ADRL TOPEKA - EVENT NOTEBOOK
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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK - WINNERS CROWNED BEFORE STORM ROLLS IN
MARTIN TO THE EXTREME - Just as he did in the ADRL’s last completed race at West Palm Beach, FL, Joey Martin beat Jason Hamstra in the Pro Extreme final at Heartland Park Topeka. And 
once again Martin did it in dominating fashion, winning from the number-one qualifying position and setting a new track ET record in the final round.
“I knew we would get it done,” said Martin, who built his supercharged ’55 Chevy “Lowmad” for team owner Toney Russell at Martin’s race shop in Milton, FL. “We had a few gremlins to work out in the chassis first, but once we got those figured out we were in great shape.”
With a track record 3.653-seconds pass at 204.35 mph Martin took over the number-one position in Saturday’s fourth and final qualifying session from second-place starter Gaylen Smith, who went on to suffer a fiery first-round crash with his ’59 Corvette against the left guardwall once eliminations began.
“It broke a rod in the front of the motor and the rod actually came straight out the bottom and cut the diaper in half and when that happened we were in our own oil,” Smith explained. “I didn’t really realize exactly what had happened at first and of course I didn’t want to get in the other guy’s lane (Duane Rister), so when the car went a little bit right I pulled it back left. That’s when I realized I was in something and something wasn’t right. It was like driving on ice.
“It was a pretty hard lick, but the safety stuff they make us wear did its job,” he continued. “I may be a little sore in the morning, but I’m okay.”
Meanwhile, Martin easily overcame a holeshot by Nick Bastino to get out of the opening round and survived round two after having to pedal the throttle a couple of times to regain traction and hold off Michael Recchia.
His biggest challenge came in the semi-finals when Mick Snyder ran just a hundredth behind Martin’s 3.671 effort, but a big .069 holeshot by Martin also provided some leeway.
On the other side of the ladder, number-seven starter Hamstra ran an off-the-pace 3.977 to get by Terry Leggett, then settled into the 3.70s zone for a pair of wins over Rister and defending class champion Frankie Taylor in the semis.
Hamstra got away first in the final round with a .027 light, but even with a .041 holeshot over Martin, his personal-best-of-eliminations 3.736 at 204.94 wasn’t quite enough to stave off Martin’s new track record charge (by one thousandth) of 3.652 seconds at 204.94 mph.
“It was great to have Toney (Russell, team owner) here for this one. He missed being with us when we won at Palm Beach, so it’s great to be able to share this with him,” Martin said as he hoisted the ADRL Minuteman trophy in victory lane.
“This race car is better than a shot of chemo to me,” said Russell, who has been battling cancer for several years. “They’re both good for me, but it brings me up and the chemo brings me down.
“I feel like we have the perfect team in place now. I think I have the best driver out here, I know I have the best car builder and it’s just a lot of fun to get to race with people that you genuinely like and get along so well with.”
Nitrous (PN) win June 18, at Heartland Park Topeka in the ADRL Kansas National Guard Independence Drags V.In a battle of Reher&Morrison-powered Al-Anabi Racing Camaros, Castellana beat teammate and number-one qualifier Mahana Al-Naemi with a 3.839-seconds pass at 194.91 mph in the final round.
“There was no pressure because I knew the team had already won,” Castellana said while relaxing in a tow vehicle with crew chief for both cars, Shannon Jenkins, in the passenger seat beside him.
“Shannon gave both of us great cars this weekend and I’m just the lucky one that came out on top this time.”
Al-Naemi and his ’69 Camaro had an easy pass to round two after 16th-place qualifier Blake Housley failed to show up at the starting line. He then beat Robert Mathis and another Al-Anabi teammate and current PN class champion Burton Auxier with a holeshot that translated to a four-thousandths margin of victory in the semis.
Racing from the sixth starting position, Castellana powered his ’68 version of the iconic Chevy past Doug Riesterer and Jeff Naiser before setting a new career-best and Pro Nitrous track ET record with a 3.814-seconds pass at 195.51 mph. But with a still-decent .046 reaction, Castellana needed almost every tick of that time, as semi-final opponent Rickie Jones laid down a .018 light that led to a 3.844 at 192.93-mph, but came up just two-thousandths of a second short at the finish line.
“Sure, that’s always nice,” a low-key Castellana said of adding a couple more small feathers to his cap of accomplishments at Topeka. “All the credit really belongs to Shannon and my crew, though.”
