Welcome to the 'water box'

Above : The ever lovely Kim Parker spending time with a race fan, it's moments like this that make this sport great.

SEPTEMBER 7TH 2008 : Well, you have not seen too much in the way of updates lately as I have had a great deal of 'life' stuff on my plate and so it's been a bit quiet on the drag photog front.  But be sure there are plenty of cool images coming your way in the next couple of months from yours truly as the season winds down.

I just wanted to add my 'congrats' to 'Draggin Don Murray' for the awesom 6.61 at a whopping 224.55 mph!

AUGUST 25TH 2008 :  Saturday evening under the lights at MRP was an awesome show, I'm pretty sure the folks who saw it will be back next year!

311.41mph in 5.13sec's .....'nuff Said.

Full gallery to follow soon.

AUGUST 23RD 2008 : Just leaving to try and shoot some jet cars!  I've posted some galleries from the CMDRA weekend now and they can be viewed from the '2008 Galleries' page as usual.  Or you can view the TNT gallery here and the raceday here, also there are a few exhibition cars here.

AUGUST 12TH 2008 : Despite the weather's best efforts, it was a great weekend with the CMDRA and I should have a gallery up in the next couple of weeks.  Coming up next will be the 'Smoke and Thunder' of the jet cars as the hit the MRP black top in a couple of weeks.  This year I'm told they will be a couple of fire breathin' dragsters that have the potential to give Mission it's first 300mph runs.  Also in attendance will be a handful of wheelie machines for your entertainment.  Below is a shot from my new 'Sportsman' gallery at the Can.Open of our local wheelie guy, Rob Murphy in his '57 Chevy truck.

AUGUST 5TH 2008 : Well I didn't make it to the Langley Loafers old time drags this year due to illness, but I am aiming to make the CMDRA race coming this weekend (weather permitting as it's not looking good so far).  In anticipation of that race I have now posted a Nitro Harley gallery from the Can. Open weekend, you can view it here or just go to the 2008 galleries page.  Top Alcohol gallery, which has a focus on the Parker teams last visit to MRP as an Alcohol team, can be found here.  The CPSA gallery is now posted and can be viewed in the 2008 galleries or click here.

Many more galleries to come so keep checking in to see what's up next......

JULY 28TH 2008 :  My two big races this month are now in the books.  The NHRA Big Show at Seattle was a great race and I really didn't get a feel for any real difference in the show running to 1000ft.  I will be posting a gallery, but not for a few weeks.

Then we had the Canadian Open which was a great show with some track records falling, strong fields for bikes and cars and good weather (just).  My focus this weekend was the Nostalgia Funny Cars as I was doing some reporting to both, Nostalgia Funny Car News and Drag Racing Online.  Here are some links to my race reports :

http://www.dragracingonline.com/raceresults/2008/x_7-open-1.html

http://www.nostalgiafunnycarnews.com/forums/showthread.php?t=903

http://www.nostalgiafunnycarnews.com/forums/showthread.php?t=899

http://www.nostalgiafunnycarnews.com/forums/showthread.php?t=897

And of course there is a gallery set up in my 2008 Galleries page.  Other classes of racing galleries will be posted over the coming days.....

JULY 2ND 2008 : Wow, what a start to this month.  First of all Happy Canada Day everyone!  We had a fun filled weekend at Mission this past weekend with some cool door car racing.  Yes, car counts were down, but the guys that were there put on a great show in some tricky tuning conditions because it was hot.  Tracks temps in the order of 135 degrees!  And if you were not in the sun getting burned you were in shade getting eaten by the Mission mozzies.  Anyhoo, here's my race report for that one.......

West Coast Pro Modifieds head North of the border to face off at Mission Raceway Park, BC, Canada June 29/30. Words and Images by Paul Grant.

As Forrest Gump once said : "the West Coast Pro Modifieds is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get", well okay it didn't quite go like that but you get the idea. The WCPM has a strong contingent of drivers and rides, but they don't all do the full tour and so until the transporters roll into the pits you can never guarantee your car count.

The June 28/29 race at Mission Raceway Park was #3 of a six race schedule and it falls one week ahead of the Rocky Mountain Nationals which has, in the past, been a factor with the entry list seeing the likes of Spiering, Cannon, Kerunsky, and Rowe coming to test ahead of the big IHRA event. This year however was probably a commentary on the current economic situation and how it will affect drag racing, and more specifically drag racing in Canada.

