Former Funny Car standout to drive Corvette Pro Modified for 2010 season

Next Step Taken by Duchene Nitro Camp

By: Bruce Biegler

One of the highlight stories during last weekend’s IHRA River Cree Rocky Mountain Nationals was the unveiling of Canada’s newest bona-fide fuel Funny Car.

Jason Duchene's new fuel FC

 The father and son racing team of Rick and Jason Duchene, who are based from Beaumont Alberta, showed at the event with their all new upgraded effort.  The team which has dabbled with Funny Car racing for over a decade, is both confident and focused that they now have the potential to take themselves to a higher level in Funny Car class racing and some NHRA Full Throttle event participation.

“This is a brand new chassis which we acquired from Allan Johnson last March,” confirmed Jason Duchene.  “This was a backup car for Del Worsham last season.  The body is a Pontiac Firebird from Jack Wyatt.   We have installed our own TFX engine program which is something we have made good progress with.  As far as I know – we are now the only NHRA legal Funny Car based in Canada.”

Jason made a couple of very decent exhibition laps in the car during the event weekend.  The car ran straight and pretty well trouble free hitting a best time of 5.86 secs at 196.87 mph with a very conservative tune-up.

“I’m very excited about the upgrade,” he continued.  “The whole stance of the car is very different compared to what I have been used to.  This new chassis has a learning curve and that will be our immediate focus.   I hope to have the car running in the high “fours” and 300 mph (1/4 mile) in the not to distant future.”

Jason Duchene

The Duchene’s Trial n’ Error Racing team which receives it’s primary backing from Wakefield/Castrol Canada, are hoping to make their NHRA circuit debut at some point later this season. 

“Our desire is to do some NHRA events — eventually,” Jason added.  “This is our next step within our team’s evolution to try and accomplish that.  We want to make sure the car tests well first before we make any commitment.  But it is possible we will make it to a NHRA Full Throttle event later this season.”

(Bruce Biegler Photos)

A great time was had by all during the IHRA River Cree Rocky Mountain Nationals last weekend in Edmonton!

It was great to see such a great response by the fans who reset the event attendance record (once again!)

You can view our event report and link to our photo gallery here:  http://dragracecanada.com/?p=323

Jet Trucks at Night! Photo by Sheryl Ogonoski

NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals
Bristol TN.  June 18-20^th, 2010 

Von Smith

Von Smith won his third straight NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series race during NHRA’s Thunder Valley Nationals event at Bristol TN.  The win which came driving the Barwa/Al-Anabi Racing ’68 Camaro allowed the Tennessee-based native driver to assume a commanding points lead for the series championship.

In the finals, Smith gave up 12/1000^th to Jay Payne at the start, but he tracked him down with a 5.994 at 241.54 to Payne’s 6.039 at 240.36 mph.  He now leads second-place Danny Rowe by 92 points.

Smith qualified fifth, but because of a series upsets on his half of the ladder he didn’t meet a higher-qualified driver until the final when he was matched up against No. 2 qualifier Payne.

En route to the final, Smith defeated No. 12 qualifier Tony Pontieri, No. 13 Rick Stivers and No. 8 Ray Commisso.

Jay Payne, set low ET of the event during qualifying with a run of 5.991 secs while Brad Personett once again set top speed driving the awesome Big Stuff-sponsored turbocharged Camaro – this time at 249.01 mph.

(Bruce Biegler Photo)

NHRA Supernationals
Englishtown NJ   June 11-13th, 2010

Von Smith

Tennessee’s Von Smith was able to fight off Mother Nature and a tough field in the NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park to get his second win of the season and in his career in the series. 

In the finals, which were held on Monday due to rain postponing action on Sunday, Smith was paired up with Mike Castellana, who was in his first final round appearance of the year.  At the start Smith held an early advantage and never looked back on his way to the end of the quarter mile.  Smith posted a winning pass of 5.890 seconds at 247.52 mph to a losing run of 6.182 seconds at 196.87mph.

Smith qualified near the bottom of the ladder in 13th, but was able to string together four solid passes during the event to get the win.  He defeated Troy Coughlin, Scott Ray and Raymond Commisso prior to making it to the final round.

Raymond Commisso

Commisso, who is from Toronto, ON, set both top speed and low ET of the event during PM qualifying when he ran the R2B2 Racing Chevy Camaro to a thundering 5.815 secs at 250.64 mph.

Smith’s win came over a history making and first ever all-five seconds field that featured a sparkling quick bump spot of 5.980 secs.

(Photos by: Bruce Biegler)

Pontieri Sidelined Following Vicious Crash

 By:  Bruce Biegler

Tony Pontieri, one of Canada’s most talented and experienced drag racers will be sidelined for the remainder of the 2010 season following a vicious crash during last weekend’s NHRA Summit Racing Nationals in Ohio…. (continue reading…)

How cool was it that the Mopar brand stepped in to help support the IHRA Rocky Mountain Nationals at Edmonton as a presenting sponsor last weekend!

To help acknowledge their continued support of the Canadian drag racing scene — DragRaceCanada put together a little video presentation — which is now posted on YouTube: 

http://www.youtube.com/user/RammersRule242

Special thanks to Kevin “Keeling” Sproule for his excellent videography and production.   Also thanks to the great Toronto-based band “Cancer Bats” for the soundtrack.   Loud Music…..Loud Cars…..!

NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals
June 24-27^th, 2010  Norwalk, Ohio

Nationals Notebook:

 A PRO STOCK SWEEP FOR ANDERSON                   (By: NHRA Communications)

Greg Anderson raced to his first Pro Stock victory of the season Sunday at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals held at Norwalk Ohio’s Summit Racing Equipment Motorsport Park.

