RECORD SETTING FUEL ALTERED CHAOS AT TUCSON
PHIL HUTCHISON DRAG RACING ACTION ONLINE
IMAGES GEOFF SCULLY AND ALEX OWENS/AUTO IMAGERY
The 2026 Fuel Altered Chaos race at famous Tucson Raceway was a record breaker. The Chaos Fuel Altered ET record was lowered more than once during the weekend. And with such a great show, the fans showed up.
Over two dozen cars were racing in three fields with the CP Carrillo ‘A’ Field the quickest of the bunch.
Low qualifier Brandon Seraphine
After qualifying in the #2 spot, Lyle Greenburg from Pipe Creek Texas took his “Cone Hunter” to the ‘A’ win over low qualifier Brandon Seraphine. Seraphine who reset the Chaos record to a quick 3.655 in qualifications, took his “Spare Change” to the finals to meet Greenburg but slowed to a low five second run after getting the better RT but the car headed to the wall forcing Seraphine to click it early. Greenburg put the pedal to the metal resetting the Chaos record to a 3.604.
In the first round Greenburg beat Kevin Knowles with a then record 3.62 then crushed John Broussard’s dreams in the “Purple Haze” with a 3.644 setting up the finals against the low qualifier Seraphine.
Purple Haze
Seraphine was no slouch winning R1 with a 3.691 over Jimmy Kelso then dispatched Aaron Morrow in the “Nitro Relapse” on the closest race of the day, 3.680 to his 3.699.
Morrow, near lane, lost a close one to Seraphine in the semis
After the Tucson win Greenburg said, “I am so appreciative of Jim Hughes and Chris and Tera Graves for putting on a great event. And kudos to Jim Black for having the track on point and capable of holding 3.60s.”
“Winning this event in back-to-back years feels so great. Many don’t know that the car hasn’t left the shop since our win at last year’s event. One of the reasons is a health issue I had that needed attention. But there was no way we were going to miss the race and an opportunity to try and win it a second time.”
“My team didn’t show a bit of rust as they executed perfectly on every run. Meeting up with Brandon Seraphine was a perfect final. He has been unstoppable in West Coast racing this year, including a win at Fuel Altered Chaos 2.0 in May that we had to miss.”
“He is also tuned by the amazingly talented Jake Sanders. Jake put the Cone Hunter together for me in 2017 and taught me how to run a nitro car. Since then he has always been available to me when I have questions. So, Jake’s “Snake Enterprises” basically couldn’t lose, since Brandon and my team are practically teammates.”
“Because we don’t really race very often, I think some folks forget just how successful we have been. Going back to the latter part of 2021, we have been to 9 final rounds out of the 13 open competition races we have run, winning 6 out of those 9 finals, including the March Meet twice and the Funny Car Classic at Ennis. Now that I am several years into being a “senior citizen”, I feel blessed to be still racing competitively.”
After having the quickest car in qualifying and making it to the finals, Brandon Seraphine said, “So the overall weekend was great! We usually run the 6.0 Heritage Series, so this is a special race for us because we get to turn our car all the way up and run heads up.”
“This past weekend we pushed our car harder than we ever have and set the pace for qualifying and set a Chaos record at 3.665 203mph.”
“Race day went well, and we kept pace with our qualifying effort. The semifinal was really exciting because the car did a 300 foot wheel stand and I’ve never experienced anything like that ever. It was a lot of fun.”
“In the process of back pedaling the car to get it to calm down we hurt the motor going into the final round so it was a mad dash to make the call. My crew did an amazing job getting the car ready for the final and we came up short by just over powering the track and shaking the tires.”
“I wanna thank my entire crew for all their efforts all year and Jake Sanders for giving me such a good race car. Thank you to Fuel Altered Chaos and Tucson Dragway for putting on such a great event and we can’t wait to come back.”
Vogel, far lane, took the ‘B’ Field over Lofgreen’s turbo car
The action didn’t stop with the ‘A’ Field as Chris Vogel’s sharp red “Mental Therapy” Fiat taking the win in Western Differential ‘B’ over the unique turbocharged Scottsdale Automotive Specialist car of Sheldon Lofgreen.