From the WCPM alone there was potentially 17 entrees for the "Thunder in the Valley Pro Mod Challenge" not including any Eastern interlopers. Possibly because of rising fuel costs and a weaker American dollar, I can't actually say, but on Saturday Morning there was only eleven ProMods on hand and one of those was a local Pro Street car trying his hand at the PM class. Out of the eleven cars there were only four from south of the border and, when reading about some economic issues facing IHRA drivers heading North of the border, you have to figure this event is facing similar challenges.

Despite the previously mentioned challenges, a great show was put on with some real close racing across the classes. Mission Raceway Park is approximately 25 feet above sea level creating conditions that offer the opportunity to make big power and personal best numbers for those who challenge it. Couple that with high 90 degree air temps and a track temperature around 135 degrees, some guys had their hands full trying to find that tuning set up that would get them down the track quickly and consistently.

Joe Delehay on his way to a comfortable #1 spot in qualifying with a 6.269 @ 232.85 mph.

Sunny Saturday qualifying for the "Thunder in the Valley" Pro Mod event arrived and, with a set up from some pre-event testing the day before, teams hit the track to lay down some runs that would hopefully see them in the eight car field on Sunday. Joe Delehay, the 2007 WCPM champion, brought his beautiful '68 Camaro form Alberta having been a round 2 loser last year, with track experience, a new blower and fuel system. He would be setting the bar for others to try and reach with a solid 6.269 @ 232.85 miles an hour in qualifying to take the number one spot.

Dan Vogt burns out his lovely '63 vette as he gets ready to make a run good enough for the #2 spot

Next up on the charts would be Dan Vogt out of Regina with the best of the nitrous cars, steering his '63 Corvette to a strong 6.375 @ 222.00, the vette still baring battle scars from a tangle with the wall the previous week. Vern Mills should have been next up, taking his very cool Hass built nitrous '55 Chevy to a 6.389 @ 219.51 pass but he damaged his engine during qualifying that would take him out of contention for Sunday's race. His spot would be taken by the second alternate; Keith Korecki and his gorgeous '67 Shelby Mustang. He had only mustered a 7.137 @ 203.20 as traction was not his best friend on this weekend, and his first round match up with Tommy Johanns would be tough. Fourth in the Saturday standings would be Gary Mason in his '66 blown Corvette posting a 6.445 @ 233.64, top speed for the day.

Rod Pearce charging hard to fourth in qualifying

Next up was Rod Pearce in another '63 nitrous with a 6.49 closely followed by Tommy Johanns '53 blown Vette with a 6.52. Brian Lane was next up taking his Pro Street '63 Vette, shedding some weight to move into the Pro Mod field by running a 6.58, and Perry Thyr took the final eight spot with 6.72. Local guy, Duane Grasart ran his '55 Chev to the ninth spot and was the first alternate for Vern Mills, but he too had technical issues that kept him out of Sunday's round one competition. And bringing up the rear on this day was Tom Meheden who just couldn't get his Beretta to hook up for the duration of the 1/4 mile sometimes looking like maybe he should've been at the stampede.

Vern Mills took the #3 spot in qualifying before having engine issues that would ultimately take him out of the race.

Vern Mills spot in the race would be taken by Keith Korecki in his lovely '69 Shelby

The Canadian Pro Street Association were starting their season with the first of three races over the summer. This was another group of racers that seem to be facing some issues in putting decent sized fields together for a multiple of reasons. They have 3 classes, Pro Street, Outlaw 10.5, and Open Comp.

Garrett Richards was on pole in Pro Street with a 6.858 @ 210.97 mph

Qualifying for Pro Street saw three cars take the track, with another three just not ready for competition. Garrett Richards took the pole with his blown '06 Chevy Silverado truck with a very solid 6.858 @ 210.97mph, followed by Dale Pedersen in a turbo'd '83 Buick at 7.435 @ 185.52. Last car in line was Jay Syverten in his very cool ex-promod blown '38 Chev. which ran a traction challenged 7.583 @ 132.23.

Outlaw qualifying was led by local racer Dale Moznik, a winner last year at Vegas in the PSCA Outlaw class, in the very quick '68 El Camino. He had been struggling to get those small tires to hook up in the hot conditions, but still ran a 7.581 @ 192.80. He was one of only four cars in this class, behind him in Saturday's standings were Steve Nicholson in a '66 Nova that ran 8.149 @ 174.62, following Steve was another '66 Nova driven by Troy Pike to a 9.891 @ 148.73. Final spot was for Mike Dutchck in a '88 Mustang that turned in a 9.964 @ 148.71, the car had looked a handful all day long so you knew he had his work cut for him.

