2014 Year in Review

TAN Original Content


The stars of NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Car didn't disappoint in 2014, with record-breaking numbers, dominating performances, a cast of diverse characters new and old, and exciting storylines throughout the Lucas Oil Series season. In no particular order, here are a few of the notable headlines and stories from 2014.


5x TAD National Champion Reichert Retires as Driver/Owner
During the 60th running of the U.S. Nationals, a race he won three times, Bill Reichert announced he would retire as a driver following the NHRA Nationals at Reading. The Michigan driver was winless on the national level this year, but won two North Central Region races and posted a 5th place finish in national points. Reichert's legendary driving career spans two decades, in which he won 28 national events, 54 regional/divisional events, five national championships, and nine divisional championships. His retirement announcement hinted that he might serve as a crew chief in 2015 should the right opportunity arise.

Bill Reichert - Nate Van Wagnen photo

Rookie drivers debut with winning performances
The alcohol categories had a standout rookie class in 2014. Corey Michalek, brother of 2013 TAD rookie Kyle Michalek, made his A/Fuel debut at the 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte. Cutting .02 lights in three of four eliminations rounds, Michalek beat Matt Cummings, Randy Meyer, Bill Reichert, and Brandon Booher to win his first-ever TAD national event. High profile bracket racer Mia Tedesco stepped up to TAD in 2014 with Hirata Motorsports, eventually winning the Bowling Green regional and reaching the semifinals at the U.S. Nationals. Young Nostalgia Funny Car driver Cameron Ferre made another step up, driving Larry Miersch's A/Fueler to runner-up finishes at the Mission regional and the Finals at Pomona. Mike Doushgounian won his debut regional race and reached the semis at two national events, driving a Bob Miner-powered, ex-Frank Manzo TAFC. Matt Gill, son of noted east coast TAFC racer Paul Gill, runnered-up at two regionals and won the Gainesville regional.

Mia Tedesco - Nate Van Wagnen photo

Demke, Harker Dominate Maple Grove Weekend
The eventual national champions in both TAD and TAFC, Chris Demke and Steve Harker, displayed their might at the NHRA Nationals held at rural Pennsylvania's Maple Grove Raceway in October. They entered the race knowing three trophies were on the line: the rain-delayed Carolina Nationals Wally, the NHRA Nationals Wally, and the Lucas Oil Series national championship Wally. The national titles were decided on Friday, with Demke beating Bill Reichert and Harker defeating contender Dale Brand in the Carolina Nationals semifinals. The two champs went on to beat Randy Meyer and D.J. Cox, respectively, to win the Charlotte race on Saturday. They completed the sweep on Sunday when Demke beat Duane Shields in the NHRA Nationals TAD final and Harker unleashed a mean 5.429 on John Lombardo Jr. Demke (5.217/277.94 MPH) and Harker (5.429/267.91 MPH) also left with low ET and top speed of the event.

A/Fuel Rule Changes Spark Parity Debate
2014 looked to be an interesting year for Top Alcohol Dragster teams after rule changes for the A/Fuel cars were announced before the 2013 PRI show last December. The nitro-burners would be allowed an extra percent, ten degrees cooler fuel, and an insulated main fuel line. The insulated fuel line was added to the blower car rules later into the season. Drivers and crew chiefs shared their thoughts on the InsideTopAlcohol forums, in the pits, and in this Drag Illustrated round table discussion. Presented without comment, here are a few basic stats from the 2014 season:

A/Fuel: 7 national event wins (Randy Meyer/Shayne Lawson 4, Duane Shields 2, Corey Michalek 1), 16 regional event wins (Rich McPhillips, Jackie Fricke, Bill Reichert, Meyer/Lawson, Shields and Garrett Bateman 2, Jeff Veale, Jared Dreher, Mia Tedesco, and Mike Manners 1), highest national points finish - 3rd (Meyer), Top 10 points finishers - 5, 2 regional championships (Fricke - East and Meyer - Central), quickest run - 5.202 (Johnny Ahten at Seattle and Karl Brounkowski at Houston).

