2009 ADRL HOUSTON - EVENT NOTEBOOK
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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK -
WOODSTOCK WOULD BE ENVIOUS - Houston Raceway Park kept the grandstands full all day; emptying briefly and filling right back up. ADRL officials confirmed that over ONE MILLION tickets were printed and distributed in the Baytown area. Race officials closed the gates of the facility at 7:30 PM with a two-and-a-half mile back up leading into the track.
TWO HUNDRED TUTTEROW - Todd Tutterow had a clear cut objective heading into the ADRL Safety-Kleen Dragpalooza V at Houston 
Raceway Park in Baytown, Tex.
He had planned to enter the event, run 200 miles per hour and slip out with the $5000 prize offered by Flowmaster Mufflers to any driver who could run the speed. In his mind, anything after that was a bonus.
That’s why Tutterow, the veteran doorslammer racer from Yadkinville, N.C., ran seven consecutive 200 mph runs over the course of the event.
Speed does indeed kill if you're in the lane opposite lane of Tutterow.
Thirty minutes shy of 11 PM on Saturday evening, Tutterow defeated big runner Jason Scruggs to collect his bonus.
Tutterow’s participation in the ADRL competition over the years has been hit or miss. This season Tutterow has planned to hit more events than he expects to miss.
“If I can win some money and I have some people backing me now with money to travel on, we’re gunning to race all of the events,” Tutterow said.
Tutterow’s victory thumbs the nose at the notion that speed doesn’t win races.
“The track was good but it had been marginal at times at the front part,” Tutterow explained. “That’s why I ran it out the back door a lot.”
Sometimes that kind of racing will enable a driver to watch their opponents in the early part of the race only to pull away in the end. Tutterow admitted that he never saw an opponent until the final round when he raced Scruggs.
For the most part, Tutterow never saw opponents Bennie McDonald Jr., Ron Muenks and Jason Hamstra.
“I learned long ago that we don’t race to 60 feet, we go to 660,” Tutterow said. “It wasn’t too bad tuning down the car tonight for the front half because I’ve raced on some tough racing surfaces. I learned a long time ago that if you want to win you had better learn to race the race track.
“Winning is not about knocking it out of the park on every run.”
ALLEN RIDES CONSISTENCY TO THE WINNER’S CIRCLE - When someone mistreats you, you kill them with kindness.
When you’re not the quickest or fastest Pro Nitrous car in competition, you kill them with consistency.
That’s the path New Iberia, La.-based Stan Allen took to the winner’s circle at the ADRL Safety-Kleen Dragpalooza V hosted by Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Texas.
After stopping Tim Savell in the first round with a 4.124, Allen used a 4.049 to beat Pat Stoken and a 4.033 to take out low qualifier John Pilcher before getting the best of Jim Halsey in the final round.
Halsey beat Allen out of the gate, but backfired the engine late in the run. That was the break Allen needed.
“We were never dominant, but we did get after it hard every round,” Allen said. “Being consistent paid off and in the end the track came back to us. We weren’t the fastest in every round but we were fast when we needed to be.”
Allen has been racing in the Pro Nitrous division long enough to know that it’s never your weekend until the final win-light comes on.
“You have to keep fighting at it,” Allen admitted. “In the back of your mind you always want to believe that win is yours.”
Sometimes you need all of that hope when you face a racer the caliber of Jim Halsey, a driver who had been as quick as a 3.84 the week prior and was the second quickest qualifier in Pro Nitrous.
“I’ve been in Jim Halsey’s position before and know what it’s like to be that killer car,” Allen admitted. “It’s never your win until that light in your lane flashes. You just have to run your race and hope it all falls in your corner.”
THE UNSHAKABLE GLIDDEN - If you ever think that Billy Glidden isn’t serious about racing and winning just try putting an in-car camera 
inside of his Mickey Thompson Tires-sponsored Grand Am.
A crew shooting the ADRL event for airing on the Versus network propositioned the defending Extreme Outlaw 10.5 driver about installing the camera equipment inside of his car.
Glidden took the camera in his hand and checked the weight. His face was emotionless as he held the unit in his hand.
Five seconds later Glidden looked at the producer and politely said, “Thanks but no thanks.”
Then he went out and won his fifth career ADRL Outlaw 10.5 national event.
“Our car is very sensitive to any change, even two pounds,” Glidden, the son of 10-time NHRA Pro Stock champion Bob Glidden admitted. “We ran 4.11s and took a pound off of each tire and ran a 4.10 flat.”
He’s a master of the details.
He’s a master of the unshakeable.
He’s a master of being a serious drag racer.
While many of his opponents were running strong in practice and qualifying, Glidden continued to tow the line of consistency.
An unruly fan in the staging lanes just moments before his final round attempted to shake Glidden – security was called, Glidden remained calm.
When opponent Jake Carlton pulled a perfect reaction (.000) to his .028, Glidden never wavered as he worked his way through the gearbox en route to a winning 4.143 elapsed time at 175.23.
“We were really fortunate this weekend,” Glidden admitted. “We started off slow and we worked our way through it.”
Sometimes Glidden followed the advice of his computer. Other times he trusted his experience for the right decision.
