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 JOLIET,
IL (September 25-28) -- Although the weather was chilly around the
Chicagoland area, drivers on Hoosier tires remained hot on the track
sending six drivers to the final round of the 3rd annual CARQUEST Auto
Parts NHRA Nationals with four coming away National event winners. In
Stock, it was an all-Hoosier final when Mark Biskup met Nick Folk,
while in Super Comp, Lonnie Grim carried the Hoosier banner into the
final contest. In Super Gas, Steve Cohen was in the final round, while
in the rarely contested Super Street class, Gary Thompson was looking
to capture his second National win of the season.
TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER
David Wells was looking for his second National win of the season.
Well's, driving the Blue Bunny B/AD, came up an eyelash short of the
win in the quickest side-by-side drag race in Top Alcohol history.
Wells, using Hoosier's 34.5/17.0-16 C2000 drag tires, posted a .060 RT
along with a 5.272 ET (270.59 mph) in making the history setting run.
The Blue Bunny car is tuned by the talented Norm Grimes who also
worked on Rick Santos' multi-event winning Hoosier-shod dragster.
STOCK
In the final race in Stock, it was two Hoosier-shod cars locked in
battle to determine a winner. But that wasn't surprising considering
31 of the 68 cars in the Stock class were equipped with Hoosier racing
tires. Mark Biskup met Nick Folk in the final race with each driver
looking for their first National wins of the season. This one was over
early however, when Folk left too soon red lighting and handing the
win to Biskup who had a .062 RT and a 12.370 ET on a 12.34 dial (.030
over).
SUPER COMP
Lonnie Grim was Team-Hoosier's only hope for victory in the Super Comp
final. Grim, looking for his first National event win, uses Hoosier's
33.5/17.0-16 C06 drag tires. He was among 82 drivers using the Hoosier
brand in a class that had 113 competitors on hand. Grim's choice was
rewarded when he recorded a .018 ET and a 8.953 ET (.053 over) to take
the win handily over his opponent. Grim is no stranger to the NHRA
finals having made it to the final round earlier in the season at
Brainerd where he was the runner-up.
SUPER GAS
Like Grim in Super Comp, Steve Cohen was the only finalist on Hoosier
tires in Super Gas. And like Grim, Cohen was also victorious in the
final race in Joliet. Cohen, also used Hoosier's 33.5/17.0-16 C06 drag
tires to capture his 11th National event win of his career. Once
again, the class was dominated by Hoosier-shod drivers with 53 of the
85 drivers opting to run USA-made Hoosier tires. Cohen, who won just a
few weeks earlier at the US Nationals, used a nearly perfect light
(.005 RT) coupled with a 9.922 ET (.022) on the 9.90 index to take the
win.
SUPER STREET
Gary Thompson, who had won the last National final in the Super Street
class at Kent, WA and was looking for his second National event win of
the season, was also the only Hoosier equipped car in the final round.
Thompson did not disappoint winning the race with a lightning quick
reaction time at the light (.010 RT) and a 10.914 ET (.014) on the
10.90 index to take the win. A day earlier, Thompson took runner-up
honors in the Jeg's All Star race. Despite being outnumbered in the
class with just 18 of the 46 competitors riding on Hoosiers,
Team-Hoosier claimed its fourth National win of the weekend.
OTHER EVENT NOTES:
Cy Chesterman set a new Top Alcohol Funny Car record on Hoosier tires
in round one of eliminations. Chesterman recorded a 5.531 second run
for the quickest run ever by an Alcohol Funny Car. The time was backed
up (as required to earn an NHRA record) in the 2nd round with a 5.555
second blast. Hoosier congratulates Cy and the entire Chesterman race
team for their record setting run.
The event was attended by both Hoosier Drag Racing
Product Managers Faron Lubbers and Steve Hudspeth, while being
serviced as usual by John Adamo--Hoosier's traveling NHRA Series Track
Service Manager.
The next event on the NHRA Series schedule is this
weekend where the series will be making up the previously rained-out
Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Reading, PA.
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