Drag Racing Action Online

Images Mashie Mihalko and Phil Hutchison

The best Sportsman racers on the East Coast were on hand for the 39th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Dragway. The track, just an hour west of Philadelphia was the perfect place for the racer’s fans and families to watch them race on the Big Stage. And the fans showed up with a sell out Saturday and big crowds Friday and Sunday at the House of Chaos. And for the first time in a long time, rain did not affect the event with beautiful fall weather all weekend.

TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER

Both cars were welded together in the finals of Top Alcohol Dragster with just a few inches deciding the winner

With nearly 20 cars on hand to qualify for the 16-car field, just getting into the show was a win. After three rounds of qualifying Canadian Shawn Cowie was #1 with a 5.172 with local New Jersey star Karen Stalba #2 in her A/FD with a 5.236.

Joe Maynard was third with a 5.239 and Matt Cummings from Pompano Beach FL was 4th in the McPhillips A/FD with a 5.240.

Rising star Kelly Kundratic from nearby Harrisburg PA held down the bump with a quick 5.411.

By the time the semifinals rolled around only Kundratic was still in the mix with Mike Coughlin, Jackie Fricke and Angelle Sampey in the Hangstefers Laboratories car.

Coughlin in the Jeg’s A/FD got around an up in smoke Fricke as Sampey ended Kundratic’s Cinderella weekend as Kundratic couldn’t keep her car staged and left before the tree went green.

Team AB celebrates a double win at the NHRA Pep Boys Nationals 

Sampey who calls Mathews La. home, was NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle world champ three times, but has not made it to the winner’s circle since returning to full time racing but that all changed at Maple Grove.

Coughlin who has had his share of success in T/AD, was off the line first by a few ticks and led the race until the final few feet where Sampey caught and passed the Ohio driver winning with a 5.304 to the 5.307 of Coughlin.

The win made Angele the 21st woman to win in T/AD and the third woman to win the class at Maple Grove.

“What a day,” Sampey said after his historic win. “My first Wally on four wheels! So proud of my team, all of our hard work is finally paying off. So great to win at the same race as Antron.”

TOP ALCOHOL FUNNY CAR

What the size of the field lacked was made up in quality racers with former NHRA World Champ Sean Bellemeur from Placentia CA qualifying in the top spot with a 5.443 in the Bartone BrothersCamaro and Maryland racer D.J. Cox #2 with a 5.464. Colorado’s Annie Whiteley was third with a 5.468 and Bob McCosh was #4 with a 5.483.

Whiteley made it to the finals in her “Shattered Glass” Camaro and was up against unheralded Phil Esz racing out of Ohio in his “UltraSonic LCC Camaro.

Earlier Whiteley beat McCosh and Phil Burkart to get to the finals as Esz pulled off the upset of the weekend with an upset win over top qualifier Bellemeur in R2. Esz had a 0.010 RT and held on with a 5.462 to Bellemeur’s 5.537.

In addition to the second round win, it gave Esz a bye to the finals.

The finals were over at the hit as Whiteley struck the tires allowing Esz to cruise to a 5.522  @ 262.23 for his second career NHRA Wally.

TOP DRAGSTER

It was a case of the rabbit vs the hare in the finals as low qualifier Al Kenny in his blown dragster was up against the Massachusetts based dragster of Tim Gray and was spotting him over a second on the tree. Kenny, a former NHRA World Champ had been on his game throughout eliminations cutting great lights and running dead on his quick dial.

Gray had qualified his dragster in the #27 spot with a 7.406 and earlier beat Bobby Vojtila and Jessica Eastburn to make it to his first career final as Kenny put Chuck Krepela and Kent Newsome on the trailer on his way to the money round.

Kenny dialed in at a 6.12 and crushed the tree with a 0.001 light as Gray had no chance of winning after his 0.031 RT and a 7.436 on his 7.41 dial. The win was Kenny’s 12th NHRA National event win.

“The car was awesome all week,” Kenny said.  My 60 foot times were within .951 to .959 over 8 runs on 4 days no matter what time of the day. Early morning, mid day and late evening.

“I’m a firm believer that a great car makes an average driver look good! I want to thank Dan Page Race Cars, Gary Stinnett and Jason Ruge at Stinnett Racing. James Munroe at Killer Ron’s for my fuel system. And Select Performance Trans and Converters.”

“Raced my good friend Chuck Krepela in the semi’s. He dropped a 000 light on me but luckily i got by for the W! . I’ve been racing at Maple Grove since 1975 so it kinda felt like winning at home. Our race shop in Kutztown is only 45 minutes from the Grove.”