Obviously wary of redlighting away the opportunity to win, neither driver cut a very impressive light in the final, with Al-Naemi carding a .086 and Castellana an even tardier .133 reaction time. The race was decided about mid-track, however, when the nitrous-filled flames briefly disappeared from Al-Naemi’s headers as he had to pedal it to run 4.053 at 192.14 mph.
“I really wasn’t driving all that good today, but my team gave me such a great car and Shannon had it tuned up so well that it all came together,” Castellana said. “And having two Al-Anabi cars in the final just shows how hard everyone works here and that’s why it paid off tonight.”
GOALS ACCOMPLISHED - In 2010, Dan Millen won only one ADRL Extreme 10.5 (XTF) race, but it was the right one as he defeated Gary White in the final round of the championship-
deciding Battle for the Belts shootout for the season’s top- eight points earners. With the ADRL switching to traditional season-long points standings to determine its champions this year, among Millen’s stated goals for 2011 was to win an ADRL national event.After stumbling with a red-light start in round one of the season opener at Houston, going through a scary top-end fire in the next race at West Palm Beach, FL, then being denied even a chance at victory by rain in Reading, PA, Millen finally made it happen June 18, in the ADRL Kansas National Guard Independence Drags V at Heartland Park Topeka.
Driving his screw-blown, Al-Anabi-backed 2011 Mustang, Millen qualified on top of the eight-car XTF field in Topeka with a 3.926 at 195.19-mph pass, then doused the hopes of Eric Stubbs and 2008 class champ Billy Glidden before prevailing in a wild final round against Houston winner Lamar Swindoll Jr.
Swindoll, driving for team owner Todd Moyer in the twin-turboed ’04 Cavalier that Moyer campaigned in the class last year, got away first with a slim .005 holeshot, but his run just as quickly turned into one that will forever remain on the ADRL highlight reels.
As Millen streaked away to a 3.953 win at 196.50 mph, by the 60-foot mark Swindoll’s car was already heading toward the center line from the right lane. As the run progressed, Swindoll fought to retain his lane, but right at the finish line he hit the center foam block and fell in directly behind Millen’s car at 190 mph before gathering things up and rolling to an uneventful stop in the shutdown lanes.
“I had no idea what was going on back there,” Millen said in victory lane. “I never saw him the whole run and I guess I’m glad I didn’t see him when it was over, too.”
Swindoll said his car drives “real smooth” when set up to run low 4.0s, as it had throughout qualifying and in the early elimination rounds, but “it can be a real handful,” when he steps up its power as he did for the date with Millen.
“Everything was fine the first 50 feet or so; it was the rest of the run that gave me trouble,” he quipped. Swindoll then said he missed the back of Millen’s car by “10, maybe 20 feet; I don’t know, but it seemed pretty close.
“Actually, I wasn’t really worried about hitting him; what I mean is, I didn’t think I was going to, but I was worried about it just carrying its momentum over and hitting the (left) wall. But it settled down there and I was able to just go back to my lane and pull off down there like nothing happened. There’s a big crack in the front end, though, where it hit the block.”
Though Millen didn’t have any big on-track moments to overcome, he said his team fought mechanical issues all weekend long.
“There were at least a couple of times when I would’ve said we probably wouldn’t win this weekend, but we kept working at it and for the final we just went up there and rolled the dice,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing really, but it feels good to finally get a real event win over here.”
NO RIOTS HERE - “At least they won’t have to riot in Abbotsford tonight,” Terry Schweigert joked of his hometown neighbors after winning his career-first Pro
Extreme Motorcycle (PXM) event in the ADRL Kansas National Guard Independence Drags V at Heartland Park Topeka. He was referring, of course, to the violent reaction of his fellow British Columbians to the defeat of their Vancouver Canucks last week in Game 7 of the NHL Stanley Cup finals.
“Seriously, though, it’s an excellent feeling to finally get a win,” Schweigert said after Carlos Wilkerson went red by just two-thousandths of a second against him in the final round. “I would have liked to win it in a good race, but after four (previous final-round appearances) last year, I’m just happy to get it done.”
Schweigert qualified his DTM Performance-prepared Suzuki in first place with a 4.162 lap at 169.76 mph and merely broke the starting-line beam to advance from round one after Blaine Hale was a no show. He then beat Matt Prophit in round two before setting low ET of the meet at 4.138 seconds in a semi-final bye run. At 175.39 mph, reigning class champ Kim Morrell was fastest of the ADRL bikers in her semi-final loss to Wilkerson, who also made a solo pass in the opening round before beating number-two qualifier David Vantine in the second round.
