2009 ADRL MARTIN - EVENT NOTEBOOK
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SATURDAY NOTEBOOK -
ADRL Pro Extreme racers Jason Scruggs and Travis Swearingen used
Saturday afternoon at U.S. 131 Dragway to prove that if one cannot be
fast, they
Both racers will be in Topeka next month, but not before spending a few bucks in cosmetic and other repairs.
Scruggs came to the line in Saturday’s first round of eliminations with a nearly two year old engine between the fenders of his Garret Race Cars-built Camaro.
“I believe we let the motor set up for too long and we had a few nozzles stopped up,” Scruggs admitted. “Then we were in a mad rush and didn’t really catch it. I staged and had two lean cylinders and the rest was rich. It just detonated.”
Detonated is an accurate description considering the engine lit up in a fireball and nearly blew the front end off of the race car. The result was extensive front end cosmetic damage.
Many of the photographers standing on the starting line described the explosion as a loud, concussion type explosion.
“It was kind of loud,” Scruggs said. “I’ve done been through so many of these kind of things that I am used to it.”
Swearingen didn’t explode like Scruggs did, but that didn’t mean he come close to make some loud noises … the kind of noises that usually occur when one hits immovable objects.
“We had kind of a rough weekend,” Swearingen said. “We fought some issues and changed some shocks. The car went a 3.82 with new shocks and we kind of tried to hop it up for the final session. I went for a ride, but just didn’t hit anything. I saved it, didn’t hit anything.”
Swearingen’s team backed the car down some for the first round of eliminations and those changes still resulted in out-of-control tireshake.
“It shook the tires, broke the wheelie bar and shoved a bar through the tire,” Swearingen said. “It flatted the tire and in the shake must have blown the hood off too.”
Swearingen believes his team will have the car fixed by next week and has a spare front end back in his shop if it’s needed. He might also order another front-end from Hairy Glass for good measure.
Scruggs will likewise have his classic Chevrolet repaired and back in action at Topeka.
“We have some carbon fiber work to do,” Scruggs said. “It’s mainly just motor work.”
"Turbo Todd" Moyer threw down the gauntlet with the quickest and fastest pass in Extreme 10.5 history. Following a 1.04-second 60-foot time, Moyer tripped the eighth-mile lights in 4.049 seconds at 192.07 mph with his twin-turbocharged '06 Cavalier. (ADRL/Tocher photo)
GLIDDEN: 20 AND COUNTING - Noted ESPN analyst Chris Berman used to refer to former NFL great Cris Carter as one who, “All he does 
is catch touchdowns.” While it’s likely that Berman will never commentate on an ADRL Extreme 10.5 race, one could only imagine what he’d say about Billy Glidden.
Glidden, who has legitimately only lost one race in ADRL competition in two seasons, may not catch touchdowns on the football field but his actions in drag racing could easily fill a highlight reel.
Friday night at U.S. 131 Dragway in Martin, Mich., the second-generation Glidden, son of ten-time Pro Stock titlist Bob Glidden, showed why he will go down in drag racing as so much more than just a legend.
Glidden nursed a wounded engine all the way to the No. 1 qualifying position at the ADRL Ford Drive One Summer Drags and with some proverbial duck tape, bondo, and a wing and a prayer, kept his 404-inch Ford together long enough to win the rain-delayed final round Memphis Drags. The victory was the seventh career ADRL title for Glidden.
The triumph also marked Glidden’s 20th consecutive round win in competition, the longest running streak in ADRL competition, by defeating Jeff Naiser in the rescheduled final round.
Glidden points out matter-of-factly that what he’s doing is not rocket science.
“I just work a lot trying to find a little bit of power,” Glidden said. “I’m working with Brandon Switzer at Speedtech a little bit. We have some new parts and pieces on the car.”
Earlier during Friday’s practice he hurt his primary powerplant.