Lofgreen was off the line first and looked like he was getting the win but when the win light came on in Vogel’s lane with a 4.031, Lofgreen’s 4.136 didn’t cut it.
“Thanks to Chris Graves for putting on this event for us,” Vogel said. “This win means the world to us; we struggled the entire weekend breaking something every pass. My guys worked hard every single round to get this car ready for me and that says a lot about the friends I have, I couldn’t have done it without them.”
“My wife and my dad have been here every step of the way to help. My daughter Adyson has worked her tail off being my go-to for every little thing I need at every race. This is a big win for our confidence for future races. I guarantee we will be better at the next race.”
After the tough loss, Lofgreen said, “I had him, been to four Chaos finals and haven’t won yet. Need to kill the monkey.”
“But what a weekend at Tucson Dragway! A big thank-you to Chris Graves and Fuel Altered Chaos for giving me a place to race my unique MFI turbocharged Hemi combo.”
“We made it to the finals with holeshot wins in both the first and second rounds, and I made my first-ever three-second pass with a 3.97!”
“In the finals, I left first with a .029 light, but just past the 60-foot mark, my foot slipped off the pedal and cost me the race. A tough way to finish, but still a weekend to be proud of. Jim Hughes and Jim Black had the Tucson Dragway track prep on point all weekend. Thanks for giving us a great surface to race on!
In the Laris Insurance ‘C’ Field, winner Phil Flower from nearby Mesa parlayed a pair of 4.20’s to get his “Some Kinda Monster” in the finals against the “Penny Pincher” Bantam of Mark Leamon.
The win went to Flower after Leamon backed out of the beans when he hit the trans brake and got a red light making Flower the automatic winner.
“Winning Fuel Altered Chaos in C-field was an incredible feeling, especially knowing how tough the competition was,” Flower said. “I knew I had to step up my game and get this car performing at a higher level if I was going to compete with all of the great fuel altereds we had in the field.”
“After the first round, I started to realize that I probably had the car to beat. The car was running so consistently that it almost became like a bracket car. Round after round, it was extremely repeatable, and I knew I had a legitimate shot at winning the race.”
“Going into the final, I felt confident in what we had put together. As it turned out, my opponent went red, giving me the win. Even though my car was having some issues in the final round, it didn’t matter in the end. We got the job done, and bringing home the Fuel Alter Chaos win in ‘C’ Field made all the hard work worthwhile.”
Runner up Leamon said after his final round loss, ”Well I made it to the final round in my first Fuel Altered Chaos event! It was a struggle all weekend with rigging a hurt transmission pass after pass, the smell of burnt transmission fluid still stings the nostrils.”
“I couldn’t have done it with without my awesome team Amber, Corinna and Josh Rowlette, and Daniel Bruce. Purple Haze Racing are awesome people giving me some fittings to make the finals and all their advice and Ray Stringer for the tune up help! Chad Clifton for all your help and transmission fluid! One of the most awesome weekends of racing! Congratulations to Phil Flower on the win! See you in the finals for the next one.”
After a successful Chaos event, organizer and President Chris Graves said, “This was an incredible weekend. We set event performance records multiple times and had multiple cars in the 3.60s and not a drop of fluid was cleaned up over three days of racing and that’s a tribute to Jim Black’s excellent track prep and to our racers putting the extra effort into their preparations.
Chaos President and Promoter Chris Graves, right, discusses the progress of the race with sponsor Fred Spell and racer and Lyle Greenberg team member Mike Irwin
“Lyle Greenberg’s performance in the ‘A’ Field was very impressive and there was plenty of very close and exciting racing across all three fields. The fans packed the house and were delivered a very quality show.”
“Career best numbers for Seraphine to qualifying number 1 and career best numbers for Greenberg in final. Greenberg also won this race last November and it was his first race of the year.”
“We can’t wait to be back in 2027 and would like to thank Western Differential, CP-Carrillo, Laris Motorsports Insurance and Diamonds & Design Jewelry for their support.”