While Wilkerson threw away his chance to win with an early leave, Schweigert posted a clearly troubled 5.984 at just over 88 mph in the final. He later explained the nitrous system on his engine malfunctioned.
“We did get very lucky in the final,” he realized, “but we had been fast all weekend and I think we deserved to get the win.”
If only it had worked out the same for the Canucks.
HIS FIRST WIN - Scott Hintz watched Extreme Pro Stock (XPS) points leader Pete Berner leave before the starting tree was even activated for the pair’s 
final-round meeting in the ADRL Kansas National Guard Independence Drags V at Heartland Park Topeka (HPT).
“I saw the win light go on in my lane, but I didn’t really believe it,” said Hintz, who went on to make a 4.145-seconds run at 171.60 mph, his quickest pass of the weekend.
After qualifying his 2009 Mustang fifth in the 16-car XPS field, Hintz initially got past a red-lighting Cale Aronson before prevailing in round two thanks to a .022 reaction time advantage after he and Trevor Eman posted identical 4.181 elapsed times over the HPT eighth mile.
“I’ve had a couple of those races in my career, but it’s always nice to win them,” he said.
Hintz took down the defending class champion in the semi-finals as he beat John Montecalvo with a 4.166 pass at 172.59 mph. That set up the face-off with points leader Berner, who qualified his 2009 Pontiac GXP in the seventh position.
“It feels really good to get one,” the Odessa, TX-based racer said of winning his first ADRL national event in his second final-round appearance. ““It means a lot to get this win competing with the guys we run against. That makes it even more special.”
QUICK HITS RACE REPORT - RACE REPORTING IN RAPID FASHION
FIRST ROUND
PRO EXTREME - Upsets were in order for the opening round of Pro Extreme eliminations, including the ouster of former Top Fuel pilot J.R. Todd by Mike Recchia, Todd Martin’s triumph over number-four starter KH Al-Thani, and 15th-place qualifier Duane Rister advancing after Gaylen Smith’s car caught on fire and crashed.
Also making it to the quarter-finals were Mick Snyder, who ran low ET of the round with a 3.718 win over Joshua Hernandez, Jason Hamstra over Terry Legett, Frankie Taylor past Aaron Wells and Todd Tutterow over teammate Alex Hossler. And in the final pairing of the round, number-one qualifier Joey Martin was on another strong run, going 2.49 to half-track before he had to pedal and won over Nick Bastino with a 3.75 pass.
PRO NITROUS - Top qualifier Mahana Al-Naemi got a fortunate pass in round one when he ran a pedaling 4.206 after Blake Housley failed to show. In round two he’ll square off with number-nine starter Robert Mathis, who was the only bottom-half qualifier to advance after winning a close one against Dave Pierce.
Burton Auxier, Robert Rahaim, Rickie Jones, John DecCerbo, Jeff Naiser and Mike Castellana will all pair off in order, respectively for the quarter-finals.
EXTREME 10.5 - No real surprises came in round one of Extreme 10.5 racing as all four higher seeds moved on in the only eight-car field of the event.
In the semis, reigning class champ Dan Millen will face 2008 XTF champion Billy Glidden and Lamar Swindoll Jr., winner of the ADRL season opener in March, will take on Frankie Taylor, who set low ET of the opening round at 3.985 seconds.
PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE - The PXM field in Topeka was already short at 12 bikes and it got even shorter with four no shows for round one of racing.
Polesitter Terry Schweigert and number-two starter David Vantine merely broke the starting-line beam to officially take their wins, while Matt Prophit and Carlos Wilkerson both made unopposed passes. Racing their ways into round two were Casey Stemper with an easy win over Jeff House and current class champion Kim Morrell earned a holeshot win over TT Jones.
Whoever prevails between Schweigert and Prophit will get a bye in the semis.
EXTREME PRO STOCK - Easily the biggest run of the opening round for Extreme Pro Stock belonged to Team Aruba’s Trevor Eman, who darted right toward the center line but stayed on the gas and wrestled his 2011 Mustang back into the groove and held on for a holeshot win over Dean Goforth. Eman will face Scott Hintz in the quarter-finals.
Number-one qualifier John Montecalvo set low ET in round one with a 4.160 pass and he’ll face Tony Gillig in round two.
On the other side of the ladder, Elijah Morton will go up against points leader Pete Berner, while Cary Goforth and Brian Gahm will race for a semi-final berth.
ROUND TWO
PRO EXTREME - Frankie Taylor served notice he’s ready to contend for the PX win with low ET of round two at 3.725 against Todd Tutterow. Joey Martin also was impressive in an on-and-off-and-on-and-off-and-on-and-off the gas 3.821 pass to beat Michael Recchia.
