Resurfaced Earlville Track Primed for Lucas Oil Event

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association

Reid Kuhlman doesn't mess around. When he built Tri-State Raceway, he didn't just put in a concrete launch pad or lay concrete to the 330-foot mark or to half-track or even for the entire quarter-mile – he did it from behind the water box to the last turnoff.

When Kuhlman recently had the surface ground and polished, he started at the 150-foot-mark and went all the way to the finish line. "Diamond grinding leaves longitudinal ridges," he explained. "Those can take a while to fill in with rubber, so after we had the track ground, we had it polished for eight days until everything was perfectly smooth."

Now the groove is wider, longer, flatter, and smoother than it's ever been. "The Top Dragsters have already been in the low 6s at more than 220 mph, the Top Sportsman cars are flying, everybody's computers are showing how smooth the surface is, and everybody's saying they can't feel even a little bump anywhere in either lane," said Kuhlman, who's gearing up for a record-breaking event when Tri-State hosts its Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Central Regional the week after the U.S. Nationals.

"The Alcohol Dragster track record is 5.32, and the Alcohol Funny Car record is 5.62, and we don't expect either one of them to last past that weekend," said Kuhlman, whose facility holds the Division 5 car-count record (more than 600) and once held nearly 20 cars just in Top Alcohol Funny Car. "We pick up a lot of teams that stop here on their way back to the West Coast after Indy and a lot of top cars from all around the country, and we're hoping a bunch of them will be back again this year with all the guys from Division 5 and Division 3."

For some reason, alcohol racing's biggest stars typically don't shine when the Lucas Oil tour hits the tiny town of Earlville, Iowa (population: 800), a half-hour west of Dubuque in the northeast part of the state, where Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois come together. Edwin Schmeeckle, Richard Putz, Dave Heitzman, Gord Gingles, and Sidnei Frigo have scored there in Top Alcohol Dragster, Schmeeckle and Putz more than once. Top Alcohol Funny Car has been dominated by Kirk Williams and Andy Bohl, who each have multiple wins, and the defending event champs are Jared Dreher, who also scored this weekend at St. Louis in Alcohol Dragster, and Williams in Alcohol Funny Car.

In addition to having the surface painstaking polished after it was reground, the 4,000-foot track, now in its 17th year, has his own tire rotator to keep the rubber in top condition. But instead of buying one for more than $50,000, Kuhlman, your typical hardworking, can-do Midwesterner, built his own.

"Our tire rotator is a little different than the other ones out there," said Kuhlman, who used to own a company that built 200,000-pound rock crushers. "The slicks aren't all in a row on this one. It's a two-axle machine and the tires are staggered. With the slicks offset like that, you can stay out of the groove you just did when you're coming back in the opposite direction, and it has its own air compressor right on it. All the tires are hooked up to a regulator and kept at the exact right pressure at all times.

"The right lane used to have a little bump just past half-track, and the left lane had one that was a little bigger, but the left was always the preferred lane," Kuhlman said. "This was never a one-lane track or anything – there's nothing worse than that – but now the whole track is smooth as glass. Running a race track is like running anything else – you're either in or you're out – so we just stepped up and said, 'OK, let's do it. Let's go all out.' Nothing in this business is cheap, so what's it going to be? In the past, people would come here and say that they had better 60-foot times than they just had at Indy, and now all the bumps are gone. This should be our best race ever – now this place really has some teeth."

Dreher, Williams Earn First Season Wins

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association

At Tri-State Raceway in Earlville, Iowa, Top Alcohol Dragster veteran Jared Dreher, who opened last season with a regional victory at Indianapolis, and defending Central Region Top Alcohol Funny champ Kirk Williams both scored for the first time this season.

Dreher picked up the fifth regional/division event title of his career with a final-round decision over reigning Central Region and event winner Gord Gingles, who had won his last two races – the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd and the Central Region race in Topeka. Gingles, who has established himself as one of the best on the Tree in just his second year in an A/Fueler, was second off the line this time and shook violently before shutting off to a 6.31 at 179 mph.

"We both shook hard, but he shook worse," said Dreher, who won with a 5.48. "His was so violent that it broke the puke tank and had body panels hanging off the car when we got down there. Mine shook pretty bad too, but not that bad."

Dreher’s win comes just days after he was knocked out of the U.S. Nationals field in last-shot qualifying and missed the cut by two-thousandths of a second. "This isn't Indy, but a win's a win," he said. "This was exactly what we needed right now. Indy was a pretty big disappointment, being so close to home. I don't think we've ever gotten out of a track as fast as we got out of there."

On the all-concrete Earlville surface, Dreher qualified in the middle of the field with a 5.48 and picked up dramatically in the first round with a 5.38 against Jackie Fricke, who slipped from her 5.47 qualifying pace to a 5.55. Gingles followed one pair later with a 5.34 (low e.t.) win over Dave Hirata's cylinder-dropping 5.70. North Central points leader Brandon Booher, who qualified No. 1 with a 5.41, also ran in the 5.30s in a win over Dean Dubbin, and Topeka winner Randy Meyer just missed with a 5.41 against Edwin Schmeeckle's close 5.45.

Gingles stayed consistent and emerged as the clear favorite for the final with a 5.35 semifinal win over Meyer in a race that had huge points implications. With one race to go, he holds a 32-point edge over Meyer for the regional championship. Dreher won the other semi with a 5.45 against Booher, who had to lift near half-track when his steering shaft broke, then negotiated the tricky conditions better than Gingles in the final for the 5.48 win.