“Huge thanks to my wonderful wife Carol Kenny, my son Jason(and the future Mrs Kenny (his fiance’ Ashley) and my great friend Chuck Krepela. And Samnatha, Jeg & Carly for the support and encouragement!”

TOP SPORTSMAN

It went down to two of D1 racers in the final as Brian Vollman from Montgomery PA and Michael Grafas racing out of Brick NJ met in the finals. Both drivers qualified in the middle of the pack and it was a race won on the starting line. Vollman had a great 0.004 light and ran a 7.369 on a 7.35 in his Chevy Cobalt as Grafas had to push his ’63 Corvette a tad too much breaking out with a 6.956 on a 6.96 dial.

Vollman said after his first ever NHRA win, “Starting racing the car two years ago. Raced the Northeast Division 1 circuit last year and finished fourth.”

“I have been really busy at the shop this year and have only raced the Numidia Divisional prior to this past weekend. The car performed great, and I also had a good weekend driving.”

COMPETITION ELIMINATOR

Ackerman, near lane, got the better light but Eckel chased him down for the win

Two of the divisions best drivers met for the title at Maple Grove with former NHRA champ Al Ackerman from Hague NY racing defending D1 Comp champ Don Eckel out of Piscataway NJ.

Eckel driving his C/DA, had been flirting with a CIC penalty throughout eliminations and it finally bit him in his semifinal race against the F/DA dragster of Chris Piston. Eckel went 0.570 under his 7.54 index knocking his index in the final to a 7.47.

Ackerman on his side of the ladder, started his day with an 8.52 index in his F/D but by the time the finals rolled around his index had dropped to an 8.41.

Ackerman had the better light with a 0.015 to Eckel’s 0.062 but Eckel chased the veteran racer down with a 0.528 under 6.942 to Ackerman’s losing 0.428  under 7.982.

The win was Eckel’s second career NHRA national event Wally.

“I’m used to racing cars who run slower E.T.’s because it’s about 95% of the time for me,” Eckel said after his win. “Cal Hill in the first round was the smallest handicap and I was giving 2 seconds head start in the second round when Schonberger red lighted. Ken Voight unfortunately suffered breakage in his second round race so it afforded me the quarterfinal single to stay CIC “clean” into the semis. Anyone who follows Comp knows that can be huge and in my case it was as both Chris Piston and Al Ackerman were down a good chunk at .07 and .11 respectively at that point.”

“My race with Chris Piston was critical in trying not only to win, but also minimize any CIC damage. I tried to “tighten up” the margin at the finish line but I still wound up taking a .07 CIC penalty to the final. I felt I still had a couple of hundredths in performance left though and that proved to be true in the win against a very tough opponent in Al, who I was also spotting almost a full second.”

“We haven’t attended many national events in recent years and my only other national win was at Englishtown in 1998 (also from the bottom half). But we knew we couldn’t attend the last Division 1 event at VMP divisional in a couple of weeks so we wanted to make sure we didn’t miss the national too. I guess that’s fate! It was a very good field of cars which is typical in D1.

Eckel and Michele Costa celebrate his win at Maple Grove

“We had a little hiccup on our first qualifier when the engine stumbled on the 2-step and shut off, but after that, the car ran well. Losing .04 off of my personal index last year in order to win the division definitely hurt us and we qualified in the bottom half and in fact, all 3 semifinal cars were from the bottom half, so it just shows the quality of the field.”

“Sometimes things just have a way of working out, but you still need to have a good car and drive well. There were no easy opponents. The win was extra special for me as my father just celebrated his 80th birthday 2 weeks ago. He works tirelessly to take care of things while I’m working and is so deserving of the accolades. The unwavering support for what we do that my mom Carole, wife Kim, and son Christopher have given us all these years is also a blessing. And I’d never forget the help and great friendship from Frank Aragona Sr, Michele Costa, Rich Rose, and Harry Albrecht Jr (who crewed with us for the first time), among so many others make it just that much more special.”

SUPER STOCK

It was Wilkes Barre PA driver Bill Kennedy winning his second NHRA Wally with a win over multi time champ Joe Santangelo from Marlborough CT.

Santangelo had the better light with a 0.019 to Kennedy’s 0.036 but on the top end it was Kennedy’s 10.449 on a 10.41 dial taking out the 9.729 on a 9.67 dial of Santangelo. The difference at the stripe was nine inches.

“It’s always a great weekend at Maple Grove and it was super nice being able to win this one especially after winning the divisional at the Grove this year as well,” Kennedy said.

