Crowning the 2014 Champions

TAN Original Content
Photos courtesy of David Smith


TAD National Champion - Chris Demke
Three times a runner-up in the last four seasons, Chris Demke was determined to lock down his first NHRA Lucas Oil Series National Championship with team owner Jerry Maddern and the Peen Rite team. A "rollercoaster season" as the California driver described it, started with a powerful win at the season-opening Winternationals at Pomona then fell into a rough patch with early losses and hurt parts. The team regrouped and returned with a vengeance in late spring, picking up a win at the Billings regional. Regional wins at Columbus, Topeka, and Seattle followed, as well as victories at the Route 66 Nationals and 60th U.S. Nationals. Demke's highlight of the year was a rare three-win weekend at the NHRA Nationals in Reading, PA, where Maddern Racing locked up the national championship on Friday, the delayed Carolina Nationals event win on Saturday, and the actual event title on Sunday. Another notable 2014 accomplishment - Demke clocked the fastest blown alcohol speed at Reading, 277.94 MPH.

TAFC National Champion - Steve Harker
All eyes were on the Top Alcohol Funny Car class in 2014, watching to see who would replace 17-time champ Frank Manzo as the class champion at the end of the year. Australian Steve Harker filled the role fittingly, running a season that rivaled the dominating ways of "The Ace". Harker displayed deadly consistency, starting with consecutive wins at the Norwalk national and St. Louis and Bowling Green regionals. He fell in the second round at the U.S. Nationals, but won his next five national events - Charlotte, Dallas, Reading, Las Vegas, and Pomona. As if those wins weren't impressive enough, Harker ran seven 5.4s during late-season eliminations, including a 5.429 in the Reading final. The first non-North American driver to win an NHRA national championship, Harker also swept the potential three-win weekend at Maple Grove.

TAD East Region Champion - Jackie Fricke
Driving the JC Auto Glass/Accelerated Travel A/Fuel dragster, Jackie scored a runner-up at Virginia and regional event wins at Lebanon Valley and Epping to clinch her first TAD regional championship. Fricke's pedalfest win in the Epping final gave her the tie-breaker win over Rich McPhillips, who finished the season with an equal amount of points.

TAFC East Region Champion - Mickey Ferro
The Ryco driver bowed out in the second round of his first four regional events before winning Epping and claiming runner-up at Atco. Ferro clinched the championship by just one point over rookie Matt Gill.

TAD North Central Region Champion - Marty Thacker
While the now four-time regional/divisional champion didn't reach the winner's circle in 2014, Thacker consistently reached the final round, doing so at the Norwalk, Chicago, St. Louis, and Bowling Green regional races.

TAFC North Central Region Champion - Steve Harker

Speed City photo

TAD Central Region Champion - Randy Meyer
Meyer had his hands full this season, between racing his own car, tuning it to two national event wins with driver Shayne Lawson, and fielding a second Randy Meyer Racing entry with Chase Copeland driving. Meyer runnered-up at the Topeka event and won the Earlville regional, resetting the track record in the process. The accomplished driver/tuner/owner also fared well in national competition, winning the Spring Nationals at Houston and the Lucas Oil Nationals completed at the U.S. Nationals for a third place finish in national points.

Megan Meyer photo

TAFC Central Regional Champion - Dale Brand
A favorite to win the national championship for most of the season, Brand locked up the Central Region title with an impressive lead of over 100 points. The former IHRA Alcohol Funny Car standout won three of his five regional events, taking runner-up at the other two. Dale finished No. 2 in national standings with one win, a runner-up and five semifinal appearances.

TAN photo

TAD West Region Champion - Chris Demke

TAFC West Region Champion - Jay Payne
The PEAK-sponsored driver was victorious at the Houston and Billings regional events, also adding a runner-up at Phoenix. On the national level, Payne debuted the second Camaro TAFC body at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals with a win and finished the season third in points.

