K&N NHRA Sport Compact Nationals - The Continuation

Having to cover both the NHRA event in Maple Grove and the Hot import Nights show in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the same weekend requires more than packing my Super Street jacket and one pair of pants. Imagine waking up from my dinky hotel room at 5 a.m. to make the two hour drive from southern New Jersey to the heart of Pennsylvania after hanging out scaring girls all night at HIN, getting drenched by torrential rainfall, and getting lost on New Jersey's wonderful highway system. Not a good thing, but being the troopers we are, we did it anyway because we actually enjoyed getting drenched and lost in New Jersey. Rain fell as hard on my head in Maple Grove as it did in Atlantic City, so Saturday's activities were pretty much put on hold, but since we were only going to be there on Sunday anyway, things actually worked out to our advantage. The rains of the day before let up allowing for the continuation of the weekend's events. So with a stomach full of McDowell's finest vittles and anti-fungal cream on our feet, we were off to collect the info and the snappies for the race coverage. The skies still threatened but held off for most of the day with sprinkles occasionally dotting the landscape. The crowd was a lot thinner than expected due to the threat of showers but the race cars came out and hit the track with a vengeance.

Pro Class
It seems that George Ioannou and team Bullish Racing can do no wrong. George piloted the Pro Class Solara to a First Place qualifying spot just above Grant Downing and the 1,200-plus horsepower Venom Tundra with a 7.18 @ 188.62 versus Grant's 7.254 @ 186.41. Just the weekend before Ara Arslanian mashed up the front of the other Solara in the sand trap when the brakes went out at 170-plus mph, so Ioannou had to maintain the team's reputation all on his own. After the first set of qualifying sessions, Grant's truck developed intercooler issues and had to bow out of the competition. During eliminations Jorge Lazcano and the Contreras 300ZX handed Abel Ibarra and his RX-7 an early loss when the Mazda took a leak on the track after the burnout and had to be escorted from the lanes for it's behavior. John Lingenfelter and the Summit Sonoma took out the Siguel Racing RX-7 at the line when the Mazda broke at the start. Not a good day for rotaries. The Bullish Solara walked away from the Contreras 300ZX during Round 2 eliminations with a 7.303 versus an 8.314 even though the 300 cut a near perfect light with a 0.402 R/T. Manny Cruz and his Cougar couldn't make it off the line against the Summit Sonoma leaving Lingenfelter to face Ioannou in the final. Ioannou had his work cut out for him as the Summit truck made its fastest run to date but could not pass his Solara where it counts-at the finish line. With the Bullish car pulling out a 7.191 against the Sonoma's 7.287, Ioannou solidified the Number One spot for the weekend, and his push to hit the 6s.

Pro V-8 Class
There were only two competitors in the Pro V-8 Class this weekend but that made for no less of an exciting set of runs. Craig Paisley and his V-8 Tundra continue to wow the crowds with eighth-mile-long burnouts and nitrous purging, but when it comes down to what happens in the lanes, raw horsepower and final numbers are what count. Craig qualified Second out of two drivers behind none other that Matt Scranton and the Turbonetics Celica with a 7.896 @ 171.42 versus Matt's 7.127 @ 197.51. Matt added another 200-plus mph winning run to the books this weekend with his final round blast against Paisley at 200.68 mph. Matt is also creeping up on another record for the books-the first import in the 6-second range with his 7.036-second run to cap off the weekend.