Recent ramblings from within and across Canada’s dynamic drag racing spectrum….
Yeti Sighting Confirmed! — One of the most anticpated “cars to come” for Canadian drag racing for 2025 has been in test mode. After taking delivery just in early September, Chevy Reeves and the “YETI” are beginning to set a pace in the all new CJ RaceCars 1970 Chevelle – No Prep Kings targeted – powerhouse.
Chevy Reeves testing “The Yeti” Chevelle at RAD Torque Raceway in Edmonton.
Recently and amazingly, the 4000+ horsepower machine pushed into the 3-secs range (1/8 mile) within only a day of shaking down and adjusting this never before raced drag car. With crew chief Dean Bettenson (from Red Deer AB) at the helm, a very modest tune allowed for a 3.92 ET and 198.8 miles per hour!
While Chevy is still very new to the driver’s seat — he looks to excel at a modest and calculated pace.
Testing has been conducted at his home track of RAD Torque Raceway where Chevy also manages and operates the facility. Testing in Canada will come to a close as the fall/winter season approaches.
Plans for the off season including making some adjustment to help Chevy fit into the car better. Come the new year the team will then look to head stateside to continue the testing process. “We would like to add another 30 laps in the ‘YETI’ prior to entering into the Street Outlaws No Prep Kings circuit,” Chevy confirmed.
Sizzling Series Finale — Quebec’s Napierville Dragway hosted it’s 4th and final FuelTech Pro Mod Series event on September 21-22.
Montreal’s Claude St-Maurice, driving his supercharged Pontiac Firebird, led the qualification sheets with a run of 3.83 secs at 189 mph, followed by Carl Brunet with a run of 3.88 at 187 mph and Cédric Beaulieu at 3.98 secs to round out the top 3.
During the first round of eliminations, Claude St-Maurice won against Louis Coulombe with an ET of 3.89 at 193 mph. Carl Brunet also won against Mike Chenier with an ET of 3.86 at 188 mph and Cedric Beaulieu won against Mario Gourgue with an ET of 3.97 and 174 mph.
In the second round of eliminations, Claude St-Maurice got a BYE run and then in that battle of turbo cars, Cedric Beaulieu (after fixing an issue with his car) won against Carl Brunet with a solid run of 3.70 and 211 mph!
Cedric Beaulieu wheeled his turbocharged Camaro to both victory lane and a new track record at Naperville’s Fuel Tech Pro Mod final event.
In the final, Cedric Beaulieu made track history — recording the fastest run of his life to win the event against Claude St-Maurice. Beaulieu’s Camaro roared to an ET of 3.655 at 214.46 mph — one of the quickest Pro Mod car runs ever on Canadian soil. That pass eclipsed Spencer Hyde’s previous track record – 3.676 secs ( set in 2021).
The final round placing for Claude St-Maurice also paid off huge dividends as with that showing he was crowned the FuelTech Pro Mod Series champion for 2024. His points total of 245 points just edged out Cedric Beaulieu (234 points) in that final tally.
Based on an event win & other late round placings this season – Montreal’s Claude St-Maurice is the 2024 Fuel Tech Pro Mod season champion for Napierville Dragway.
Top-Tier Threats! — Canada is most certainly within the running for a major NHRA world championship title again this season!
Following last weekend’s action at the NHRA MidWest Nationals at St. Louis the points leaderboard for NHRA’s coveted Congruity Pro Mod title is pretty darn revealing and very promising.
At that race, BC based team drivers Justin Bond (Mission) and Jordan Lazic (Rutland) both had strong “final four” placings during Sunday’s eliminations. And with that moved to 2nd and 3rd in championship standings – with one event remaining for 2024.
Look out World! Two Canadian runners in contention for NHRA’s Pro Mod Championship for 2024!
In fact Bond and Lazic’s points total (944 and 932 respectively) sit behind only the 956 points of Khalid Al Balooshi — who is also part of the highly formidable JBS Motorsports/Bahrain 1 Racing multi-car team equation.
Canadian fans will recall that Justin Bond did lose out on the NHRA Pro Mod World Championship by a heart wrenching margin just last year – so the fact he and his team are in such a position now – once again – speaks volumes.
The 10-race Congruity NHRA Pro Mod Series “title bout” happens at Las Vegas – Oct 31-Nov 3rd.
Destination Dallas! –– Paton Racing and driver Spencer Hyde have announced plans for another NHRA national event Top Fuel class appearance together. Spencer has entered for and will drive the Paton’s potent machine at the upcoming NHRA Fall Nationals at fabled Texas Motorplex (Oct 9-13). Spencer’s only previous NHRA Top Fuel class experience had came at last season’s NHRA Finals at Pomona.
“I’m excited to be getting back into the fuel car in Dallas,” Spencer said. “It wasn’t really on the radar, but Todd called me a couple weeks ago and said let’s collectively make something happen. The state of Texas does offer up some travel money to the Pro Teams to help ease the cost burden a little — which is absolutely awesome. I really enjoy working with the Paton’s, so every time there’s an opportunity, I try and make it happen.”
Spencer Hyde will give NHRA Top Fuel level racing another go in October as driver for Todd Paton and the Paton Racing dragster.
Mark Morris (Paton Racing car chief) has 2 brand new engines set and ready to go and the plan is to lean on them with target ET’s in the mid 3.7 secs zone.
Cool @ Cayuga — An interesting recent occurance at Toronto’s fabled Cayuga Dragway saw track announcer (and Canadian Drag Racing Hall of Fame member/Canadian historical archiver) Rob Potter line up against his daughter Yyonne Potter for a intra-family match race.
Rob was driving his beloved and restored Rambler American and Yvonne was behind the wheel of her Pro ET rear-engined dragster.
Father V Daughter at Cayuga!
When the day ended the score was in fact 3-0 for father Rob who was thrilled with the rare opportunity to actually race against and hold off his talented daughter.
“The day was fantastic,” Rob beamed. “I made five runs in total — two time trials and then we ran off. I dialed 11.65 secs to her 8.18 secs. My lights were terrible — but not red! LOL”
TS Title — Welland Ontario’s Lui Ramundo became a first time winner within the Quick 32 Sportsman Series. Lui had a nice score with his 1996 Chevy Camaro (which features a 598 CID on nitrous) during the series final race held at Western NY state’s Empire Dragway (Sep. 18th).
Lui Ramundo & his team celebrate a win recently in Western NY.
In the Top Sportsman class final, Lui Ramundo defeated the overall series champion Charlie Emler Jr. Ramundo ran 4.65 secs at 150.10 mph on a 4.64-second dial-in with a .029 RT. Emler ran a 4.22 secs at 167.85 mph on a 4.23 dial-in.
The Quick 32 Sportsman Series events also include a TS vs TD final round showdown. In that extremely close finale both drivers were spot on but Ramundo came up just short racing against overall series TD champion John Vergotz Jr. (from Pennsylvania). Vergotz combined a better RT with a 4.590 secs on a 4.59 dial compared to Ramundo’s 4.640 secs (4.64 dial in).
Posted with files by Stephen Monette – Bruce Mehlenbacher – Bruce Biegler
Photos by Dave DeAngelis – Tony Hayes – Louren Sansregret – Brad Turk – Mike Lacelle 