In winning the Pro Stock final, three-time world champ Anderson pocketed more than $125,000 for the weekend by sweeping today’s eliminations and Saturday’s K&N Horsepower Challenge all-star event, which includes a $25,000 double-up bonus from NHRA.

Anderson outran Allen Johnson in the final round for his 61^st career victory. Anderson’s Summit Racing Pontiac GXP posted a winning performance of 6.722 seconds at 204.54 mph to hold off Johnson’s Team Mopar Dodge Avenger, which slowed at mid-track and finished in 6.982 at 159.38.

“This is beyond a dream weekend,” said Anderson, who also swept both races in 2004. “I couldn’t have even have dreamed anything this big before we came here this week. I just hoped and prayed that we came here with a good performance and functioned properly throughout the weekend and just had a slight chance of sneaking a few round-wins and maybe a lucky victory away, and we ended up sweeping the weekend and taking every doggone nickel they had to give. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a weekend like this. I guess I’ve got to go back three or four years when we had a car that could do these things.”

Anderson outran Johnny Gray, Jeg Coughlin and Jason Line to advance to his first final since the 50^th Winternationals at Pomona in February. He was happy to take his first win of the season in front of his sponsor Summit Racing Equipment, who also sponsors the event and the track.

Mike Edwards continues to lead the Pro Stock standings by a wide margin despite a rare first round exit.

Dixon claimed his seventh victory of the season in Top Fuel, beating Antron Brown in the final round. Dixon finished in 3.880 at 313.29 in his Al-Anabi Racing dragster while Brown trailed with a 3.907 at 307.65 in his Matco Tools dragster. It was Dixon’s second consecutive win at this event and the 55^th of his career.

“Seven for seven, I feel fortunate,” said Dixon, who defeated Troy Buff, Doug Foley and rival Tony Schumacher in the first three rounds and extended his series lead with the win. “There’s been a lot of tight races (this year). Out of this four race swing, to have three wins out of four that’s huge. That’s the only way you can stay ahead in the points. Nobody can catch you if you’re winning rounds. We got four more races before the Countdown starts, and we’ll go from there.”

In Funny Car, Wilkerson took his second win of the season and 15^th of his career by getting revenge over John Force, who beat him last weekend in Bristol, Tenn. Wilkerson’s Levi, Ray & Shoup Ford Mustang posted a 4.191 at 300.40 to hold off Force, who finished in 4.272 at 290.88 in his Castrol GTX High-Mileage Mustang. Wilkerson beat Bob Tasca, Jeff Arend and Del Worsham to make the final and defeat Force.

“It was great to win over John because he’s so good, and he’s coming into his own again,” Wilkerson said. “After one bad year, he’s making us all look like we don’t know what we’re doing again, so we’re happy to have that win over John. Last weekend, we let him off the hook. We need to do our deal and keep going down the track run after run after run. There’s still four races left [in the regular season], so we have to keep on our game.”

With the runner-up finish Force increased his series lead to 73 over teammate Robert Hight.

Smith raced to his second victory of the season and 12^th overall in Pro Stock Motorcycle, beating defending world champion Hector Arana in the final. Smith clocked a 7.076 at 188.36 on his Al-Anabi Racing Buell, to hold off Arana’s Lucas Oil Buell, which finished in 7.080 at 188.52.

Defending world champ Arana continues to lead the series standings, despite not winning a race this season in four final round appearances.

MUSI EARNS FIRST GSA SERIES VICTORY

 Veteran drag racer Pat Musi raced to his first NHRA Get Screened America Pro Mod Drag Racing Series victory Sunday at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park.

Musi, who outran Troy Coughlin, Ed Hoover and top qualifier Raymond Commisso in the first three rounds, defeated Brad Personett in the final round. It was Musi’s first victory in NHRA competition since 1981, when the New Jersey driver won a Wally in Pro Stock competition at the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla.

Musi’s Dodge Stratus, which features EFI, posted a 5.981 at 239.44 to hold off Personett’s hard-charging ’68 Camaro, which trailed with a 5.996 at 251.02.

Series points leader Von Smith, winner of three events this season, was upset in the first round by Rickie Smith. Smith leads Danny Rowe by 85 points with three races remaining in the 10 event series.

The GSA feature included two serious incidents both which occurred during Friday’s 2^nd qualifying session.  Both Tony Pontieri (Toronto ON) and Roger Burgess (Duluth GA) lost race cars under similar but unrelated circumstances.  Pontieri suffered a neck injury while Roger Burgess was thankfully not injured.

K&N Horsepower Challenge to Anderson

Greg Anderson won $50,000 by racing to victory during Saturday’s K&N Horsepower Challenge, a special bonus event for Pro Stock competitors at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals.

Anderson used a quicker reaction at the start to upset the special event’s top seed Mike Edwards. In a battle between Pontiac GXPs, Anderson crossed the finish line first in the final round with a 6.685 second run at 206.23 mph in his Summit Racing GXP before Edwards could catch him with his quicker performance of 6.677 at 207.11 in his Penhall/Interstate Batteries machine.

It was Anderson’s third victory in the bonus race for the eight best Pro Stock performers from the last year.  Because he also won during the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals the following day Anderson collected an additional $25,000 bonus from NHRA for sweeping both events.  His weekend payday was more than $100,000.

Pro Stock Winner - Greg Anderson

(Photo by:  Steve Embling)