we need to be. We found out we had a lot more power than we thought and our tune-up was off.
“It's been a tough year, but you get what you put into it. We didn't put much into it and that's what we got out of it,” admitted Pappas. “We finally got off our butts and started testing a couple weeks ago. We had two test sessions and learned a lot about the car.
“I think the hot weather got a little bit lazy this summer and the championship from last year, I think we took it for granted.”
Pappas actually enjoys the doubled up events because it keeps him focused throughout the weekend.
EXTREME PRO STOCK
Goforth stopped the clocks at 4.108 seconds, but beat Aronson, 4.098, on a holeshot. Goforth was off the line in a rubber burning .009 seconds to Aronson's respectable .032.
“In my mind, and racers will tell you a lot of excuses, we should have had two or three more wins than we've had,” said Goforth. “We've had a lot of momentum going and then the weather cancelled races. They were momentum killers. In Pro Stock when you are searching for thousands of seconds it gives everybody time to go home and work on their stuff.
“From the first run out of the gate we ran three 4.11's in a row. That is a tribute to Chris Bell, my crew chief. We fell out of the trailer running fast.”
With the car running fast, Goforth only needed to work on his reaction times to take the win; and improve he did.
Goforth's reaction times improved with each run - .049, .047, .015 and the final .009.
Yes, a few raindrops had stopped the action on the track. Yes, it had taken a half hour to get the track ready to race one. And, yes, the combined ADRL Ohio Drags and Dragstock VII events were going very smoothly. Not a single car had hit the wall. No one had even dared oil down the strip.
Then, not one but two driver hit the proverbial oil pocket in opposing lanes at almost the exact same time.
Kenny Doak, in his '70 Chevelle, rolled out of the water box on the left lane, punched the throttle and pierced the ears of those in attendance as the supercharger on his 526 ci Hemi tried to break away from the car in a horrid loud whine.
While the crew wasted no time pushing the car back out of the lane, the damage to the engine was evidenced by the two foot wide puddle of oil left behind, complete with a 30' trail following the car as it backed up.
Given the signal to make a single pass, Dan Millen, the number one qualifier for Dragstock VII, rolled through the water box, hit the throttle and did a 60 foot burnout. Backing up, it was immediately apparent Millen's engine was sick and sinking fast. Millen trailed a three to four inch wide trail of oil all the way back to the staging area of the right lane.
With both cars being towed to the pits, ADRL officials went about cleaning up the racetrack. The entire process delayed the racing about 30 minutes, a major step forward in track clean up for the ADRL which now boasts its own track prep and cleanup equipment.
SCHEDULE CHANGE FOR SATURDAYS ADRL SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT OHIO DRAGS IV - The American Drag Racing League (ADRL) has announced a scheduling change for Saturday’s Summit Racing Equipment Ohio Drags IV at Summit Motorsports Park.
The fourth and final qualifying session on Saturday will now begin at 9 a.m. with final eliminations set to start at 1 p.m. The MAVTV Winner’s Circle celebration is now slated for 8:15 p.m.
The ADRL Top End Ministries Chapel Service will now take place at 8 a.m. and the spectator gates will still open at 9 a.m.
The schedule change for Saturday’s Ohio Drags IV is to ensure the event will be completed in time before cold weather moves into the Northeast Ohio area. Saturday’s low temperatures are predicted to dip into the mid-40s.
“Driver safety is our primary concern along with giving fans the best experience possible,” ADRL Executive Vice President of Competition Bert Corzine said. “Making this change allows for both to happen.”
Corzine moved up the starting time and made the schedule change after extensive discussion with ADRL President and CEO Kenny Nowling, and Summit Motorsports Park President Bill Bader III.
The Ohio Drags IV is the final ADRL race before next month’s LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals VI, meaning it is imperative that the Ohio Drags IV are completed by the end of the weekend. The earlier starting time will allow that to happen before colder temperatures arrive.
“With the cooler temperatures on Saturday, the good news for the fans is we should see world record times in every class,” Nowling said. “We just don’t want the track temperatures to get too cool, so moving everything to an earlier start is the responsible thing to do.”
