Bristol has always been a favorite stop along the Fun Ford tour. For a number of racers, it became even sweeter as the 17th annual FFW Thunder Valley Nationals was the scene for some important wins in quests for the 2008 season championship.

Probe Pro saw Dale Brinsfield score his second consecutive season victory as he scored 1 6.450/219.65 win over defending champion David Schorr was forced to shut off after getting crossed up. Several new faces were competing this year as Seth Johnson and Mike Bellew made their debuts. Todd Amandus made another appearance in his camouflage colored Mustang with Dennis Lugo making the tuning calls as he sped to a 6.843. BRINSFIELD, SCARRY & BURTON SCORE REPEAT WINS AT FFW BRISTOL

Bristol has always been a favorite stop along the Fun Ford tour. For a number of racers, it became even sweeter as the 17th annual FFW Thunder Valley Nationals was the scene for some important wins in quests for the 2008 season championship.

Probe Pro saw Dale Brinsfield score his second consecutive season victory as he scored 1 6.450/219.65 win over defending champion David Schorr was forced to shut off after getting crossed up. Several new faces were competing this year as Seth Johnson and Mike Bellew made their debuts. Todd Amandus made another appearance in his camouflage colored Mustang with Dennis Lugo making the tuning calls as he sped to a 6.843.

In the opening round of eliminations, Johnson took out Amandus 7.165 to 7.623 to pick up his first career win in eliminations while Schorr battered Bellew 6.581 to 8.680. Brinsfield singled with a 6.450. Round two saw Johnson slow to an 8.162 against Brinsfield’s 6.492 while Schorr got the bye to set up another final round between the pair. Schorr, who’s been in every final this season, launched hard against Brinsfield, but had to shut off when the car went sideways as Brinsfield sped to a 6.450 at 219.65 mph to grab his second win of the year.

Performance 2-Way Communications saw Frank Mewshaw grab his first career pole and his first final round in this eighth mile Battle of the Brands, but a victory was just not meant to be as he was unable to make it to the line. John Choate, making his second appearance of the year in Terry Taylor’s nitrous Mustang, ran a solid 4.728 at 155.96, but fell to a foul start as point’s leader Conrad Scarry ran a 4.579 at 160.65. With Mewshaw unable to make the call, Scarry dodged a bullet as a broken camshaft kept him from making a competitive run. Even so, it was another victory as Scarry appears to have clinched the season championship with just one more race to go.

In ProCharger Street Renegade, it was a showdown between the six different true 10.5 winners as all six of the previous winners were represented in the 9 car field. Sam Vincent was the low qualifier with a 7.569 at 181.81. In eliminations, Joe Morgan upset defending class champ Travis Franklin while Angel Padilla and Mike Modeste defeated John Worley and Steve Angell respectively. Don Burton then took out former champ Ronnie Wilson as Vincent got the bye into the next round.

Disaster struck in round two as Padilla, who had just assumed the point’s lead from Franklin, crashed hard against Vincent and destroyed his new car which had just made its debut at this race. That round actually took two cars out of eliminations as Vincent hurt his engine on that pass and had to retire from further competition. Former NSCA Limited Street champ Modeste then took out Joe Morgan while Burton got a single. In the end it was Modeste making his second final round in a row after winning at Norwalk, but it was Burton in the winner’s circle as he became the first driver to pick up his second event win of the year in Renegade.

Other heads up Showdown winners included Mac Sibley taking a big win over Tom Conrad, Jr. in Borla Street Bandit. In grabbing his second consecutive event win of the year at Bristol, Sibley was able to leave Bristol with a 39 point lead over Conrad despite missing the first event of the year. Conrad, on the other hand, was the winner in Saleen Speedlab Street Stang as the “hardest working man in motorsports” padded in point’s lead in that class.

In the Showdown bracket classes, local driver Van Greer was the winner in Mod Comp over veteran Shane Williams while S.D. Wheeler grabbed his fourth win in seven events in RPM Outlet Ultra Stang competition. JDM Engineering Tough Truck saw hired gun Paul Gamino not only take the win over defending champ Don Justus, but also assume a narrow point’s lead in the championship point’s race as well.

With the Battle of the Brands being contested in nearly every class, it was an even better event this year as Ford drivers took on all comers and still won every class!



