CP Sportsman

2018 LIGHTS OUT 9 - EVENT RESULTS

LIGHTS OUT 9 - EVENT NOTEBOOK

COWIE, WESTERFIELD LEAD WINNERS AT LUCAS OIL SEASON OPENER

 

Shawn Cowie and Shane Westerfield each took home big wins at the season-opening 58th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

Cowie and Westerfield were joined by a pair of first time winners in Steve Will and Paul Mitsos, and six other champions who took home the NHRA Wally trophy.

Cowie took out reigning NHRA Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Dragster World Champion Joey Severance and former world champion Chris Demke in rounds one and two, then faced off with Garrett Bateman, Albany, Ore., in the final.  Bateman had the early lead but smoked the tires early in the run and could only watch as Cowie, Surrey, B.C., shot passed to a 5.333 second, 277.03 mph run for his 11th NHRA national event win.

HOLLEY EFI ANNOUNCES 7 SECOND CLUB FOR NMCA FACTORY SUPER CAR DRIVERS

Holley has announced that the first driver to crack the seven-second barrier in NMCA Factory Super Car will receive $5,000 from Holley EFI, and the next four will be awarded $1,000 Holley product certificates. If the first racer that breaks into the elusive seven-second zone is also running Holley EFI, he'll pocket another $5,000 bonus.

Aside from the potential $10,000 payday for the barrier breaker and the $1,000 product certificates for the next four through the seven-second door, all five drivers will also receive Holley EFI 7 Second Club jackets to commemorate their achievement. "Holley EFI’s 7 Second Club has added incredible excitement to one of the premier NMCA categories for 2018," said Steve Wolcott, President & CEO of NMCA. "Factory Super Car racers are stepping up their games to compete for big money and the ultimate Big-3 bragging rights that come with an NMCA world championship."

NATAAS, MARSHALL JUMP TO THE FRONT OF POMONA TOP ALCOHOL QUALIFYING

 

Second-day Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series competition closed out the second day of the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Ca., and when the smoke cleared, there were two new leaders atop the alcohol classes.

Julie Nataas drove the Randy Meyer-tuned A/Fuel Dragster entry to the top spot, replacing Thursday's leader Shawn Cowie, who dropped to fourth. Nataas stopped the clocks with an impressive 5.203 elapsed time at 277.26. The blown alcohol dragster of James Stevens heads into Saturday's final session as second with a 5.207, 276.35 best. 

COWIE, GORDON, HEDLAND LEAD QUALIFYING FOR FIRST DAY OF NHRA SEASON

 

A pair of championship runner-ups were the top runners during opening day qualifying for the NHRA Winternationals. 

Shawn Cowie drove his blown alcohol dragster to the top of the Top Alcohol Dragster list scoring a 5.227 elapsed time at 275.28 miles per hour in edging out Duane Shields, who was next on leaderboard with a 5.240, 274.44. Defending champion Joey Severance is fifth.

ROOKIE A/FUEL PILOT JORDAN VANDERGRIFF SEES THE BIG PICTURE

 

If you're going to dream; dream big. 

At least this is how Jordan Vandergriff sees it. 

Jordan, the 22-year old newly licensed A/Fuel Dragster driver, doesn't remember sitting in his uncle Bob Vandergriff's Top Fuel dragster for the first time back in 1998. However, he remembers grabbing "seat time" in his Uncle's dragster every opportunity he could while growing up. 

NHRA’S DIVISION 2 TO RUN 1/8-MILE SCHEDULE AT NATIONAL OPEN

 

When the IHRA recently dropped its Pro-Am Sportsman Race Series it didn’t go unnoticed by NHRA Division 2 director Richard Schaefer.

So, at the Division 2’s National Open events this season Shaefer is going to try and fill the void left by IHRA’s move.

Schaefer said at seven Division 2 National Open events, Super Street, Super Gas, Super Comp, Stock, Super Stock, Top Sportsman, Top Dragster and Junior Dragster classes will compete on the eighth-mile. There will no Comp cars and Top Alcohol cars running the eighth-mile at the Division 2 National Open events.

WESTERFIELD CELEBRATES IMPROBABLE TAFC WORLD TITLE

When talking about contenders for the 2017 Top Alcohol Funny Car contenders for the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series world champions, Shane Westerfield wasn’t at the top of that list.

“We have all the right equipment, we have good motors, we had good race cars, a good body, we have all the equipment and the capability of doing it, it is just putting it all together and trying and win a championship,” said Westerfield in an interview Jan. 16 on WFO radio. “To be honest, it was so far out there with thinking that (winning a world championship) could ever happen. Usually we are shooting to be in the top five in points every year, so to do what we did and the way we started out it was unreal. That was motivation to keep going and not try and lose.”

Westerfield won his first coveted Top Alcohol Funny Car world title with 709 points, followed by John Lombardo Jr.’s 679-point total and Doug Gordon, who was at 638 points.

CROSSNOE FINDS HIS GROOVE IN DRAG RACING

 

There's an old saying which suggests a person can be a jack of old trades and master of none. 

Tyler Crossnoe, 25, realized the validity of this statement not too long ago.

Crossnoe, in the first decade of his drag racing involvement, has already dabbled with life as a racer, race promoter, strip manager and traction prep specialist. Recently, the PDRA named Crossnoe as their track prep specialist. 

"Yeah, that reality became very clear for me," Crossnoe admitted. "I kind of took a back seat on some of them and started to really try to focus on the track prep side of things for the last couple years. I tried to harness that down as far as that being the fulltime job and everything else just kind of being on the side." 

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