Motorsports Round Up: Mindy's Monday Minute

Moorpark, Calif. - (October 2, 2006) Believe it or not, it is actually a Monday minute! I have been getting a lot of flack from several people that my wrap-up has not been coming out on Monday. My intentions are always good for getting it out, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen. The NHRA headed back to Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, Pa., over the weekend for the makeup of the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals that were postponed a couple weeks ago due to rain. Rain threatened the event on Saturday afternoon, cancelling Round 4 of qualifying, but didn’t damper the remainder of the weekend.

On Friday, some records were broken, as well as some race cars. The Mickey Thompson Six-Second Club’s last three spots were filled in Pro Stock Motorcycle by Angelle Sampey, Shawn Gann and Karen Stoffer. Sampey also set a national elapsed time record with a 6.939-second, 191.10 mph run that held throughout the weekend, making it an official record. Greg Anderson posted both the quickest and the fastest pass of all time on Friday with a 6.626/208.91 mph run, until Greg Stanfield took the honor of the national elapsed time record away from Anderson in Round 3 on Saturday with a 6.621-second pass.

In second round qualifying on Friday, two separate accidents occurred, one involving a Ringers racer. The first to take place was when Dave Northrop’s Nitro Fish machine jerked to the right, corrected, caught some air and then flipped over onto its roof, sliding down the track. Northrop emerged from the side window unharmed. Later in that session, Ringers racer Kurt Johnson had just finished a great pass, but when he went to deploy the parachutes, they didn’t come out, forcing KJ to get hard onto the brakes, sending him rocketing into the sand trap at the top-end and into a robotic camera for ESPN2’s television footage. KJ was alright and both men were able to race on Sunday. During Pro Stock eliminations on Sunday, the national elapsed record for time was passed from Stanfield (his time on Saturday) to Jason Line back to Anderson and finally back to Line with his 6.609 in Round 2 of eliminations. Even though line had the quickest run of the day, it was his teammate Anderson that met Stanfield in finals. However, Stanfield got a little too anxious on the start and turned up a red light, automatically handing Anderson the win, 6.656-second/208.36 mph run.

Angelle Sampey was the heavy favorite heading into Pro Stock Motorcycle finals at Reading on Sunday, especially with her record-setting run in Friday night qualifications. But, it was a different Pro Stock Motorcycle riding lady that found herself in finals. Karen Stoffer, one of the riders to consume the last three positions in the Mickey Thompson Six-Second Club, met former POWERade Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Geno Scali at the Tree. While Stoffer was last off the line, Scali’s motor expired not far from the line and Stoffer soared onto a 7.097-second/187.94 mph win.

A new point leader in Pro Stock Motorcycle also emerged from Reading. Antron Brown takes the reigns atop of the points heading into the ACDelco NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas; the bikes have this weekend in Richmond off. While Melanie Troxel didn’t land in the Winner’s Circle in Reading, she was able to pick up valuable points with her runner-up finish. However, her Schumacher Racing teammate and now former Funny Car point leader Ron Capps, fell to second place, only one point out of the top position. Since I was home last week, my brother and I ventured to Lincoln Park Speedway in nearby Putnamville, Ind., for the National Sprint Tour races. LPS is one of the few dirt tracks in Indiana I have been to. I wasn’t the only straight-liner in attendance that night. John Stewart, co-crew chief for Morgan Lucas’ Top Fuel dragster, and Brian from Melanie Troxel Skull Shine dragster were also there. It was quite an interesting night. We ended up leaving after heat races because it was 11:30 p.m. by then and they didn’t finish the feature until after 1 a.m. Although it was a long night, a Ringers racer came out the victor. Tim Kaeding, protected with UnderX by Ringers and sporting his DriverX gloves, took the win in the Bob Kinser Fall Classic. Other Ringers notables in the field were Shane Stewart in 10th and Brian Paulus, 23rd. The NASCAR Busch Series and Nextel Cup Series were both at Kansas Speedway this weekend, along with USAC’s Silver Crown Series presented by K&N Engineering.

The Ringers supporting NASCAR drivers and teams didn’t have the best times. Jason Leffler was the highest finishing driver in the Busch race in 31st, with Todd Kluever coming home 37th. On Sunday, Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch of Penske Racing South finished 24th and 25th respectively, with Kluever finishing 32nd after qualifying 22nd.

The Silver Crown Series was also at Kansas Speedway. Ringers’ supporter Bud Kaeding brought home a fourth-place finish, which was good enough to clinch the USAC Silver Crown Series presented by K&N Engineering point championship for his car owners Jason and Alison Leffler and the entire Leffler Racing/BK Motorsports team. Congratulations you guys! This weekend I am off to Virginia Motorsports Park for the Inaugural Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals. This is a new venue for NHRA this year and I am looking forward to seeing the track and the facility.

About Ringers Gloves

Ringers Gloves, Official Gloves of NHRA and title sponsor for the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle, is a full-line manufacturer of high-end, task specific gloves, SFI 3.3/1, 3.3/10, 3.3/20 racing gloves, UnderX protective undergarments and rdigs pit boots.