Brand Holds the Edge in 2014 TAFC Championship Race

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association

It was a foregone conclusion that 2014 would be wide-open when all-time Alcohol Funny Car king Frank Manzo abdicated his throne late last year, and halfway through it, it absolutely is – the number 1 driver at this point probably isn't going to win the championship. 1995 Top Alcohol Dragster champ and four-time Alcohol Funny Car runner-up Jay Payne has won more rounds than any driver in either alcohol class this year (16) but he's also lost more (9).

It's another sure Top 5 or Top 10 finish for Payne, who has more career victories than any active driver in either Top Alcohol Dragster or Funny Car, but the favorite at midseason is a driver who's never even finished in the Top 10: Dale Brand, who had never run enough races to contend for a title until this year. He's been in the late rounds everywhere he's raced all year and with a little luck could have won all six.

Brand, who once terrorized IHRA Alcohol Funny Car racing, heads for the Allstars race and the Route 66 Nationals in Chicago as the defending Allstars champ. He's as quick – and as quick on the Tree – as anyone. He won the Chicago regional last month, broke through for a long overdue first national event title in Topeka, scored again last weekend at Tulsa, and is second in the standings, just 10 points behind Payne.

Brand has a better win-loss record (16-3, .842) than anyone in either alcohol class and is riding a three-race win streak. Only a red-light in the final kept him from winning in Gainesville; a broken throttle linkage stopped him in the second round in Charlotte after he'd opened a car-length lead; and in Houston, he fell to Annie Whiteley in the semifinals by just 11-thousandths of a second.

Annie Whiteley
 

Payne won the rain-delayed Houston regional final over Shane Westerfield by just eight-thousandths of a second, was runner-up at the regional event in Phoenix and the national event in Las Vegas, and just won again last weekend at the regional in Acton, Montana.

Early season leader Brian Hough stands third, 74 points behind Brand. He's 11-4 for the year and won his first two starts of the season, the Winternationals and the Phoenix regional. Westerfield, who moved into the Top 10 for the first time in 2012 and shot all the way up to third in the national standings last year, is one point behind Hough. He's also a two-time winner this season, at the Spring Nationals in Houston and the Las Vegas regional.

Hot off back-to-back final-round appearances in regional competition, Clint Thompson anchors the Top 5. He won Denver on a slight holeshot over Whiteley, 5.78 to 5.78, and lost the Acton final to Payne the same way, 5.72 to 5.69.

With two wins and three final-round appearances in five starts, Dan Pomponio, who finished a career-high fifth in the national standings in his breakthrough 2013 campaign, is sixth in the standings despite running fewer races than anyone in the Top 10. He's won two national events already this season (Gainesville and Charlotte – same as last year) and came within inches of winning the Lebanon Valley regional.

Kris Hool, Whiteley, Nick Januik and Todd Veney round out the Top 10. Whiteley, who has yet to finish outside the Top 5 in her young Top Alcohol Funny Car career, is the only current Top 10 driver without a win, but she has three final-round appearances in her last four outings, qualified No. 1 at all four, set low e.t. at three of the four, and just missed winning each time.

Under the radar and just outside the Top 10 are perennial Top 10 drivers Steve Harker, Chris Foster, Steve Gasparrelli, John Lombardo, and Doug Gordon, all past national event champs. Foster is 12th and has a win and a runner-up in just four starts. Gasparrelli and Lombardo have finished as high as second in the standings, Lombardo just last year. Gordon is 19th, but he's raced just three times this season and has advanced to at least the semifinals at all three.

The dark horse is Tony Bartone, the only active Top Alcohol Funny Car driver ever to have won a championship. He makes his 2014 debut this weekend with a new Murf McKinney-built Camaro tuned by Steve Boggs, and with a late-season push could still win it all. It would take a winning streak of epic proportions, but if he pulls it off, it won't be the first time: the year he won the championship, 1996, he won 37 rounds in a row.