“As for facing Joe, he’s one of the best in the business and I just knew I had to be ready on top and but there were some tough competitors before Santangelo like Anthony Bongiovanni and James Antonette. It was great to share the winners circle with our good friends Bubba Linke, Chris D, and Brian Vollman.

“I must thank my dad, Bill Kennedy Sr. My wife Suzanne and my son, Landen who is having a good year in Jr dragster as well and got up super early so they wouldn’t miss the final rounds on Sunday. Tim and Pat Partash. Paul Kelvin, Jack and Katie Sepanek. Mark at Morgantini’s, Roy at Hoosier Tommy and Tom at BAS Truck and Trailer Bigler Boyz Towing, Shane and Sara Oakes. Howie Smith and family.

Mike and Deb at A1 Mulch. And Ray and my new friends at Blaise Alexander Family Dealerships. The NHRA D1 staff and the staff at Maple Grove raceway

“It really made me happy with my wife and son being there to see me win.”

STOCK ELIMINATOR

Stock Eliminator, always one of the most competitive classes in the NHRA, had a pair of champs in the finals with multi time champ Dan Fletcher from Selma NC in his H/SA ’69 Camaro against Russell “Bubba” Linke from Old Bridge NJ in his B/SA Camaro.

Linke got the better light with a 0.018 RT to Fletch’s 0.046 and took his third NHRA national event win with a 10.462 on his 10.42 dial to Fletch’s 11.456 on his 11.40 dial.

Earlier in eliminations Linke got around Shane Oakes and David Barton to make it to his final round meeting with Fletcher who defeated Todd Bednaz and John Gray on his way to the finals.

“The semifinal against one of my best friends, Shane Oakes was a tough one because that was what determined who got to the ‘money round’,” Linke said. “That was close but was lucky enough to come out on the right end of it.

“As for the final, numbers don’t lie. Dan is clearly one of the best to ever get behind the wheel. Not who you’d like to see in the other lane that’s for sure. He was killer all weekend as usual so I wasn’t expecting to have much room for error at all at the finish line, but I guess he just missed the tree a little and I was fortunate enough to pull it off despite him feeding me a ton of stripe lol.”

“Thanks go to my son Blake, dad, stepmom Phyllisa, Mom, uncle Doug and Aunt Jeanne (who couldn’t be there), my cousins Krystal and Mike, their two kids Killian and Riley, Shane and Sara Oakes, Baltimore Brad, Loud Ohler, Jake Ellex, the whole Warren family for my engine work, Jack and Katie Sepanek, Mickey Thompson, Rich Fetch with Zep Products, and everyone else that helped keep me smiling and my head where it needed to be to stay focused.”

SUPER COMP

Fricke, far lane, has already fouled away any chance of a Pep Boys Nationals win

After defeating some of the best racers in the 8.90 class such as Kevin Scholl, Jeff Kundratic, Mike Robilotto, Ken Moses and Jason Kenny, Chris DePascale from Parlin New Jersey driving his “Addicted” dragster had his ticket punched for the finals at Maple Grove

In the other lane it was fellow Jersey racer Shawn Fricke from Flemington. Fricke, driving the “Accelerated Travel” car had taken out Canadian James Cowie, Ed McCleaft, Don Bangs and Duke Bodnar on his way to the final round.

Unfortunately for Fricke, it was over on the starting line as he cut the tree a little too close redlighting by 0.004 handing DePascale his third National event NHRA Wally

“Shawn and I have raced several times over the years. There never was an easy run,” DePascale said.  We always seem to bring the best in each other and/or try to show them other something that isn’t the same as the last time we ran. NHRA National events are exceptionally harder as it like racing first round 6 times. Each one the weather is something that is different from the other, and typically not easily won in your favor. There are a lot of talented racers that want it just as bad as yourself.

“Every person that I beat this weekend I have previously lost to in other races with large disappointment, so every round I win this weekend was like a redemption from the last time we ran, and that was FINE WITH ME!”

“I am beside myself,” DePascale adds. “To win a national event is one thing, but to win your home race at two tracks is unreal seeing as I only race 1-2 nationals per year. I would like to dedicate this win to my good Friend Lenny Bucher who passed away this season. Butch, Heather, Morgan, Austin, Nikki, Frank Gianna & Izzy Bucher THIS IS FOR YOU GUYS. He was riding with me every pass…. THANK YOU ALL MY TRACK FAMILY…. WE LOVE YOU ALL!”

SUPER GAS

After five rounds of action, the finals came down to Michael Handras from Brooklyn NY against D2 racer David Morris from Clover SC.

Handras had the better light but at the stripe it was Morris taking his second career Wally with a 9.919 to a slowing 9.989 of Handras.