In the semis, Taylor will take on Jason Hamstra, who easily handled Duane Rister with a 3.780 and Martin will race Mick Snyder, who went 3.737 against a redlighting Todd Martin.
PRO NITROUS - Reigning ADRL Pro Nitrous World Champion Burton Auxier took a 3.875 win over Bob Rahaim in round two of eliminations. Right behind him at 3.877 was Rickie Jones, who ended John DeCerbo’s day.
In the semi-finals, Auxier will go against Al-Anabi teammate Mahana Al-Naemi, who ran 3.883 against Robert Mathis, while Jones gets another Al-Anabi entry in Mike Castellana, who was quickest for the round at 3.853 seconds against Jeff Naiser.
EXTREME 10.5 - With only an eight-car field, the Extreme 10.5 class sat out the quarter-final session.
PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE - Number-one qualifier Terry Schweigert maintained his top-dog status with a 4.164 at 169.10 win over Matt Prophit to earn a bye into the final round.
Racing in the semis to determine who will try to stop Schweigert will be Carlos Wilkerson, who beat David Vantine with a 4.179 at 173.83 mph, and PXM champ Kim Morrell after making a 4.175 solo pass at 169.40 mph after Casey Stemper’s bike broke on the line.
EXTREME PRO STOCK - First-place qualifier John Montecalvo took a 4.155-seconds quarter-final win at 173.61 mph over Tony Gillig and will face Scott Hintz in the semis after Hintz and Trevor Eman both ran 4.181, but Hintz advanced courtesy of a .022 holeshot.
The other semi-final round will feature points leader Pete Berner and number two in points Cary Goforth after Berner ran low ET of the round with a 4.148 at 173.32 in beating Elijah Morton and Goforth got by Brian Gahm with a 4.194-seconds pass at 173.18 mph.
SEMI-FINALS
PRO EXTREME - First up is Frankie “Mad Man” Taylor versus Jason “Not So Crazy” Hamstra—and it’s Hamstra with the win and a new track speed record! The 2009 ADRL Rookie of the Year left with a .032 holeshot and went 3.745 at 206.20 mph while Taylor used up the whole right lane on a 4.308 pass at 127.64 mph.
Next up is Joey “J-Mart” Martin who’s running a blue light special on low ETs in Toney Russell’s ’55 “Lowmad” today and “Mellow” Mick Snyder with his cool-running ’63 Vette. Martin led stripe to stripe after leaving with a .069 advantage, then going 3.671 at 203.83 to beat the 3.681 at 204.73 by Snyder to set up a $10,000-to-win grudge match with Hamstra in a repeat of the PX final from two months ago at West Palm Beach. (Martin won that one when Hamstra’s ’70 Duster broke near the finish line.)
PRO NITROUS - There’s no tighter drag racing than ADRL Pro Nitrous and the Topeka semi-finals proved the point with a collective margin of victory of just six-thousandths of a second.
In the first pair out teammates Mahana Al-Naemi and Burton Auxier lined up and Al-Naemi earned the holeshot win by four thousandths after leaving with a .018 light and going 3.846 at 194.52 to beat Auxier’s quicker and faster .028/3.840/195.14 combination.
A .028 holeshot by Rickie Jones almost paid off against Mike Castellana, but the New Yorker prevailed by two thousandths at the finish line after going a track record 3.184 at 195.51 mph to Jones’ 3.844 at 192.93-mph effort.
EXTREME 10.5 - It looked like Billy Glidden’s nitrous motor gave up the ghost halfway through his run against Dan Millen in the XTF semis as he slowed with a puff of smoke to a 4.347 at 145.63 mph, while the top qualifier posted a 4.039 at 193.74 mph to advance to the final.
In the second semi, Frankie Taylor’s.098 reaction time cost him a trip to the final as Lamar Swindoll Jr. left with a .024 light that allowed his 4.016 at 198.67 to beat Taylor’s 3.985 at 197.02 mph.
PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE - Terry Schweigert ran low ET of the meet so far with a 4.138 at 171.31 mph in his bye run, while Carlos Wilkerson went to the final thanks to a 4.157 at 170.13 that beat Kim Morrell’s 4.188 at 175.39-mph pass.
EXTREME PRO STOCK - Class champ John Montecalvo made his first stumble of the weekend with a wobbly 4.339 pass at 167.30 that gave Scott Hintz a huge upset win and pass to the final after leaving with a sizable .072 holeshot that led to a 4.166 at 172.59 win.
