Samsel, Noakes Win First NHRA Titles at Maple Grove

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

At the Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway, veteran Robin Samsel won his first NHRA title of any kind in Top Alcohol Dragster and Canadian Paul Noakes did likewise in Top Alcohol Funny Car.

Samsel, a soft-spoken 64-year-old great-grandfather from Marion, Ind., who has been racing Top Alcohol Dragsters since 1996, had two previous final-round appearances, both runner-ups in regional/divisional competition, including one earlier this year. In his first national event final, Samsel produced one of the best reaction times of his career, a .020, to get the drop on Brandon Booher, who is known for his lights but had just a .083 that time. Any other light Booher had all weekend – or any other run with that .083 reaction time – would have been enough to win, but he slowed from his earlier 5.30s to a 5.51 and fell short of Samsel's 5.56 by seven-thousandths of a second as both drivers made by far their slowest runs of eliminations.

Booher qualified No. 1 with a 5.30 that held up all weekend for low e.t. With a 5.37, Samsel wasn't far behind and qualified a career-high third behind Booher's 5.30 and defending event champ Bill Reichert's 5.31.

Heading into the final, Booher, who ran nothing but 5.30s and had a worst reaction time of .059, clearly had the upper hand. Booher, who won his first national event title in Charlotte and is third in the national standings, erased 2011 world champ Duane Shields, Canadian Jeff Veale (who set top speed with an outstanding 274.11-mph charge), and 2013 East Region champion Dan Page with times of 5.33, 5.30, and 5.36.

Samsel was just as consistent but about a tenth back with 5.47, 5.44, and 5.49 wins over Doug Foley, Richard Bourke, and friend Rich McPhillips, respectively. Bourke's full-tenth holeshot in round two made Samsel's margin of victory just two-thousandths of a second.

"This is unbelievable," Samsel said after winning the final in a race nearly as tight as the second-round match with Bourke. "I owe it to my kid [Tony]. He's always there and he's the one who makes it all happen."

In Top Alcohol Funny Car, Noakes also earned his first NHRA win, also on a final-round holeshot, with a close 5.61 to 5.59 win over Mickey Ferro, who had taken out Frank Manzo in the semifinals. Ferro had a decent .076 reaction time, but Noakes had him all the way with a .035.

"I actually saw a lot of yellow that time," Noakes said. "I didn't think it was that good."  It's his seventh major win, including six IHRA titles in 10 career final-round appearances, highlighted by a 2007 win in Grand Bend, Ont. "That probably meant a little more to me because my whole family and everybody's family there," he said, "but this is big."

With a 5.62 in the final qualifying session, Noakes qualified No. 2 behind Manzo, who had won 12 of the past 13 national events at Maple Grove and who paced the field by nearly a tenth with a 5.53. Noakes, who came within a few thousandths of beating Manzo in the final here last year, put away John Fiorini, who was making his first appearance all year, in with a 5.72 in round one. His Les Mellows-tuned Meritor/Euclid Mustang was the picture of consistency on Sunday with times of 5.62, 5.60, and 5.61 against Fred Tigges in round two, Todd Veney in the semi's, and Ferro in the final.

Ferro, who was runner-up to Manzo in Charlotte in his only other start since May, picked up from 5.60s on Friday and Saturday to three consecutive .50s on Sunday. A 5.57 took out 2013 East Region champion John Anderika in round two, a 5.58 upset nemesis Manzo in the semi's, and a 5.59 left him 28-thousandths of a second short of Noakes in the final.

"A .076 light?" Ferro said. "That sucks. You need to be in the .030s or .040s in the final. I knew I had to cut a light that time, and that's what I was thinking about going up there. You shouldn't be thinking about anything. I never saw him, but I had a feeling I lost on a holeshot. I never saw my win-light on, but when I went around the corner, they waved me over to the side where the winners go to be interviewed, and I thought, 'Thank God.' Then they pointed me back over to the other side and it was just a kick in the gut."

 

Booher Wins Second, Brand Stops Manzo

Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association

At the Central Region Lucas Oil Series event at Cordova Dragway Park, Brandon Booher ruled Top Alcohol Dragster for the second week in a row and Dale Brand won Top Alcohol Funny Car over Frank Manzo, running his lifetime win-loss record against the reigning world champ to 2-0.

Booher, who went the distance for the first time in his career just two weeks ago at Chicago's Route 66 Raceway, won a tight final over veteran Robin Samsel, 5.45 to 5.46, after taking an even closer semifinal win over Dave Hirata. "Both of those guys stepped up," Booher said. "I was shooting for .40-flat or a .41 in the final, but I got a little greedy and shook and spun the tires. There he was – boom, right beside me – but the car made it through the shake without me having to pedal. I probably wrung out both gears a little more than I should have, but we got it done."

As in Chicago, Booher qualified father Aaron's AB Construction dragster in the No. 1 spot, this time with a 5.41 at 266.64 mph. He was right back in the .40s and mid-260s in all three rounds of eliminations, including a 5.47, 264 in the opening round that eliminated returning veteran Paul Fishburn, and a 5.44 at 265 in the semi's that was just enough to hold off Hirata.