“Did it on the first 4.10,” Glidden admitted. “We’ve been crunching it and I really can’t believe it made it this far. It’s hurting.”
Glidden told CompetitionPlus.com that overnight he planned to install a new and equally potent engine for Saturday’s marathon competition.
“I didn’t take the engine out after Memphis, but I did take parts off and work on it,” Glidden said. “I’d say the engine we are putting in is about equal to the one we ran on Friday.”
The new and fresher combination could be hateful to the competition considering Glidden limped the old mount to a 4.099 elapsed time.
“I didn’t expect to go to the top,” Glidden confided. “I’m optimistic about our changes. I was tickled about the 4.10 until I saw what it did to the engine. Look at the windshield, it wasn’t happy. We are on to something here. We are making such wild changes at home that it is a brand new learning curve at each race.”
SCRUGGS, THE MULTI-TASKER - ADRL
Pro Extreme champion Jason Scruggs can add multi-tasking to his
extensive list of talents following an impressive Friday night
performance at the ADRL Ford Drive One Summer Drags V in Martin, Mi.
Not only did the Saltillo, Miss.-based doorslammer heavy-hitter
complete unfinished business from the rain-delayed Memphis Drags but he
also landed the number one spot, provisionally, in this weekend’s event.
The perfectionist in Scruggs prevented him from celebrating the obvious
double-victory, instead it forced him to focus on what he needs to do
to improve on Friday’s performance.
“We had a new clutch and a new car that we have been working on the
suspension some,” Scruggs said. “The first run was over-clutched, made
some adjustments and on the second run, the car wanted to go down and
we ran a 4.03. We thought we were close and we just wanted to go out
there and just go down because the sun was still out.”
“We tried to run fast but I messed up on the staging and drove through the clutch.”
In a rematch of the season-opening ADRL World Finals in Dallas, Scruggs
matched up with Quain Stott in the final round. The end result was a
role-reversal as Stott grabbed the quicker light, shook the tires and
drifted close to the center-line.
Scruggs had a few miscues of his own in staging; forcing him out of his
routine when the stage light flickered, forcing Scruggs to quickly
raise the rpm’s off of idle.
Down track Scruggs popped the supercharger burst panel but it didn’t matter since Stott had lifted by mid-track.
Winning in Michigan worked well for Scruggs but there’s nothing like
winning at home. Scruggs considers Memphis Motorsports Park to be his
home facility on the ADRL tour.
If he’d had his druthers, the final round would have been completed in Memphis.
“I didn’t really want to wait because Memphis is my home track and I
had a lot of family and friends there,” Scruggs said. “It worked out
well for me though.”
ON HIS GAHM – Extreme Pro Stock racer Brian Gahm has learned to be flexible and resourceful throughout his championship career. In 
winning his second ADRL event of the season, the Lucasville, Ohio, driver had no other choice but to prepare for two equally important runs on Friday in Martin.
On one run, Gahm had to gain a solid berth in the race at hand, the ADRL Summer Drags, and complete unfinished business from the ADRL Memphis Drags.
“It didn’t mess with me but then again you have, no real choice, you just have to load it up,” Gahm explained. “If you made a good run, you got in and you have two more on Saturday. We did a good job of getting down the track.”
Indeed Gahm did it, not only winning the rain-delayed event at the expense of Montecalvo, but ascended to the top of the qualifying list at the expense of the entire field.
Gahm had predicted the car would run a 4.10 in winning and he couldn’t have been more on the money. He knew he needed that kind of preciseness if he hoped to beat Montecalvo.
“I figured exactly what we got,” Gahm said. “Monte is tough and I knew we were going to have a good drag race. We had to wait so long [to run the finals] that I didn’t know how much the weather was going to affect us.
“We had to change transmission ratios and adapt to it, I figured we could run another 4.10 and that’s what it did. I was hoping to run 4.09, but we could have run a 4.12 … as long as we won.”
