Night Under Fire 2011

As I expected, Night Under Fire 2011 was a huge hit. Despite an iffy forecast for Saturday afternoon and evening, the stands were packed throughout the day. In fact, it was announced during pre-race ceremonies that the Summit side of the track was completely sold out, with the Bud side almost sold out.

In my opinion, this year was the best Night Under Fire in a long time. Though there weren't 8 modern Fuel Funny Cars like in previous years, the variety of "acts" made up for it. The eight Nostalgia cars was a great addition. As a big fan of blown alcohol cars, it was cool to see 4 of the fastest outlaw dragsters race for the trophy, even better that Troy Stone won.

If you live within 250 miles of Summit Motorsports Park, I highly recommend planning on going to next year's Night Under Fire. It's one of the very last match races in the country, and certainly the only that John Force Racing still competes at. I don't know what classes/drivers/cars will be making an appearance at NUF 2012, but I can guarantee it will be a good show and I can almost guarantee that John Force will be there. Will you?

For those of you who were unable to attend this year, check out some of my photos from the race. These are just highlight photos; you can view my whole album in my Photos section on Facebook, if you're friends with me on the 'book.

Robert Hight's crew chiefs, Jimmy Prock and Eric Lane. Robert and the Automobile Club of Southern California team ended up winning the event in the modern Funny Car class.

John Force smokin' the hides before his first "elimination" run of the event. 

Jeff Arend and Robert Hight in round 1. As you can see, I'm no Mark Rebilas

Pretty cool shot of the two wheelstanders, Danny O'Day (near lane) and Richard Hutchins (far lane) in the legendary Chevy Rebellion.

 

This was probably the best part of pre-race ceremonies. John Force got on the mic, letting everyone know how excited he was about witnessing the evening's activities. It's a good thing that the FCC doesn't regulate the PA system at the track, as Force's speech was full of expletives. 

The eventual winner in Outlaw Dragster, owner of Vintage Trailers, Troy Stone. Troy beat out Mike DiDimenico, Sheldon Bissessar (who traveled from Trinidad and Tobago to race), and Paul Molnar to win his second consecutive NUF trophy. Norwalk has to be Troy's favorite track; he won the NHRA National event this year and was runner-up last year. Oh yeah, throw in a couple #1 qualifier awards too. 

Funny Car legend Raymond Beadle (middle) was in attendance with the Blue Max Nostalgia Funny Car team. Ronnie Young (left) was driving.

As always, thanks for reading! While you're here, please check out my new blog, Top Alcohol News for the latest news and points standings in the Top Alcohol categories. We're planning some big stories for the U.S. Nationals in Indy in a couple weeks.