The Reich Stuff!
Long time Canadian drag racing proponent Ken Reich gathered in a much coveted prize during NHRA’s recent SummitRacing.com Nationals out at Las Vegas…
The Edmonton-based racer who can trace his drag racing roots back as far as 1977 was triumphant for the first time in his career at the NHRA national event level. With skilled driver Adam Bowdish (Vancouver WA) at the controls, Reich’s all new Chevy Cobalt prevailed to win the event’s Competition eliminator category.
Ken Reich collected the biggest win of his drag racing career recently.
The victory was a colourful one for sure as it came in a brand new race car for Reich – a spectacularly constructed machine from East Texas Race Cars which Reich took delivery of just this January.
“I can’t tell you how much this victory means to me — it’s a real tearjerker,” Ken admitted. “I had been in a couple of NHRA national event final rounds myself and Casey Plaizier took our Cavalier to a final at Seattle but I didn’t get the win light in any of those. Adam did a terrific job driving here — he had a perfect .000 RT in the final which tell you a lot about his capabilities.”
After qualifying in the middle of the pack (#11 of 27 cars) Bowdish’s round win lights included Comp class heavyweights Dan Fletcher and Lou Ficco Jr during rounds 3 and 4. In the final round a perfect light combined with a 8.518 secs ET made his B/SMA classed car a winner over opponent Brandon Huhtala who had a red light foul start.
“We (including Alan and Adam Bowdish) worked really hard at this event while getting the new car sorted out,” Reich continued. “We double checked everything and managed to get past any new car blues. But to get both “Best Engineered” and then win the event pretty much exceeds my expectations going into this race. It really also affirms what a great race car that Vic (Custer) @ East Texas Race Cars builds.”
Ken Reich (left) and Al Bowdish make final run preparations at NHRA Las Vegas
Ken’s win is a big feather in his drag racing career which started off with his very memorable 1967 Chevy II Modified production car. After that car as a driver he then truly terrorized the NHRA’s Pacific Northwest for a number of seasons racing his Specialty Auto Pontiac Firebird — collecting no less then 23 event wins and two season titles at the NHRA divisional level.
“I cut my teeth driving my old “Wheeler Dealer” Chevy but had my most success racing the Firebird,” Reich reflected. “I then took about a decade off to build up my business in Edmonton before getting back into the sport. This win means an awful lot — it’s what we all do this for.”
Ken and Adam will continue there 2013 season running most of the major Western NHRA events (national and divisional) this season.
Ken Reich’s new Specialty Auto Cobalt also collected “Best Engineered” while winning at Las Vegas
Away from the race track Ken Reich is the owner and operator of a very successful business that specializes in snowmobiles. You can visit his company website at: www.SpecialtySleds.com
Photos and Posting by: Bruce Biegler
