TAN Fan Blog - Billy Anderson

Photos courtesy of Billy Anderson



Back in June and July, I was able to attend the most recent Eastern Regional events at Lebanon Valley Dragway and New England Dragway.

For the Lebanon Valley event, it was a return to that venue for me.  I had not been since 2004, but after the announcement of the regional system, I vowed that I would go to as many events as I possibly could to support the Alcohol classes.  The change in date this year also helped in my ability to be able to attend the event.

Lebanon Valley (LVD) was awarded a divisional event for the first time in 1994.  It was also the year New England Dragway (NED) returned to the NHRA after a two-year stint with the IHRA.  I believe at the time not returning a divisional to NED was a way of NHRA to “punish” NED for those 2 years under IHRA.  Regardless, in 1995 I attended the event for the first time and was delightfully pleased with the level of competition.

Competitors came from all over the U.S., including the late Darrell Russell from Texas, as well as Michigan powerhouse Bill Reichert.  The racing was close and exciting every year, and the Top Alcohol Funny Car class provided numerous memorable events, from Bob Newberry’s shocking DNQ in 1996, to Craig Gleason’s and Paul Gill’s first divisional event wins.  Throughout the years, LVD played host to a competitive event worthy of any national event, and 2012 was no exception.

While Friday qualifying was under torturous, humid conditions, DJ Cox surprised the TAFC class by claiming the #1 qualifying position with a 5.76, that Gill’s last ditch 5.77 was not able to overcome.  Even more shocking was the inability of Fred Tigges to qualify in the tricky conditions.  The Indy runner-up was sent packing early.  In Top Alcohol Dragster, it was an exciting battle amongst the A/FD’s that was eventually won by Rich McPhillips (5.39) leading a trio of close competitors in Dan Mercier (5.47), Dan Page (5.47) and Richard Bourke (5.54).  Closing out the field was Richard St. Pierre who recorded a breathless 6.54 in the final session after the car headed to the centerline and when St. Pierre corrected, headed towards the wall.  Early parachutes straightened out the car, and he was able to coast into the field.

Saturday eliminations dawned much more manageable weather, though with an 11:30 am round one start time, figuring out the track under direct sunlight would still be a handful. The first pair of TAD round one was the best pair, as Bourke edged hometown favorite John Finke by .002, 5.43 to 5.43.  The only upset of round one was Page, who smoked the tires to allow defending Division One champ Karen Stalba to collect her first round win of a thus far disastrous year.

Paul Gill established himself as the favorite in round one of TAFC with a Low E.T. 5.70, with Eric Lourie second best in a close 5.77-5.80 victory over higher-qualified Todd Veney.

The semi-finals of TAD were relatively one-sided, as McPhillips and Mercier traded blows to advance to the final, lane choice going to Mercier, 5.49 to 5.51. Lourie stayed consistent with a 5.79 defeat of #1 qualifier Cox’s 5.94, while Gill had to pedal after heading towards the wall, allowing Wayne Morris to advance to the final, 5.93-6.00.

The first final was TAD, and unfortunately McPhillips, who was always good for low E.T. in the late ‘90s at this event, redlit and handed the win to Mercier, who legged it through to a 5.51, 258.61.

Lourie continued to improve with a 5.73, 251.35 win over Morris’ 6.04. It was certainly exciting to be back at LVD for their regional, and I hope to be able to fit it into my schedule if possible next year.  The crowd was light both days, but not empty, and the stands on Saturday were scattered about with people from starting line to mid-track.

Going to New England Dragway is always a homecoming for me, and especially after the announcement that the Full Throttle Drag Racing Series would be there in 2013.  I have been to numerous divisionals at NED throughout the ‘80s, but remember best the ones from 1986-1991, so it was very exciting in 2011 when the divisional series returned there twenty years later.

Unlike the prior year when scorching hot temperatures made it virtually unbearable, this year the weather was comfortable, and the racing reflected it. On a very exciting Friday of qualifying, Bourke set the track record to qualify number one with a phenomenal 5.255, 270.48.  Veteran Ken Winward recorded a career best 5.432, 263.67 on the opening pass of qualifying as well.  In TAFC, local favorite Gill took the track record at 5.558 over Frank Manzo’s 5.581.  Unfortunately, defending event champion Stalba’s nightmare year continue when she failed to qualify, smoking the tires on both qualifying attempts, which were ironically separated by .002 seconds, 11.347 and 11.345.