Drag Racing Supporter, FireIce CEO Cordani Passes Away at Age 53

Courtesy of Geiger Media

 

JUPITER, Fla. (Jan. 23) -- Michael Cordani, co-founder and CEO of FireIce and sponsor of numerous professional and amateur NHRA drag racers, including world champion Jay Payne, Jim Dunn, Tony Bartone, Sean Bellemeur, Darrell Gwynn, and Johnny Ahten, passed away Tuesday after a three-year battle with cancer. He was 53.

The vibrant New Yorker, who later moved to South Florida with his entire family, always enjoyed the sport of drag racing and began attending events as a young man with his brothers Peter and Billy. He later became involved with Gwynn's Top Fuel dragster team as an associate sponsor, his first foray into corporate support of a racing team.

When GelTech's flagship product FireIce, an environmentally friendly fire suppressant invented by his brother Peter, began selling worldwide, he teamed with Dunn and Bartone in an effort to spread the word. He then met and befriended Payne and in 2007 became the title sponsor of his Top Alcohol Funny Car and various Pro Mod entries.

"We are all deeply and profoundly saddened by Michael's passing," Payne said. "He was one of my closest and best friends, and we're all going to miss him very much. I feel completely lucky to have met Michael and had the years we had together. He was such a positive person and gave us everything we ever needed.

"Quite frankly, his sponsorship of the team was secondary to our friendship. Michael was adamant about using the FireIce race cars as a heartfelt salute to the 1.1 million firefighters in this country. He never wanted any credit. He deflected everything to the firefighters and EMTs, and when you'd talk about the success of FireIce, he'd deflect that praise to his brother and their employees. That's just the kind of guy he was. I'm talking about a very, very special person."

Under Cordani's direction, Payne routinely has hosted large groups of firefighters at the races. He has also honored certain individual firefighters by putting their names on his race cars, giving them unprecedented high-speed accolades.

"Drag racing was something Michael just loved," Peter Cordani said. "He always had so much fun at the races, and every time he went to one he wouldn't stop talking about it all week long.

"As much as he loved the cars and the speed, I think he loved the people that much more. I truly believe that his friendships out there carried him through these last three years, which were pretty hard at times. He always wanted to recover as fast as possible from his treatments so he could get back to the dragstrip."

Cordani is survived by his wife Darlene, daughters Allyssa and Christina, father Bill, mother Ann, and brother Peter. He was preceded in death by his brother Billy.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. ET, Saturday, at St. Edward's Catholic Church, located at 144 N. County Road, Palm Beach, Fla.

Crowning the 2013 Champions

TAN Original Content
Photos courtesy of David Smith, TAN

TAD National Champion – Jim Whiteley

Whiteley took his Norm Grimes-tuned YNot Racing blown dragster to national event wins at the Winternationals, U.S. Nationals, Dallas, and Las Vegas2 to claim his second consecutive national title. Another regional title was earned thanks to wins at the Denver, Tulsa, and both Las Vegas regional races. Jim will step away from the driver’s seat in 2014 to support wife Annie (TAFC) and son Steven (PM). 

 

TAFC National Champion – Frank Manzo

The Ace’s 2013 national scorecard was winless until Brainerd, adding wins at Indy, Charlotte2, and Las Vegas2 before retiring with a win at the Finals at Pomona. “Uncle Frank” also scored at the Maple Grove regional early in the season. Manzo ends the 2013 season with an unmatched 17 national titles, 22 divisional championships, and over 220 event wins to his name. 

TAD East Region Champion – Dan Page

Noted chassis builder/driver/tuner Page drove his self-built, Arthur Gallant owned and tuned A/Fueler to three regional final rounds, winning the first at Maple Grove. Dan will likely forfeit the seat to a TAD rookie in 2014.

TAFC East Region Champion – John Anderika

Anderika enjoyed a phenomenal regional season, reaching the finals at five of six events, winning the last two. He has decided to step away from the seat of his converter-equipped East Coast Auto Electric TAFC to focus on a recently opened restaurant, Anderika’s All American Grill. 

