At the second-to-last event of the
24-race Lucas Oil regional series, former Super Gas national event champion Aaron
Tatum, who had raced only four times all year and hadn't won a round, went the
distance in Top Alcohol Dragster, and John Lombardo kept his national championship
hopes alive and wrapped up the Central Region title with a victory in Top Alcohol
Funny Car.
Tatum, who DNQed at his first three
races this season – the Tulsa regional and both the national and regional
events at Topeka – and was ousted in the opening round at Dallas in his only
other start, managed a 5.80 in the final to take out upstart James Stevens, who
smoked the tires right off the line and slowed to an 8.90. Stevens, who
competed just three times this season, has improved every time out: he was beaten
in the first round at Denver, barely lost in the semifinals in Topeka, and
earned his first final-round appearance here with wins over Michael Manners in
round one and defending event champ David Brounkowski in the semifinals.
Tatum, an Oklahoma City homebuilder
competing at his home track, qualified eighth in the eight-car field with a
5.61 and ran a consistent 5.60 in the opening round to upset No. 1 qualifier
James Thompson, who, like every driver Tatum faced all weekend, smoked the
tires not far off the line. Randy Meyer did it in the semi's, shutting off to a
9.03 and falling to Tatum's long-gone 5.47, his best run of the weekend. Meyer,
who won the Richmond event and reached at least the semifinals at his last five
regionals, finished second to Gord Gingles in the Central region for the second
year in a row.
Lombardo, who won the Central Region
championship in a landslide with a 10-3 win-loss record, got the best of one of
the tougher Top Alcohol Funny Car fields anywhere this year, qualifying No. 2
with a 5.64 behind Cordova winner Dale Brand's 5.62. Outgoing 2012 Central
Region champ Kirk Williams and Scott McVey ran 5.68s for the No. 3 and No. 4
spots, respectively, and Steve Griboski produced a career-best 5.69 for fifth.
Kris Hool was sixth with a 5.71, steady Lance Van Hauen seventh with a 5.81,
and six-time event winner Mark Billington anchored the field with a 5.84. Wayne
Butler (5.89), Billy Davis (6.05), and Bryan Brown (6.86) missed the cut.
All four winners ran at least a mid-.60
in the opening round, starting with McVey, who hit a 5.64 against Griboski, who
lost traction immediately. Lombardo set low e.t. to that point in a 5.59 win
over Davis, who was in as an alternate for Van Hauen. Hool and Williams were
side-by-side into high gear in the best race of the round when Williams' engine
went south and he slowed to a 5.73 at just 224 mph while Hool pulled away with
a 5.65. Brand then reclaimed low e.t. for good in a 5.58 win over Billington's
5.87.
With a consistent 5.65, McVey came from
behind to upset Brand, who slipped to a 5.72 in the first semifinal match. In
the other, Lombardo and Hool left simultaneously, then Lombardo powered ahead
in the mid-range for a 5.61, 260.94 (top speed) decision and reached the final
round for the fourth time in five regional starts in 2013.
Lombardo's NAPA entry fought for
traction in the final, but not as hard as McVey's car, which shook so hard the parachutes
fell out. Lombardo scored for the second year in a row at Noble with his slowest
run of the weekend, a 5.79 that was enough to clinch the regional title and
leapfrog over Dallas winner Shane Westerfield for second place in the national
standings behind Frank Manzo, whose semifinal loss at Reading, Pa., kept him
from padding his lead.
