NHRA Drag Racing, Orlando, Fla., race notes
13 March 2000
NHRA FEDERAL-MOGUL DRAG RACING SERIES
ORLANDO SPEED WORLD DRAGWAY, ORLANDO, FLA.
RACE NOTES
American fans got a rare glimpse of one of Europe's top drag racers as
Linkoping, Sweden's Mikael Kagered stopped by Orlando Speed World Dragway
with his latest ride: an ex-Bob Newberry Dodge Avenger Federal-Mogul Funny
Car.
Although Kagered sat in the car at Newberry's shop and professed himself
"pleased" with the layout of the cockpit, at Orlando the Swedish team
discovered they need to make some changes to the pedals, which are too
close to the driver, before heading to Gainesville Raceway next weekend.
Kagered won the 1999 FIA European Top Methanol Funny Car title, competing
at events in England, Sweden, Norway, and Finland. To collect his
championship trophy, however, Kagered traveled to Monte Carlo, France,
where he, along with other luminaries such as F1 World Champ Mika Hakinen,
were presented their trophies by Prince Rainier of Monaco.
A brand new Brad Hadman-built Federal-Mogul Dragster has McLean, Texas'
Billy Bybee anticipating he will be a factor in this year's title chase.
The new car carried Bybee to a career-best 5.54 seconds at 254 mph on its
first full run at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix, Ariz., in January, a mark
the team improved to 5.51 at 260-mph a few weeks later at the same track.
"I'm confident we'll give a few teams a surprise this year," said
Bybee. "The new car is performing flawlessly."
Competing in NHRA's West Central Division Bybee will be challenging
for the division title with the likes of David Wells and Rob Wendland.
"We're shooting for the division title, but it will be difficult as
both Wells and Wendland are extremely tough competitors," added Bybee.
"Still, I think we've got a realistic shot at that, and a top five finish
for the national title."
Art Gallant, winner of the Virginia national event in May 1999, surprised
more than a few observers when he ran a career-best 5.38 at 255 mph at
Maple Grove Raceway a few months later, establishing himself as one of the
better-running A/Fuel Dragsters in the country. The Boxboro, Mass., racer
made his 2000 debut at Orlando and promptly picked up where he left off,
snatching the pole position with a 5.45-second run at 248-mph.
Gallant has made one major change to his team for the 2000 season:
he now has two identical motors. "Last year we had one good motor, and a
spare. This year we have two good engines."
The team's weekend ground to a quick halt at Orlando, however:
facing Dan Fiorelli in the first round, Gallant's car instantly smoked the
rear tires away from the starting line and slowed to a 22-second elapsed
time.
The second qualifying session of Federal-Mogul Funny Car was punctuated by
a one-car spill involving Vern Moats, whose Kendall GT-1 Corvette went out
of control at mid-track and turned into the guardrail. The errant vehicle
came to rest at the finish line and, after being assisted from the car,
Moats walked to the ambulance for a check up.
"Yeah, I felt [the car] get away from me," Moats recalled. "It made a
pretty good move toward the centerline and I thought I could get it back in
the groove; you never want to lose a run, you know. But it turned right so
quickly I had no chance of saving it."
Three weeks after driving friend Michael Gunderson's Federal-Mogul Dragster
at Gainesville, Fla., Upland, Calif.'s Jay Payne was back behind the wheel
of his Valvoline Funny Car. Payne, however, wasn't pining to get back
behind the wheel of a 300-inch dragster.
"It was fun, but it also was hard work," explained Payne. "It was only
[wife] Shelly and I, and we worked out butts off. In the end the two of us
couldn't keep up with the maintenance. In the semifinals the engine hurt a
lash cap and we didn't have time to make repairs."
With his complete Valvoline crew at Orlando the team's pit area was a
little less frantic and Payne was rewarded with a second-placed qualifying
effort of 5.74 seconds.
The Orlando Speed World Dragway event drew an impressive 435 cars for its
NHRA Federal-Mogul Drag Racing Series event. The most populous class was
Super Gas, which attracted 94 competitors. Comp Eliminator, a class that
has been hurting in terms of overall numbers since the introduction of Pro
Stock Truck (which drew many of its racers from the assorted Comp classes),
boasted 30 entries.
Claiming the Wittnauer Watches Best Appearing awards at Orlando
Speed World Dragway were Frank Maiolo, whose Super Gas Firebird was judged
to be the event's Best Appearing Car. The H&S Auto & Racing team of Jeff
Hewett's Super Comp dragster received the Best Appearing Crew award. Bobby
Cunningham's '34 Chevy roadster was picked as the event's Best Engineered
Vehicle.
R.J. Reynolds, through its Winston brand, shared $2,500 among the
Top Qualifiers at Orlando Speed World Dragway. Winston Top Qualifier
honors went to Arthur Gallant, Federal-Mogul Dragster; Tony Bartone,
Federal-Mogul Funny Car; John Powers, Comp; Joe Skinner, Super Stock; and
Joey Wilkes, Stock.