“I thought one thing and the computer said another for the final round,” Glidden said. “I decided to go with me in the final.”
In the end, the best choice was Glidden.
KIRK ENDS DRY SPELL - Doug Kirk had a feeling that his winless streak was going to have to end sooner or later.
Kirk’s last victory was in 2003 when the multi-time IHRA Pro Stock champion won behind the wheel of Charlie Hunt’s Pro Stocker.
Sometimes a story gets better with another chapter.
Kirk wrote the new chapter with a victory in the inaugural Extreme Pro Stock event at the ADRL Safety-Kleen Dragpalooza V in Baytown, Texas.
Kirk ran 4.165 seconds in the final round to defeat low qualifier Brian Gahm.
“How about that?” Kirk asked.
“It wasn’t pretty but it got the job done,” Kirk added matter-of-factly.
Kirk’s lack of success hasn’t been for lack of effort. The Lenore, West Virginia-based team owner embarked on an in-house engine program that he says has already started to show dividends, this weekend’s victory being one.
“We were just never able to get the breaks,” Kirk added. “Those breaks are just now starting to come our way. We were within a hundredth of everyone and laid down just as much mile per hour as the rest of the guys in the class.
“There were some good cars here this weekend.”
Kirk was right. Three of the six cars in competition at the inaugural event were former world champions and one of those racers, Jason Collins, was the low qualifier at an event four hours away, and pulled out to come to Houston to race for the day.
Kirk is normally very serious about putting forth a winning effort. This weekend he based his race on another platform – having fun.
“We were here to have a good time,” Kirk said. “We were determined that whatever happened was going to happen. Whatever happened we were going to have fun.”
THE NEXT LEVEL OF NITROUS - If you’re into nitrous doorslammer racing good new rests on the horizon.
The 2009 season could go down as the quickest on record.
That’s the consensus among the two leading nitrous drivers in Pro Modified – Mike Castellana and Jim Halsey.
Halsey and Castellana remain the only nitrous drivers who have breached the quarter-mile’s five second zone and after a series of low-3.80s appear headed for the 3.70s in the eighth-mile.
Halsey has a brand new, lightweight Tim McAmis Camaro for 2009 combined with a new Gene Fulton engine.
Castellana has a new Reher & Morrison engine coming that promises even more potency than the lethal monster currently between the fenders. He’s also got a new lightweight car on the way.
The end result promises to be what anyone could imagine, even Castellana. One thing is for certain, the frontrunners have set the stage for what it takes to run fast.
“It seems that’s what you have to do these days,” Castellana confirmed. “You just can’t sit back, you have to move forward.”
Moving forward for the nitrous cars will be 3.70s in the eighth-mile and for the quarter-mile, the duo could be knocking on the 5.70s by season’s end.
“With track conditions, the car being as light as we want and if we can get the engine to do what we want, anything is possible,” Castellana said. “It’s possible you could see something later on in the year, I don’t think you’ll see anything like that early in the season.”
Halsey currently holds the unofficial quickest eighth-mile run at 3.84 seconds recorded last weekend in Valdosta, Ga.
“We weren’t trying to send a message but we did want to run as quick as we could,” Halsey admitted. “We kind of surprised ourselves.”
They may have been surprised but from an outsider’s view, a 3.84 backed up what many have concluded – the competitive nature of the two teams is for them to reach for heights once viewed as unattainable.
“I think a lot of that can be attributed to being in a very competitive class,” Halsey explained. “If you want to cut to the chase, the nitrous portion of this class has become like a Pro Stock class with nitrous.”
Just to think there were many that believed nitrous had reached its performance limit.
Castellana always felt the potential was there for the nitrous combination to advance.
“I always knew that we were on the verge of making something happen,” Castellana surmised. “For a while there it seemed like we had gone as far as we could. We had always been making strides with our program.”
Then there came the undeclared rivalry between David Reher and Gene Fulton that woke the sleeping giant known as nitrous Pro Mod.
“Other guy’s nitrous programs will always push you; the competition keeps pushing you,” Castellana said. “It’s going to get real fast out there.”
HITTING THE LONG BALL - If Jason Scruggs were a baseball player chances are he’d be hitting in the clean-up spot.
The two-time ADRL Pro Extreme champion from Saltillo, Ms., has made upper deck shots his forte since the ADRL burst on the drag racing scene in the middle part of this decade.
Here are a few of his notable accomplishments. He was the first ADRL driver over 200-mph in the eighth-mile. He was the first into the 3.80s and the 3.70s.
He’s the only two-time ADRL Pro Extreme champion.
When you carry those kinds of credentials it’s easy to draw the comparisons to being the Babe Ruth of eighth-mile doorslammer racing.
Scruggs has been as quick as 3.70 seconds and backed up the run with a 3.739 elapsed time in a recent test session. Just like the Great Bambino, Scruggs is perfectly capable of calling his shot at any given time.
History shows that many of the greatest long ball hitters have held the distinction of also going down swinging more than the average hitter.
Scruggs admits he has to lay down those kinds of runs just to have a fighting chance.
“Every time we go to race these guys are so tough,” Scruggs admitted. “I just try to go fast and get some win lights. That’s why I race - to go fast. If that’s laying down the gauntlet then so be it.”
