Meyer Back on Top in TAD, 3 in a Row for Pomponio in TAFC

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

With victories at the Lucas Oil Series event at Virginia Motorsports Park, Randy Meyer got back in the Top Alcohol Dragster winner's circle after a year of final-round futility and Dan Pomponio continued his amazing success in Top Alcohol Funny Car to take over the national points lead.

Meyer nipped Canadian Dan Mercier in the Top Alcohol Dragster final in the best race of the weekend, 5.321 to 5.330. "If this was last year, I would have lost," said Meyer, who dropped all six of his final-round appearances in 2012 – three at regional events, two at national events, and one at the Jegs Allstars race. "Maybe this year, we'll win the close ones."

Meyer set top speed in the final at 271.57 mph, eclipsing the 270.86 he had run in a semifinal win over No. 1 qualifier Dan Page. "I didn't get after it as hard for the final because I was afraid of smoking the tires and beating myself like I did last year," he said. "I really didn't expect him to pick up a tenth and make it that close."

Meyer won by nine-thousandths of a second – the difference between his and Mercier's e.t.s – after they left with identical .084 reaction times. "I saw the front of his wing at the 60-foot mark, and it was right there at 330 feet, half-track, and all the way through the lights," said Mercier, who took over the East Region points lead when Gainesville regional winner Richard Bourke and runner-up Rich McPhillips both surprisingly missed the cut. Fifteen drivers attempted to qualify, and the bump was a 5.58 by Trinidad's Rishi Kanick, who made his Top Alcohol Dragster debut this weekend in Sidnei Frigo's old car.

Mercier got around John Finke in a tire-smoking first-round match, 6.17 to 15.58, and beat former Top Alcohol Funny Car racer Wayne Morris, who is getting accustomed to driving with a clutch and reacquainted with driving a dragster, on a semifinal holeshot, 5.429 to 5.425. Meyer eliminated Jackie Fricke in round one, 5.88 to an up-in-smoke 9.21, and set low e.t. by a tenth with a 5.303 in the semifinals against Page, who had low e.t. until that point with a 5.403 in qualifying.

Pomponio, who had won once in his Top Alcohol Funny Car career before this season, at the Maple Grove Division 1 race in 2005, still hasn't lost a round all year. After taking both the regional and national events at Gainesville, he defeated John Anderika in the final for his third victory of the season. "I was already ecstatic after the first one," he said. "Then we won a national event. Now, I don't know what to say. It's like, 'Where did this come from?' “

Crew chief Dan Pomponio Jr. delivered low e.t. and top speed (5.570, 260.06) in the final against Anderika, and Pomponio did his job in the first round in a 5.651 to 5.619 holeshot win over Todd Veney that earned him a spot on the Jegs Allstars team.

Anderika qualified No. 1 with an off-the-trailer 5.637 and set low e.t. at the time with a 5.589 first-round win over D.J. Cox, who was runner-up at this event last year. He shut off early on a semifinal single and was on his way to a mid-5.50 in the final when an air line came off the transmission, which sent a valve through a piston and damaged the body severely enough to prevent the team from running the 4-Wide Nationals. 

Shields, Veney Win Eastern Regional Opener at Richmond

Courtesy of the Pro Sportsman Association/Todd Veney

At the Eastern Region opener at Virginia Motorsports Park, reigning Top Alcohol Dragster world champ Duane Shields put a disastrous start to his title defense behind him, outlasting a giant field for his first victory of the season. In Top Alcohol Funny Car, Todd Veney drove Jay Blake's Permatex/Follow A Dream Impala to a close final-round win over D.J. Cox, 5.66 to 5.69.

Shields, who had gone up in smoke right off the line in the first round in each of his four previous starts this year, qualified No. 3 and ran down Jackie Fricke and Mike Kosky in the preliminary rounds and Rich McPhillips, who had dominated all weekend, in the final.

"The car has run well at every track we've been to this year - just not in eliminations," Shields said. "It's kind of hard to tune the thing when it only goes five feet, but we got it calmed down this weekend and finally got a win."