Hintz will meet one of the titans of the class in the final after Pete Berner burned Cary Goforth with a .032 holeshot that allowed his 4.147 at 173.45 to get by Goforth’s quicker 4.141 at 174.19-mph pass.
FINALS
PRO EXTREME - In a rematch of the finals at the ADRL race in April, Joey Martin and his Lowmad again got the best of points leader Jason Hamstra, delivering a track record 3.652 at 205.98 miles per hour en route to his second straight win.
“We just had to get all the gremlins out of the way. The first two rounds we had to pedal it and it almost got away from us in the semis,” Martin said. “We got everything fixed up for the finals, and Jason and I were both here to win.”
PRO NITROUS - Mike Castellana also came to life during the final two rounds on Saturday, putting together his best two performances of the weekend against first Rickie Jones and his teammate, Al-Naemi in the final.
Castellana went a track record 3.814 on that run and thanked crew chief Shannon Jenkins for saving him.
“I wasn’t really on my game (Saturday), but Shannon gave me a lot of power,” Castellana said. “That just goes to show you the hard work this team has put in and how much it’s paid off.”
EXTREME 10.5 - Dan Millen ended 2010 with the Extreme 10.5 World Championship, but his first event win didn’t come until Saturday when his 3.953 at 196.50 mph was enough to beat Lamar Swindoll Jr. in a wild final round.
Millen was ahead of Swindoll Jr. the entire race when Swindoll’s car swerved and darted into Millen’s left lane, narrowly missing the back of Millen’s Mustang right as he crossed the finish line.
PRO EXTREME MOTORCYCLE - Terry Schweigert was dynamite the entire weekend, running as quick as a 4.138, making him due for a fortunate pass.
That luck appeared in the finals when something on his bike broke, leading to a pass of 5.984, but only after Carlos Wilkerson went red by .002.
That led to a major celebration from a beaming Schweigert, who advanced to four finals in 2010 but came away with no wins until Saturday.
EXTREME PRO STOCK - Scott Hintz had no easy challenges in Extreme Pro Stock, beating 2010 World Champion John Montecalvo in the semifinals before going 4.14 in the finals against class standout Pete Berner.
It also made his first ADRL win even more significant.
“It means a lot to get this win competing with the guys we run against,” Hintz said. “That makes it even more special.”
SMITH MISSES THE MARK IN TOPEKA - “Man, I hope we win one again, soon.” 
That was Von Smith, the current NHRA GSA Pro Modified champion and Arabian Drag Racing League Pro Extreme champ on Thursday afternoon before the ADRL Kansas National Guard Independence Drags V got underway at Heartland Park Topeka.
Smith was referring to his most recent North American race victory that came last Father’s Day weekend in the NHRA Pro Mod event at Bristol Dragway, not far from his home in Oak Ridge, TN. But after his weekend in Topeka, he’s got to start looking forward to the next race in which he even qualifies.
After three attempts on Friday and one on Saturday, Smith finished dead last of 24 Pro Extreme entries with a dismal “best” of 5.03 seconds at just 105.86 mph in his Barwa Racing ’68 Camaro.
“We just have not been able to find out what the car wants on a consistent basis,” Smith’s longtime crew chief Howard Moon said. “It just keeps taking the tires off and we’re having a hard time controlling it. It’s been a difficult weekend.”
One of the last hold outs with a clutch in his car, the Topeka experience even had Moon considering the switch to a converter-equipped transmission.
“I think we might put a converter in and test it before the next race at Martin (MI),” Moon said. “I still think the clutch can be faster, but it’s just not as consistent and that’s what we’re missing right now.”
And trips to the winner’s circle; that’s what Smith misses the most.
SCARY MOMENT - Gaylen Smith, No. 2 qualifier in Pro Extreme at the ADRL Independence Drags in Topeka, Kan., blew an engine during the first round of eliminations. The oil from the hole in the block then ignited and got under the tires causing him to lose control of his car and make contact with the wall. Smith has been checked out by emergency personnel on site but not yet released as of this posting.
FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - DAY ONE IN THE BOOKS IN TOPEKA
SMITH PREVAILS IN PX QUALIFYING - Not quite one-third of a mile an hour gave Gaylen Smith the number-one nod over fellow Texan and defending Pro 
Extreme World Champion Frankie Taylor.
In a dramatic close to Friday’s third and final qualifying session, Smith ran 3.685 at 203.46 mph to wrest the PX top spot away from Sheikh Khalid Al-Thani, who went 3.726 at 205.04 just a couple of pairs earlier. That left only Taylor as a potential spoiler to Smiths provisional number-one party and in a last-chance solo pass he posted an identical 3.685 elapsed time, but at 203.16 mph, placing him second on the list.
