S.F. was totally awesome! We went wine tasting in a cable car down
Lombard street on our way to Pier 39 to heckle the sea lions and eat clam chowder out of a bread bowl. Wow, that was probably one of the worst intros in our long history of bad intros. Now that we've completed the compulsory portion of any Nor Cal race or show story, let's get into the NHRA action that went down at Infineon Raceway.
Pro RWD
In Pro RWD qualifying, George Ioannou topped everyone with a stunning 6.873 @ 204 mph in his 2JZ-GTE-powered Solara while his Bullish/Street Glow teammate Ara Arslanian lead the rest of the pack. In the first round, Matt Hartford got a break when Matt Scranton's Celica sputtered at the top end, allowing the Summit Cavalier to drive around for the win. Our boy Steph Papadakis had a rough go of it with an injured motor for starters followed by an uncharacteristic red light when his AEM Drag Civic just rolled through the beams, giving Abel Ibarra the easy win.
The Street Glow bros, Ara and George, easily advanced to the second round, but that's where things took a turn for the worse. Ara redlighted against Abel's RX-7, and Infineon's left lane, which had been giving drivers fits all weekend, reared its ugly head causing George to glance the wall and then swerve across the center line. Matt's Cavi' was already on its way to the finals, but credit still goes to George's quick thinking and brass marbles for keeping the carnage down to a minimum.
The Sonoma final was a rematch from the Atco NHRA event earlier in the season ("Can You Stand the Rain?," Oct. '03). The Atco final was a snooze as both drivers nursed their broken rides to the line. Abel and Matt must have heard us snickering on the sidelines because they put on one of the best shows of the season at Infineon. These guys ran side by side from the start to the 185-plus mph finish. In the end, it was only Matt's .076 second holeshot that gave him the win. While Matt did win here in the Modified class last year, this was his first Pro RWD victory.
Pro FWD
In Pro FWD it was all about seven-no, not that sickly kid on Married With Children, but the elusive 7-second barrier. At Sonoma, the pit row gossip centered upon Shaun Carlson, who had apparently clicked off an 8.02 during testing in Vegas. Shaun and his Mopar cohorts credited this stellar improvement to a new super secret prototype gearbox. But there were a few people at Sonoma with something to say about Shaun's perspective stake in the record books, namely, Christian, Nelson, Lisa, and Ed.
In qualifying, Christian "Mr. BMOC" Rado, our newest, bestest buddy and our favorite Elvis impersonator, snatched the top spot with an 8.326 @ 173 mph. In the first round, Christian and Shaun both advanced as well as Nelson Hoyos and Lisa Kubo. Shaun faced off against Nelson and his Cavalier in the first round. While the Dodge smoked the Chevy out of the hole, it was felled by mechanical problems, slowing it at mid-track and allowing Nelson to move into the finals. In the other pairing, Lisa and Christian battled all the way down the track with Lisa's APC Saturn barely edging ahead to win by .065 seconds. In the finals, the Saturn broke, giving Nelson the easy win. Since he already wrapped up the Championship, Nelson will be pushing for timeslips for the rest of the season-much like the rest of this elite group.
Modified
Cesar Febus continued to dominate the Modified Class in qualifying. His vintage Z31 Nissan old schooled the field with a 7.843 @ 173 mph. In the finals, Cesar met Jimmy O'Connor and his Supra. Cesar spanked Jimmy at the line with a brutally emasculating holeshot, but the 300ZX faltered at the top while Jimmy powered back into the race. If there were a few more feet of track, Jimmy would have came out ahead, but Cesar's big jump at the line was enough to make the difference on this day. Not only did Cesar take the win but he also clinched the Modified Championship as well.