Blown: 9 national event wins (Chris Demke 5, Joey Severance 3, Mike Strasburg 1), 9 regional event wins (Demke 4, Severance 3, Strasburg and Brandon Booher 1), highest national points finish - 1st (Demke), Top 10 points finishers - 5, 2 regional championships (Marty Thacker - North Central and Demke - West), quickest run - 5.217 (Demke at Reading).

Randy Meyer - Megan Meyer photo

Brand New Camaro TAFC Bodies Make Their Debut
The eagerly awaited 2014 Chevrolet Camaro body was released midseason when Jay Blake's Permatex/Follow A Dream team debuted the very first edition with driver Todd Veney at the Maple Grove regional. Jay Payne won the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals in his Peak Camaro's debut. Dale Brand was the third Camaro driver, adding a new look to his championship chase at the Carolina Nationals. Impressing in both the looks and performance categories, look for more Camaro bodies to pop up in 2015.

Jay Payne - Nate Van Wagnen photo

First-Time Winners Add to History Books
While not as many 2013 first-time winners (9), 2014 was a good year for new national event champs. Corey Michalek kicked off his TAD career with a win at the Four-Wides. Mike Strasburg made the most of his opportunity to drive the 2013 championship-winning YNot Racing blown alcohol dragster, scoring his first national event Wally at Norwalk. Randy Meyer Racing driver Shayne Lawson won both of his 2014 national events, first winning Topeka then Dallas. In TAFC, former sand racer Nick Januik won his home race, the SummitRacing.com Nationals in Vegas, in just his fifth national event appearance. Former IHRA AFC standout Dale Brand notched his first and only national event win of 2014 at Topeka. Lucas Oil Nationals winner Scott McVey had to wait until the Earlville regional to finish off the job, but his first national event win was followed up with the regional event win the next day.

Corey Michalek - David Smith photo

Taliaferro Walks Away from Gnarly Collision
Top Alcohol Dragster pilot Mark Taliaferro suffered a horrific collision with the retaining wall while racing at the Northwest Nationals near Seattle. Taliaferro went into tire smoke during the second round of eliminations and was unable to recover, ending up in the opposite wall. Opponent Garrett Bateman watched the accident occur in front of him, as he red-lit, smoked the tires and aborted the run. Fortunately Mark walked away without serious injury and returned to competition at the Las Vegas fall race, eventually finishing 9th in national points.

NHRA Footage

 

On-board video from Taliaferro's crash

Demke Locks Up TAD Title, Battle Now is for 2nd Place

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association
Photo courtesy of David Smith

Like 2014 Top Alcohol Funny Car world champ Steve Harker, Top Alcohol Dragster champion Chris Demke was a multi-time championship runner-up who finally won it all with an unbelievable second-half run. Like Harker, he swept Charlotte and Reading in one unforgettable weekend, walking away with three Wallys and turning the 2014 points race into a race for second place.

Demke, who finished second to Bill Reichert in the 2010 standings and to nemesis Jim Whiteley in 2012 and 2013, won a career-high nine races in 2014 – five national events and four regionals. He began the season with a barrage of 5.20s in a Winternationals rout, was gone by the second round at the next five in a row, then raced just once in a three-month span from March to June as rival Joey Severance took control of the class.

Everything changed June 22 at the West regional at Yellowstone Dragstrip in Acton, Mont., when Demke outran Severance, who had lane choice, in the final. Over the next 11 races, Demke's Adam Rhoades-tuned dragster reached nine finals, won eight (including the big one, the U.S. Nationals), and went four-for-four in regional competition, scoring at Acton, Columbus, Seattle, and Topeka to win the West Region championship in a landslide. He won 35 of 38 rounds aboard Jerry Maddern's Peen Rite dragster and his overall season win-loss record was 43-8 after the Reading double, which included the quickest run of his career (5.217) and the fastest run of any blown-alcohol driver's career (277.94 mph).