Scruggs has battled for the last two seasons behind the wheel of a Dodge Stratus and prior to that a 1963 Corvette. He’s planning to debut a new car in April when the ADRL tour rolls into Valdosta, Ga.
He can only hope his 1968 Camaro from Garrett Race Cars debut is better than when he brought out the Dodge Stratus. Scruggs scuffed the Mopar on its maiden voyage in a tangle with the guard wall. The car was repaired and on its return run suffered a supercharger explosion which made the hardtop a partial convertible.
Scruggs is quick to point out the rough start can’t be blamed on the car. After all, the first official ADRL competition run the car made to the finish line exceeded 200 miles per hour.
“We had a few things we tried that didn’t work so it wasn’t the car’s fault that we were doing some dumb stuff,” Scruggs said. “So I figured put it back the way we know how to race and we did well from that point on.”
That’s why Scruggs doesn’t plan to make wholesale changes with the new car. He’s confident the horsepower is there to run in the 3.60s.
“We always want to go faster all the time but that is just the racer in us,” Scruggs admitted. “I think we got what it takes to run a high 3.60 if everything is right.”
Scruggs understands the quarter-mile records are more common for the drag racing community but he’s perfectly content in his niche market of dominating the 660.
“I’ve got my set up here for the eighth mile and that’s why even at a testing event I don’t run a quarter because I’d have to change so much stuff,” Scruggs admitted. “Plus it’s harder on the parts to run that quarter. Plus the demands of running the quarter-mile would make it tougher on our crew.”
Don’t fool yourself, Scruggs can run impressive quarter-mile numbers too.
“I let off of it at the eighth mile and still run a 6.10 in the quarter, so it definitely could lay some numbers down,” Scruggs said with confidence.
CARPENTER CRASHES - Veteran Pro Modified racer Charles Carpenter was involved in a
high-speed accident Saturday afternoon during the first round of Pro
Nitrous eliminations when he lost control of his 1955 Chevy and made
contact with the retaining wall in the shutdown area.
Carpenter had exited the car by the time ADRL safety crews arrived.
His 1955 Chevy got loose towards the finish line as he defeated Ed Burnley. The car then impacted the wall and he rode the wall on two
wheels for about 100 feet before returning all four wheels to the
ground.
Carpenter appeared shaken but uninjured. He is being evaluated at this time by medical personnel.
CHA-CHING - Todd Moyer didn’t need to win the ADRL Dragpalooza V event to leave
with a big payday. The veteran Extreme 10.5 racer from Seabrook, Texas,
was the beneficiary of a $5000 bounty paid by Flowmaster and awarded to
the Extreme 10.5 racer who could first exceed 185 miles per hour in the
eighth-mile.
Moyer went above and beyond as he not only nailed a 187.05 blast but
also laid claim to the No. 1 qualifying position with a 4.122-second
run.
“The off-season was all work and no play,” Moyer explained.
HARTFORD’S NEW SURROUNDINGS - We interrupt this 500-inch Pro Stock driving career to bring you mountain motor racing.
That’s the proclamation that Matt Hartford heard late in the 2008 season. He’s heeded the call to drive the Dingman Motorsports, Wilson Manifold mountain motor Pro Stocker.
Give Hartford 320 extra cubic inches and he’s a happy camper.
“Oh yeah, believe me this is fun,” Hartford said. “Eighth mile drag racing is a driver’s game. Last night during qualifying I saw Robert Patrick put a .001 on me on the tree.”
Hartford is learning quickly mountain motor drivers can be just as tough as the guys who race with the smaller engines. He was one of six drivers competing in the inaugural race for the ADRL’s Extreme Pro Stock championship.
“The people here have been awesome and they have welcomed us with open arms,” Hartford said of the experience. “I can’t wait to run the whole season here.”
As enamored as he is with the new challenges, Hartford would return to 500-inch racing given the right opportunity. He’s running a sportsman dragster on the weekends when not racing the Pro Stocker.
“I’ve got a 500 inch motor in my dragster and that’s been beating my brains in on the weekends,” Hartford admitted. “Going from a 276-inch wheelbase to a mountain motor Pro Stock car is a handful. My hat’s off to all these guys who jump between cars. It’s definitely harder than it looks.”
REUNITED - The more things are different for Mike Bell and Roy Hill, the more they
are the same.
The duo has returned to Pro Mod racing after taking a few seasons off.
They still bicker. They still fuss and they don’t always see eye to eye,
but they still have fun.
“Some things never change,” Bell admitted.
Bell and Hill, after taking a couple years off, will be making a run at
the 2009 National Guard ADRL Pro Extreme title with a combination
foreign to both of them. They have a new clutch program, new engine and
a new screw-type blower.
It was the screw-type blower that brought the two legends back together
on the racetrack.
This is the first time they have used a screw blower on their Pro
Extreme Mustang and Bell will admit they have encountered a steep
learning curve associated with mastering the supercharger.
“We’re just trying to get a handle on it now,” Bell admitted. “Every run
is almost like a test run and we are learning. This is the first time
I’ve ever used a screw blower in my life. I’ve always approached
challenges in drag racing like this: it has four wheels on it and a car
is a car.”