Dale Moznik was number one in Outlaw 10.5 by running 7.581 @ 192.80 mph

Six cars made up the Open Comp. field with Jim Johnson in his '69 Chevelle taking top spot from Wes Hendricks in a '68 Falcon. Behind them was Randy Johnson ('66 Chevelle), Keith Vahle ('86 Blazer), Lorne Dufour ('66 Chevy II)Glen Garneau ('70 Chev).

In the Canada West Door Slammers, a very popular class out on the West coast of Canada, we saw a field of 22 cars take the track for qualifying. This class sees cars that will run a mid six to cars that run in the nine's. On this day we saw Craig Donaldson in his Pro Stock style '04 Pontiac take the pole with 6.892 @ 201.16 from Dean Woods in his '06 GTO which ran 7.285 @ 191.36. Next up was Greg Anderson (no, not that one) in a '03 Grand Am and Mike Bedsworth in his super consistent '96 Olds Cutlass and Grant Howell's '37 Chev.

Craig Donaldson's Pro Stock style '04 Pontiac was #1 in qualifying in Door Slammers.

On race day the hot weather conditions continued. Round one for Promods saw Keith Korecki get his opportunity for some redemption against Tommy Johanns. The Shelby launched off the line first but appeared to lose some traction down track giving Johanns' Vette the win. Next up was Rod Pearce and Gary Mason, a pair of Corvettes, one blown and one nitrous. Pearce got off the line first in his silver nitrous '63, launching hard with the front wheels up for the first second or so. Mason tried to reel him in but with little track time due to just one run in qualifying, the big blown Vette started to over power the track and began to move around and Pearce went onto a career best of 6.32 @ 222. Joe Delehay and Perry Thyr came up to the line next and Thyr in his '91 Camaro cut a great light on Delehay but there was no way his 6.77 would stack up against a 6.25 @ 233 from the most consistent car at the track of Delehay. The final pair in round one was Dan Vogt and Brian Lane, the two red '63 Corvettes looking like team cars but Lane was from Washington and Vogt is from Regina, so we had a US vs. Canada race. They left pretty evenly and Lane ran a personal best of 6.49, but Vogt had a little extra to take the win with a 6.37 @ 221.

Perry Thyr readies his chariot for his one and only round of racing on this particular Sunday as he was a first round loser to event winner Delehay.

Gary Mason made some impressive laps considering his lack of track time, but ultimately fell to Rod Pearce in round 1

Round two kicked of with another pairing of '63 Vettes with Rod Pearce facing Dan Vogt. Both nitrous cars left hard getting clear air under the front wheels, but the Vogt car had been a little quicker all weekend long, looking very comfortable in the 6.30's and this proved to be the case in this race with Dan Vogt getting to the stripe first in 6.38 seconds with Rod Pearce trailing at 6.49, a great race. The other semi was Mr. 6.20's, Joe Delehay going up against Tommy Johanns in his blown '53 Vette. Johanns coming into town from Colorado spent most of the weekend adjusting from mile high air to sea level and was stuck in the 6.50's giving the advantage to Delehay coming in. As you would expect, Johanns got Delehay on the tree but it wasn't enough as he ran a 6.60 to another Delehay 6.25 taking Joe into the final against Dan Vogt. Delehay said his car was set up to run 25's all day long, it sure was, and they all seemed straight and true. It looked like he had the measure of all his opponents on this Sunday, it was a very impressive performance from the 2007 Champ.

Rod Pearce goes down to Dan Vogt in the semis after a pretty solid outing in the silver '63 vette.

Tommy Johanns in the flamed '53 vette was the next victim to the very consistent Delehay.

The all Canadian final would prove to be very interesting. We had to two most consistent cars all weekend long with the blown car having about a tenth over the nitrous car. Knowing this, Dan Vogt had to try and get Joe on the tree and looking at previous match ups it was quite possible. With burnouts complete the '68 blown Camaro lines up against the '63 nitrous Corvette, both cars launch hard but Dan Vogt goes red by .003, but he is driving the Vette so hard he doesn't notice and you could see the Vette almost fish tailing through the finish line but backed out to a 6.79 at the stripe. Meanwhile Joe Delehay lays down another clean run @ 6.29. Race over right? Another win for Joe Delehay, well, maybe not..........