Severance, son of '70s Pro Comp great Joe Severance, enjoyed an otherwise outstanding season, winning two regional events in three finals and two national events in three finals, including one over Demke at Seattle that seemed crucial at the time. He took the early season lead and was the midseason title favorite after scoring back to back to back at the Phoenix regional, Las Vegas regional, and Las Vegas national.

Severance's championship hopes were dashed by two disastrous DNQs – one at Norwalk, a race Demke skipped, and another at the Topeka regional that Demke eventually won. His focus now turns to locking down second place and fighting off a determined group of challengers led by Kansas veteran Randy Meyer, the top-ranked A/Fuel driver of 2014.

Meyer's team has excelled with three different drivers at the controls this year. Meyer himself has won three times in five finals, including twice at the national level – Houston and Brainerd. In four starts in Meyer's car, Shayne Lawson won three of them, including two national events (Topeka and Dallas) and the Tulsa regional, where he topped teammate Chase Copeland in an all-Randy Meyer Racing final.

Fourth-ranked Rich McPhillips is on pace to tie his highest finish ever in the national standings and a lock for his third Top 10 in a row. The Gatornationals and U.S. Nationals runner-up scored twice on the regional level (at his home tracks, Maple Grove and Atco) and narrowly missed a second East Region championship in three years when he came out on the wrong end of a tiebreaker with Jackie Fricke.

If Reichert hangs onto fifth place, and he probably will, it'll be his 11th Top 5 in a row, unprecedented in Top Alcohol Dragster history. The retiring five-time national champ didn't claim a national event win for the first time in a decade but did rack up a pair of North Central regional victories (Indy and Chicago) and winds up his distinguished career tied with Rick Santos (1997-2001) for the most championships in class history.

2011 national champ Duane Shields emerged victorious three times this year – all in Gainesville, despite the fact that that track hosts only two races, the Gatornationals and an East Regional. He won the rain-delayed Houston regional that was completed at Gainesville, swept that weekend by doubling up at the Gatornationals, and completed his points-earning season earlier this month with a win at the regularly scheduled Gainesville regional. Seventh in the standings with no more races to claim, he'll finish in the Top 10 for the eighth time in nine years.

Fricke, currently ranked number 7, truly had a breakout year in 2014. Runner-up at the East Region opener in Richmond, she drove Joe Cantrell's Tom Conway-tuned A/Fueler to her first NHRA title at the Lebanon Valley regional and scored again at the very next East Region race, at New England Dragway, to open a sizable lead in the East standings that she never relinquished. The many-time IHRA Super Comp national event winner also earned her first semifinal finish in national competition at the 4-Wide Nationals in Charlotte.

Without attracting much attention, transplanted Englishman and former World Finals winner Michael Manners quietly holds down eighth place. For him, it's been all or nothing all year. Manners opened his 2014 campaign with seven first-round losses in a row and nine in the first 10 races, but went all the way to the final at the other two, finishing second to Demke at the Route 66 Nationals in Chicago and winning two weeks ago at Noble, Okla.

Mike Strasburg and Mark Taliaferro are still in the Top 10 despite running just seven races this year and being sidelined for months. In an odd twist, neither will compete again in the cars that carried them to Top 10 status. Strasburg, who now is Top Alcohol Funny Car star Annie Whiteley's crew chief, hasn't competed since earning his first national event win at Norwalk in Jim Whiteley's 2013 championship car that has since been sold. Taliaferro, who reached three finals in seven starts with crew chief Norm Grimes, has been out of action since a violent crash in the second round of the Northwest Nationals in Seattle.