Driving the Garret Race Cars-built ‘59 Corvette debuted by his LenMar Motorsports team in March at the ADRL season opener in Houston, Smith obviously was pleased with its improving performance.
“That’s the first .60 for this new car, but even better is that it put together three pretty good laps. We’ve been messing around with the aerodynamics on the back and it’s finally doing what we want it to do,” Smith said. “That was only about the 10th full pass on the car, but it’s been lifting the rear end up on the top end which is not a good feeling at all. We think we’ve got that figured out now.”
With a good starting position ensured, Smith added that he and crew chief Brandon Pesz can now look forward to Saturday’s elimination rounds.
“I don’t know if that’ll hold up for number one tomorrow, but I think it’ll stay up top and we know we have a hot rod that’ll do it; we just have to keep our heads together and hopefully we can finish on top tomorrow night, too.”
Saturday’s fourth qualifying round for all classes in the ADRL Kansas National Guard Independence Drags V is scheduled for a high noon start before eliminations begin at 3:30 p.m.
Al-NAEMI NAILS FIRST PLACE IN PN QUALIFYING - Mahana Al-Naemi called his 3.849 at exactly 195 mph “a very good pass,” after qualifying number-one 
over a Pro Nitrous (PN) field of just 16 entries at Heartland Park Topeka. It follows top-qualifying results at the series’ last two races at West Palm Beach, FL, and Reading, PA, though he also lost in the first round of eliminations at each event.
“I want to thank (team owner) Sheikh Khalid and Shannon Jenkins, my crew chief, and (chassis builder) Rick Jones for making me such a good car,” Al-Naemi said of his Al-Anabi Racing ’68 Camaro.
Al-Naemi led after all three PN qualifying sessions on Friday after his 3.871 from the first round held up through round two. Jeff Naiser from Houston, TX, improved his time to 3.873 in the third round to be the provisional number-two qualifier, followed by defending class champion Burton Auxier, Robert Rahaim and Mike Castellana.
“Every race I go better than before,” the Qatar-based polesitter said. “I’m waiting for racing now because I have a fast car. I am happy because my crew chief knows what to do.”
“Yeah, we stepped the motor up a bit for that last pass,” Millen said after going 3.990 seconds at 193.49 mph in his supercharged Al-Anabi 2011 Mustang. “But given the heat out there tonight that’s about as good as we can run right now.”
Millen leapfrogged past Lamar Swindoll Jr., Frankie Taylor and Billy Glidden, who placed second through fourth, respectively, with Jim Widener fifth of 10 XTF entries, which means they’ll race off an eight-car ladder for eliminations.
“We’re not seeing a lot of cars right now, but the ones that are coming out are all quality cars,” Millen pointed out. “And when the temperatures are a little warmer like they are right now I think it brings the field together a bit.
“It’s supposed to be a little cooler tomorrow, maybe high 80s, so hopefully that’ll help us out and we can go a little quicker. It should be a good race.”
SCHWEIGERT TOPS ON TWO WHEELS IN TOPEKA - Terry Schweigert of Abbotsford, British Columbia, helped ease the pain of his home province Vancouver Canucks’ loss in the Stanley Cup finals by earning the provisional Pro Extreme Motorcycle (PXM) pole Friday evening at Heartland Park Topeka.
Schweigert rode his DTM-prepped Suzuki to a 4.190-seconds pass at 167.01 mph in the third and final session of the day to edge out the 4.197 by close friend David Vantine. Current PXM champ Kim Morrell placed third with a 4.211 pass, followed by early qualifying leader Casey Stemper and Charlie Prophit making a return to the series after missing the previous race at Reading, Pennsylvania, his first absence since the class began in 2007.
“We can go quicker; we know we have it in there and we can step it up if we have to, just to make sure we stay number one,” Schweigert said. “More than likely we’ll make a pass (in the fourth and final qualifying round on Saturday) because we’re always trying stuff anyway.”
Regardless of where he ends up on the ladder, Schweigert said he’s happy to enter Saturday with the provisional lead. “It’s a good way to end the day and go to sleep,” he said. “We’re in good shape.”
And with Ashley Owens sitting out the Topeka event after qualifying first and winning each race completed so far this season, Schweigert also recognizes an excellent opportunity to pick up his first race title of the year.
“I think the class is kind of split on him not being here, but you always want to beat the best and right now that’s definitely Ashley. But yeah, someone’s got to win, so hopefully we can get it done tomorrow.”