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FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - ACTION GETS UNDERWAY AT MARTIN
THEY CALL HIM TRICKY – Rickie Smith has been around drag racing long enough to know that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Smith’s bird in the hand was a solid 3.897 elapsed time at 192.06 miles per hour. The two in the bush were the two hundredths of a second that he left on the table. Those are two fractions of a second he might have pursued if the tune-up was on his car.
Then, the legendary Pro Stock driver, who found a second career as a Pro Modified racer, used his experience to tune Khalid Al Balooshi to the top spot in Pro Nitrous qualifying at the ADRL Summer Drags in Martin, Mi.
As a tuner, he’s not much of a gambler.
“We felt like we could run a 3.89 … we left some laying there … we were a little soft,” Smith admitted. “I wanted to be careful because we hadn’t run this car on a real good race track. I didn’t want to get too stupid either.
Saturday’s qualifying will present another special set of circumstances and when they all weigh out, he’ll still shoot for the sure thing. But, that’s not to say that Smith, who won seven world championships as a Pro Stock driver, might seek out the edge of the envelope.
“I just need to give him a good car and hope he can do a good job driving,” Smith said. “He’s been doing a good job of driving so the biggest thing is in just getting the car down the track.”
Smith has been tuning on the Al Anabi cars since last year’s IHRA event in Martin, Mi., a race where Mike Castellana’s Awesome-Al Anabi nitrous-injected Pontiac ran a pair of 6.00 elapsed times and reached the final round of the $50,000-to-win Pro Modified Shootout.
HARTFORD’S NEW RIDE - Matt Hartford is racing this weekend with a brand new Jerry Haas-built Chevrolet Cobalt Pro Stocker and while he isn’t blazing the U.S. 131 Dragway eighth-mile in first day qualifying at the ADRL Summer Drags, he isn’t having a bad day either.
“We’re having a ball,” Hartford said. “We’re obviously here to qualify No. 1 and win … and we’ve struggled a bit in the last few races. Sometimes change is good and it’s been said the only thing that is constant [in life] is change. We don’t know if this change is for the better or the worse. We do know that we decided to make a radical change and see what happened.”
The car had been sitting in the Dingman Motorsports shop for a while before they decided to bring it out this weekend in Martin.
“If you’re going to do … sometimes you just have to do it and get it over with,” Hartford admitted. “If you sit around long enough you won’t get it done because something else will happen.”
Team owner Billy Dingman decided that Martin was as good of a place to introduce the car as any. They left the last ADRL event in Memphis and took the Cobalt to Jerry Hass’ shop outside of St. Louis. Seven hard days later and the Chevrolet was ready for testing.
Three passes under his belt and Hartford is pleased with the early results.
“We are pleased with how it is reacting,” Hartford said.
Hartford ran a .982 sixty-footer on the third lap behind the wheel. He’s ran a 4.18 and then returned with a 4.14, just .04 off of Friday’s provisional No. 1.
“That’s pretty impressive on a hot track,” Hartford said. “We just need to work on getting the car freed up down track and we will have a contender.”
Doug Reiseter was uninjured when his car lost both rear wheels and tires during a practice run on Friday afternoon during the ADRL Summer Drags in Martin, MI.
“There’s not a ding on me,” Reisterer said. “I didn’t really hit anything hard fortunately. I feel pretty good considering it all.”
The car, according to Reisterer, is not in bad shape but apparently done for the weekend.
“The chassis is probably in good shape and it will need some work in the back. It’s hurt and is most likely fixable.”
Reisterer said he shook the tires on the run and the force of the tire shake sheared the wheels off.
“I know the lug-nuts were tight because I tightened them myself,” Reisterer said. “It was just kind of crazy.”
There is no official word on what caused the failure.
CompetitionPlus.com staff photographer Roger Richards captured the full photo sequence of the incident. Click here for the sequence.