Canadian Jeff Veale, rookie Mia Tedesco, and veteran Shawn Cowie sit just outside the current Top 10. Veale, 11th in the standings, completed the finest season of his nine-year driving career in 2014, running in excess of 280 mph numerous times, winning his first NHRA title at Richmond, and becoming the last driver ever to race his friend, Reichert. Tedesco, a heavy hitter in the Super classes completing her first year in an A/Fueler, collected her first alcohol win at the Bowling Green regional at the wheel of Dave Hirata's car and backed it up a week later with a strong semifinal showing at the U.S. Nationals. Cowie, always at his best at Las Vegas, where he's earned three of his career four national event victories, will crack the Top 10 if he qualifies at either Las Vegas or Pomona and will overtake Strasburg for ninth place if he wins a round at either one.

Reichert to Retire from Driving at the End of the 2014 Season

Courtesy of Jim Luikens

Five-time NHRA National Champion Bill Reichert announced today that he is retiring from driving in NHRA competition at the end of the 2014 racing season. Reichert, who has compiled one of the most accomplished NHRA resumes ever in his 22-year driving career, is still the all-time low elapsed time record holder in Top Alcohol Dragster at 5.10 seconds. He recorded that elapsed time, as well as a companion 284.75 MPH top speed record, at Houston in 2007. Both are records that will likely never be broken.

In his retirement announcement Bill noted that his racing career has been very satisfying with more career accomplishments than even he could have imagined at its start. Those include 28 NHRA National Event wins beginning with the 1995 Brainerd event. Bill has also recorded 54 NHRA Regional/Divisional wins in 77 final round appearances.

Bill was quick to thank his family and friends for their support throughout his long and fruitful racing career. He also remarked that none of these accomplishments would have been possible without the enthusiastic support of the Bar’s Leaks and Rislone brands of automotive chemicals.

Noting that he competed in a class that required a significant investment, it was Bar’s Leaks and Rislone that had made it possible for him to achieve all that he has. He was honored to have earned their support for so many years and thanked them in closing.

At the end of this season Bill’s recording-holding dragster, as well as his transporter, all of his spare parts, and his support equipment will be available for purchase. Ideally, Bill would prefer to sell his entire turn-key racing operation to one party and be hired to tune the car for its new owner/driver. Lacking that he will be willing to break up his major components and/or be available to tune for another racing team.

JEGS Allstars: A battle of NHRA Sportsman ranks' brightest stars

Courtesy of Scott "Woody" Woodruff

2013 JEGS Allstars TAD & TAFC team champions

 

CHICAGO (June 24) -- An incredible field of the best NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series drivers from across North America will converge at Route 66 Raceway this weekend for the 30th annual JEGS Allstars competition.

This year's field includes 79 drivers representing 33 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The group will compete for individual and team honors and a share of more than $120,000 at stake during the event, which will once again be held in conjunction with the Route 66 NHRA Nationals. Of special note, each qualifier and the 10 champions will be rewarded a newly designed trophy handcrafted by master sculptor Dan Dreisbach of Naked Sculpture.

The JEGS Allstars competition is a unique event that crowns individual champions in 10 separate eliminators, in addition to an overall team champion. Racers qualify for the prestigious event by earning points in their home divisions during yearlong battles in the following NHRA Lucas Oil categories: Top Alcohol Dragster, Top Alcohol Funny Car, Comp, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, and the exciting Top Dragster and Top Sportsman classes.

In 2013, the host team from the NHRA North Central Division pummeled the competition for a record-breaking seventh overall team title. Led by Top Dragster racer James Monroe and Top Sportsman racer John Scali, the North Central team accumulated 1,300 points, finishing well ahead of the Southeast Division team, which scored 1,000 points.

As defending champions, Monroe and Scali will have the opportunity to return and defend their titles. They will be joined by fellow returning champions Bill Reichert (Top Alcohol Dragster), Dale Brand (Top Alcohol Funny Car), Mike DePalma (Comp), Mike Crutchfield (Super Stock), Sherman Adcock Jr. (Super Comp), Kevin Moore (Super Gas), and Casey Grubb (Super Street).