"Hirata sawed the Tree down, picked up a tenth, and almost beat us," Booher said. "We picked up in that round, too, because we weren't taking him for granted. This car has always been consistent. but now it's consistently quick. It was a little stagnant the last few years, but now, instead of a car that can run .45 to .50 and a driver who can cut a light, we're running good, too. People come up against us, and it's not just 'Don't screw up and we've got this' anymore. They know we're here to play."

Samsel had his best outing to date, stopping Norwalk winner Marty Thacker, who surprisingly qualified just seventh, in the first round and 2012 Central Region champion and defending event winner Gord Gingles, who red-lighted, in the semi's. Samsel was off the mark with a solid .069 reaction time in the final, but Booher had it all the way with a .022 light and slightly better e.t.

Beating Manzo will always go down as an upset, but Brand was right with the perennial world champ all weekend. "Gainesville this year was the only other time we've ever lined up against Frank, but we just happened to be in the other lane when he had trouble," Brand said. "I don't look at that as beating Frank Manzo. This was a little more legit."

Brand, who reached his first national event final his last time out, qualified No. 1 with a 5.67, then Manzo gained the upper hand through the early rounds of eliminations. Manzo qualified just third with a 5.75, then ran another 5.75 in the opening round against Wayne Butler while Brand slipped to a 5.80 that was still enough to take out second-year driver Todd Robertson. In the semifinals, Brand and Manzo claimed identical 5.72 to 5.76 wins – Brand over Ray Drew and Manzo over No. 2 qualifier Andy Bohl.

Manzo had the two best reaction times of the entire event - .033 and .025 – but Brand got off the mark first in the final, .051 to .079, and pulled ahead for a 5.671 (low e.t.) to 5.70 win.

"Frank brings out the best in us," Brand said. "Anytime you can get past the best – and that's what he is, obviously – that's a win to remember. He's the gold standard of Alcohol Funny Car racing, the guy every team out here shoots for."

With his third final-round appearance in a row, Manzo is up to eighth in the national standings and has fewer starts than anyone else in the Top 10. Brand, racing for the first time in two months, now has reached at least the semifinals everywhere he's raced this year, including a semifinal appearance in Gainesville and a runner-up in Charlotte."

Reichert Wins Third in a Row, Ferro Victorious at Columbus

Courtesy of the Pro Sportsman Association/Todd Veney
Photos courtesy of Steve Fuhrman

Backed into a corner after losing early in his first two regional starts, Bill Reichert won his third straight to complete a perfect regional season and put himself in position to challenge runaway points leader Jim Whiteley for the Alcohol Dragster championship. Mickey Ferro had a much tougher time the negotiating the treacherous National Trail Raceway surface but managed to eke out the win in Top Alcohol Funny Car.

Reichert, upset in the first round at both Indianapolis and Norwalk, followed up his Maple Grove and Chicago wins by stopping Robin Samsel in the Columbus final, 5.40 to 5.84. "You try not to think about the pressure of having to win three races in a row for a perfect three-win regional season, but in the back of your mind, it's always there," said Reichert, who won every national championship from 2006 to 2010 and settled for second last year. "I just tried to concentrate on winning each round and dealing with the conditions."

An iffy track and oppressive heat kept drivers in all classes fighting for traction all weekend. "The track was hot, and the air was, too," Reichert said. "A lot of cars smoked the tires ahead of us in the first round, and it seemed like every time another one did, we'd take a little more timing out of it. We didn't want to, but we had to for the car to be able to get a hold of the track."

Running in the last pair of the round, Reichert pounded alternate Dave Heitzman in a rematch of the Chicago final with a 5.35 (low e.t.) that surprised even him. "I definitely didn't think the car would run that good, and we weren't even trying to, but that's the number that came up," he said. After a 5.41 against fellow title contender Randy Meyer in the semifinals, Reichert ran a consistent 5.40 in the final to deny the veteran Samsel.

Ferro struggled with the conditions all weekend but persevered to win his third race this season and second in a row in the North Central Region. "That was ugly," he admitted. "We lucked out. The track got hot and greasy and we couldn't get a handle on it. The car would leave hard every time, but it would get out there and start moving around on me and I'd have to short-shift it or just shut it off. "

Ferro qualified No. 2 behind Norwalk winner Chris Foster, who had everybody covered in qualifying with a 5.64, but in the first round, Foster went up in smoke and lost to many-time IHRA event winner Tony Bogolo, 6.12 to a shutoff 13.26. One pair later, Ferro defeated Brian Harvanek in the best race of the event, 5.74 to 5.79. "We had everything – clutch, transmission ratio, timing – backed way down," Ferro said, "and I made it." In round two against Paul Noakes, he didn't.

"The car started getting sideways, I saw the cones coming, and I stepped off of it," Ferro said. "We were just too aggressive downtrack. This was the kind of race where you probably could just run off the main jet and the barrel valve and count on the track to give you the wheel speed you need."

Ferro strapped a holeshot on Bogolo in the final, .099 to .257, and still won despite having his car shut itself off in the mid-range, coasting to a 6.35 at 187 mph. Bogolo chased him down but fell three-hundredths of a second short with a 6.23, 227.

"They say a win's a win, and I can think of times I've run 5.50s and got sent home, but this isn't the kind of thing I'm going to feel too good about," Ferro said. "When I look at this trophy, I'm not going to feel the same as I will when I look at other ones that I feel we really earned. I guess the important thing is that this weekend helped us keep pace with the other cars going for the championship, but we can't have another one like this and expect to win."