GOFORTH GOES FIRST IN XPS QUALIFYING - After three rounds of qualifying on Friday, Holdenville, OK’s Cary Goforth is pleased to hold the Extreme Pro Stock (XPS) lead, but doesn’t expect his 4.152-seconds pass at 172.54 mph to remain on top through Saturday’s final session.
“I think tomorrow will be a little faster and we’ll need to run a 4.13; if we don’t I think we’ll end up number two or three,” he said.
Right behind Goforth at 4.159 were both Pete Berner and defending class champion John Montecalvo, with Berner the higher seed based on his 172.63-mph speed being .11 mph faster. Tony Gillig and Bert Jackson round out the top five with Bob Bertsch currently in the 16th and final qualifying position with a 4.237 at 169.96 mph.
“It’s so hard just to get in, but to be on top is a great honor with all the racers we have here in the Extreme Pro Stock class,” said Goforth, who continues to race a 2009 Chevy Cobalt while awaiting delivery of a new Jerry Haas-built 2010 Pontiac GXP. “It used to be if you qualified number one or two you’d have a pretty easy first round, but it’s just not that way anymore. You can get knocked off that pedestal real easy and you can never count the 16th-place guy out.”
HERNANDEZ HAPPY WITH NEW CAR - After two rounds of Pro Extreme qualifying in Topeka, Joshua Hernandez couldn’t be happier with his new Murf McKinney-built C-5 Corvette.
“It’s just cool,” Hernandez said of his swoopy new ride with its distinguishing Funny Car-style rear wing and spill plates. “It’s really fun to—I want to say let out the clutch—but it’s really fun to let go of the button and let all that Troy Critchley power loose.”
The new Vette darted toward the wall in Hernandez’s second qualifying attempt, but a 3.82 at 195.68 from the opening session had him placed 7th for the 16-car field.
“That was the number we wanted to run,” Hernandez insisted with one round left to go Friday night and a final opportunity on Saturday before eliminations begin. “And it was enough to beat the guy beside me. I know it’s just qualifying, but you always want to be first.”
‘FLIP’ WILSON STILL SMILING - You won’t find his name on any qualifying or elimination round sheets, but let the record show that Phillip “Flip” Wilson made the long tow from Dallas, TX, to compete in Extreme 10.5 with the ADRL at Heartland Park Topeka.
Unfortunately, two intake rocker-arm studs broke in the heads of the Roots-blown, 572 cubic incher in his LenMar Motorsports-built ’67 Chevy II when he started it up in the pits prior to qualifying.
“It’s disappointing, but I’m still smiling,” Wilson said. “I don’t know what it is, but I just don’t do good at ADRL races. Last year at Ennis (TX), we didn’t qualify and then we went out the next week and won a race.”
Wilson said he’ll have at least two more chances to change his ADRL luck this year, as he plans to enter at Rockingham, NC, in September and again at the season ender the next month at Ennis.
“I know the car will work, just not here for some reason,” Wilson said. “But that’s going to change. I know it.”
FIRST-ROUND TOP QUALIFIERS - After one round of pro qualifying for the ADRL Kansas National Guard Independence Drags V, Sheikh Khalid Al-Thani led Pro Extreme with a 3.75 at 204.73-mph pass in his Frank Manzo-tuned ’68 Camaro; Al-Anabi’s rookie Pro Nitrous driver Mahana Al-Naemi was on top with a 3.87 at 193.71 mph in a ’69 Camaro; and Lamar Swindoll Jr. was first in Extreme 10.5 driving Todd Moyer’s twin-turboed ’04 Cavalier. First-place in Pro Extreme Motorcycle belonged to Casey Stemper with a 4.22 pass at 162.88 mph aboard his 2010 Suzuki, and the Extreme Pro Stock lead was held by Cary Goforth, who ran 4.15 at 172.54 in his ’09 Cobalt.
Conspicuous by their absence in Topeka were PXM points leader Ashley Owens, PX star Jason Scruggs and 2009 PN champion Khalid Al-Balooshi, who is in Bristol, TN, racing in the NHRA Pro Mod event there.
PROMINENT PRO EXTREME FIRST-TIMER - Noted chassis builder Larry Jeffers will make his Pro Extreme driving debut this weekend in Topeka, behind the 
wheel of the 1970 Camaro that was involved in a serious trailer fire for team owner Mel Bush last fall.
