TAN Driver Blog - Jeff Ashwell - TAD

 

 

It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog, so I will try and fill you all in since I left off in June when I had just completed my cross grade requirements from Top Alcohol Funny Car to Top Alcohol Dragster. We knew this year would be a learning curve as we had been a funny car team for many, many years. We just weren’t prepared for just how steep that curve would be.

Early in our season we fought the tune up and clutch settings and had difficulties in keeping the blower belt on the car. We sent our fuel system stuff to Randy Anderson to be checked out and also bought a duel idler pulley set up which seemed to help. I must also say a big thank you to our fellow TAD drivers, owners, and tuners, who came over to offer their help and input on what was causing our performance issues. We were kind of at our rope's end and having new sets of eyes with more TAD experience than us offering advice was a huge help, and we are very grateful.

The camaraderie in the alcohol pits is second to none and we are very grateful for all who answered our questions and steered us in the right direction. We may be competitors on the track, but we are still a tight knit community. Once we got a baseline tune up, we wanted to see what we could do with it.

We decided last minute to head to Las Vegas for the national and divisional event, as well as Pomona. We’ve done this trio of races before in 2010, but didn’t have a lot of success. We were hoping to improve on that. This might not be huge to some teams but we were super pleased to have qualified for both the Vegas and Pomona national events. There were around 23 cars entered. Just making the show was a big accomplishment to us.

We didn’t qualify at the Vegas divisional, but we knew it would be tough to qualify with so many good cars in attendance and only 8 spots. We were also happy that we didn’t hurt any parts and with small tuning changes, we were able to consistently improve on our elapsed times on every run. I ran my personal best of 5.50 at over 258 mph in Pomona.

Next year we just want to go out and improve on this year and to be more competitive. You have to be able to run 30’s and 40’s to be competitive and have a chance on race day. We want to qualify for every race we attend and hopefully win some rounds. As we approach Thanksgiving, I know I’ve been blessed to be able to drive this top alcohol dragster and have a great group of guys with me. I have my Dad, Greg, and my brother, Todd. Isaac Bese and Scott McDonald have been with us a very long time also, and we are all looking forward to our sophomore season next year. I just want to thank all our friends and the great fans that have supported our team this year. Thank you to our sponsors, Walery’s Pizza and Wilson’s NAPA Auto Parts. Happy Holidays and see you all in 2014.

 

 

Jeff Ashwell is the driver of the Wilson's Napa/Walery's Pizza Top Alcohol Dragster. Find Ashwell Racing on Facebook and Twitter.

Driver Blog - Jeff Ashwell - TAFC? TAD?

May 17, 2013, at Woodburn Dragstrip, was the start of something different for Ashwell Racing and driver Jeff Ashwell: switching from a Top Alcohol Funny Car to a Top Alcohol Dragster. Plans to switch classes were in the works late in 2012. It wasn’t until the former Hillary Will/Shawn Cowie chassis was delivered in the newly expanded Ashwell race shop that it became a reality. Over the winter the team worked day and night to get the dragster race ready as they had to build the dragster basically from the ground up, aside from the chassis. All the plumbing, wiring, driver compartment, and parts and pieces had to be either ordered or made since most of the former funny car parts couldn’t be transferred.   

On May 5, 2013 the dragster was completed and the crew fired the motor for the first time with no complications, a true testament to the talent of the race team. Testing the dragster and getting Jeff’s license cross graded was slated for May 17-19^th, 2013 at Woodburn Dragstrip.

One might wonder about the difference between driving an alcohol funny car vs. an alcohol dragster? Jeff only got to make two passes - Saturday was rained out - but in those 2 passes he noticed some definite differences.  

“In the funny car, right before you stage, and you bring the RPM’s up, you can hear the thunder (motor) and when you swap your feet all this violence happens, though visibility does get better as the rear tires start to grow. You definitely have to man handle the funny car. In the dragster the first thing I noticed, when you bring the RPM’s up, you hear this high pitch whine from the blower and when you launch it’s like a sling shot - fast and straight. Also in the funny car it feels like you are being pulled down the track, while the dragster feels like you are being pushed down the track. In terms of visibility between the two I still look far down track to try and keep the car in the center of the groove; that hasn’t changed. I’m sure as I get more seat time I will notice more changes but these are the ones I noticed in the two passes I made. All in all, though, I am having a great time learning the dragster, as well as my crew, and I’m looking forward to finishing the cross grade process so we can get out there and start competing.”

The team hopes to finish the cross grade process in early June to get ready for the Lucas Oil West Region race in Mission, BC, Canada. Thanks to our great sponsors: Wilson’s NAPA Auto, Walery’s Pizza, Covanta Energy, and White Family Racing.

