BFGoodrich Tires IDRC Summer Slam Nationals in Old Bridge Raceway Park - Slam! Bam!

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? And if we fall for an import model and she sends her bodyguard to beat the crap out of us, will we make a sound like a five year-old getting a flu shot? Oh yeah, in the finest way, because our pathetic Tae Bo self-defense technique is only good for keeping our man boobs full and perky.

But what if drag racing's really big wheels set a record at a race with no spectators? Of course the record will still stand, but record-breaking passes are better performed in front of a crowd-a big crowd. And the IDRC's Summer Slam Nationals brought a big crowd to Englishtown-a very big crowd. Even more people came out to Old Bridge Raceway Park than the crowd that gathered to watch Jimmy try to jump Springfield Gorge with his roller-shoes. While Jimmy's Jackass reenactments are cool to watch, they are nothing compared to the vendor displays, car show, bikini contest, and extreme sports demo at the Summer Slam. And somewhere amidst all the mayhem there was some racing going on at this, the sixth round of the 2002 IDRC Championship Drag Racing series.

Drag Sport Magazine Pro Class
The Pro Class at Summer Slam had everything from thrills to spills. It all started in qualifying where this class sported the first all 7-second grid. In fact the average qualifying time was a 7.29. Most of these guys can almost taste those six-second timeslips. Once again Matt Scranton sat on top of the ladder with a new IDRC Pro Class e.t. and mph record with a 7.02 @ 197. Grant Downing's Venom Tacoma and the Bullish Boys rounded out the top four.

The spill came from Craig "Never Lift" Paisley when he got out of the groove in qualifying resulting in a violent flip. His Toyota Tacoma was severely wrinkled but fortunately Craig was unscathed. "It was the coolest thing," he later told us. "I went through the traps at 170-on my roof!"

The finals were an all-Toyota show with George Ioannou's Bullish Racing Solara facing off against Scranton's Turbonetics Celica. George's superhuman 0.472 light was enough to get the holeshot on Matt and his only slightly less impressive 0.485. But the Solara couldn't hold onto the lead and its 7.19 was bested by the Celica's 7.05.

A'pexi Integration Outlaw Class
While the Pro Class was leaning on the six-second barrier at Summer Slam, one of the Outlaw cars blasted right into the sevens. Was it Papadakis? Montano? Rado? Nope. The first Outlaw car into the sevens was a rather mild looking '86 300ZX that clicked off a 7.82 @ 173. Cesar Febus is yet another in a string of brutally fast Puerto Ricans who came out of the woodwork with little or no sponsorship to wreak havoc on the Pro and Outlaw class establishment. Although Cesar couldn't back up his 7.8, his 8.01-second pass will stand as an Outlaw Class record. In the finals, it was Steph's new-school FWD Civic versus Cesar's old-school RWD Z. You can't fade Steph at the lights and he walked on Cesar out of the gate. Summer Slam also marked a return of the AEM Drag Civic's old form as Steph had been struggling with tranny woes in the first part of the season. But even Steph's season-best 8.30 wasn't enough to hold off Cesar's Z at the top end.

By Arnie Pie In The Skyc

Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!