NHRA Crossover Helps Power the IHRA in San Antonio
Written by Jory Elliott · March 28, 2006
After a very busy off season, the much anticipated 2006 International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) schedule kicked off this past weekend at San Antonio Raceway in San Antonio, Texas with the 5th annual Amalie Oil Texas Nationals presented by Ancira Cars, Trucks & RVs and the San Antonio Express-News. With the announcement of EntertainMax Worldwide Inc. as the new title sponsor for the national event tour and the re-introduction of the Pro Nitro Funny Car class, this IHRA season is shaping up to be one of the biggest and best in the sanctioning bodies recent history.
The story lines in Top Fuel were plentiful to start the season. With the return of Andrew Cowin in the Scott Griffin owned, Serta Mattresses sponsored rail, the #2 points finisher last season, Doug Foley and his new Torco Race Fuels dragster along with 5 time and defending IHRA champ Clay Millican in his Werner Enterprises entry it appears as though it will be a highly contested bout for the number one plate this year. The weekend provided loads of excitement with the final pair coming down to Millican the #4 qualifier and Foley, the #1 qualifier making it a match up of the number one and two cars in the IHRA last season. The 5 time champ stumbled in the final handing the win to Foley who ran the best elapsed time and mile per hour of the event with a 4.585 E.T. @ 321.27 MPH leaving no doubt that the Torco Race Fuels team was the one to beat all weekend long.
The Pro Nitro Funny Car class benefited largely from the location of the event in proximity to the travel pattern of some of the National Hot Rod Association’s (NHRA) professional class racers. The field enjoyed the presence of full time NHRA tour veterans Cruz Pedregon & his Advance Auto Parts team, Frank Pedregon in the Von Dutch, Dodge Stratus, Gary Densham & his Racebricks sponsored entry and Bob Gilbertson flying the Autolite XP Spark Plugs colours. The final round was contested between Densham in his Racebricks Monte Carlo and Paul Lee driving his Science of Racing, Camaro. Gary Densham got off the starting line first and never looked back taking the win and picking up the Iron Man showing that consistency wins races as he ran in the 4.80’s all day long. The numbers in the final tell the story with Densham running a solid 4.85 E.T. @ 300.2 MPH to a slowing 5.34 ET @ 198.85 MPH for Paul Lee. Cruz Pedgreon walked away with the quickest and fastest pass in class history with an incredibly stout 4.765 ET @ 321.12 MPH blast during the Night of Fire program, Friday evening.
The Pro Modified class had a record car count with 33 of the best Pro Mods in North America showing up to compete in San Antonio. The bump spot after the final round of qualifying was an amazing 6.195 ET with series championship contenders like Ed Hoover, Harold Martin, Shannon Jenkins, Billy Harper & Steve Bareman on the outside looking in. The final round pitted the winner of Texas Nationals in 2004 from Alberta, Canada, Glen Kerunsky in his ‘57 Bel Air against Tommy D’Aprile in the Quain Stott owned Support Our Troops ‘63 Corvette. The two drivers left the line dead even with .060 reaction times but the race was over shortly after as D’Aprile shook the tires and could do nothing but watch Kerunsky drive away to a 6.191 ET @ 230.69 MPH for the win.
The Alcohol Funny Car class had only nine cars make the tow to Texas for the 8 car field. As per the usual last season Rob Atchison driving his new Erickson Tie Downs, Monte Carlo qualified in the #1 spot with 5 time class champion Mark Thomas piloting his new Ethanol Performs, Monte Carlo to the number two seed. One noticeable absence was that of second place point’s finisher in the 2005 season Jim Sickles and his Meyer’s RV Monte Carlo who has chosen to sit out the 2006 season due to a lack of funding. The final pairing continued with the status quo and carried on the most contested final round rivalry in the IHRA over the past 3 seasons. Coming into the final both Mark Thomas and Rob Atchison had run identical 5.83 elapsed times in the semi finals and matching 5.81 ET’s in the first round with their reaction times fluctuating throughout eliminations. Thomas left the line first in this contest while Atchison had trouble, shaking the tires and crossing the center line a couple times on his way to the finish line. Marks car stayed the course for the day running another eighty with a 5.897 ET @ 242.8 MPH to Atchison’s handful 7.294 ET @132.79 MPH.
In the Torco Race Fuels Pro Stock class the Lenco sponsored 6.30’s club saw a few new members gain entry throughout the course of the weekend. Last years champ and class standout Steve Speiss was eliminated in the semi finals by Rob Mansfield who would move on to face “The Flying Meatball” Frank Gugliotta in the final round. The race was over from the hit of the throttle as Rob Mansfield went red by -0.165 and in the process threw away a faster and quicker elapsed time. Gugliotta won the race with a 6.49 ET @ 216.55 MPH while Mansfield would have had him covered considerably, running a 6.421 ET @ 218.48 MPH.
The event itself was a huge success and was highlighted by the record number of fans in attendance over the course of the three day event. This strong showing of cars and fans goes a long way to showing the rest of the racing world that the IHRA is a thriving North American racing series with a consistent growth pattern in recent years.
Jory Elliott
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