Jeffers took the car in trade as partial payment for a new late-model Corvette he built for Bush, who is yet to enter his first ADRL event this year. Regardless, Jeffers has teamed up with PX owner Mel Eaves, who is providing the screw-blown Hemi from the ’68 Camaro crashed at Cecil, GA, last April at the hands of Tommy D’Aprile—coincidentally Bush’s full-time driver.
“I’ve been wanting to do this (get into driving in Pro Extreme) for a while,” Jeffers said. “In fact, I had built myself a ’67 Mustang for it, but when Wes Johnston burned up his ’53 Corvette (in Qatar), I told him to take the Mustang and race it for now since I knew I wouldn’t be able to get it out this year. Of course that’s when Mel (Eaves) called saying we should do something because he knew I wanted to get licensed and I told him, ‘I cant, I just gave my car away!’
With Eaves’ crashed car still undergoing repairs at Jeffers’ shop in House Springs, MO, the two settled on pulling the toasted Camaro out and with the help of Javier Silva, Eaves’ longtime crew chief, Jeffers earned his PX-rated competition license a couple of weeks back at North Star Dragway in Denton, TX.
“The car really wasn’t damaged much by the fire at all; it was the stuff the fire department used to put it out that we really had to work on to clean it up,” Jeffers explained. “It hadn’t been hosed off with water right away and something in it really stuck to the metal and discolored it. That’s why everything is painted flat black, event the wheels! I think it looks cool, though, gives it that rat-rod look.”
Eaves is well-known as one of the few habitual nitromethane burners in the ADRL, so with just a little “pop” in the tank, Jeffers ran an early shut-off best of 4.29 seconds at Denton.
“We’re just taking it easy and getting used to it right now. These things are animals and you have to respect them,” Jeffers said. “The main thing right now is for me to get some seat time, but we’re definitely here to try and qualify and see what happens. Just to qualify would be a big accomplishment.”
CarSafe teammate and Pro Extreme Motorcycle World Champion Kim Morrell will also carry American Red Cross decals on her bike and donations will be accepted at both racers’ trailers all weekend long.
BIG BILLET BULLET FOR MOYER - After struggling at the season’s first three ADRL outings, Extreme 10.5’s Todd Moyer showed up at Heartland Park with a brand-spanking-new, 5.3-inch bore spaced, twin-turbocharged, 644-cubic-inch piece of aluminum billet art stuffed between the front frame rails of his ’63 Corvette. Put together by Jeff Naiser at NRC in Houston, TX, the new engine features an all-billet block from Chuck Nuytten in Dallas, TX, along with SR-1 billet heads created in-house by NRC. Twin 108-mm Precision Turbo turbochargers produce the boost and spent gasses exit via headers constructed by crew chief Chad Rogers.
The engine was started for the first time last Saturday and on Sunday Moyer made just three quick launches, recording a best 60-foot time of 1.03 seconds.
“That’s all we had time for then, but this thing is making so much power that it’s going to get a lot better,” Rogers promised with delight. “Hopefully, we’ll finally get going this week.”
BARKLAGE BACK AS CREW CHIEF FOR NEW PX TEAM - A familiar face is
calling the shots for Jon Stouffer’s new Neosho, MO-based Pro Extreme team as Cody Barklage, a former PX event winner himself, showed up at Heartland Park with tune-up in hand. The two have raced against each other for years, but with Stouffer stepping up from a real ’70 Cuda equipped with a Roots-blown, 541 TFX Hemi to a brand-new Larry Jeffers-built ’70 Cuda Pro Mod that’s motivated by a PSI Screwcharged, 526 BAE Hemi and backed up by a Lencodrive, he called on Barklage’s experience to help ease the transition.
After only 10 passes on the car, Stouffer has run a best of 3.88 at just over 192 mph while qualifying fifth for the recent Throwdown at T-Town event at Tulsa Raceway Park. His previous best in the old Cuda—that still wears license plates—was a 4.51-seconds pass at about 160 mph, but it wasn’t the big boost in speed that most impressed Stouffer.
“The biggest difference was right off the start. It was a tremendous difference going from a 1.14 to a .960 60-foot time,” Stouffer declared. “It was fun, though!”
For this weekend, the team’s goal is to get the car into the 3.70 zone.
“I know the car has it in it,” Barklage said. “We just don’t have a lot of laps to know how to get it yet. But we will.”
Additionally, Stouffer is racing with a deeper purpose, in memory of his father-in-law Jim DeGraff, who passed away this Thursday morning.
“It would be great to win this thing for him. That would be absolutely great if we could dedicate a win to him,” Stouffer said. “But we know it’s going to be a challenge just to qualify here, but with Cody’s help I think we can do it and from there, who knows what might happen?”
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