FRIDAY AFTERNOON CARNAGE - Pro Extreme racers Alex Hossler and ADRL newcomer Cathy Belcher learned that a race car can tear up parts just as efficiently in practice as in an official test session. The pair of drivers learned this during Friday’s practice session at the Ford Drive One Summer Drags.
Hossler was on his way to a great pass behind the wheel of his new 1970.5 Camaro when at the 330-foot marker the classic Chevrolet pinged the rev-limiter and launched the blower belt. The team believes the culprit is in the transmission or converter.
Belcher made an impressive first impression with a 4.10 elapsed time at 181 miles per hour. The second run was not as glamorous as her car violently exploded the supercharger on the starting line. As ugly as the damaged blower was, her team was able to make the necessary repairs.
The same could not be said for Hossler.
"The guys are working to get the car ready but running tonight looks doubtful," Hossler said.
FORD, HE DRIVES ONE - Robert Patrick loves to win.
Sporting sponsorship from his father's Purvis Ford Lincoln Mercury
dealership located in Fredericksburg (Va), the son of Eli Patrick,
Robert hopes to put his Shelby Cobra Mustang in victory lane at U.S.
131 Dragway in victory lane for another even more important reason.
The winner of the inaugural ADRL Extreme Pro Stock event and a past
IHRA world champion, Patrick is gunning to take home the trophy in the
very first Ford Drive One Summer Drags. The ADRL has run at U.S. 131 in
the past four years; however this is the first year Ford has sponsored
the event.
The Ford Drive One Summer Drags in Martin, Mi., represents the closest
venue on the drag race series to Detroit, Mi., a manufacturing town
hard hit by the economic downturn of the past year, sending two of the
Big Three car companies into bankruptcy court.
Ford is the only U.S. automotive manufacturer to have avoided
bankruptcy and to have also grown stronger despite worldwide lagging
sales.
“I am real excited to see Ford involved with this event,” Patrick said.
“I think if the opportunity to win another ADRL Extreme Pro Stock event
presented itself, I can’t think of a better situation than to win an
event where Ford is the title sponsor.”
Patrick will be the first to admit the past couple of years have been
the toughest to be an auto dealer, no matter which brand you were
selling. However, seeing his beloved Ford brand emerge as the strongest
of the three manufacturers from Detroit comes as no surprise.
“Ford went through what GM and Chrysler did in the previous years,”
Patrick said. “Instead of going to the government for money … they
remained on their own. They kind of did their own bailout. I think Ford
had the vision to see what was going to happen in the markets and
through some restructuring with their vehicles and product lines had
the foresight to do that a few years ago. That put them in a better
position when the recession hit. Hopefully Ford can continue to remain
strong and pull through this deal.”
Patrick was one of the lobbyists for the ADRL to run an Extreme Pro
Stock division because he knew that having a naturally-aspirated, late
model division would only serve to further the marketing efforts of the
series.
“When I began lobbying the ADRL to include Extreme Pro Stock to their
program line-up, I did that with the knowledge for ADRL to get the kind
of manufacturer support they needed … a Pro Stock class was definitely
a must,” Patrick said. “For a company like Ford who produces new cars,
I think having a class like Extreme Pro Stock is pivotal to their
marketing efforts. I certainly hope that Ford likes what they see and
comes back for more.”
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THURSDAY NOTEBOOK -
DOUBLING UP - Last year when the National Guard American Drag Racing League (ADRL) visited U.S. 131 Dragway in Martin, Michigan,
severe weather cut the
event short, forcing its completion at the next race on the schedule.
This year the tables are turned, as fans attending this weekend’s (June
5-6) Ford Drive One Summer Drags V will get to see event champions
crowned both days of the event due to rain ending the previous race
prematurely.
Within Friday night’s qualifying session, the semi-finals and final
rounds for all five National Guard ADRL professional classes that were
rained out two weeks ago in Memphis will be concluded at Martin. Then
on Saturday, the remaining two qualifying rounds and eliminations for
the Ford Drive One Summer Drags V will be run, with both days featuring
full winner’s circle celebrations and trophy presentations.