TAD North Central Region Champion – Brandon Booher

Booher won his first hard-fought regional championship in just his third full season in the class. The former Pro Top Outlaw champion drove his torque converter-equipped blown AB Construction dragster to wins at Joliet, Columbus, and Cordova, the first of his career. He also added his first national event win to his resume at Charlotte2. 

TAFC North Central Region Champion – Andy Bohl

Bohl locked up his first regional championship after racing to victories at Indy, Columbus, and Bowling Green, the first and last coming over class legend Frank Manzo. 

TAD Central Region Champion – Gord Gingles

Canadian A/Fuel driver Gingles won just a single event – Topeka – to take his second consecutive regional championship. He also scored his first national event win at Brainerd, driving one of two “The Bull” cars for Clif Bakx. 

TAFC Central Region Champion – John Lombardo Jr.

Second generation flip-top driver Lombardo earned regional wins at Woodburn and Noble, locking up his second regional/divisional title at the latter. He opened the season with a win at the Winternationals. Lombardo will partner with Rick Jackson Racing to form a powerhouse one-car team in 2014.

TAD West Region Champion – Jim Whiteley

TAFC West Region Champion – Jay Payne

“Thunder Slug” reached the money round at five regional events, winning at Firebird and Topeka. Payne and his Peak Motor Oil team attended the most events of any TAFC driver – ten nationals and seven regionals.

Both Whiteleys Win Vegas Again, Payne Takes West Region TAFC Title

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association

At the final Lucas Oil Series event anywhere in the country this year, Annie Whiteley, who's undefeated in four career regional starts at Las Vegas, and husband Jim Whiteley swept the alcohol classes for the third time since last year, Annie in Top Alcohol Funny Car and Jim in Top Alcohol Dragster. Both won photo-finish finals, Annie by three-thousandths of a second over Jay Payne, who clinched the West Region championship, and Jim by just one-thousandth over Garrett Bateman.

Jim, who locked up the national championship with his victory at last week's Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas, clinched the regional title with his fifth final and fourth win of the season. After a final-round loss to Ray Martin at the Phoenix opener, he won the next four – Denver, Tulsa, and now both the spring and fall Las Vegas races.

Whiteley, who set top speed last week with three 271-mph runs, topped 271 in all three rounds of this race, too, including a 272.34-mph blast (top speed of the meet) in a 5.27 (low e.t.) first-round win over two-time 2013 winner Shawn Cowie's otherwise excellent 5.35 at 266.

Whiteley's 5.28 in the semi's stopped incoming West Region points leader Chris Demke, who finished second to Whiteley in both the regional and national standings this year. Demke was off like a shot with a .030 reaction time and was in it until about the 1,000-foot mark, where a blown engine slowed him to a 5.49 at just 212 mph. He had stayed alive for the regional title with a 5.41 first-round win over Martin, who also was in contention for the regional championship on the final day of the season.

Bateman, who got into the field with a last-ditch 5.32, eliminated Johnny Ahten, who was pushed back from the line in round one, and Joey Severance, who qualified No. 1 in his first race with one of Whiteley's engines. Severance reeled off one great run after another, including a 5.28 for the No. 1 spot and another 5.28 to erase Megan McKernan in round one, but smoked the tires at the hit in the semifinals, handing a grateful Bateman a cylinder-dropping 5.51 win.

Bateman, the only A/Fuel driver in the race after round one, got off the line four-thousandths of a second ahead of Whiteley in the final, .049 to .053, but he needed a six-thousandths lead. Whiteley, competing for the second-to-last time in his Alcohol Dragster career, outran him by five-thousandths, 5.317 to 5.322, to get there first by less than a foot.

Nineteen drivers fought for eight qualifying spots, and seven of the qualifiers were at least in the 5.30s. Rookie Ashley Sanford (5.42), former Division 1 champ Dan Mercier (5.43), 2011 world champ Duane Shields (5.44) and Don St. Arnaud (5.46), who was runner-up here last year and at the spring race here, just missed McKernan's 5.42 bump time.