17th ANNUAL THUNDER VALLEY FFW NATIONALS RESULTS

HEADS UP NO BREAKOUT CLASSES

Probe Pro                            R/T    ET      MPH   
W        Dale Brinsfield    Oakridge, NC        .024    6.450      219.65
R/U        David Schorr        Independence, MO    .041   13.708        77.98
Low Qualifier    Dale Brinsfield    Oakridge, NC            6.490      216.58

Performance 2-Way  Street Outlaw (1/8 Mile Format)    R/T    ET      MPH   
W        Conrad Scarry        Deerfield Beach, FL 1.390    8.260        72.43
R/U        Frank Mewshaw    Melbourne, FL    BROKE
Low Qualifier    Conrad Scarry        Deerfield Beach, FL        4.649      162.86

ProCharger Street Renegade                    R/T    ET      MPH       
W        Don Burton        Aberdeen, MD        .131    7.664      187.03
R/U        Mike Modeste        Bronx, NY                .175     8.466     179.73
Low Qualifier    Sam Vincent        Central City, KY        7.569      181.81


HEADS UP INDEX CLASSES
Borla Performance Street Bandit                R/T    Index   ET      MPH
W        Mac Sibley        Midlothian, TX    .053    10.60    10.568      125.37
R/U        Tom Conrad, Jr.    Charlotte Hall, MD    -.040    10.60    10.760      122.76

Saleen Speedlab Street Stang                    R/T    Index   ET      MPH
W        Tom Conrad, Jr.    Charlotte Hall, MD    .042    11.90    12.007      115.02
R/U        Jim D’Amore        Freehold, NJ               -.018    11.90    11.925      111.77

SHOWDOWN BRACKET CLASSES
Harland Sharp Mod Comp                    R/T    D/I       ET      MPH
W        Van Greer        Kingsport, TN        .033    10.84    10.811      123.73
R/U        Shane Williams    Knoxville, TN        .015    12.64    12.604      104.95

RPM Outlet Ultra Stang                    R/T    D/I       ET      MPH
W        S.D. Wheeler        Baytown, TX        .002    11.60    11.552      119.81
R/U        Paul Gamino        Rosharon, TX        .104    10.65    10.488      130.53

JDM Engineering Tough Truck                R/T    D/I       ET      MPH
W        Paul Gamino        Rosharon, TX        .050    13.91    13.876        99.20
R/U        Don Justus        Hendersonville, NC    .034    10.88    10.830      110.33

Champion Fiberglass $5k Challenge                R/T    ET      MPH   
W        Dale Sanders        Eagle Springs, NC    N/A    N/A    N/A      N/A
R/U        David Higgins        King George, VA    N/A    N/A    N/A      N/A


TRUE STREET TOP 25 RESULTS
    Name            Round 1    Round 2    Round 3    Avg. Time
1)    Tracy Silver          9.180          9.409          9.289          9.293
2)    David Dockery      9.802          9.796          9.823          9.807
3)    Jonathan Williams    11.150        11.018        10.529        10.899
4)    Darryl Buckner    11.724        11.957        12.270        11.984
5)    Jim Statzak        12.080        12.100        12.072        12.084
6)    Brian West        12.553        11.793        11.944        12.097
7)    Ricky Rose        12.113        12.421        11.779        12.104
8)    Johnny Morris        12.233        12.163        12.229        12.208
9)    Andy Dellinger    12.065        12.387        13.115        12.522
10)    Travis Sxxxxxx    12.630        12.941        12.675        12.749
11)    Paul Dellinger        12.965        12.833        12.711        12.836
12)    Sherry Vining        12.198        12.419        14.080        12.899
13)    Curtis Sluder        12.976        12.867        12.858        12.900
14)    Roger Edwards    12.853        12.974        12.880        12.902
15)    Chris Vining        12.690        13.007        13.397        13.031
16)    Scott Kinsel        13.975        12.973        12.299        13.082
17)    David Erwin        12.932        13.483        13.221        13.212
18)    Clyde Woods        13.025        13.591        13.506        13.374
19)    Mark White        13.160        13.265        14.224        13.550
20)    Mark Whitted        12.885        13.540        14.800        13.742
21)    Michael Gerhard    13.978        13.877        13.743        13.866
22)    Christopher Cook    13.841        13.952        13.853        13.882
23)    Alan Ottinger        13.906        14.044        13.802        13.917
24)    Craig Ward        13.810        13.971        14.024        13.935
25)    Jason Ryan        14.101        14.053        14.099        14.084