Jeff Ashwell is the driver of the Ashwell Racing/Wilson's NAPA Top Alcohol Dragster. Follow @AshwellRacing on Twitter and visit www.ashwellracing.com to keep up with the team. 

TAN Driver Blog - Jeff Ashwell - TAFC

Well, since things didn’t quite go as planned for us at the recent Lucas Oil Regional in Woodburn I want to take a few minutes to talk about our longtime sponsor, Wilson’s NAPA Auto Parts - TWGW, Inc. We are very fortunate to have been associated with this great family run entity for so many years now and I want to take the opportunity for everyone to read about this 10 time recipient of NAPA Auto Parts Five Star Excellence Program, which is awarded to independent owners based on sales and customer service criteria. Wilson’s NAPA is one of only 4 independent store owners nationally to have won this prestigious award consecutively since its inception back in 2001. Read further to learn how Tony and Gail Wilson started this great company to now celebrating their 25th year with NAPA Auto Parts in 2012.

It all started back in December 1987 when Tony Wilson and his wife Gail purchased their first store in Newberg, Oregon – sold their house, cashed in all profit sharing, and went for broke. Against all odds, they survived their first year and sales at that first store are still strong today.
They have been expanding their operation, and more family members have purchased shares to help run what has become a 14 store operation.  Here are some highlights of their expansion:
January 1996 they purchased their second store in Wilsonville, Oregon which now also serves as TWGW, Inc. corporate headquarters.  
December 1999 Tony and Gail purchased 2 locations in South Lake Tahoe, a town where Gail was raised.  They enjoyed owning these stores until 2006, when expansion in Oregon required more of their time.
December 2000 they purchased Salem, Oregon. The first thing they did was move to a more retail friendly location in April 2001 and then kept this store for 5 years until they sold it back to Genuine Parts Company (NAPA Corporate).
April 2001 TWGW, Inc. purchased both the Albany and Corvallis, Oregon stores and in April 2002 they moved the Albany store into a 6000 square foot building where they still are today.
September 2001 Tony’s cousin Eric Wilson and his wife Tina moved from Idaho to Oregon, bought shares of TWGW, Inc., just in time to acquire another store in the Keizer, Oregon area.
May 2002 brought another expansion with the purchase of the Canby, Oregon location.  They expanded the store in June 2007 from 4500 square feet to 6000 square feet allowing for a larger sales area for retail customers.
July 2002 TWGW, Inc. went a different route and opened their first IBS or Integrated Business Supply in Canby, Oregon. This is a national program that NAPA rolled out.  TWGW, Inc. supplies the inventory inside their customers’ place of business, provides their customer with computers and employees, and manages their inventory.  The IBS then is able to save both time and money by having the NAPA jobber obtain all of their parts at a greatly reduced rate, and only pay one statement.  It is a win-win situation for all involved.
September 2003 The Wilsons purchase the Molalla, Oregon store.
July 2004 Tony’s sister Marcia and her husband Jerry Schaecher purchased stock in the company.  Marcia had been a long time employee-since 1990, and Jerry since 1999.
December 2005 The company purchased two new locations, one in Silverton, Oregon and the other in Mt. Angel.
January 2008 They purchased the Sandy, Oregon store and moved to a retail friendly location, with new inventory, furniture, fixtures, and computer equipment. The Sandy location saw sales increase 20% in their first 2 years open.
March 2008 TWGW, Inc. opened the Sherwood, Oregon location under a new program that was being offered by NAPA. Sherwood had been an open market for the previous 10 years, so the company received incentives to open the doors in the Sherwood location by April 1^st.  NAPA Headquarters realizes that it is difficult to invest so much money in a ground-up store, and then have to wait so long for ROI (return on investment). The Wilsons felt very fortunate to be considered for this special program, and they could not pass it up!
April 2010 saw the Wilsons open their first “Heavy Duty NAPA Truck and Trailer Parts Store in Aurora, Oregon. Customer base comes from the truck stop locations nearby right off Interstate 5, and the farmers in the area. The store also serves their heavy duty customers in all of their other locations, with one central location for inventory.
September 2010 saw the acquisition of the “Hood River Group”, consisting of 3 stores in the Columbia River Gorge area – Hood River, Stevenson, and Bingen. There is now the Valley Group (12 stores) and the Hood River Group (3 stores), with separate accounts receivable and inventory ordering. In 2012 they decided to merge the two groups to keep part numbers and account numbers consistent at all locations.
March 2011 TWGW, Inc. opened their second IBS location in the fleet maintenance shop of a large construction company in Woodburn, Oregon. The Wilson’s are looking forward to growing this business as they did with their first IBS back in July 2002.
December 2011 The second generation of Wilsons’ begin purchasing shares-Robert and his wife, Katie move back from the Hood River Group and expand their responsibilities as new owners
February 2012 Earlier this year TWGW sold the Silverton and Mt. Angel stores back to the previous owners, who are also good friends of the Wilsons, they wanted to get back into the NAPA business.
April 2012 Company website Wilsons-NAPA.com  is born, thanks to a second generation contribution from Jeff Wilson.  
One thing the Wilsons have learned over the years is that they truly value owning stores in smaller communities, where they can tailor the inventories to the specific needs of each market, and grow not only business relationships, but friendships as well.  
Ashwell Racing has been associated with Wilson’s NAPA for a very long time now and we hope the partnership can continue for years to come. You can follow them on Twitter @WilsonsNAPA and on Facebook.