The 2013 JEGS Allstars Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car team champions.
When NHRA announced two years ago that Top Alcohol competition would be divided among four regions rather than the traditional seven divisions, JEGS immediately devised a plan to keep the popular cars in the Allstars competition. As a result, Top Alcohol teams will compete for a special "regional" trophy, also designed by Dreisbach.

The Alcohol Dragster field is stacked with former world champions Reichert and Randy Meyer leading the way along with former Allstars winner Chris Demke and rising star Brandon Booher.

With 10-time Allstars winner Frank Manzo enjoying a well-deserved retirement, the Top Alcohol Funny Car title is once again wide open with current defending champ Brand facing a lineup that includes Clint Thompson, Dan Pomponio, and Todd Veney, three drivers currently ranked in the top 10.

The Northeast Division team is tied with the North Central team with seven overall wins and will be looking to break that tie against a team anchored by world champions Frank Aragona Jr. (Comp), Byron Worner (Super Stock), and Ray Sawyer (Super Gas).

Perennial Allstar Adcock will be the cornerstone of a very competitive Southeast Division team that also includes three-time world champion David Rampy (Comp) along with second-generation racers Robbie Shaw (Stock) and Ray Miller III (Top Dragster). The Southeast Division team has a long history of success in the JEGS Allstars competition, having won six overall titles in addition to their runner-up finish last season.

The defending champions from the North Central Division boast a stacked lineup that includes world champion Ray Connolly, Top Dragster specialist Marco Abruzzi, and Super Stock ace Jeff Dona.

A solid South Central Division team includes Slate Cummings, who is racing in two classes (Super Stock and Stock) for the third straight year, and Super Comp rep Austin Williams, who is perhaps the hottest Sportsman driver in the country this season. Past world champion Jimmy Lewis also gives the South Central Division team a hope of collecting another overall championship.

Amazingly, the West Central Division team has never won the JEGS Allstars overall title but has the manpower to do so this year as their impressive lineup includes world champs Bruno Massel Jr. (Comp), Gary Stinnett (Super Comp), and Phil Unruh, who is making his second straight appearance in the Top Dragster class.

The team from the Northwest Division has a lot to prove after scoring just 300 points in last year's competition. A repeat would be almost unthinkable because the 2014 team includes veteran Comp driver Ralph Van Paepeghem, Joe Sorensen (Super Stock), and Casey Plazier (Stock). Historically, the Northwest Division has won two overall JEGS Allstars team titles (1988 and 2005).

The squad from the Pacific Division, who claimed the 2012 overall title, will be looking to regain the top spot, and there is no reason to think it can't with a team that features reigning NHRA world champions Alan Ellis (Comp), Justin Lamb (Stock), and Rick Beckstrom (Super Gas).

The JEGS Allstars program has been a breeding ground for some of today's best-known Mello Yello Series Pros. Reigning Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. has been an Allstars representative for the North Central division six times, winning the Super Gas class twice. Other past Allstars participants include Top Fuel drivers Morgan Lucas (Top Alcohol Dragster, 2003 and 2004; won in 2003), current Top Fuel champion Shawn Langdon (Super Comp, 2005-07; won in 2005 and 2006), and Spencer Massey (Top Alcohol Dragster, 2007 and 2008; won in 2007) as well as Funny Car drivers Tim Wilkerson (Top Alcohol Funny Car, 1995) and Jack Beckman (Super Comp 2004 and 2005; runner-up in 2004).

While the JEGS Allstars is a highlight competitive event, camaraderie between racers and their crews is evident, especially during Friday evening's racer appreciation barbecue, which is open to all of the JEGS Allstars competitors, their families, and crews.

