They say familiarity breeds contempt, but who are they really and why would they say such a thing? We're not too sure, but most of the top racers were probably sick of seeing Matt Scranton, JoJo Callos, and Jesus Padilla atop the podium once again at the Lucas Oil Products NHRA Sport Compact Nationals.
We're not too bothered with Matt's sweep of the first three NHRA races or even the back-to-back victories of JoJo and Jesus. In fact, we tend to favor dominance because it's so far removed from the ever-present submissiveness that's prevalent in our pitiful little lives.
But enough about our problems, let's focus on Atco, New Jersey. We were sorry to inform Jen that Atco wasn't the site for yet another one of New Joisey's (No one says, "Joisey."-JT) fabulous malls with swank bridal registries but rather the spot for the third stop of the NHRA Sport Compact series. We sent Daren Proctor and Joe Moore to get the story. We also put them in charge of our 12-gauge, double-barrel T-shirt cannon. Instead of launching the shirts into the crowd, the boys camped out on a grassy knoll above the track. Authorities quickly detained Daren and Joe and we haven't seen them since. Although, when we received their film, we also found their manifesto, hastily scrawled on the back of a Haynes Beefy T.
Pro V-8 Class
Once again, the Pro V-8 class was a two-man showdown between Scranton's Turbonetics Celica and Craig Paisley's Toyota Tundra. The twin-turbo Celica has been on fire this season and just two weeks earlier at Englishtown it became the first sport compact to reach the double century mark. While Paisley did nail a career-best 7.72 in qualifying, officials shut him down at the line due to a fluid leak. Matt had to shut it off as he got loose downtrack resulting in a meager 8.708 @ 118.98. But on this day, that was all it took to grab his third Wally in three races.
Pro Class
Ara Arslanian's team is pure bullsh..., er Bullish. Whatever you want to call them, this pair of matched Solaras from Bullish Motor Racing has quickly risen to the top of the Pro Class ranks. Ara nailed the fifth qualifying slot while fellow Bullish boy George Ioannou nabbed the fourth position. John Lingenfelter's Ecotec-powered Summit Sonoma was the top qualifier with a 7.351 @ 185.75 followed by Grant Downing's Venom Tundra and Jorge Lazcano's Contreras Auto 300ZX rounded out the top three.
Although Ara was defeated in an upset loss to alternate Manny Cruz in the first round, Ioannou made it to the second round to face Lingenfelter. Unfortunately, Cruz's Cinderella story ended before he could get to the ball, as his Cougar was DQed for a fluid leak in the semi-finals giving Downing a free ride to the finals. Ioannou's trip to the last round wasn't as easy as he had his hands full in the semis with Lingenfelter and the Sonoma. Even though Lingenfelter cut a better light the Solara ran him down at the top end to take the win. It was all Supra power in the finals as the 2JZ-GTE motivates both the Venom Tundra and the Bullish Solara. Both drivers got into trouble at the top end but George was able to keep in it a little longer in order grab his first victory in what was just his second NHRA Pro class race.
Modified
In the Modified class Carlos Gonzales was the top qualifier with an 8.162 @ 163.10. Even more impressive was Venom's Supra, which was the second quickest qualifier with an 8.210 @ 163.96. Not only was this the debut of the car but it was also Jimmy O'Connor's first drive since his big testing crack-up last September. Although Jimmy's comeback was short-lived as the Supra spilled its internals all over the track in the first round, this first race is a clear indicator that there's a lot more left in this car.
By Chester J. Lampwick
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