Joe Delehay, your eventual winner getting set for another mid 6.20 pass to take the event title at Mission Raceway Park.

The battle scared '63 vette of Dan Vogt gets a .003 red light in the final to hand victory to a slightly skinny Joe Delehay.

This race is run under IHRA rules and apparently Joe had not realized the minimum weight for blown cars had been increased. With the car not being checked during qualifying it wasn't until the post race weigh in that the missing 10lbs of weight was noticed. But to add to this confusion there didn't seem to be a rule to cover this double infraction race situation, as Joe was light and rules only cover when somebody bypasses the scales, so nobody could be awarded the winner until the IHRA could be contacted. Finally on Tuesday a decision of "first or worse" was brought forward by Jim Weinert, Director of Field Op's for the IHRA, thus handing the win to Joe Delehay as the small weight difference was deemed to be not as bad as the red light (thanks to Speedzone for breaking this news).

In other classes it was a little more straight forward. With just three cars in the field Garrett Richards singled to the final in his blown 2006 Chevy Silverado and Dale Pederson took his turbo'd '83 Buick to a 7.58 pass to get by Jay Syvertsen's '38 Chevy. Garrett then issued the knockout punch of a 6.80 @ 211.61 in the final over Dale's losing 8.32 to take the first race of the CPSA season honors.

The Pro Street final saw Dale Pederson (near) vs. Garrett Richards (far)

In Outlaw, the number qualifier Dale Moznik in the nitrous '68 El Camino got the single to the final as Mike Dutchck didn't make the show in his Mustang after slapping the wall in qualifying. And in the other semi a pair of local nitrous '66 Nova's faced off with Troy Pike (8.53) getting the win over Steve Nicholson (9.08), both cars launching hard and getting some good air under the front. In the final it was all Dale as he put in a solid run on the 10.5's in the heat at 7.73 @186.25, while Troy was caught sleeping with a 0.458 light. It's a great start to the season for Dale, but there more cars coming out to make his life more difficult in the next round.

The Outlaw 10.5 final was Trot Pike in his Nova (near) being bested by Dale Moznik in the El Camino (far)

In the Open Comp Eliminations, both Keith Vahle in his wheel standing '86 Blazer and Jim Johnson in a '69 Chevelle got singles to the semis where Keith took care of Glen Garneau's '70 Chev with a .030 better light and a 9.94 on a 9.90 dial. And Jim beat out Lorne Dufour's '66 Chevy II with nearly .100 better on the lights and running 9.27 on a 9.20 dial. In the final Keith got a bit over anxious and red lit by .037 handing the win to Jim who dodged a bullet because his light was a tortoise-like .490.

Jim Johnson (near) and Keith Vale (far) burnout in preparation for there final in Open Comp.

In the Canada West Door Slammers the number 1 qualifier; Craig Donaldson went out first round to a very much on form Grant Howell in the lovely bright orange '37 Chev. Meanwhile Zak Clarke, the man to beat in this class this season, took his '94 Beretta to the win over Tom Montgomery's '89 Olds in his first round of action. In round two, Grant got the win over the very fast Terry Spargo in his '02 Cavalier, they left pretty much even in RT, but Grant's 7.67 on a 7.64 dial beat out Terry's 6.91 on a 6.82. Zak had a gift in round two when Shane Wangler couldn't control his Camaro in the lights and Zak ran a 8.59 on a '49 dial. Zak's luck continued into round three as he faced Ken Kruger who was a little too eager with a -.113 red light, but Zak being the bracket racer he is ran a 8.50 on a 8.50 dial. Grant's round three match up saw him beat Dean Woods on reaction time with a .028 to a .088 but as it turned out Dean ran a little too quick trying to make that time up and Grant's 7.70 on a '65 was good enough. In the semis, Grant got to face a real strong runner in Ray Kirton, who's blown '98 Chev truck is a huge crowd favorite with some wild burnouts. Both cars had similar RT's but Grant ran a 7.68 on a 7.67 dial to Ray's 7.88 on a 7.86 dial, another great race. And Zak, well he just couldn't do any wrong today as he got a single into the final. In the final it was all Grant Howell, he cut a .004 light and ran a 7.686 on a 7.68 dial and Zak Clarke's run of luck came to an end with a 8.52 on a 8.49. A popular win for the much liked driver.

Grant Howell warms the hides on his lovely '37 Chev on route to the Door Slammer win.