 

2013 JEGS Allstars Division 3



Westerfield Wins First, Whiteley Continues Roll

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association
Photo courtesy of David Smith

At the AAA Texas FallNationals in Dallas, Shane Westerfield handed Frank Manzo his first final-round loss in nearly eight years to earn his first major Top Alcohol Funny Car victory and Jim Whiteley put the Top Alcohol Dragster championship almost out of reach with his sixth overall win this season.

With increasingly quicker reaction times, Westerfield left on everybody he faced and reeled off one low-5.50 after another, highlighted by a 5.55 to 5.58 final-round decision over Manzo, whose last runner-up was 43 finals ago at the 2006 Winternationals. "That's about the best weekend anybody could have – not because I won but because I ended his streak," Westerfield said. "That's all anybody wanted to talk about."

Manzo had a solid .059 reaction time, but Westerfield, who is getting married next weekend, was even quicker with a .051 and fought his car off the centerline in low gear. "It went right almost immediately," he said. "I thought, 'I might end up hitting something, but no way am I lifting or short-shifting this one.' Just as I was getting really close to the centerline, the shift light finally came on, and I got it back in the groove. I actually thought I lost – I never saw my win-light come on. He wasn't too happy. He was loaded up and out of there in no time."

With the victory, Westerfield, who broke into the Top 10 for the first time last year, is up to second in the national standings, one point ahead of John Lombardo. He qualified his CP-Carrillo entry No. 3 behind Manzo and Annie Whiteley with a 5.54 and ran a career-best 5.52 in the first round to take out Texan Steve Burck, who slowed to a 5.93. From there, it was nothing but Top 5 drivers and side-by-side 5.50s the rest of the way: Lombardo fell in the second round, 5.53 to 5.56; Whiteley lost on a slight holeshot in the semi's, 5.54 to 5.52; and Manzo slipped to a 5.58 to fall short of his 5.55 in the final.

Racing at Dallas for the first time since the 1990s and just the fourth time in his career, Manzo ruled until the semifinals, where he lost lane choice for the final in a 5.55 win over Jay Payne. After qualifying No. 1 with a 5.50 that held up all weekend for low e.t., his 5.60 in the first round took out Ro Yale, who cut a .004 light and anchored the field with a career-best 6-flat – quicker than surprise non-qualifiers Tony Bartone and Brian Hough ran. Manzo then ran a 5.51 in a second-round win over Bryan Brown's engine-blowing 5.98 and edged Payne in a great semifinal race, 5.55 to 5.58.

The rare final-round loss may have ended Manzo's streak, but in just a month he's rocketed from the lower rungs of the Top 10 to a huge lead. With 15 consecutive round-wins and victories at Brainerd, Indy, and Charlotte, he now tops the standings by 85 points and almost certainly will close his incredible career with yet another championship

Jim Whiteley, like Manzo, is the defending national champ, just won Indy, recently announced that this will be his final season, has a commanding points lead, has won an overwhelming percentage of his career finals, and was part of a side-by-side final in Dallas. Unlike Manzo, he won.

Whiteley and Bill Reichert, who have combined to win six of the past seven Top Alcohol Dragster championships, both ran 5.32s in the final. Whiteley got off the mark first, .075 to .089, and ran slightly quicker, 5.322 to 5.327, to persevere by 19-thousandths of a second.

"I can always hear those A/Fuel cars, so I knew he was there somewhere, but I had no idea it was that close," Whiteley said. "We had to take it easy on the motor. The number two main cap was broken completely in two, and we're real fortunate that it survived the run. The crank probably should have come out of it."

Whiteley qualified his YNot Racing Dragster No. 1 with a 5.24 at 274.50 mph (top speed) and made his best run of the season, a 5.23 (low e.t.) in a first-round win over Michael Manners, who was unable to appear. A steady 5.28 took out Monroe Guest in the second round and the first of back-to-back 5.32s was enough against Joey Severance in a semifinal match both were lucky to survive.