Both Bell and Hill stepped away from the sport that last couple seasons.
Hill stepped away when he says, “The team wasn’t happy with me.
“My mind was anywhere but on racing,” Hill admitted. “I was too busy
worrying about my mother and concentrating on my drag school. I missed
it and when I talked to Mike I learned that he missed it just as much as
I did.”
Hill and Bell talked and here they are, back racing.
“We just wanted to try a different combination and the best way we could
find whether it would work or not, is to get on the track and get back
to racing,” Bell added.
“It just racing for us,” Hill said. “We took a few seasons off. No one
has missed racing more than the two of us. Putting things together and
making them work is the key to survival in this sport.”
The two decided that returning in 2009 was the only logical choice for
them to fill the void – even if it is with a screw blower.
“Mike didn’t want to use it and the crew thought we had enough already,”
Hill added.
They'd won an ADRL event without the screw blower, in the past, and that
gave credence to their belief that an upgrade was not needed to remain
competitive. A screw blower in today’s ADRL Pro Outlaw division is
mandatory equipment if one hopes to remain competitive.
“I thought I was going to just spend $25,000 to get started and I ended
up with $52,000 in buying the blower and all the accessories,” Hill
admitted. “You just can’t bolt on a blower and expect to go out there
and go fast. It just doesn’t work that way.”
Hill, a longtime Pro Stock legend, still shakes his head at the notion
he’s drag racing with a supercharger, regardless if it’s a roots version
or a screw compressor type.
One should know that back in the day Hill was a dyed-in-the-wool
naturally aspirated drag racer.
“Lord God no,” Hill answered when asked if he ever imagined racing with
a supercharger.
“Raymond Beadle, Don Prudhomme and Paul Candies all told me back in the
day that I should get a blower and go Funny Car racing,” Hill continued.
“I didn’t know anything about a blower back then and I honestly wished
that I had done that.”
DOUBLE-DIPPING - Jason Collins didn’t get much sleep Friday night.
The Rainbow City, Ala.-based driver was the only racer who accepted the challenge of racing two national events this weekend.
Collins laid down the quickest Pro Stock lap in Friday Pro Stock
qualifying at the IHRA Mardi Gras Nationals in Baton Rouge, La., with a
6.294 elapsed time at 222.03 miles per hour and loaded the car into the
team’s hauler and towed four hours to Houston Raceway Park in Baytown,
Tex., to race Saturday at the ADRL Safety-Kleen Nationals.
“This is the first time I’ve ever attempted something like this,” Collins admitted. “Tonight will tell the story.”
Rumors circulated throughout the HRP pits suggesting the IHRA had
parked the Pro Stock cars in such a manner that they couldn’t attend
both events. Collins quickly discounted that banter as completely
false.
“That was just a rumor,” Collins contended. “We were up front with the
IHRA and let them know what we were doing. We were parked in the grass
which was outside of the norm but it enabled us to get out. We parked
where we could pull right out.
Collins made the Houston Extreme Pro Stock field during the final
session on Saturday. Even though only six cars, counting Collins,
attended this weekend’s event, he stood a chance of not making the
field.
That was just the opposite of his Baton Rouge experience where the most unlikely of runs paced the IHRA Pro Stock field.
“We were the second pair and really didn’t believe the 6.29 would
hold,” Collins said. “We crossed our fingers hoping it would stand up.”
His Baton Rogue run stood through the final session on Friday. In
Houston, Saturday’s opening qualifying session didn’t work in his favor
as a broken wheelie bar and hiem joint caused the team to push back
from the starting line.
Collins hopes his Baton Rouge run stands up, but not for the sake of
being the No. 1 qualifier. An easy start to Sunday’s final eliminations
clearly remains the objective.
“I’m hoping the run will stay on the top and we can get a bye run in the first round,” Collins admitted.
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FRIDAY NOTEOOK -THE 2009 ADRL SEASON UNDERWAY
THE WRONG KIND OF STATEMENT – Josh Hernandez came out early in testing during the ADRL Safety-Kleen Dragpalooza V and burned 
out all the way to the eighth-mile clocks. When you only race 660 feet like the ADRL does this kind of a burnout can easily be construed as sending a message to the competition.
Hernandez, the former NHRA Pro Modified driver and now full-time ADRL front-runner, was sending a message alright. He was letting everyone know that he didn’t have any brakes on his National Guard-sponsored Camaro.
“We had just put on a set of new tires and we were going to do a reasonably long burnout in order to set them up for a 3.80 run,” Hernandez admitted. “Sometime gremlins will creep up on you at the most inopportune times and for me they showed up on that run.”
The burnout was great for the few fans who had already made their way into the grandstands for the first of two days of expected capacity crowds.
Tuner Jim Oddy diagnosed the problem before even speaking to his driver.
“I was thinking that we didn’t have much brake on the car,” Oddy confirmed.
Oddy knew something wasn’t right because his driver wouldn’t go that far.
When a tuner with the level of experience that Oddy gains a comfort level in a driver like that, it says a lot about the man behind the wheel.
Hernandez rewarded the confidence with a provisional top qualifying run by laying down a 3.831 elapsed time at 199.02 mph.