Next up for us is the 2nd Annual Night of Fire at Woodburn Dragstrip July 27-28th and the NHRA Northwest Nationals August 3-5. See you at the races.

Jeff Ashwell is the driver of the Wilson's NAPA/Ashwell Racing Top Alcohol Funny Car. Follow him on Twitter at @AshwellRacing.

TAN Driver Blog - Jeff Ashwell - TAFC

School is now out for the approaching summer, which for us means a lot more races coming up. So far this season, we've had 3 test sessions and 2 races. In fact, today, Father's Day, we plan on heading out to Woodburn Dragstrip to try and get in as many laps as we can to test some things. Living in the Northwest, our biggest Devil's Advocate will always be the weather. Both of our earlier planned 2-day test sessions ended prematurely due to rain, as did our Season Opener at Woodburn. The runs that we have made, though, have been very promising to us. We still have our late crew chief Norm Christensen's tune-up in our car and a set-up that he was working on last year before his untimely death.

So far we have made some of our quickest early numbers but now it's all about getting the clutch right to eliminate the nasty tire shake that has plagued us as well. At the Season Opener in Woodburn, we ran a smooth 5.83 @ 241 mph out of the box, but then up in Mission, Canada for the Lucas Oil regional, we couldn't get past 60 feet without feeling like my insides were going to shake out. Our hope is that if we can get that all sorted out that we can go into these next few races being competitive.

We have some tough competition in our division and we figure at the upcoming Lucas Oil regional race in Woodburn that there will be a lot of good cars there. Last year, there were 13 cars that showed and we were fortunate enough to be one of the quickest 8 to qualify. This year I imagine it will be just as tough, if not even more so. We have had a lot of great success at that event in the last few years. We've ran our quickest and fastest pass to date at this event, we've qualified 2nd and reached our first ever final round there in 2010, and in 2011 we qualified into a very tough field. This year's event will mark a major milestone for me as I turn the big 4-0 and there's no place I would rather celebrate being "over the hill" than in the winner's circle, holding a Wally.

Jeff Ashwell is the driver of the Wilson's Napa/Ashwell Racing Top Alcohol Funny Car. Find him on Twitter at @AshwellRacing.

TAN Driver Blog-Jeff Ashwell-TAFC

Most kids like to do what their parents do and it usually works out that if the parents like it, the kids will too. It was no exception for my brother Todd and I for our foray into one of the most addicting sports there is today: drag racing. In the early days our parents, Greg and Betty, would load us all up in our 1970's Ecoline van towing my dad's 1948 English Austin first to church, then up to Woodburn Dragstrip, which is about 15 miles north of us, and run a dial in. This was our first taste of the sport of drag racing and we always enjoyed going. From here on out it just became a progression of different style bodies, motor combinations, and the constant desire to always go quicker and faster.

We started to build our own chassis and by 1998 it was ready to be taken out to the track. We had carburetion for power and a 1979 Dodge Omni body and ran 9-second passes at around 120 mph. My brother and I both wanted to drive so we would switch off every so often. In 1999, we switched to an injected motor and started running in the 8-second zone. It was a great learning curve for us and to get our feet wet in the sport, but we soon wanted to go faster so we bought a blower, a 460ci BBC, and the old Teacher's Pet 1990 Corvette that Gary Densham had and ran the 7.50 index California Independent Funny Car Association.