Prior to Saturday evening’s eliminations, which were run in front of a virtually capacity crowd, the track was dragged but not sprayed.  Not sure if that led to any issues, but 3 of the local teams (Lourie, Tigges who fouled, and Veney) were gone after round one.  The only one to survive was Gill, who was lucky.  After a crowd pleasing burnout where he was under power until the 400 foot mark, Gill shook and launched into a wheelstand and had to pedal.  Luckily for him, opponent Morris hit the center 660-foot cube and was disqualified.

In round one of TAD, Bourke backed up his qualifying run with a blistering 5.277, 266.00 as Page, Finke and Bourke also advanced.  Finke beat defending Lucas Oil champion Duane Shields in his matchup.

For the semi-finals, John Anderika advanced past Paul Gill by .0063 on a holeshot, 5.716 to 5.709.  This, despite the fact that Gill shook and had to pedal the throttle.  On the other side of the ladder, Manzo advanced past Dan Pomponio easily with 5.571, 261.52, which was a new track speed record.

In TAD, Finke and McPhillips put on a great race where Finke edged ahead, 5.337 to 5.361.  Meanwhile Bourke came back to the pack with a 5.405 to 5.475 win over Page, who blasted to a thundering 270.10 speed.

In the finals, Manzo had to drive around Anderika’s holeshot by .0076 seconds, 5.601, 259.11 to 5.695, 251.81.  This not only defended his win from the year before, but also his win at the last event before that in 1991.Finke, meanwhile, returned to the winner’s circle with a 5.360 win over Bourke’s 5.485.

All in all, a fantastic race at New England Dragyway that has everyone chomping at the bit to see what the Full Throttle cars will do next year.

TAN Fan Blog-Billy Anderson

Photos Courtesy of Billy Anderson

Hi, my name is Billy Anderson, and I'm addicted to alcohol. Top Alcohol Racing that is!

Growing up, I was always a bigger fan of the Alcohol classes than the Nitro classes. I grew up in Massachusetts, about 45-minute drive from New England Dragway. My family and I would go to their major Funny Car events throughout the year, and the Alcohol cars were as big of a draw as the Nitro cars. Back in the early 1980's, the big battle was between Massachusetts' own Arnie Karp driving the Boston Strangler, against Nashua, NH's Dick Bill in the Bell Boys machine. Their battles at New England Dragway were epic. As the 80's went on, a good contingent of local Alcohol Funny Cars formed, names like Tony Arnone, Ronnie Taylor, Richard Polcaro, Billy Naves and Ed Parker were mainstays at the New England Dragway match races, even as the number of Nitro cars per event decreased due to the rising costs.

In 1992, New England Dragway moved to an IHRA track for two years, and then from 1998-2010. The divisional race they used to have moved to Lebanon Valley Dragway, and from 1995-2004, I attended that divisional race to see an open competition for the Alcohol Dragsters and Funny Cars. Those events were national event caliber, with many, many storylines throughout all of them, and great side-by-side racing. They were even attended by some big name touring drivers, including the late Darrell Russell.

For the Englishtown national event, my favorite round of all time was always the Saturday night round one of the Alcohol Dragsters and Funny Cars. It was always an exciting round, with so much potential, and possible upsets to be made. Also, the strategy of what pair Frank Manzo chose to be in was always a point of analysis. Sometimes it was the first; sometimes it was last.

Growing up in the New England area, I've always been very proud of my home Division 1. I think the alcohol racers in this area of the country are some of the best. I have gotten to experience races in the midwest and California, and will certainly not focus solely on the East Coast cars, though the events I attend this year will primarily be Division 1 events. I will try to comment on the events that are only accesible to me via internet and television. I will try to include relevant pictures with each article

For this blog, I would like to be able to not only write about the current events going on in the class, but also take some trips down memory lane in my notebook, and see what sort of gems I might uncover and recall. I hope you'll enjoy the journey with me.

Billy Anderson is a former writer for New England Dragway. Anderson resides in New York and can be found at many of the New England races in 2012. Follow Billy on Twitter at @DragRacingBilly.