Accomplishments such as the No. 1 qualifying effort are nothing new for Hernandez who has driven consistently in the fast lane to success.
It wasn’t always in cruise control for the Conroe, Texas native.
His introduction to drag racing was a sink or swim scenario.
The 2001 season seems like yesterday for Hernandez. That was when he made his drag racing debut behind the wheel of a 3,000-horse, supercharged alcohol Funny Car.
“I learned a lot from that car,” Hernandez admitted. “I don’t care what you have driven before, when you drop the clutch on that car – you were in for a different experience.”
The alcohol Funny Car provided so much of a challenge in the early going for Hernandez, that the first run he made in an alcohol flop during a course at the Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing school, he began second-guessing whether he needed to finish the course.
“I was wondering if I had gotten in way over my head,” Hernandez said. “I learned quickly that they were evil, wicked, mean and nasty. I stuck with it. It was a dream and when you chase a dream you have to be able to overcome those kinds of obstacles.”
Hernandez decided the next obstacle on his horizon was Pro Modified. He entered the new arena with all the confidence of his first days in an alcohol funny car.
Then he wrecked.
Adding insult to injury Hernandez crashed in front of his home crowd at Houston Raceway Park.
“I had my head hanging low,” Hernandez said. “Instead of picking up a good run, we were picking up pieces in the shutdown area. My crew looked at me and let me know they were surprised I hadn’t dinged it up before then. We all shook hands and went on about our business.”
Hernandez went three-and-a-half years without putting another scratch on the car.
“This is racing and you have to be willing to drive the car to the edge,” Hernandez added.
Hernandez quickly erased the rookie tendencies by driving his way to six national event victories during the 2007 season to capture the NHRA world championship and successfully defended his title in 2008.
Hernandez announced in late 2008 that he’d run exclusively on the National Guard ADRL tour in 2009.
He’s back in his comfort zone with the same Tim McAmis-built 1968 Camaro that he won the NHRA titles with. The 1957 Chevy formerly reserved for the outlaw confines of the ADRL series has been relegated to as show car.
Hernandez ran strong with the Camaro recently at a major test session in Valdosta, Ga., posting as quick as a 3.84 elapsed time.
“I love this car,” Hernandez said. “It was fun to get back in the car in Valdosta, but then again this car has a few more hundred horsepower this season than we used to have.”
HUNKA HUNKA BURNING
SAVELL’S CONSERVATIVE NATURE – Pro Nitrous racer Tim Savell used a cue from a practice run to land in the top qualifying spot 
during Friday’s provisional qualifying at the ADRL Safety-Kleen Dragpalooza V.
The Terry, Miss.-based driver really had no other choice.
Between the fenders of his 1968 was a brand-new and unproven 822-inch Reher-Morrison engine.
“That was the first eighth-mile hit the engine had ever made,” Savell admitted, alluding to Friday’s 3.994, 185.89.
If Friday’s provisional run holds, it will mark the first time he’s nailed down the top qualifying position.
Crew chief Billy Banaka, Brad Morgan, Michael Bankston and Reher-Morrison jumped in and helped Savell after practice to ensure the new engine found a decent baseline at the onset of qualifying.
“We were finally able to get some data on that run,” Savell admitted. “It was the first time we’ve run in the threes.”
Savell was pleasantly surprised with his career-best run but couldn’t help but wonder why so many of the heavy-hitters missed the combination.
Jim Halsey mustered a mild 4.119 to land sixth in the sixteen-car field while Mike Castellana was the odd man out at 17^th with a pedestrian 12.565.
“It surprised me that many of them didn’t make it down but even we had it [the car] tuned down,” Savell said. “We just got a fortunate hit and the stars lined up right and everything worked right.”
On Saturday Savell plans to fine tune his combination with very modest changes, if any at all.
“We’re probably going to leave it alone because we can’t run a 3.84 like Halsey,” Savell said. “We just want the car to remain consistent. There’s no reason to get stupid.”
REISTERER CRASHES – Pro Nitrous racer Doug Reisterer was uninjured during a Friday evening crash. The veteran driver from Victoria, 
Texas, moved around within the right lane before his car shot across the centerline and impacted the left lane retaining wall. He barely missed Don DeFlorian in the left lane. Fortunately for DeFlorian, this was the one run he made it to the finish line after repeated bouts with tire shake during testing.
“I think the track was so good that it couldn’t get on the tire and it shook,” Reisterer said. “I felt it shake and thought for an instant it might drive through. By the time I figured out it was too late. Luckily I wasn’t going too fast.”
Reisterer estimates that he was 60 to 100 feet out when he made contact.
“My head and neck are fine thanks to the Hahn’s device,” Reisterer admitted. “I appreciate the ADRL making them mandatory a few years back.”
Reisterer told CompetitionPlus.com that he believes the car is totaled but won’t know for a sure for about another week. He’s not certain he will return either.
“Right now I feel like quitting,” Reisterer joked. “It’s pretty tough on my wife because I had to call here and tell her I crashed the car. I don’t know what I am going to do. I love racing and I love the ADRL.”
THE QUICKEST OF 10.5
LAYING THE SMACK DOWN – Extreme Outlaw 10.5 racer Todd Moyer ran the quickest elapsed time for the class with a 4.12 pass, edging out Chuck Ulsch’s 4.14.