Top Alcohol Funny Car was even tougher, with a 5.66 bump after the first qualifying session and a record 5.62 bump by Clint Thompson when it was all over. Fifteen drivers attempted to qualify, everybody ran at least a 5.76, and three drivers missed the cut despite running 5.60s, including incoming West Region points leader Steve Gasparrelli (5.68), who lost the regional championship by not qualifying.

At that point, Gasparrelli and Payne were tied, but instead of winning on the tie-breaker, Payne went all the way to the final, starting with a 5.70 win over Steve Harker's shutoff 9.03. In the semi's, his 5.73 was enough against Thompson, who had run at least a 5.63 in all three sessions and a 5.60 in the first round but didn't make it five feet that time.

Whiteley qualified No. 2 in what has to be the toughest divisional/regional field of all time. Six of the eight qualifiers – Whiteley, Payne, Tony Bartone, Shane Westerfield, John Lombardo, and Thompson – have won national events in the past year, and the other two – Sweden's Ulf Leanders and Australia's Steve Harker – were making their first NHRA appearances of the season. Leanders qualified No. 3 behind Bartone (5.56) and Whiteley (5.57) with a 5.58 at 261.88 mph, top speed to that point. He upped that mark to 263.26 mph in a first-round win over Westerfield, who broke behind the line. Whiteley beat Lombardo in the next pair, 5.63 to 5.77, and Bartone, who ran two 5.57s and a 5.56 in qualifying, slipped to a 5.67 and fell to Thompson.

Whiteley brought Leanders' outstanding weekend to a close with a holeshot win in the semi's, 5.596 to 5.595. In the final, she ran her career record in regional competition at her favorite track to a perfect 12-0 with an even closer win over Payne, who got away first and made by far his best run of eliminations, 5.63, but fell a few feet short of Whiteley's second straight 5.59.

Gingles, Payne Win Topeka Regional

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association

Canadian Top Alcohol Dragster racer Gord Gingles stayed hot at the WIBW Thunder in the Heartland regional event in Topeka, and in Top Alcohol Funny Car, Jay Payne, one of the most prolific drivers in divisional/regional history, may have turned his season around with his first victory in 10 starts.

Gingles, who drove "The Bull" A/Fueler to a tight final-round decision over defending national champ Jim Whiteley last week in Brainerd for his first national event win, got off the line first and pounded out low e.t. of the meet – 5.354, a slight improvement on his 5.358 semifinal time – to put away Randy Meyer this time in a final-round battle of the top two drivers in the region in 2012.

Gingles qualified No. 1 with a 5.40 and clocked a 5.43 in the first round against veteran Edwin Schmeeckle. He stepped up to a 5.358, low e.t. of the weekend to that point, in the semifinals against John Finke, which cost Finke the East Region title. Dan Page, who was upset in the first round in Bowling Green this weekend after setting top speed in qualifying, won the East championship on the strength of one win (Maple Grove) and three final-round appearances.

Competing at his home track, Meyer, of Spring Hill, Kan., began eliminations from the No. 3 spot (5.44) and was the picture of consistency all weekend, running between 5.42 and 5.46 in all three rounds of eliminations. His 5.45 took out Christine Chambless in the opening round, and a 5.42, his best run of the weekend, was just enough to get past quick-leaving James Stevens' 5.50 by three-thousandths of a second in the semi's.

In the Top Alcohol Funny Car final, Payne beat early leader John Lombardo, 5.67 to 5.80, with a half-tenth edge in the first 60 feet, .976 to 1.024. Payne's Peak/FireIce Mustang got quicker every trip to the starting line all weekend, opening with a 5.80 in the first qualifying session and running nothing but high 5.60s the rest of the way, including a 5.69 for the No. 2 spot behind Lombardo.

Payne picked up a hundredth of a second to oust Lance Van Hauen in the first round with a 5.68 and another hundredth to beat red-lighting Kris Hool in the semi's with a 5.67, making it an all-California final against Lombardo, who ran in the 5.60s in both qualifying sessions and in every round but the final.