Severance got into his own oil, veered into Whiteley's lane, corrected, and slid down the centerline for hundreds of feet on the left tires before miraculously steering back into his lane unscathed. "I saw him coming at me and wondered what was going to happen," Whiteley said. "Then I saw him turn and knew I was OK, but somebody was definitely watching out for him that time."

Running conservatively in the final, Whiteley managed another 5.32 to all but lock up his second straight championship. "I heard some rumors that I need to just qualify in Las Vegas to clinch this, but I'm not sure," he said. "I've been told that if I quit right now, [Chris] Demke would have to win every race for the rest of the year to pass me. [Brandon] Booher has come on here lately, and if he does well at Reading, Vegas, and Pomona, maybe he could take us, so we'll just have to wait and see. I'll miss racing this car next year, but I've done what I wanted to do. We set out to win a championship, and it looks like we might get two."

Reichert Wins TAD, Bohl Locks Up TAFC Title

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association
Photos courtesy of Steve Fuhrman

At the North Central Region in Bowling Green, Ky., former Top Alcohol Dragster world champ Bill Reichert earned his first win since the opener at Indianapolis, and in Top Alcohol Funny Car, Andy Bohl, who also won the Indy race, clinched his first regional championship with his third win of the season. Both won from the No. 7 qualifying spot.

For Reichert, it was his 10^th career win at Beech Bend Raceway, including five in a row from 1994 to 1998 and four in a row from 2008 to 2011. "I think I've done better here than I have at any other track," he said, "but we struggled almost all weekend."

Reichert qualified second-to-last with a 5.48 and slowed to a 5.63 in a first-round win over No. 2 qualifier Jared Dreher, then picked up almost two-tenths in the semi's, just in time to take out Marty Thacker. "I've been working with different cams all year trying to make more power, and I tried something different this weekend, too," he said. "When the car slowed down in the first round, we had to accept that we just weren't doing what it wanted and made a major move."

In the final, Reichert's Rislone Dragster dipped into the 5.30s with a 5.36 (low e.t.), in a lopsided win over 2006 Bowling Green winner Ken Perry, who shook hard immediately. "After all these years, this still feels as good as it ever did," he said. "This combination seems to be tunable, and I think we might actually be 'back,' but it'll be pretty hard to win the [national] championship – I think that's just about impossible now – and the region isn't looking too good, either. I'd have to win another one, and [Brandon] Booher would have to not make it to any more finals."

With three consecutive wins coming into the event, Booher, who surprisingly hasn't raced Reichert head-to-head all year, would appear to have a stranglehold on the regional crown and can clinch it with a final-round appearance at Earlville the week after Indy. He qualified No. 1 with a 5.37 but fouled against Perry in the semifinals by just three-thousandths of a second, his second -.00 red-light of the year.

The North Central Alcohol Funny Car title was decided early, when Bohl, who had already won two races this season (Indy and Columbus) met Chris Foster, who had also won two (Norwalk and Chicago) in the first round. Foster, who came out on the wrong end of a similar first-round meeting with Mickey Ferro here last year after twice winning down-to-the-wire division championships earlier in his career, fought for traction and slowed to 12.87 while Bohl made his best run of the weekend, a 5.67.

"It's a relief to finally win a [regional] championship," Bohl said. "I lost one on a red-light right here at Bowling Green and lost another when the other guy [Foster, in 2009] had to win the last race of the year to pass me. Frank Manzo was the first person I saw when I got out of the car, and I hugged him so hard I almost knocked him over."

With the title locked up, Bohl edged Ray Drew by just eight-thousandths of a second in the semifinals, 5.69 to 5.72. Manzo, who qualified No. 1 with a 5.62 and set low e.t. of eliminations with a 5.65 on his first-round single, had a harder time than expected getting around Wayne Butler in the other semi, when his car broke a lifter and Butler got a better light in a 5.72 to 5.80 race.

