In the ever going notion about life’s “ying & yang”, Edmonton’s 2008 version of the Cars RV & Marine Rocky Mountain Nationals was all of that and possibly more.

The event seemed to have pretty well everything – both positive and negative. A spectacular crowd of dedicated fans and focused race officials entered the event with high optimism but unfortunately were forced to clash with Mother Nature who was anything but kind. The event featured some hot temperatures during the day which seemed to draw in some wicked evening Alberta thunderstorms which affected and curtailed each day of racing. Ultimately final eliminations did not wrap up until Monday morning.

The biggest story of the event was unfortunately another negative. 2X and defending IHRA Funny Car World Champion Dale Creasy Jr suffered some serious injuries during the first round of eliminations. Creasy’s car had a major driveline failure which sent the transmission and related components spinning wildly. Creasy was airlifted from the drag strip with severe injuries to his legs. Then doctors at Royal Alexandra Hospital spent five hours piecing his lower left leg back together. That surgery was reportedly successful and he was able to move all his toes. The popular racer does face a lengthy rehabilitation ahead of him and it will be six months before he will be able to walk again.

Everyone at DragRaceCanada.com offers Dale the very best wishes for a speedy and successful recovery.

The Creasy incident was a major blow to the focus of the rest of the event and in particular to the Funny Car category. Virginia’s Matt Hagan, who is a rookie to the class this season ultimately scored victory but that too came in a rather unorthodox manner. In the final round his Chevy Monte Carlo exploded a supercharger and coasted to a stop. He was however declared the winner because his opponent Grant Downing (from New Zealand) crossed the centerline resulting in an automatic disqualification.

Hagan, who had qualified 4th beat Jeff Diehl and Steve Macklyn in earlier competition. He had low ET of the meet at 5.208 secs. Top Fuel racing also produced a surprise winner with Kevin Jones driving the Doc Sipples-owned and Interstate Equipment-sponsored dragster to victory, his 2nd career win.

Jones won the event from the pole (4.911 secs). After defeating points leader Spencer Massey in round one he recorded low ET of the meet at 4.797 secs 298.21 mph to defeat hometown favorite Tim Boychuck.

Tim Boychuck’s debut effort in the class driving for Barry Paton was a very spirited effort. With a long list of associate sponsors helping, Tim made three very nice laps including a number 3 qualifying effort. He also ran his first “four” ; a career best 4.982 secs at 281.86 mph alongside Jones in the semifinal round.

Ontario’s Carl “Big Dog” Spiering prevailed in Pro Modified, winning his 3rd career IHRA national event title. Spiering, who was runner-up here last year, outfoxed the field by combining some good fortune with a smart and conservative tune-up on the tricky track surface.

Spiering’s Eaton Cutler Hammer Corvette earned a final round come from behind win over Thomas Patterson’s outrageous “Head Hunter” 1970 Superbird; 6.555 secs 214.25 mph to 6.848 secs 192.36 mph.

Pro Mod racing was paced by Mike Janis who ran 6.173 secs for the pole however it was Florida’s Tommy D’Aprile who came away with low ET (6.096 secs) and top speed (233.76 mph) while enroute to a semi-final round finish.

The Alcohol Funny Car class attracted a solid field at Edmonton and featured another win by overall points leader Laurie Cannister (from Ohio). Laurie won a great Can-Am final round when she guided her Chevy Camaro past the Amalie-sponsored Dodge Avenger driven by London Ontario’s Paul Noakes. In a great side-by-side match, Cannister ran 5.906 secs at 241.37 mph to defeat Noakes’ who ran 5.950 secs at 238.43 mph.

Cannister’s win, which came in here 5th final round in five races this season (4 wins), also included round victories over Scott McVey and Tom Carter.

Pro Stock class racing produced probably one of the biggest controversies in IHRA history as the class contingent boycotted the event due to various reasons. Only Michigan’s Bob Bertsch showed for the event and he left the premises with a large paycheck, his first IHRA Ironman, a 6th place standing in points and the high respect of the Alberta racing public. Bertsch singled for the title with a 6.533 secs at 215.07 mph run.

While the Pro Stock class boycott was big news to some, the majority of Alberta racing fans may not have not necessarily noticed as the Edmonton event program was once again supplemented by great racing in popular local feature classes, Nitro Bike and Pro Nostalgia.

Damien Cownden, from Victoria BC defeated 14 other challengers in the Nitro Bike eliminator. He ambushed the field from the #11 qualified position and defeated John Breckenridge (from Washington) in the final round.

California’s Paul Schmidt was the performance star overall in the Nitro Bike category hitting an amazing 6.587 secs at 217.74 mph while qualifying #1.

The Pro Nostalgia (7.50) eliminator featured a popular win for local auto body/custom paint “guru” Joey Steckler. Steckler ran his spectacular 1970 Corvette to a near perfect 7.509 secs at 185.79 mph to beat the fan favorite ’33 Willys driven by Brent Harris, also from Edmonton. Harris ran 7.634 secs at 168.94 mph.

The event’s IHRA class Sportsman racing featured numerous Canadian winners including, Rick Paton from Edmonton in Super Stock, Ed Matiejewski, Sherwood Park (Stock), Mike Shannon, Kelowna BC (Quick Rod), Tom Patterson from Winnipeg (Super Rod) and Chad Barclay, from Winfield BC (Hot Rod).

The event’s added ET racing program featured four other Canadian winners, Scott Hearn (Quick 16), Derek Rose (Top ET), Dave Wiebe (ET Bike) and Corey Thomas (Junior Dragster).