Lombardo beat Steve Griboski in the opening round, 5.67 to 5.88, and defending Central Region champ Kirk Williams, who had a .008 reaction time, in the semi's, 5.68 to 5.82. With the final-round appearance, Lombardo's NAPA team moved into the national points lead when Tony Bartone, in his first race in Mickey Ferro's car after splitting with longtime team owner Rick Jackson, was a victim of the abbreviated two-shot qualifying format and failed to qualify.

Cowie Makes Triumphant Return in TAD, Lombardo Takes TAFC

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association

Sidelined Top Alcohol Dragster star Shawn Cowie, critically injured in a motorcycle accident two years ago in Nashville and told repeatedly that he'd never race again, won the Les Schwab Challenge at Woodburn Dragstrip his first time back in the seat, qualifying No. 1 and defeating red-hot Chris Demke in the final. In Top Alcohol Funny Car, John Lombardo Jr. returned to early season form with a hard-fought win over the second-quickest field ever assembled.

Cowie's triumphant return began with a 5.45 test run on Thursday that was a victory in itself. Just getting the car down the track would have been a major accomplishment, but Cowie qualified No. 1 with a 5.33 that held up throughout eliminations for low e.t. and ran low e.t. of two of three rounds, including the final, where he edged Demke, 5.41 to 5.43, to cap a fairytale weekend.

Demke, coming off a win at the Route 66 Nationals, qualified No. 2 behind Cowie with a 5.39 and advanced to his seventh final already this season with back-to-back 5.38s against Megan McKernan, who backpedaled into a wheelstand, and track co-owner Joey Severance, who banged the blower.

Cowie's Mundie's Towing team took out defending event champ Gregg Lawrence in the opening round with a 5.37 and Norwalk runner-up Ray Martin in the semi's with a 5.41. Demke and Cowie left simultaneously in the final with .054 reaction times, and Cowie pulled ahead to win by half a car, 5.41, 267 to 5.43, 268 as Demke fell out of the 5.30s and the 270-mph zone for the first time all day.

Demke's 271.00 in the semifinals was good for top speed of the meet, and his latest final-round showing catapults him over yearlong leader Jim Whiteley and into the national points lead. Cowie's victory actually is his second in a row; in his last race before his accident in April 2011, he won the SummitRacing.com Nationals in Las Vegas.

Lombardo scored in Top Alcohol Funny Car for the first time since the season-opening Winternationals in Pomona. He lost photo-finish finals at both the national and regional events in Houston and was upset in the first round in his most recent outing, at Tulsa. This time a close final went his way, 5.70 to 5.75 over defending event champ Jay Payne.

The final was the only race all day in which the lower-qualified driver didn't win. No.8 Payne defeated No. 5 Steve Gasparrelli in one semifinal match, and No. 7 Lombardo took out No. 6 Sean Bellemeur in the other. In the first round, all four drivers from the top half of the field lost – No. 1 Clint Thompson to Payne, No. 2 Doug Gordon to Lombardo, No. 3 Annie Whiteley to Bellemeur, and No. 4 Brian Hough to Gasparrelli.

Qualifying was a show in itself. The bump was a 5.663 – the second-quickest ever behind only the 2009 Sonoma event (5.659 bump) won by Gasparrelli. Four drivers from that field also were a part of this one: Lombardo, Gordon, Gasparrelli, and Payne.

Oregon's Thompson qualified No. 1 with a 5.60, and another home state driver, Hough, set top speed with a barrage of 260-mph blasts, including a best of 262.23. Former Division 7 champion Terry Ruckman and 2013 national event winner Jirka Kaplan ran in the 5.60s and didn't qualify, and top-five driver Shane Westerfield just missed with a 5.70. The entire field was separated by less than six-hundredths of a second, from Thompson's 5.604 to Payne's 5.663.

Only one run in all of eliminations would have been quick enough to make the field – Lombardo's 5.62 in the first round. He ran a 5.70 against Bellemeur in the semifinals, Payne dispatched Gasparrelli a 5.75 in the other semi, and both drivers duplicated their semifinal times in the final.