“This is going to be one action-packed weekend of the wildest drag
racing Western Michigan has ever seen,” National Guard ADRL Director
Race Operations Quick Vandiver promised. “The stands were packed last
year right before the bad weather hit and with perfect racing
conditions forecast I know they’ll be full again this year, so everyone
should come out early and enjoy the whole show.”
With two race wins up for grabs, along with the championship points
they represent, the Martin, Michigan event could prove pivotal in
setting the year-end, eight-car fields for the National Guard ADRL’s
unique, championship-deciding Speedtech Battle for the Belts. The
Speedtech Battle for the Belts will pit the top eight points earners in
each of the ADRL’s five pro racing classes—Pro Extreme, Pro Nitrous,
Extreme 10.5, Extreme Pro Stock and Pro Extreme Motorcycle—against each
other in Friday-night eliminations at the 2009 season ender this
October at the Texas Motorplex, near Dallas. Points earned in
Saturday’s race at Dallas will actually count toward the 2010
championship chase.
The National Guard ADRL features teams from all across the country
competing in thrilling eighth-mile, head-to-head action. National Guard
ADRL racing is an all-pro-show with no filler classes, which translates
to a quick-paced and entertaining day of drag racing.
The stars of the ADRL are friendly, approachable and eager to visit
with fans. Pit access is included with all event tickets, which are
distributed to the Western Michigan community almost entirely free of
charge thanks to ADRL sponsors Ford Drive One and the National Guard.
High-definition television coverage of the Ford Drive One Summer Drags
V will be shown at 3 p.m. June 21, on the Versus action sports network.
Additional air dates following each remaining National Guard ADRL event
this year will be August 2, 16 and 23; September 6 and 27; and November
8 and 22, with all dates and times subject to change.
GRANDPA'S READY - Just a few short days after John Montecalvo and wife Lois Anne welcomed their first grandchild, Vincent John Montecavlo, into the family, the couple is already looking toward their next event in a busy racing schedule.
The next stop for Montecalvo and team is Martin, Michigan, for this weekend’s National Guard ADRL Ford Summer Drags V at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park. The National Guard ADRL’s two-day race schedule will be jam packed for the Extreme Pro Stock team from Long Island, NY, as Friday of the Summer Drags—which normally would include only an afternoon test session followed by the first round of qualifying—will see the completion of the rain-shortened Quarter-Max Memphis Drags II from Millington, Tennessee two weeks ago.
All five National Guard ADRL professional classes were ready for the semi-finals in Memphis before Mother Nature stepped in and postponed their completion to this Friday night.
“We’ll have an awesome opportunity this weekend,” said the newly crowned grandfather. “With Memphis being completed at this event, we have the chance to win two races in two days. That will be a lot of work, but we’re up for the challenge. We have our ADRL motor and combination in and ready to fight. I’ve been to Martin many times, which has given us a good bit of data for that track, so I feel good heading into the semi-finals.
“And now I have another fan cheering me on—my new grandson! That will give me even more motivation to win.”
TWO SHOTS FOR JANIS - With the semi-finals and final rounds for all five professional classes from the National Guard ADRL Quarter-Max Memphis Drags II postponed due to rain two weeks ago at Memphis, Pro Extreme driver Mike Janis has two shots in one weekend to take home his first National Guard ADRL Minuteman trophy.
The Memphis event will be completed within this Friday’s lone qualifying session for the Ford Drive One Summer Drags V at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan.
After defeating Brian Daniels in the quarter-finals of the Memphis Drags, Janis will stage his Aeroquip-backed, Dan Page Race Cars-built ‘68 Camaro against the ‘63 Corvette of Quain Stott in the Memphis semis on Friday night.
“It seems every time our team runs at Martin it’s been a race-within-a-race scenario and we historically haven’t done well in that,” Aeroquip lead crewman Steve Hermann said. “I’m just hoping things will be different this time around.”
