Ed Bergenholtz's heavily revised CRX made its NHRA debut at Ennis but the car could not hook up, spinning the tires through every gear all the way down the track. In the first round, however, Ed got a break and advanced easily as Hartford's Cavalier bogged heavily off the line. "It was a stupid mechanical error," according to Matt. "By the time we got the car back to the pits, it was fixed." Maybe he left the parking brake or the A/C on. Could it have been the flux capacitor? We'll never know. But this car is destined to be a solid contender in this class.
Defending Modified Class champ Carlos Gonzales also unleashed a new second generation RX-7 but he red-lighted in a big way, allowing Steph Papadakis to advance. When Bergenholtz's CRX retired with transmission woes in the semis, this placed Nelson Hoyos' Cavalier against Steph for an all-FWD final. Steph got a big jump off the line while Nelson looked to come back at the top end. The two finished with an identical trap speed of 173.74. The AEM Drag Civic's e.t. was just three one thousandths better than the Bothwell Motorsports career-best 8.415. But with Steph's killer 0.448 light, it was over almost before it began as Nelson crawled out of the gate with a 0.602.
Hot Rod Class
Local boy Kenny Tran owned Ennis this weekend. He made a big impression in the pits with the Bob Norwood-built Integra funny car and a Jotech-tuned NSX in addition to a stable of fine Texas phillies. On the track, Kenny backed up his big presence with some big numbers as he was the top Hot Rod qualifier with a 9.259 @ 162.54. Bruce Mortensen was the second fastest qualifier. Gary Gardella and Angela Proudfoot traveled out from the East and qualified Third and Fourth respectively. Jojo Callos, the defending Hot Rod champ, had another one of his wild rides in qualifying when his Castrol Integra spun at the top end. As was the case at Gainesville, Jojo managed to save it even though this time there was damage to the wheelie bars.
Throughout the weekend, Gardella was plagued with differential woes and he was eliminated in the first round. In the second round, Kenny put Jojo down. Viren Singh got an easy win when Proudfoot red-lighted, and Mortensen advanced with a bye run. In the semis, Singh got the bye and the big match-up was between Kenny and Bruce. The AC/Enkei Civic was one one thousandth slower through the traps with a 9.088 @ 162.92 to the Venom Civic's 9.087 @ 167.78, but Kenny got the edge at the lights with a 0.472 to Bruce's 0.566. In the finals, Kenny took the easy win over Singh.
Street Tire Class
Texan Ari Yallon, the 2001 Street Tire champ and his teammate, Steven Kan, wanted to do well in front of their hometown crowd, but it was not to be as both RX-7s broke during eliminations. Mark Mazurowski and his Titan Motorsports Supra team continued to crush this class even as he faced Justin Nenni in the finals. Nenni's ProTech Supra bested the Titan Team at the NHRA race in Houston earlier this season, but in a rematch at the finals it was not even close as Mazurowski cruised to his third win of the season.
All Motor Class
In the All Motor Class, there was another NHRA debut-Joel Mandl's new CRX. The 2001 series champion hopes to run some solid numbers with the car before the end of the season. At Ennis, he had trouble getting out of the hole but the car sounded strong going down the track in qualifying. Transmission breakage took Joel out in the first round. The rotary-powered cars have been the bullies in the class thus far, and none more so than the controversial second-gen three-rotor RX-7 of Jesus Padilla. In the final, Padilla met Ken Scheepers and his first-gen RX-7 from the RX7.com camp. Even though he got the jump at the line, Scheepers' two-rotor was no match for Padilla's three-rotor as he walked off with his fourth win of the season.
By Luscious Sweet
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