Fricke, who won a national event at this track as a Super Comp driver, got the jump in round one, but Shields ran her down, 5.40 to 5.47. In the semi's, Kosky, who closed 2011 with his first national event win since 1999, was off like a shot and seemingly had the race in hand when his fuel tank ruptured and Shields slipped past him, 5.41/268 to 5.61/253.

"I saw him almost all the way," Shields said. "My car usually makes a charge at the top end, but I was already thinking, 'I don't know about this...' because he was so far out there. Then he just disappeared and I shot by him."
The final was over early when McPhillips, who ran slower on his worst qualifying run (5.33) than any other driver did on his best, went up in smoke a few hundred feet off the line. After qualifying No. 1 with a 5.31, McPhillips had low e.t. of the opening round with a 5.37 against two-time Division 1 champ John Finke and low e.t. of the semifinals with a 5.34 opposite Doug Foley's close 5.39. He slipped to a 6.98 in the final while Shields streaked to a 5.38, his quickest run of eliminations.

"It really left hard that time," Shields said. "I dropped a cylinder pretty early in the run and still ran a .38. McPhillips had been running so well all weekend that when I felt it drop that cylinder I was sure he was going to come around me, but he never did."

Seventeen drivers attempted to qualify, and several "name" drivers missed the cut, including Chase Copeland, Dan Page, and 2011 Division 1 champion Karen Stalba, who broke behind the line on her final qualifying attempt.

In Top Alcohol Funny Car, Veney qualified No.1 and set low e.t. and top speed with a 5.60 at 258.07 mph. "It's great to win a race this early in the season," he said. "I really owe Jay, tuner Tommy Howell, and our whole team for having this car set up perfectly all weekend. We overcame some problems and won some close ones - especially the semi's and the final. Eric Lourie and I always seem to have good races, and D.J. is someone I have a lot of respect for. He's a really good driver - most people just don't know about him yet."

Cox ran a strong 5.66 on his only qualifying run, which was his first run anywhere all year. He took out the automatic-transmission-equipped car of Wayne Morris in round one, 5.72 to 5.78, and recent Charlotte runner-up Dan Pomponio in the semifinals, 5.70 to 5.75, and left first in every round.

Duane Shields Gets First Win of the Year

Courtesy of Rich Bailey

Dinwiddie, Va - It's been a little bit of a struggle for the reining NHRA World Champion, Duane Shields, as up until this past weekend his Shortline Express team had not won a round in NHRA competition so far this year. But just as racers and fans predicted that streak wouldn't last long as Shields not only got his first round win of the year but he also secured his first event victory of 2012 as well.

The win at the Virginia Motorsports Park also gave Crew Chief, Mike Johnson, his seventh victory with a different driver. Since this was one of the new NHRA regional events the competition was tougher than at one of the traditional divisional events as 17 top alcohol dragsters tried to get into a very tight 8 car field. "We were lucky just to qualify as several big name drivers went home before the start of the first round" Duane said after qualifying second with a 5.35 at 266 mph.

In round one, Duane met up with no. 7 qualifier Jackie Fricke in a tight race to open the round. Fricke left first but Shields was able to make up the difference with a better ET and got around her at the top end of the track. Duane took the stripe with a 5.40 at 267 MPH to Fricke's valiant 5.47 at 263 MPH. "This was our closest race of the day as we ran a .41 to her .46. The car went straight down the track and we were able to get the win" said Duane.

In the second stanza, Duane raced east coast veteran Mike Kosky. Duane rolled into the beams and staged deeper than he anticipated and was late getting off of the starting line as a result. But Kosky shook the tires and Duane was able to get past him and take the win with a 5.41 at 268 MPH to Kosky's 5.61 at 253 MPH.

In the finals, Duane took on a familiar competitor from last season, Rich McPhillips. At the hit, McPhillips was out first but smoked the tires. Meanwhile, Duane made another clean run down the track with a 5.38 at 265 MPH to McPhillips' 6.98 to get his first victory of the year. "We hopped it up in the finals but dropped a cylinder. Regardless, the car ran good and we are definitely happy to get the win. In fact, just getting a round win today was great. I Hope this will give us some momentum going into Houston next weekend" Duane said.

The Shortline Express team would like to thank GRP Connecting Rods, NGK Spark Plugs and Molinari Racing Products for their support.