Edmonton’s Tim Boychuk emerged victorious after the IHRA’s Nitro Jam Mardi Gras Nationals held at State Capitol Dragway in Louisiana…..

Driving his all new Hawaiian-themed Pontiac Firebird, the popular Canadian driver faced defending IHRA AMSOIL Nitro Funny Car champion Jason Rupert in the final round of eliminations. Boychuk outran Rupert to the finish line, 5.867 secs 235.72 mph to 5.993 secs 245.43 mph.

“This is big for us,” Boychuk explained. “We struggled for the last year-and-a-half or so and it’s been really painful. We started off winning a lot, then it kind of all went away on us. Now it’s back – the car’s back. I can feel the car is back and it’s really working the way we want it to work.  We changed a few things. I bought out my partner, Ron Hodgson. We had a great relationship – we still do – he didn’t want to race as much as I did. Now we got Twig (legendary driver Twig Zeigler of 1970s Pizza Haven Funny Car fame) and Roland (revered ’60s-’70s “Hawaiian” Funny Car owner Roland Leong) both working on the car and they’ve got it back again. I’ve got two great guys looking after the car. The team – we’ve got the same crew working on the car – has so much consistency.”

Boychuk defeated No. 1 Qualifier and past IHRA champion Paul Romine in first round, then scored a bye run in the second to meet Rupert in the final.

Funny Car ELIMINATIONS:

AMSOIL Nitro Funny Car presented by Aeromotive

First round:
Tim Boychuk defeated No. 1 Qualifier Paul Romine, 5.773 sec./245.36 mph to 6.822 sec./176.50 mph.
Jason Rupert defeated Ricky Young, 5.897 sec./245.83 mph to 16.255 sec./68.56 mph.
Mark Sanders defeated Steve Nichols, 5.840 sec./250.97 mph to 8.278 sec./105.94 mph.

Second round:
Boychuk (bye) 11.768 sec./68.28 mph.
Jason Rupert defeated Mark Sanders, 5.979 sec./247.32 mph to 6.129 sec./231.30 mph.

Final:
Tim Boychuk defeated Jason Rupert, 5.867 sec./235.72 mph to 5.993 sec./245.43 mph.

Posted by: John Bisci – Photos by: Chris Simmons