|
 ENNIS,
TX (October 18-21) -- The 16th annual O’Reilly
Fall Nationals presented by Castrol Syntec was
contested this past weekend as Team Hoosier dominated in classes in
which they compete. An amazing nine drivers riding USA-made Hoosier
tires made it to their respective class finals at the Texas Motorplex.
Those nine drivers were competing in five different classes, which
meant, four finals were guaranteed to produce a winner on the Hoosier
brand. Rick Santos and Brian Hough met in Federal-Mogul Dragster,
while Pat Austin and Jay Payne went head-to-head in Federal-Mogul
Funny Car. Mike Thomas met Gary Stinnett in Super Comp, as John Brimer
and Barry Crane would duel to determine the class winner in Super Gas.
The Stock final would be the only class final in which a Hoosier-shod
winner was not a sure thing, as Steven Hall would carry the Hoosier
banner alone into his class final.
FEDERAL-MOGUL DRAGSTER
Hoosier 34.5/17.0-16 C06 drag tires would carry both Rick Santos
and Brain Hough into the F/M Dragster final. Santos in the Oakwood
Homes dragster got the jump at the light after posting a .454 RT to
Hough's .482 RT. Santos then powered on to the win after motoring to a
5.393 ET (260.71 mph) to Hough's 5.495 ET (259.66 mph), giving him the
2001 World Championship in Federal-Mogul Funny Car. FEDERAL-MOGUL
FUNNY CAR
Once again the Hoosier 34.5/17.0-16 C06 drag tire would carry both
competitors in the F/M Funny Car final. Team Hoosier driver's Pat
Austin and Jay Payne locked horns in the final round in which everyone
felt would be close. Payne got the early jump at the light posting a
.434 RT to Austin's .484 RT. Despite the early lead of Payne, Austin
rocketed back to make up the lost distance at the light. Moments
later, Austin completed the quickest and fastest run of the event en
route to capturing yet another class victory. Austin's 5.661 ET
(253.16 mph) to Payne's 5.724 ET (252.52 mph) was just enough to take
the win by just five feet at the stripe. STOCK
The perfect weekend for Team Hoosier ultimately was placed in the
hands of Steven Hall in the Stock final as he would pit his Hoosier
30.0/9.0-15 Radial C07 drag tires against a competing tire brand. Hall
did not let the team down, after posting a nearly perfect run of
10.588 seconds on a 10.590 dial for a -.002 on the over/under index,
he captured the Stock class final. SUPER
COMP
The third final to pit a pair of Hoosier-shod drivers against each
other was Super Comp, where Mike Thomas and Gary Stinnett would do
battle. Both drivers were quick out of the box, as Thomas' RT was .410
to Stinnett's .408 RT. Stinnett "broke out" with a 8.895 ET
(-.005) on the 8.90 index and with Thomas' 8.907 ET, the win went to
Thomas with a .007 on the over/under dial. SUPER
GAS
John Brimer and Barry Crane were the last pair of Team Hoosier
drivers to meet in their respective class finals. The Super Gas
competitors would both be under their 9.90 index at the stripe. Just
how little under would be the question. Brimer posted a 9.868 ET
(-.032) to Crane's 9.836 (-.064), as the
win went to Brimer as nearest to the 9.90 goal. Hoosier
drag tire product manager, Steve Hudspeth, attended the event in Texas
and had this to say, "This was absolutely the best Team Hoosier
performance I have ever seen." Hudspeth continued,
"Everywhere you looked, you saw another car heading to the final
round on the Hoosier brand! A perfect five-for-five record for Team
Hoosier in the final round of competition. I'd say that was a pretty
good weekend." The NHRA series
now has just two events remaining in the 2001 season. Next up is the AC
Delco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals on October 25-28. Heading into the
final two events, Team Hoosier has now claimed two World Championships
with Frank Manzo in Federal-Mogul Funny Car and Rick Santos in
Federal-Mogul Dragster, with five Championships still up for grabs. Congratulations
to all the competitors using USA-made Hoosier tires. We are very happy
with the growing number of drivers who continue to join Team Hoosier
during the 2001 campaign. |