SCHEDULE FOR SATURDAY’S OHIO DRAGS IV (all times local)
SATURDAY: ADRL Top End Ministries Chapel Services 8 a.m.; Spectator Gates Open at 9 a.m.; Qualifying Round 4 at 9 a.m. (Run order: XPS, PXM, XTF, PN, PX, PJD);
Pre-Race Ceremonies 12:30 p.m. Eliminations Round 1 at 1 p.m. (Run order: XPS, PXM, XTF, PN, PX, PJD) Jet Car and Monster Truck run 6 p.m. ADRL Winner’s Circle
Party 8:15 p.m. Secure Event 9 p.m.
INTO THE THREES - Billy Glidden, driver of the '10 Mustang has been knocking on the three second door all year without anyone answering. While he has broken the barrier in testing, those passes mean nothing when it comes to the record books.
Friday afternoon at Summit Racing Park during first round qualifying for the ADRL Ohio Drags Glidden got close at 4.026 seconds. One round later, in a mixture of qualifying and first round eliminations for the rain delayed Dragstock VII from Rockingham (NC) Glidden busted down the door with a 3.991 at 184.40 mph to dispatch Tony Wilson, despite being beat solidly at the tree, .012 to Glidden's .109.
“(The 3-second run)is a small sense of accomplishment and lets us know we’re doing better,” Glidden said. “The first two runs we had (Friday) are as good as we’ve ever had.
“I’m just trying to do better,” added Glidden. “We’ve made a lot of changes since Rockingham. We’ve been busy. We definitely don’t sit on our hands.”
Glidden is still a full tenth of a second slower than the quickest qualifier, Dan Millen, of Dearborn, Mi., and eight hundredths of a second slower than Chuck Ulsch.
Glidden uses his competition to measure his progress.
“All we can do is use the people in front of us as the bar and we’re closer to them now than we were at Rockingham,” said Glidden, who revealed he never would have broken the barrier at the Rock.
“The engine we had in Rockingham, we didn’t kill it, but we hurt it,” revealed Glidden. “We fixed that.”
The timing beams agree.
GO FORTH AND CONQUER - Cary Goforth, in the final pair, dominated first round qualifying in Extreme Pro Stock with a very stout 4.113 second pass at 175.43 mph. Goforth's speed was near two miles an hour faster than the second quickest qualifier.
TWO WHEEL FAST - Ashley Owens, Decatur, Ala, on the Fast By Gast 2010 Suzuki made a stellar run in first round qualifying at 4.057 seconds, just one hundredth of a second off his 4.056 national record. Owens will be looking to shave a few more hundredths of his time as he looks to back up a 4.02 run from Rockingham.
ANOTHER GLIDDEN IN THE MIX? - A source close to the Aronson Motorsports Extreme Pro Stock team, driven by Cale Aronson, has confirmed Rusty Glidden has been brought in as a tuner/consultant. We'll have more information later today.
WE MUST FINISH - ADRL President Kenny Nowling informed those present at the driver's meeting the sanctioning body is prepared to run on Sunday at Summit Raceway Park. Rain has been forecast for later Friday afternoon and with only one race remaining on the ADRL schedule - Dallas - it is imperative the sanctioning body complete both the Rockingham event, which saw a portion of qualifying and all of eliminations rained out and the entire schedule of qualifying and eliminations for the Summit Equipment Ohio Drags IV.
CRACKING DOWN - Additionally, Nowling warned competitors about allowing children and or unlicensed individuals to pilot golf cart and scooters in the pit area. Anyone caught with a child, or unlicensed individual, operating a golf car or scooter will be given the choice of paying a $5000 fine or take a two race suspension. The ADRL is cracking down on the problem after incidents which resulted in injury at the two previous events.
SWIRLING WINDS - A extremely stiff breeze, 28 knots, with gusts to 39 knots, made for a trickly landing for the Life Flight helicopter crew and is playing havoc with the strip. Small leaves and bits of paper are being removed between every pass. Fans are asked to deposit all trash in containers to assist in holding the problem to a minimum.