Neither of those runs counted towards qualifying where Bill Glidden was the No. 1 runner with a 4.185, 173.45.
NIP AND TUCK – Brian Gahm led the Extreme Pro Stock qualifiers on Friday evening with a potent 4.105-second run to distance himself from No. 2 Doug Kirk.
Only five teams made the trip to Houston. Of those five cars, three are past world champions.
MORE HISTORY - Robert Patrick may not be the quickest and fastest Extreme Pro Stock racer to compete in this weekend’s ADRL 
Safety-Kleen Dragpalooza V in Houston, Texas. He might not emerge as the winner on Saturday night when the event concludes.
That kind of reality doesn’t concern the driver of the Purvis Ford-sponsored Shelby Cobra, nor does it bring cause for disappointment.
The Fredericksburg, Va.-based driver holds one title that none of his colleagues can ever lay claim.
Patrick will forever be immortalized as the first driver to win an Extreme Pro Stock national event, a feat he pulled off last year at the ADRL U.S. Drags in Budds Creek, Md.
This weekend, he has the opportunity to add to the unique distinction by becoming the first driver to win and lead the point standings in the maiden season of ADRL’s Extreme Pro Stock division. Last year Extreme Pro Stock was an exhibition category. This year it’s the real deal.
Patrick fully believes that he will have to be the real deal if he hopes to have a chance to vie for his second career world championship since winning the 2007 IHRA world championship.
The ADRL hosted two exhibition Extreme Pro Stock events in 2008 and with six round wins Patrick emerges as the early leader in victory tallies.
“I think winning that first race when you look at the direction the ADRL is headed is something that will hold a lot of value and even though it was an exhibition, I cherish that win,” Patrick said.
DEJA VU - Rewind just two short years ago to nearly this exact day in 2007.
Charles Carpenter was on his way to Houston for the National Guard ADRL’s season opening race, ready to put a tough off-season behind him. The never-ending search for funding and primary sponsorship had been unsuccessful once again, so Carpenter and crew loaded up the equipment they felt fortunate to have, some new but most very old, and along with their usual grit and determination made the long drive from Charlotte, NC to Houston, TX to give it a go with the toughest doorslammer competitors on the planet.
With no budget for testing, Carpenter climbed into his trusty decade-old ’55 Chevy and hoped his best shot was enough to qualify for the field.
It was more than enough.
What ensued was nothing short of poetic justice; an outhouse-to-the-penthouse tale of a man who absolutely refused to give up and let someone else tell him when it was time to quit. Carpenter would return home with the most cherished winner’s trophy of his career: an ADRL Iron Eagle that read “ADRL Dragpalooza III - Pro Nitrous Winner”. Almost as important as the trophy was a winner’s check that allowed Carpenter to make it to the next race, and the next race, and the one after that, and so on. All the way until Carpenter scored another win and big check at the Inaugural ADRL Chevy Drags in Norwalk.
Fast forward to 2009, and while some things have changed, a whole lot remains the same.
Since that time Carpenter has debuted a brand new Terry Murphy-built ’55 Chevy that appeared in two consecutive Pro Nitrous final rounds in its first two National Guard ADRL outings, extended his current ADRL-leading consecutive qualifying streak, and broken into the three-second zone.
In 2009, what remains the same is that once more, just as in 2007, Carpenter and crew will load up their equipment and head to Houston with everything riding on this one race, and with no primary funding, hoping for enough to come from this race to make it to the next one.
Carpenter has certainly been in this particular position before, but it’s not the only familiar spot he finds himself in.
Widely regarded as the “father” of what we now call Pro Modified, Carpenter enjoyed great success in the early days of the class, when homebuilt cars and parts and “seat of your pants” ingenuity reigned supreme. It was all uncharted territory. All that slowly faded away as more and more money was infused into the class and into his competition, eventually leaving Carpenter on the sidelines at the turn of the millennium. His own brainchild had passed him by.
With a resurgence around 2005, Carpenter returned to the Pro Mod scene only to find a troubling state of affairs: the supercharged entries had become dominant over his beloved nitrous-assisted competitors. Carpenter made a well-publicized call to the powers-that-be that something needed to be done. He suggested something radical and controversial - split the field; nitrous and blown. They would have none of it, but fortunately for Carpenter and a host of other nitrous racers, someone was listening.
Kenny Nowling and the National Guard ADRL had already begun to experiment with the format and Carpenter was on board from day one, abandoning the established sanctioning body for Nowling’s upstart ADRL series and the Pro Nitrous division. Carpenter once again found himself at the forefront of a revolution and one of its most prominent figures, though it cost him the only major funding he did have to gamble on the ADRL.
Just as had happened twenty years before, Carpenter would garner early success within the new format before he would once again find himself on the verge of being sidelined, an infusion of funding everywhere but into his own operation threatening to push him out of the division he pushed so hard to promote.
“It’s not whining, crying, or anything else but a true story,” the 50-year-old auto repair center owner said of the winding road that has been his racing career. “I hate to be in this position once again, and it’s all eerily familiar, but we are keeping our heads up and continuing to move forward the best we can. I know racing is a choice and no one is forcing me to be out there, but it’s all I’ve known since I was 15 years old and I’m not ready to give up.”