Other notable winners were Vicki Strell in her beautiful Daytona red 1971 Dodge Demon in Super Pro. Wolf Sickinger, in his might green Cutlass in Pro, Phil Marvetz continues to be a dominant player in his '71 Duster in Sportsman. Dan Temple won Bike and Taylor Vogel took the Jr Dragster title.

Vicki Strell charging to another win in Super Pro.

Photo Extra :

Vern Mills trying to deal with the heat in Qualifying.

Keith Vahle striking a familiar pose.

Bob Kokotello spent his 50th birthday bringing WJ's old superman car out for a few runs.

Don Murray was 'test and tuning' with some exhibition runs to prepare for future Pro Street battles.

Brian Lane in his '63 Corvette stepped up to Pro Mod for this weekend out of Pro Street.

Mark Sanders was another exhibition test and tuner and ran a very stout 6.03 @ 235 in his nostalgia funny car.

Ron Hogenson was the twelfth Pro Mod on campus, he did a couple of hard launches on the Friday running was was a no-show for qualifying.

Phil Marvetz was you Sportsman winner in the trusty Duster.

Randy Arlitt does his version of the classic "Smoke on the water - box" in the Door Slammer class.

One cool parking lot.

Hot Rod had some pretty cool rides in it's class like this bad blown 'Effie.

Tom Meheden in his wild riding Baretta didn't make the PM field, but it sure wasn't through lack of trying.

Steve Nicholson is still working out some bugs on his much revamped Outlaw Nova, and it's gonna be quick!

Another crowd pleasing burnout full of Dutch Attitude from Klass Reitsma and his bad-ass Arrow in Door Slammer.

Duane Grasart airing his dirty laundry in public.

Another classic Door Slammer, this is Terry Langdon Davies in his very cool '41 Willys.

One more shot of Keith Korecki's Shelby Pro Mod, because it's so nice to look at.

June 2008 :   I would like to add my sincerest condolences to the Kalitta family and friends over the tragic loss of Scott Kalitta on Saturday June 21st 2008.  He was a great champion and a standout guy.  He made a huge impression on me when I first got to visit a NHRA event as a friendly and great ambassador for his sport.  He will be greatly missed by myself and many other race fans.

      

I have got a couple of galleries up now from the Lucas Oil weekend.  They are a bit on the big side so get a cup of tea before you start.  Links are set up in the '2008 Galleries' page or you can veiw them HERE.  The MRP races before and after that event are still to be sorted and probably will not happen before the Promod event.

Here is the latest CMDRA event poster featuring my images.  Should be an awesome race!

Coming up this month for me is MRP race#5, another round of the 'Summit' series.  Then at the end of the month we have a great door slammin' festival featuring those incredible Pro Mods of the WCPMA and watch out for some crazy Pro Street cars and of course another cool show from the CWDSA.  It's going to be a fantastic weekend!

Here is my race report for Drag Race USA on the LODRS Div.6 race :

Severance, Thompson, big winners at Mission - Words and images by Paul Grant

MISSION, BC CANADA : Picture perfect weather saw Round 2 of the Division 6 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series come north of the Border. Although forecasts had promised dubious conditions, it turned out to be a weekend of consistency for the cars, the track, and the fans that came to visit the current Div.6 ‘track of the year’. Joey Severance used a strong weekend long performance culminating in a hole-shot win over local favorite Shawn Cowie to take the Top Alcohol Dragster Wally back to Spanaway Wash. Clint Thompson coming in as defending event champion and second in points, three-peated at this event as he put a solid run on Sean O'Bannon in the Alcohol Funny Car Final.

Qualifying kicked off on Friday with the first round of Alcohol in the late afternoon, with cloudy skies and cooler temps, Duane Shields made good use of the sea-level quality air and threw down a 6.231 / 272.80 on his first run of the weekend to take the No.1 position. That time would stand for the weekend as Saturday conditions, although very good, were a little warmer and did not offer up the opportunity for that time to be beaten. Randy Eakins was next up with a 6.307 / 268.41 also from the Friday session. With Severance (5.36), Cowie (5.391), and Bayer (5.397) right behind there was no relaxing for the guys at the top as Cowie, second in points coming in, showed some great consistency throwing clean straight 39’s out there on all three runs and Bayer laying down a couple of low 40’s to go with his 39. Also, this weekend saw Steve and Patty Federlin's new second team car and driver Justin Davis qualifying #7 with a 5.57 on his rookie outing.