The winds don't appear to be having an affect on the cars. The breeze is blowing south to north, from the starting line to the finish line, however it appears to change to a west to east flow just past the finish line.
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THURDAY NOTEBOOK - FRIDAY KICKS OFF ADRL DOUBLE HEADER EVENT
When the rain came in Rockingham, the Summit Racing Equipment Ohio Drags IV suddenly got even bigger.
It’s still the last chance for drivers to have a say before the LenMar Motorsports Finals VI, but now two races will be completed in the last weekend before the top eight in each class vie for the Speedtech “Battle For The Belts.”
Some have some big goals and ideas leading into the championship race, which means several drivers are planning large for Norwalk.
“We’re planning on winning the next two races (Rockingham and Norwalk) to take over the points lead,” said Pro Extreme driver Frankie Taylor, who went 3.596 in Rockingham.
“That’s our hope.”
He isn’t alone with the high hopes.
“We want to go to the championship No. 1 in the points. That’s our goal,” Pro Nitrous driver Shannon Jenkins said.
To do that, Jenkins, currently No. 2 in PN, and Taylor, No. 3 in PX, will have to be locked in at Summit Motorsports Park, much like they were in Rockingham where both set new E.T. world records.
After a one-year hiatus from the gorgeous facility, the ADRL has returned, but instead will be racing in the much cooler September temperatures.
That means red-hot times and incredible racing, which is just what everyone likes this time of year.
“It’s a beautiful place to go and it’s going to be fast,” said Extreme Pro Stock driver Brian Gahm, who lives about 3 ½ hours from the track.
“We’re going there at the right time of the year. Going there in the fall, it’s going to be better. The track is going to be good no matter what, but it’s going to be fast.”
If the summer races are about persevering through the hot temperatures, the September races in Rockingham and Norwalk are the reward.
It yielded the usual incredible times in Rockingham, but more could follow in Norwalk.
“This is the fun time of the year,” said Jenkins, who went 3.813 two weeks ago.
There’s also plenty to enjoy about a track that made considerable upgrades just a few years ago.
It was already highly-regarded among racers - Pro Extreme Motorcycle driver Billy Vose said it’s “one of the tracks worth testing at” - and those upgrades have made it one of the top racing facilities in the country.
Coupled with an energetic fanbase that is sure to pack the first-class facility and it’s easy to see why it is an ideal destination and an ideal weekend.
“The Bader family (who own the track) always runs a first-class program,” Jenkins said. “With all that they’ve done, it’s just one of my favorite tracks to go to.”
Said Vose: “It’s not just the track prep, it’s the track itself and the personnel. The way they greet you and treat you, it’s a tough combination to beat.”
The two races also make for a busy and potentially stressful month, especially with so much riding on each one.
It gets compressed even more considering two races will be completed in two days, which is the third time rain has forced that to happen in the last two months.
With that under consideration, getting through two races in two days yet again might favor the driver that doesn’t mind a busy schedule.
“We race all the time, so that doesn’t really matter,” said Taylor, who won his first ADRL race at Norwalk in 2008.
“But the ADRL really makes us step up our game. We know we have to go fast and we can’t back down.”
There also wasn’t much time to get ready for the Ohio Drags with the limited time between it and the Rockingham Drags.
Those who aren’t ready for the make or break weekend will likely pay the consequences.
“You just have to be prepared,” Jenkins said. “You have to go in with an ‘A’ program and you better not look back.”
Getting to that “A-level” for the stretch run of the 2010 season meant everyone had to stay busy between the Hardee’s Gateway Drags in early August and what has followed this month.
“You have to keep your car fresh and keep it checked. You have to do your homework,” Taylor said. “You can’t let the car sit in the trailer. You have to work on it pretty hard.”
Of course, after the rain wiped away the finish in Rockingham, some drivers will be more than ready for Summit Motorsports Park and the Ohio Drags.
“If you’re running well and being consistent, the momentum helps a lot,” Gahm said. “That keeps everybody geared up.”
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