It’s that desire and tireless work ethic that has kept Carpenter out there with the best when a lesser competitor would have packed it all in and called it a career.
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THURSDAY NOTEBOOK -
FULL COMPLIANCE ENFORCED - ADRL President Kenny Nowling might not be enthused about
reducing the
nitro percentage for his injected-nitro, Pro Extreme entries, but on
Wednesday evening he said he will enforce the spirit of the rule for
anyone that chooses to run the combination.
"We will run our event this weekend as always, with a strict adherence
to the ADRL rule book which has been amended to reflect that the
maximum percentage of nitromethane used by any competitor in Pro
Extreme shall be no higher than 50%," Nowling said in a prepared
statement.
"Our tech staff, along with representatives from National Guard ADRL
official fuel supplier VP Race Fuels, will work throughout the weekend
to verify that no competitor is in violation of this rule.
"I want to reiterate that this concession is made with regards to the
respect for the relationship that the National Guard ADRL has with its
partner Houston Raceway Park, and the Angel family, and their
subsequent relationship with the National Hot Rod Association.
"I hope for everyone's sake that an amicable solution can be reached
between my staff and the NHRA in the coming weeks so that we can put
this all behind us and get back to what we all love, eighth-mile drag
racing."
Upon hearing the statement from Nowling, Don Wootton said:
"I'm ecstatic about it. I will abide by ADRL rules without any
problems. I can't wait to get to Baytown. I just wish everyone would
relax and let this just happen as it should.
"I just want to race. That's what I'm here for. I've got sponsors that
expect me to be in Baytown this weekend and I'm glad to be able to tell
them I'm racing."
THE SKIRMISH SETTLED - The NHRA apparently won the first battle of wills in the skirmish against the ADRL in regards to injected nitro doorslammers competing this weekend ADRL Saftey-Kleen Dragpalooza 5 at Houston Raceway Park in Houston, Tex.
Don Wooten has said he will compete at 50% nitro if that's what it takes to get to race.
“If they [NHRA] say we have to knock the nitro out of it, then that’s
what we gotta do,” Wooten told CompetitionPlus.com. “We’re going to
show up and be there and this is nothing more than the NHRA flexing
their muscles. I don’t know what this has to do with the NHRA but that
is what this is all about.
“This [injected, nitro doorslammer] is good for the whole industry.
It’s good for the racers and it’s a plus, plus deal. Then Graham Light
[NHRA VP of Operations] wants to flex his muscle and tell Kenny Nowling
what he can or can’t do. It’s just not fair.”
Houston Raceway Park is expected to comply with the NHRA's demand to adhere to a 50% maximum nitro percentage for injected, nitro doorslammers. The NHRA's Top Alcohol Dragster division competes at a 94% injected nitro percentage. Fuel altered exhibition vehicles have no such limitation.
Wooten questions the logic of the NHRA's decision of downgrading the nitro in his car while other more volatile combinations are allowed to run with lesser restrictions.
“We’re not going to bitch about it and we are going to go on about our
business. We’ll make this thing work and we’ll do what we have to do.
The next race is not at an NHRA national event track; if we have to sit
out this weekend then we have to sit out, we are going to have to try
and make this work. I don’t know what else to do.”
“A fuel altered runs at 100% with a 125-inch wheelbase and they are an
open-bodied car with a blower on it,” added Wooten. “They tell us we
can’t run this car? This isn’t safer? My car doesn’t turn over 6,200
rpms.”
Details are just now becoming available, but CompetitionPlus.com has learned the car will be on the grounds of Houston Raceway Park and Wooten plans to run. What remains to be seen is whether the car will be in Pro Extreme competition or make exhibition runs during the course of the event.
“It’s a pissing match I guess,” Wooten surmised. “I’ve been in touch
with Graham Light and I’ve been in touch with the NHRA’s technical
operations. We are gathering all of the data and trying to get it to
them. Graham Light just said ‘it isn’t going to get fixed by this
weekend.”
“If they are going to lean on the Angel Brothers then they are going to
lean on them. All that stuff they talked ... I guess you can talk the
talk but when it comes down to it, you see what happens.”
“We are planning to run unless they come up and put a chain on my car,
it will be in the staging lanes. This is my home race and this is where
my company is at. This is where my customers are at. I’ve done my part.
I don’t expect for them [NHRA] to mess with me about it. Just short of
them chaining my car down, I’m going to the staging lanes. They can
tell me all they want to tell me but if there 50% in the tank it’s best
that they not mess with me. It may not run at 50% but we’re going to
give it a whirl.”
Kenny Nowling told CompetitionPlus.com this morning that the ADRL compromised in order to remove HRP from the middle of a major battle.
"As of yesterday, the Angel family expressed concerns with me that they have been put in the middle of a situation that certainly not our [ADRL's] fault but nonetheless it put them in the middle," Nowling explained. "The Angel family has been an incredible partner to the ADRL over the course of the past year and we have a multi-year agreement going forward. I want to be very clear that we are not conceding to or adhering to any request being made to the NHRA. However, in an effort to diffuse the situation and keep the Angel family from being caught in the middle, as a courtesy to them, our valued track partner, we are going to limit the use of nitromethane for this weekend's Safety-Kleen Dragpalooza 5 to 50%. This conflict has never been about ego or about winning or losing, it's simply about protecting our company's ability to run itself as we see fit. Not how our direct competitor sees fit.