Above : Duane Shields on his way to Pole in TA/D

In Funny Car, again the Friday time for Thompson stood for the weekend; he ran a nice 5.62 / 257.51 off the trailer to take the #1 spot. Sean O'Bannon with his first visit to Mission arrived as points leader, was second with a 5.653 / 255.97, running without his team mate De Joria who will be focusing on Div.7 races this season while O'Bannon goes after Div.6. Next up was John Evanchuk (5.73) who seemed to be happy to run in the low 5.70’s all weekend long, his second pass being done without the aid of a shift light!. Behind him was Brian Hough (5.741) and Hometown favorite Tim Nemeth (5.82). Ken Krauss was on hand with a new chassis and spent the weekend trying to dial out some vibrations, but got his car in the #7 spot with some great driving with a couple of wild rides in qualifying.

Above : Clint Thompson on his way to the #1 spot in TA/FC

In Comp Eliminator, Rob Harrison with his 'Igor' powered cavalier claimed the pole with a 7.735 (-0.745) run and ran strong all weekend. Super Stock pole went to Jim Caughlin in his '96 Escort at 11.423 (-1.327), while Stock Eliminator's top spot was taken by Bill Edgeworth's '77 Firebird with a 11.563 (-1.387).Top Sportsman and Top Dragster #1 qualifying positions went to Terry Spargo (6.743) and Greg Carlile (6.519). Sportsman Motorcycle pole was Kelly Vos on his '78 Suzuki with a 0.002 RT.

Above : Rob Harrison launching 'Igor' to the top of the pile in Comp Elim Quals

On Race day Joey Severance seemed unbeatable in Top Alcohol Dragster as he took out Brandon Johnson, the points leader coming into this race, with a strong 5.368 / 264.62, and then rookie Justin Davis with a 5.368 / 262.46 to line himself up in the final with Shawn Cowie. Cowie had been equally consistent beating Tom Bayer with a nice 5.356 / 270.10 and then Duane Shields at 5.357 / 269.54. But in the final it was Severance who won the race on the tree (0.065 RT) as he took the final in a hole-shot win at 5.373 / 265.40 to Cowie's (0.105 RT) losing 5.366 / 269.29.

Above : TA/D Final, Cowie (near) vs. Severance (far)

Clint Thompson's win in Top Alcohol Funny Car over Sean O'Bannon showed equal consistency as the Dragster guys, with Clint disposing of Nathan Sitko with a 5.63 / 257.06, and then his Div.6 nemesis Brian Hough at 5.639 / 257.28 to make the final. O'Bannon starting off strong, wowing all of MRP with a track record 5.589 / 260.41 run that ended Ken Kraus's day, and then Sean finished John Evanchuk off with a 5.685 / 258.02 to match up against Clint in what was a great final. Both cars left together and ran hard, side by side all the way down the track but it was Thompson who got his third win in a row at this event with a 5.682 / 256.70 over O'Bannon's 5.691 / 257.06.

Above : TA/FC Final, O'Bannon (near) vs. Thompson (far)

Rob Harrison carried his #1 qualifying spot in Comp. Eliminator into Sunday and turned it into a popular win at his home track. His unique six cylinder 'Igor' engine powering him past a quicker reacting Pat Byron to win the final in 7.801 / 164.35. Robert Mathews came to Mission in his lovely '67 Nova with a win in Boise and backed that up with another win at MRP, this time over Bill Kondolay. Mike Henderson won Top Dragster as JR Leerkamp red lit his way out of the final. In Stock Eliminator Jeff Lane cut a 0.010 light to take a record sixth win at Mission over David Rastad. In Super Stock Norm Lapointe goes red on the start giving the win to Don Thomas. Buff Kobs won Sportsman Motorcycle and Jeff Havens breaks out on the top end. Stefan Kondolay cut a 0.003 light in Super Comp to win big at his home track over Earl Cunningham. Tony Hernandez took his color morphing '66 Nova to the win in Super Street over Nikki Cannon as he runs a 10.90 on a 10.90 index. Lindsey Larson, running a new car in Super Gas, took the win over Chris Cannon as he ran a 9.901 on a 9.90 index. And in Super Pro, local guy, Terry Trociuk took the win over Kevin Chambers.

Above : All event winners

Below : Alcohol class winning teams

Above : TA/D winner Joey Severance

Below : TA/FC winner Clint Thompson

Above : Top Dragster winner Mike Hendersen

Below : Sportsman Motorcycle winner Buff Kobs

Next race for the NHRA Northwest racers will be in four weeks at Pacific Raceways in Seattle Wa.