For Manzo, who had been to four previous regionals this season and reached the final every time, nothing less than a win would help him in the national standings. Manzo, whose 40-final winning streak in national competition will never be beaten, surprisingly had lost three of four regional finals this year, including the Indy final against Bohl, and he dropped this one, 5.70 to a tire-shaking 5.79.

"Lane choice won that race," Bohl said. "It was a coin-flip which one was better in the first round, but by the final, the right lane was definitely the one to be in. I looked at the left before we ran and said, 'No way is going to get down that lane.' I'm surprised he ran as good in that lane as he did. I know how it sounds, but I had more confidence against Manzo in the final than I did against Foster. Against Manzo, I had the good lane, and I knew what my car was going to do. Against Foster, that was a pretty clutch deal – basically one run for the championship and I'd just changed five things after pretty much embarrassing myself in qualifying."

Reichert, Brand Top Jegs Allstars Fields

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association
Photos courtesy of Mike Sopko

 

At the Jegs Allstars race at Route 66 Raceway, Bill Reichert edged defending event champ Chris Demke in a classic Top Alcohol Dragster final, 5.31 to 5.32, and Dale Brand, hot off a regional win over Frank Manzo, got the job done in Top Alcohol Funny Car with a 5.59, low e.t. of eliminations.

Reichert's victory was the third of his career at the Allstars race but the first without him also qualifying for the Route 66 Nationals, which is run in conjunction with the prestigious event. "It's been a long time since I didn't qualify," said the five-time world champ. "I couldn't even tell you when the last time was – probably right after we started running A/Fuel [in 2000.]"

He wasn't the only one. Of the four Allstars semifinalists – Reichert, Demke, John Finke, and Randy Meyer – Demke was the only one who made the cut for the Route 66 Nationals. In the first round, which doubled as last-shot qualifying for the national event, Finke ran a 5.68 over Gord Gingles, who shook the parachutes out, and Meyer ran the same e.t. on a single when Ray Martin was unable to appear.

Reichert ran a 5.50 in that round opposite Marty Thacker, and his previous best of 5.48 was a hundredth of a second too slow for the brutal Top Alcohol Dragster field. In the semifinals, which didn't count for qualifying for the national event because it was a run that non-Allstars didn't get, he picked up a tenth and a half to sideline Finke in another great race, 5.35 to 5.37.

"We figured it out one run too late," Reichert said. "We came up with something a few weeks ago at the regional here that looked like it was going to work, but it took us three runs this weekend to figure out that that it really didn't."

Demke, who beat Dan Mercier in the first round with a 5.32, singled to a 5.31 in the semifinals when Meyer was shut off after the burnout, and a consistent 5.32 in the final left him just short of Reichert's 5.31. "I've never thought I had a race won more than that one," he said. "We'd just run a .31, and we basically left it alone, so when it made it through low gear without shaking, I thought we had him. I had him by half a tenth at the 330, but he's crafty. There's a reason he's a five-time world champ."

"I left first – barely – but by 60 feet he was already out in front of me," Reichert said. "I could see his nose out there for a while and thought, 'I don't know about this,' but he started going away bit by bit and I just did get him."

Reichert won by .012-second, the same winning margin that Brand had over Todd Veney in the Top Alcohol Funny Car final. It was like that every round for Brand – one great race after another. He nipped Andy Bohl in the first round of eliminations, 5.65 to 5.66, and Annie Whiteley in the semi's, 5.65 to 5.64.

After three 5.65s in a row, Brand ran only the .50 of the day in the final, a 5.59, to beat Veney's 5.62. "It was an honor just to be in a race like this," said Brand, who also won last week in Cordova. "This is definitely one of the highlights of my racing career. The whole field qualified in the 5.60s, so it seemed like anybody could have won."

Veney defeated Chris Foster, who won the Chicago regional earlier this month, in round one, 5.66 to 5.84, and Steve Gasparrelli in the semifinals, 5.64 to 5.66.