In 2000, we ran a few races with that group down to Sacramento and Oregon. In 2001, we bought a Hemi motor and with it came our first 6-second pass, a 6.78 at 202 mph. We stepped up and bought a 2000 Camaro that we used in 2002-2004. Seattle 2004 was our very first NHRA national event and it sure was memorable. Todd was driving and we ran our personal best, 6.00 at 240, but blew the motor, caught fire, and pretty much destroyed what we had. We did, however, win "Best Appearing Crew", the first of three times for us. We took the rest of the year off, regrouped, and bought a 2005 Firebird that we still have today, and ran that for awhile. Also around this time we purchased a 1923 T Outlaw that we match raced at Woodburn, Madras, and Medford, where we ran a best of 6.02.

We had a great time with that car but we eventually sold it in late 2004 and bought a 1953 Corvette Pro Mod mold that we spent a year making it into a nostalgia funny car. We ran that mainly at Woodburn in their specialty events, with the quickest run being 6.00. In 2006, we finally ran our first 5-second pass, a 5.98 at over 240 mph and we backed it up later that day with an even quicker 5.92. That was a very satisfying day. We spent most of 2006-2009 racing at Woodburn Dragstrip as an exhibition car with both the Firebird and the 1953 'Vette. I must say, these years were really fun.

Todd and I were still switching off driving chores and we mainly ran at Woodburn, plus the Seattle national event and the Woodburn Divisional race. One of our best events to date was the 2009 Lucas Oil Division 6 race at Woodburn where we not only out-qualified every "heavy hitter" out of California, but I also managed to run my career best E.T. and MPH, a 5.740 at over 248 mph, to qualify 3rd. We retired the Firebird at the end of the 2009 season, sold the 1953 Corvette, and bought our current body that we have now, the 2009 Ford Mustang.

At some point, we had decided that we wanted to run the full Lucas Oil D6 schedule and we knew we needed to upgrade our stuff. We did quite well our first year out, winning our first ever round win in competition and going all the way to the final round, where we lost to Brian Hough in Woodburn. We ran very consistent that weekend and earned it based on performance, which we were very proud of ourselves. We ended the season 3rd in Division 6, which we felt was not too shabby being our first year out full-time.

In 2011, we struggled a bit with consistency and suffered a huge blow with the loss of our good friend and long-time crew chief Norm Christensen. He had been helping us since 2006 and if it weren't for him I have no idea where we would be in our racing ventures today. He was very instrumental in a lot of ways for us. I'm not completely sure what the 2012 season will bring us or what our plans are but I know I have been very fortunate to have come this far and be out here racing with my family and the same group of guys for as many years that we have.

Norm Christensen

We are also very thankful to have had Wilson's Napa Auto and Dave Walery of Walery's Pizza behind us and supporting us throughout the years as well. I still have goals that I want to accomplish out here, mainly to win a race, and hopefully 2012 is the year that I do just that.


Jeff Ashwell is the driver of the Wilson's NAPA Auto Parts/Walery's Pizza Top Alcohol Funny Car. You can follow Jeff and the Ashwell Racing team on Twitter at @AshwellRacing.

Ashwell Racing Heads to Las Vegas with Heavy Hearts

Oregon-based Jeff Ashwell will be racing at Las Vegas and Pomona this year for the first time, with one goal; honor their late crew chief, Norm Christensen.

"Unfortunately we lost Norm to cancer a couple weeks ago. He was instrumental in our program. At a race several years ago, I asked Norm if he could help us dial the car in. He's been our crew chief since then. It's amazing how the car has been since he's been with us. Even through his hard-fought battle with cancer, we were always on the phone trying to come up with a better tune-up. So we're going to Vegas and Pomona with his tune-up in the car, trying our best to honor him," said Ashwell.

Jeff and the Wilson's NAPA Stores/Walery Pizza Top Alcohol Funny Car team head to two tracks that they've never raced at; The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Auto Club Raceway. Ashwell is looking forward to the opportunity to try new tracks.

"They're both stellar tracks and we know the car can run 5.60s, so that will be the goal for each pass. The top guys from most of the divisions will be at these last few races, so it'll be tough just to qualify. I'll have to make some pretty stout runs to get in, and that's the main goal," Jeff claimed.

"The next few weeks will be our way of saying good-bye to Norm. We hoped that he could make them with us, but sadly it won't work out that way. He meant a lot to us and to a lot of people on our level that he helped. So the biggest part of our trip is to honor Norm," declared Ashwell.

The first race in the three-race trip is the Big O Tires NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas, which take place this weekend, October 27-30.

To follow Jeff and the Ashwell Racing TAFC team on their tribute to Norm Christensen, visit them on Twitter and Facebook.

Jeff would like to thank Wilson's NAPA Auto Parts Stores, Walery's Premium Pizza, and G & S Machine Inc. for their support.