Considering that Seattle is home to notoriously wet conditions, one could safely assume that rain would undoubtedly make an unwanted cameo appearance and ruin a perfectly good thing, say, a drag race. Well, the weather at Battle of the Imports' seventh round of 1,320 action couldn't be more perfect as clear skies and cool, crisp air paved the way for the sea-level track to help break records and give Seattle car enthusiasts a weekend of intense drag action.
When I arrived at the venue, I was amazed at how huge the turnout was for the event since it's been a while since I've seen lines that long. It took over 90 minutes to get into Pacific Raceway and just like old times, I saw Frank Choi (director/founder of Battle) guiding traffic in. For most of the Pro classes, the championship is just within reach and needless to say, everyone brought their super A-game. In Pro-Import, Kenny Tran in the Jotech Racing Scion tC squared up against rival Bryan Jimenez in the Everyone's Mortgage Chevy Cobalt. Right off the line, Tran ripped an 8.149 and found himself as the number one qualifier. But Jimenez represented equally hard by laying down an 8.352 for the number two spot. These two met in the finals where Tran prevailed with an 8.201 to 11.308.
The Pro-Stock class was nothing short of amazing as all of the competitors would qualify in 9-second territory. Jeremy Lookofsky in the DVS Shoes Honda Civic qualified number one with a 9.295 and is arguably the quickest P/S vehicle in the nation. He would later meet Leslie Armendariz piloting the Horizon Motorsports Scion tC in the finals. Lookofsky's high horsepower K-Series would be too much for the Scion as Lookofsky went on to win with a 9.286 to 9.493.
Longtime import drag vet, Ed Bergenholtz drove the Mazdaspeed 6 to secure his first Battle of the Imports Pro-FWD championship by qualifying and winning the event. But that also didn't stop him from giving the fans what they came to see: opening a Costco-sized can of "whoop ass" against some Detroit iron. Bergenholtz lined up against a '63 Chevy Corvette with 632 cubic inches of nitrous-injected manhood and even I thought Bergenholtz might be barking up the wrong tree. But the crowd loved it. Both did their burnouts and had the crowd on their feet. When the green light dropped, the Vette immediately jumped out about a car length but Ed chased him down. At about half-track, it looked like Bergenholtz had caught up to him but the Vette barely managed to hold on as he crossed the line first with a 7.429 to Bergenholtz's 7.456. What an awesome race. For a split second, it reminded me of the old days when everyone would line up to watch an import take on a domestic. The scary part of the race was when Bergenholtz got a little sideways at the end of track after pulling the chute, he straightened out and clipped the Vette. Nobody was hurt and Bergenholz's car suffered only minor cosmetic damage.
The action in the pits was just as hot though. The car show had close to 100 competitors displaying some of the cleanest rides I have seen all year. Not to mention all the fine ladies roaming around the venue. The Scion "What Moves You" stage was busy all-night long with a fashion show, a go-go dancing battle, interactive games with the spectators as well as the Import Tuner swimsuit competition. All in all, I had a great time even though the event went past the 11:00PM curfew. Even the venue food was good - and that's saying a lot. With only two events left, the action is guaranteed to come out on top. Next stop is "Game Point" at the Woodburn Dragstrip located just south of Portland - until next time...
Because We're Freaking Idiots...
In our never-ending quest to provide you with all of the latest happenings in our scene, we mistakenly left out coverage from Battle's Maryland event from this past summer and would now like to make it up to you by giving you the main highlights with some groovy photos. - SS Staff