May 2008 :   Well, this month has been a busy one. I have been able to post galleries from the MOPAC Friday night street legal races and the first three weekend races at MRP, two of which featured the awesome  Canada West Door Slammers. It seems, so far this year, things are going real well with minimal downtime on the track and some strong fields of quality cars.
 
 
This month I plan on shooting all the races at Mission with a couple of 'Summit' series events and of course at the end of the month the Lucas Oil  Div.6 circus comes to town. I'll be covering that race for Drag Race USA. Those galleries will be up some time in June. Also look out for the CMDRA posters featuring photography by youirs truly. You can check out the latest galleries by clicking '2008 Galleries' (to the left) or by clicking HERE.
April 2008 :This month, race action begins at Mission at last, after, what seems to have been a long winter, I for one, can't wait to get back out there.  I will be shooting each weekend and also I will be shooting at, what is race two of the MOPAC Street legal races, although due to weather it will be the first race of the season for that series.
 
This was a little story that go published on the 'Eurodragster' website about my trip to Santa Pod raceway for the Easter Weekend, it might make you smile....
I was going to Santa Pod as a lad back in the seventies and continued to go, probably, until the mid eighties. I remember the old 'Stripteaser', 'Al's Gasser', the 'Houndogs', Medicine Man', yes the list could go on forever. I still have my old event programmes and Drag Racing News papers and my much love 'Blue Max' hero card from '76 (I think). Working in other roundie-round motor racing took me away from my drags in the 80's and I kinda lost touch. Fast forward to '97 when I finally decided to give up the racin' wrenches and move to the West Coast of Canada. I chose to limit my access to motorsport for a couple of years to help with the separation from it and to focus on the new life. But it wasn't too long before I found my, now, local track at Mission Raceway Park and like an old flame, the drags were back in my life. It wasn't long before I was able to realize a childhood dream of watching a NHRA race in the states and I gotta tell ya, my first TF pass in probably 15 years, just about knocked me on my ass. Movin' on a bit, I have been fortunate enough to take in a few West Coast races now and my local track sees plenty of good action as it continues to be NHRA Div.6 track of the year.
OK, to my point. I was given the opportunity to come back to the UK this year and after much negotiating, I was able to make this trip happen so that it would include the Easter weekend. After all, me and the Easter Nat's had some history, I remember the 24hr cafe where the DJ would come after a night spinning tunes for the 'Angels' and he would sigh and say "phew, only got one brick thrown at me tonight!", and of course there were those parties in the marquee that he had just survived, it's amazin' what you'll do on a big ol' jug of cider! Then sitting in the old wooden stands, betting bottles of beer all day long on which lane would win. Ah yes....
So anyway, imagine my excitement when I realized I was going to get back to one of the biggest influences on my young life, it was like going to catch up with a long lost best friend. I packed up my camera equipment as I have managed to merge that hobby with the races to a point that I've received some great feedback from top guys. My wife was already in the UK when I set off and she'd had some pretty decent weather so there I am excitedly rubbing my hands together in anticipation. Well as the day approached, I'd be watching weather forecasts, but no matter what they said I wasn't going to let them burst my bubble. Even if there was a bit of rain, I was still going to go, this was a huge deal for me. The weekend rolled around and seeing as we were staying in London and I had recently been out of work for a while, a car rental had to be worked out that we could work with and achieve as many of our goals as possible. I negotiated a SPR trip for Saturday and some of Sunday (yeah really!). It was going to be huge, via the best website in drags, Eurodragster, I had heard that it was possible the revamped 'Stripteaser' might be out, there was 'Spuff's' FC, oh and the fuel altereds and promods, I was so stoked about seeing them and it was going to be sooo cool.
Well, I woke at my friend's house in Milton Keynes on Saturday morning knowing full well, although windy, there had been some good action on the Friday. I pulled back the curtains only to find snow. Snow! I'd just flown 4,500 miles from the land of frickin' snow, my bubble had been burst. I guess it was obvious how I was feeling as my wife and friends took me out for a nice cuppa coffee and breakfast and my friend proceeded to convince me the weather could be different at Santa Pod even though it's only 20 miles away. By lunch time I had, somewhat, pumped my bubble back up again and I was going to visit the hallowed land. And just as Bob told me, the closer I got, the sunnier the weather became and I began to believe.