In Top Alcohol Funny Car, Williams beat Van Hauen in the final in a battle of the first and last qualifiers, 5.73 to a shutoff 8.58. "I've been here probably 12 or 13 times, and you really have to know how to get down this track," said Williams, who won here for the second year in a row and appeared in the final for a third straight year. "The groove is narrow, but this place can be pretty fast if you have the right setup."

Van Hauen, appearing in his first final since last year's Noble event, was fifth of five cars in qualifying with a 5.95 but stepped up to a 5.79 in the first round, just a few thousandths of a second from low e.t. at the time, to beat No. 2 qualifier Billy Davis' 5.86, then singled in the semi's. The field was tight in qualifying – every driver but Van Hauen ran between 5.79 and 5.83.

Williams paced the field in qualifying with a 5.79, lowered low e.t. to a 5.77 in a semifinal win over Wayne Butler and reset low e.t. again in the final with a 5.73 while Van Hauen strayed toward the centerline and eventually had to lift.

"I really have to hand it to Lance," Williams said. "What a guy. NHRA was telling him to head for the lanes, and he could have had a single for the win, but he didn't take it. He stayed right by our trailer until we were ready to go. That's the kind of guy he is."

Booher's Regional Championship Chase Continues at Earlville

Courtesy of NVW Motorsports Promotion
Photo courtesy of NVW M.P.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (September 4, 2013) – Following a No.1 qualifying effort and semifinal appearance in Bowling Green, Ky. and a strong showing at the legendary 59^th Annual U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Top Alcohol Dragster driver Brandon Booher is heading to Earlville, Iowa with aspirations of locking up his first NHRA North Central regional championship. If Booher can seal the deal, he will be the first blown alcohol driver to win the North Central region/division title since 2008 and the first torque converter-equipped TAD to win it ever.

Brandon attempted to lock it up at the Bowling Green regional event two weeks ago. He earned his fourth No. 1 qualifying effort of the year and reached the semifinals. The AB Construction/Torque Management dragster left too early by just six thousandths of a second, ending his weekend and pushing back the championship decision.

Another strong qualifying attempt followed at last weekend’s prestigious U.S. Nationals. Booher qualified third in a field that included many of the top cars in the country. The 2010 Spitzer-built entry was one of the quickest car of all four qualifying sessions, including the final session when Brandon clicked off a 5.36 pass.

“I think it showed the car’s performance, that it can run right there with some of the best cars in the country, whether they’re blown or A/Fuel. The car has definite potential, and I think we’re just beginning to see what it can do. The big thing is we had consistency on all of those runs. We were able to improve every time the car went down the track. Going into eliminations, we had a secure foundation to build a successful race day,” said the 30-year old driver.

Brandon’s 5.38 first round win over Bill Litton was the second-quickest elapsed time of the round. The car was set up to repeat on the second round pass against Aaron Olivarez but the car’s magneto wouldn’t provide the power to make it happen.

“The car was idling low when we started it, which was weird. I had my dad pull the air bleeds off the injector and that helped. I staged the car, had a great reaction time, and then the car just didn’t want to go anywhere.  The team got it back to the pits and realized that the mag had lost phase. Basically the magneto was not generating any power. The car had two degrees of timing in it from the time I got on the trans-brake until the time I lifted it. When I saw Aaron’s front wheel there was no point in chasing. I knew my car had a problem. I would’ve been hurting parts that I need to go to Earlville to hopefully lock up the regional championship,” Brandon explained.

The former Pro Top Outlaw champion remains confident after second round losses at the last two races. Both losses came from preventable issues that the family-owned team has learned from.

“The car has been a picture of consistency,” Brandon claimed. “If you look at our losses this year, they’re all small issues – driver error with red lights, ignition issues, a silly wheelie bar problem, and a seized oil pump. You take away those issues and the car is on a string. It goes out and runs, doesn’t hurt parts, and it makes everything easier. It makes the crew’s job easier and it keeps my confidence level high. We had the red light at Bowling Green and the ignition problem here, but that does not deter me. The crew stuck around to service the car and prepare it for Earlville. We fixed the problem, everything is fresh, and we’re going to be ready to chase a regional championship this weekend.”

After calculations and in-depth conversations with his team, Brandon knows what needs to happen at this weekend’s NHRA Lucas Oil Series regional event in Earlville, Iowa.

“We need to win,”Booher said. “We need to erase any doubt, any skepticism, and any thoughts that what we’ve accomplished so far may be a fluke. It’s definitely not. As Al Davis said, ‘Just win, baby.’ That’s my goal. I’m going there with my eye on the prize and settling for nothing less than leaving with the trophy. From a mathematical standpoint, I believe we need to win first round to prevent Marty Thacker from going around us. We need to reach the finals to prevent Bill Reichert from going around us. Both of those cars would need to win another regional event to take the title. It’s kind of on my shoulders and it’s kind of not. To me, they have a lot more weight on theirs then I do mine. I control my own destiny to a point.”

Booher Racing is a Champaign, Illinois-based Top Alcohol Dragster team, competing in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. Former Junior Dragster driver Brandon Booher pilots the family-owned AB Construction blown alcohol dragster. The team owns the world record for quickest and fastest converter-equipped TAD. Booher Racing receives support from Motorsports Unlimited, Goodson Tools, Spitzer Race Cars, Bell Helmets, Cantrell Racing Products, and Torque Management. To learn more about Booher Racing, please visit www.nitronate.com/booher.

For news and results throughout the 2013 season, follow Booher Racing on Facebook (www.facebook.com/booherracing) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/booherracing).