For his part, Janis is taking the race within a race in stride.
“I know its cliché, but we just have to race the track. I know we have the car, team and power to race with anyone here. It’s just a matter of racing the track,” the Elma, NY-based engine builder stated. “If the surface is favorable to us I think everything else will take care of itself.”
CONFIDENCE FOR BERNER - Extreme Pro Stock racer Pete Berner admits he hasn’t quite been in championship form lately. However, he also recognizes that he’s learning a lot and is quickly finding his way back to the place where he can make winning almost look easy. As work on his in-house engine program continues, Berner is continually trying new things, looking for that extra edge. In this he’s finding that success is a journey where every learning curve can be a step in the right direction.
“The car has been running good, although it’s not quite where we’d like it to be,” Berner said. “We’ve been trying some new things on it. Some of them work; some don’t. We recently found some issues that were giving us problems. We’ve got those fixed and I think we’re on our way back to where we need to be.”
Berner heads to U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan, this weekend, his home stop on the National Guard ADRL tour, for the Ford Drive One Summer Drags V. Due to a rainout at the previous National Guard ADRL event, U.S. 131 also will play host to the semi-finals and final rounds for all five National Guard ADRL pro classes from the Quarter-Max Memphis Drags II. Berner remains in the final four for Extreme Pro Stock in the Quarter-Max Memphis Drags, giving him a rare chance to win two races in one weekend.
“I’m really looking forward to the Martin event. It’s our home stop on the tour. I test there frequently and Jason and Stephanie [Peterson, track managers] are great to work with and always have the track in top-notch condition. It doesn’t matter if I’m the only car testing there, the track is always awesome,” Berner stated. “They have great fans and it’s one of the best facilities we go to, so I’m really looking forward to it. Because I have raced and tested there a lot, I have a tune up for that track in any weather condition. I think we have a good opportunity to do well in both events that we’ll be running this weekend.”
The Memphis wrap-up will take place during Friday’s qualifying session for the Ford Drive One Summer Drags V and two more rounds of qualifying will continue Saturday before the race is contested that night.
MISSSING CREWMEN - This past off-season Mel Bush hired two experienced crewmembers in cousins Eric and Jake Fahy, who have proved extremely beneficial to the Mel Bush Motorsports Pro Extreme team; so much so that they will be sorely missed at this weekend’s National Guard ADRL Ford Drive One Summer Drags V in Martin, Michigan.
When the two were hired they were upfront with Bush and let him know that since they also work for Bob Bode’s nitro Funny Car team, they may have some conflicting dates. Unfortunately for Bush, crew chief Kevin Peters and driver Tommy D’Aprile, the only conflicting date with Bode lands on this weekend.
“It’s tough. We’re committed to both teams,” Eric Fahy said. “The nitro team has been our gig for over five years now and we need to be there. We hate to leave Mel and Tommy short handed, but I know that (teammate) Mike Janis and his guys will do whatever it takes to pick up for us.”
Jake Fahy echoed his cousin’s sentiments. “This is our first season with Mel, Tommy and Mike (Janis) and they’ve been nothing but fantastic to work with. They’ve made it so easy for us. We honestly look forward to every race with excitement because the entire ADRL deal is just plain fun. We hate not being there, but we’re confident in Kevin, Mike Jr. and Mike. We’ll be back for the Independence Drags and the rest of the season.”
With the Fahy boys out for the race, crew chief Peters is left with just one full time crew member, Mike Bush, grandson of the team owner. The younger Bush has been easing into his crew duties over the past two seasons, but he’ll take the lead position this weekend.
“I know Mike (Janis) and his guys will be there, so I’m not worried at all about being undermanned; those guys have it together,” he said. “I know there’ll be more asked of me and that’s fine. Both Tommy and I will be adding to our usual duties, but I’m sure we’ll be okay.”
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