I pulled up at the entrance, got my camera out, I wanted to document this whole day, so there was a shot of the SPR flags, shot of the kiosks (much nicer than 25 years ago), got my ticket and I was in! There was a strange familiarity about the place, you know, it was all the same but very different. Slid into the muddy parking lot, but it was sunny it'll soon dry up a bit by the time I leave, no worries. It was pretty cold, so I donned the hat and fleece, got the camera equipment bag out and I set off to the old grassy bank I knew from old. It's the silly things that you notice first off, like the toilets, I'm not sure if you remember the loos of the golden years, you probably don't want to! But it was great to see concessions and toilets a plenty.
I climbed the concrete path which was a great addition (remember all this is new to me), got to the top and the track is being worked on, the sun is in the sky and it's going to be a great day isn't it? They had just fired up a couple of monster trucks so I thought I'd watch them and warmed up my camera and shutter finger ready for the day. Well apparently the trucks held my attention as I did not notice the black clouds'a'brewin and the first of several blasts of snow blew through just as they finished their show. I joined some other fans shielding behind a fairground truck and no sooner had it begun, it had stopped and blue sky once again filled the background. I'm still believin' and thinking "that's OK, it was just a short blast, they'll get it done". As I walk around to the pit side I reminisce about the missing 'shed' at the end of the strip, a place were I'd going when they fired up the nitro Harleys on the rolling road, you'd get pelted with stones initially and then that sweet sting as the nitro goes up your nose and you just can't help but cry. My memory is quickly brought back to the present when the next blizzard roles through, again followed by sunshine and all things good.
I continue to walk up through the pits, remembering the old 'stands' and amenities as best I could and just as I pass the end of the new grandstand (very nice by the way) an old tune from the 70's comes over the PA, I think it was by a band called 'Mud'. Well that took me right back and I had a rush of great memories, thanks guys. Whilst chatting with a lovely young lady at the coffee bar near the 'Pod Shop' the announcer is talking about a 'window' of weather according to the 'met' office. "Sweet" I think as I enjoy my coffee and cookie whilst wandering and remembering. Well I don't know what happened to the window, but I guess it got closed and someone drew the curtains as waves of rain, snow and hail blew across at (it seemed) alarming regularity. At one point I took shelter in the shop, damn that weather ended up costing a whole bunch of cash as well (they promised me the DVD was multiregional, I guess I'll find out this weekend!?). Well, as I'm wandering back around to the grass bank, I guess around 3-ish, they finally call it a day, and with my deflating bubble I head toward the arena for the show there. I get there, just got my camera out and bam! my feet went from under me on the slippery surface and down the bank I went. I guess I was so frickin cold I didn't feel anything that day, so I wipe as much mud off me as I can and as I am there and the show was starting I decided to watch the show.
Let me say how much I appreciated what those guys did, those stunt riders on a cold slippery surface, the MX riders doing big air moves in nasty cross winds and the lad on the bike doing some great moves in very dodgy conditions. Despite, what can only be described as one of the most miserable days, weather-wise, I have ever had at a race track of any kind I met some great people, Santa Pod have built a great facility (better than some NHRA ones), from the concessions to the fair, the clown for the kids and that great arena show, I actually left there (once I could get my bloody car out!) thinking it had been a reasonable day. I had enjoyed some great memories, I saw Ronnie Piccardo behind the wheel of some cool heaters, and the arena announcer was just awesome, how he kept it upbeat was very impressive. And besides, I will be back for Sundays events.......
Unsurprisingly, after checking in with the superb Eurodragster coverage (thank you guys) and my bumps and bruises from the slip coming out I just decided to head back to London with my bubble pretty much burst. On the up side, I guess out of sympathy our Mondays plans were laid out in such a way I would have a 2-hourish 'window in the afternoon that (if I wanted) I could have a look-see at the track. Weather was supposed to be good, my ticket was still good from Saturday, just took a small camera seeing as how I couldn't really get into a big production and it was one of the best couple of hours I have spent in ages. No, I didn't see many of the cars I had hope to, but considering the conditions and the weekend preceding, the show I saw was awesome and as with the guys in the arena, I would like to extend a huge thank you, as you made my vacation.
So, as was the whole point of this e-mail (was just going to be a thank you note - oh well....), I would like to thank SPR, the crew, the announcers, the concession people, the racers, all the riders and drivers in the arena and some of the fantastic fans I met and Eurodragster. You made my voyage of self re-discovery a great one.
Images from this event are in the 2008 galleries