"There will be ongoing dialogue going forward with the NHRA to resolve this matter amiciably, but I want to reiterate that this concession is being made purely out of respect for the Angel family and the partnership we have with Houston Raceway Park. I applaud Don Wooten's decision to comply to our request for this weekend and look forward to standing on the starting line when he makes his maiden voyage in competition. To all of those who have sent us letters and called in support during this time to voice your support, on behalf of our staff we won't forget."
THAT NEW CAR SMELL - After coming home empty-handed from last week’s long business trip to 
Bahrain, Von Smith will be searching for a happier ending this weekend a lot closer to home.
Smith, crew chief Howard Moon and the crew of the new Al-Anabi Racing 1968 Chevy Camaro will be at Houston Raceway Park for the season-opening National Guard ADRL Tour’s Safety-Kleen Dragpalooza V in Baytown, Texas, March 6-7.
Getting the Tim McAmis-built Pro Mod Extreme race car ready for Friday’s qualifying in just a few days became the sole focus of the team after it arrived in Oak Ridge Sunday.
“The thing with a new car is that you think it is ready . . . but it never is,” said Smith. “Our goal is to get everything together so we can get the car to the Houston area Thursday. That way we can test at a little track near Baytown and leave from there to go straight to Raceway Park and get ready for Friday’s runs.
“We are optimistic,” Smith continued. “We have a good team; it’s a matter of us proving it to ourselves.”
Smith is making his National Guard ADRL Pro Extreme debut at Houston. Pro Extreme features supercharged engines and breathtaking, side-by-side eighth-mile competition.
“We tried to qualify at the last ADRL race last year after we got our 1957 Al-Anabi Chevy built, but we didn’t qualify,” he recalled. “ADRL is definitely the best of the best when it comes to Pro Extreme racing. There will be lots of cars. You just try your best and see what happens.”
Sometimes your best can’t overcome unforeseen mechanical woes – like what happened at Bahrain last week.
“Everything was fine at first,” said Smith. “We had a push rod problem but we got that worked out. We qualified No. 1 and then we started getting behind the 8-ball with clutch problems that came right before we ran.
“We had to put in a new clutch and that pretty much was the crux of our whole problem. When you put a new clutch in, you kind of throw a new tune-up at it because you don’t know how that clutch is going to react. The tires went up in smoke – too much clutch – and we lost in the first round.”
Smith drove the 1957 Chevy to victory in the first two series races in Bahrain before mechanical problems shortened his racing day last month at the inaugural event in team owner Sheik Khalid Al Thani’s hometown of Doha, Qatar.
“Racing in Houston will be fun,” Smith predicted. “It doesn’t matter where I’m racing. The first time we were overseas I felt totally lost, but everything just clicked and we won. I like racing in the states as well. Heck, I like racing . . . on foot or in car, I don’t care.”
NEW SPONSOR FOR SLICK - Veteran racer Thomas Myers has announced that he has secured a
multi-year agreement with Safety-Kleen, Inc. to be the primary sponsor
on his 1963 Pro Nitrous Corvette in the National Guard ADRL.
For the long-time Ft. Worth-Dallas area automotive shop owner, getting
sponsorship from what is essentially a local sponsor (Safety-Kleen is
located in nearby Plano) is an ideal situation.
“Thomas has been a long time customer of Safety-Kleen at his automotive
shop,” said Drew Patey, Director of Motorsports for Safety-Kleen.
“Having the opportunity to put our Safety-Kleen colors on the side of
his race car will encourage everyone to dispose of their used motor oil
properly and bring a greater awareness to the environmental initiative
we’ve started with the National Guard ADRL.”
The 45-year-old Myers started as a bracket racer at age 16 and after a
brief stint in dragsters, moved back to racing full-bodied cars in 2001.
After a somewhat disappointing 2008 season, Myers looks forward to
making the big jump into the top half of the field on a regular basis.
“Last year it took a bit longer than we anticipated to fine tune our chassis to our new Reher-Morrison engine,” said Myers.
Myers points to Monte Smith from NOS, who works as a technical advisor
on the car’s nitrous system and chassis tuner Kim Smith with Smith
Racecraft for helping him get a handle on his combination.
A 3.94 ET at the World Finals in his Jerry Haas-built ‘63 split window
Corvette last October was a sign that things were finally pointed in
the right direction for this team.
“We’re capable of running sub 4-second passes every time we pull up to the line,” said Myers. “I’m putting last year behind me.”
Along with wife Rebecca, who serves as the team’s crew chief, Myers
will have key team members Clutch and Jet (the couple’s dogs) in
attendance as they take on the Pro Nitrous field at this weekend’s
Safety-Kleen Dragpalooza V.
“I can’t think of anything better than to start off the season with a
win at Houston and being able to take home a Minuteman that bears the
name of my car’s sponsor,” said Myers.
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