6-5-2010  4th Event by Chevelle Rob

Last year it was all Ron Logan and while he sits in second place for 2010 points, Matt Gilmore is the current points leader. The first session in qualifying had Logan’s 4.06 at the top of the pack. Bill Heister had a nice 4.25 for second. Newcomer to Open Outlaw Jeff Burnett put up a 4.41 @ 160 for third in his NHRA Top Dragster 23T. Tom Wirth’s 4.553 was good enough for fourth just ahead of Steve Bush. Bob Ewing, Craig Andrews and Matt Gilmore round it out.

The second session saw Gilmore rocket to the front with a nice 4.01 @ 181. Logan improved to a .06 to hold second. The rest of the order remained unchanged.

Neither Andrews or Heister made it for round one giving Gilmore and Bush a free ride to round two. Ewing had some luck swing his way as Logan went red. Burnett cut a fine .002 light in his win over Tom Wirth.

Round two saw Ewing go red against Bush who ran a 4.51 with his Sonny’s 762 despite the nitrous not activating. Burnett left Gilmore sitting there with a .074 to .298 and was the picture of consistency running another 4.387 @ 161 to match his previous round ET, that was no real help however as Gilmore blew past him with a 3.97 @ 183 to take the win.

Gilmore met up with Bush in the final with Bush still chasing nitrous activation gremlins. Buch left first with a .046 to Gilmore's .088, 4.58 @ 160 is not enough to hold off the blown KB Olds of Gilmore, 4.11 @ 177.

The top five in points remain unchanged as far as position however Gilmore now leads by 66 points over Logan.

4-3-2010  2nd Event

 HEADS UP MADNESS -  Sunshine Dragstrip!! by Chevelle Rob

Open Outlaw had a large field this month with 10 cars in the first session and twelve total on the property. Ron Logan ran a nice 4.08 @ 176 for top qualifier in round one. Matt Wirth turned out a nice 4.13 @172 in what I believe is a new best for the team. Tom Wirth ran a 4.32 @ 160 for third. Jeff Keen and Bill Heister round the top five. Ken Nichols was a new face this month, as were Eric Edlemann and Richard Shipp.

In the second session it would be Matt Gilmore on top of the field with a 4.06 @ 179 bumping Logan to second. Matt Wirth and Tom Wirth did not improve and wound up third and fourth . Shipp Improved to a 4.34 @ 158 to move ahead of Heister. Keen improved by .02 and stayed in front of Shipp for fifth.

In eliminations Ron Logan took out Ken Nichols, 4.28 to 4.92. Matt Wirth got a single as Craig Andrews didn’t make the call. Jeff Keen also had an opponent broke bye over Mike Judd. He ran a 4.30 @ 159. Richard Shipp got a hole shot win over Bill Heister with an .028 light and 4.45 @ 158, beating the quicker 4.41 @ 156.

Number one qualifier Matt Gilmore lined up with Eric Edelmann and had troubles staging the car. Edelmann had lit both bulbs and runs a turbo powered entry and was on boost waiting and blew a seal just as he launched after Gilmore, after the tree came down and red lit Gilmore for not being fully staged. A bad deal all around as the cleanup resulted in nearly two hours of down time for clean up. After that Tom Wirth had a single, launched soft and clicked it early to a 5.51.

Next event May 15th - Be there!

Visit Rob's Website www.DevastationMotorsports.com for additional event pictures and Video.

2-20-2010  First event of the year

 HEADS UP MADNESS -  Sunshine Dragstrip!! by Mike "Backmotor" Puzycki

Saturday started overcast and cool with a slight threat of rain. The sun soon came out and we forgot about the rain.  The weather computer had us smiling because the air was just stellar for early afternoon. We knew we were to be looking at air below sea level for eliminations.

The car count was lower than expected due to a couple guys waiting on parts and the divisional race at Gainesville. I heard something about the Matt Wirth trying to turn their blower into an old fashioned washing machine wringer.... not sure about the details but I understand it will be expensive.

Qualifying started with the pairing of Bill Heister and Matt Gilmore. Once again betting $5 on reaction time. Matt left first but turned on the red bulb to lose the bet. Heister had his hands full, carrying the wheels and stepping off early to run a 4.485 @ 134.95. Gilmore though going red, went right down main street with a 4.327 @ 172.08.

The second pair put Ron Logan next to Tom  Wirth Junior. Tom said he wasn't using both nitrous kits but still had traction problems and only managed a 5.592 @ 150.88. Logan brought the crowd to their feet when he clicked off a 4.065 @ 176.47. Wow!

The second round of qualifying had the air getting even better and the track holding enough heat to be fantastic! It was tight! Gilmore, some rust showing, didn't get staged in time and the autostart denied him a time slip even though they said they thought it was a good pass otherwise.  Matt keeps the #2 spot.  Logan blew his tires off after a dead hook and stepped out to save parts. He kept his #1 spot with that 4.06 anyway. Bill Heister Jr. had a fantastic pass, running a career best, getting loose and stepping out of it for a 4.389 @ 145.96 for the #3 spot. Nice pass!  Tom Wirth Jr. found some traction and made use of the nitrous to run a 4.557 to qualify #4. Tom said he had more left in it if he could keep it stuck to the track.

The first round of eliminations brought air at 200 ft below sea level and racer frustration. The first pair put the #1 qualifier Ron Logan against Tom Wirth Junior.  Tom tree'd Ron and never looked back running a 4.379 @ 160.22 with both nitrous kits feeding the mill.  Ron had tire shake, pedaled and broke his throttle cable handing the race to Wirth.  The second pair matched #2 Gilmore against #3 Heister. Heister had electrical problems on the burnout keeping him from activating the trans-brake and couldn't back up. At least it wasn't tranny problems this time right guys? Good thing for Gilmore that Bill had his issues because they accidentally left the burnout stop on the car, slowing to a lazy 4.492 @ 162.80 single pass. 

The finals paired "Gentleman" Tom Wirth Jr. against Matt "the Animal" Gilmore. the air had dropped even further but the track was cooling and the dampness was setting in. Could be interesting.....  It was Wirth that had issues this pass. He couldn't purge his nitrous and had no spray for the pass slowing to a 4.713 @ 146. His problem turned out to be a .25 fuse. Damn the bad luck! Animal showed why he got his nickname with a white knuckle pass. He drove his ass off to keep that thing in his lane, pedaling his way to a 4.303 @ 170.68 and the Win!

Was a good start to the season. The April race promises a full field after a few cars are repaired and we get back to business. The crowd was great for a cold night with a light car count. The stands were mostly full and the spectators lined the fences.

I felt like a 'lost puppy' without my BackMotor funny car, but I made  the best of it, by spending some quality time with my buddies, in particular Ron Logan, Tom Wirth, Ken Gonyo, and Bill Heister. Thanks for letting me hang out in your pits guys, I plan to run the Sept, Oct, Nov events with my own car, so I'll probably tag along and get in 
the way until then !! LOL, J/K you guys always manage to have way too much fun.  ... BackMotor Mike