A fantastic weekend at Maple Grove

I finally have enough time to sit down and right an entry for my own personal blog. After returning from Reading, I had so much to do, between school, Top Alcohol News stories, and press releases for clients. It's now Friday and the work has slowed down a bit.

One of the most exciting parts of the weekend was that it was Blake Alexander's first race competing in NHRA Fuel Funny Car. I honestly think I was anticipating it more than he was. He really impressed everyone when he went out in qualifying and ran 4.18 and 4.19, putting him at #14 (FYI-if they ever start a bracket-only Funny Car class, call up Paul Smith. He had that car consistent!). John Force came up to the car in the lanes to introduce himself and welcome Blake to the class, then congratulated Blake once he was locked in to the super-quick field. What a guy. The track couldn't hold their tune-up in the first round of eliminations, so Blake suffered a tire-smoking loss to Matt Hagan. It was still a great debut. I'm really looking forward to what he does next year. As for this year, Blake will run A/Fuel Dragster for the rest of the races; Vegas and Pomona.

The second most exciting part was seeing Brandon Booher finally get his sub-5.40 pass. Its been a goal of his since the beginning of 2010 to run a 5.399 or better. He did just that, making a 5.397 pass in the second round against Duane Shields. Though the win light wasn't on in our lane, Brandon was still very excited when we told him what it ran. He now can claim that he is the driver of the first converter-equipped car to break into the 5.30 range. Next goal-win a Wally!

I got to meet some of my Twitter followers, as well as see some that I hadn't seen since Indy. Mark (@NHRAforlife) and Mitzi (@gottagoracing) both stopped by to introduce themselves. Mitzi even brought the team a plate of lucky brownies, which quickly disappeared. Alan (@SFCSKI) and Steve (@sremerson) are a couple of my Twitter pals that I met at Indy. They're east coast-based, so they stopped by as well. Steve and his son, Steven, are huge Tony Schumacher fans. They got a pretty cool experience on Saturday, as they drove Shoe back to his hotel, then went to dinner with the multi-time Top Fuel champion. Check out Steve's blog for more on his weekend at the Auto Plus NHRA Nationals. Its always nice to meet face-to-face with some of the greatest drag racing fans out there, people that I tweet with almost daily.

My site, Top Alcohol News, has some exciting things going on. We're starting to introduce a series of Driver Blogs, written by a wide variety of Top Alcohol competitors. The first driver is Marie Ferriolo, who drives a TAFC in Division 1. Her first post is an introduction, with lots of good info on her racing career. Another new feature that we'll be launching soon is the Reader's Choice Awards. Upon the completion of the 2011 season (which is sadly coming closer), readers will vote on nominees in a variety of categories, from Driver of the Year, to Best Run of the Year. Check out Top Alcohol News for these features and more!

Well that just about wraps up all that I wanted to say in this post. Catch me on Facebook or Twitter. Thanks for reading!

Winning is Fun Pt. 2

It's been a while since my last post, I've been so busy with school and my site, Top Alcohol News. I have a lot to go over in this post, so here it goes.

It's amazing what a small world it is. It turns out that one of the A/Fuel drivers that I write for, Dave Hill, knows a team that races Pro Junior Dragster on the ADRL circuit. It also turns out that that team is 3rd in national points. Well, they were before the ADRL Ohio Drags this past weekend. The said team, Trevor Wilson's Tenneco team, invited me to stop by their pit at the race, so they could get my decals on the car and we could meet.

So I get to the track and find their pit area. We talked for a bit, Trevor put the NVW Motorsports Promotion decals on the car, then threw on his Team NVW t-shirt. Little did I know that he'd drive right into the winner's circel by the end of the night.

After two qualifying sessions, Trevor was #4. He started off elims in first round, beating Shannon Bell. He'd then run Kyle Dvorak and Kendall Thiesse, before lining up against Kaley Allen. In the end, the win light came on in our lane. After celebrating a bit on the starting line, we headed to pick up Trevor, the car, and the team's second Minuteman of the year. Once we got them, we headed down the return road, where we watched the Extreme 10.5, Pro Nitrous, and Pro Extreme finals. We also got to watch the BigFoot monster truck make a huge wheelstanding pass down the 1320.

Next was the Winner's Circle celebration for Team Tenneco. ADRL announcer Brian Olsen interviewed Trevor, before Roger Richards took some shots of the winning car and driver. T-Dog (Trevor's nickname) motioned us to join him for a couple team winner's circle photos. It was so cool to experience the whole WC deal, they really do it right in ADRL.

Trevor Wilson is now sitting atop the ADRL Pro Junior Dragster points, which means he has the #1 seed heading into the Battle for the Belts race in Texas in a month. I wish Trevor and his parents the best of luck, I can't wait to see how they do at the World Finals/BFTB race. Huge thanks to them for representing NVW Motorsports Promotion on the ADRL side!


If you've ever wanted to sponsor a successful NHRA team, but you don't own an oil operation or your dad isn't the king of a Middle Eastern country, here's a great opportunity. Brandon Booher and the AB Construction Top Alcohol Dragster team is now doing a fan sponsorship program to help get them to the Auto Plus Nationals in Reading this weekend. Basically, if you contribute $20 or more, you'll receive a used part from the car, signed by Brandon. The first person to donate $200 or more will receive one of my busted blower belts, signed by the Force sisters, Manzo, Reichert, Fast Jack Beckman, Greg Anderson, and several others. If you have a PayPal account, send your contribution to brian(at)booherconstruction. You'll receive an email on how to claim your reward. Shipping is extra if you will not be attending the Reading race.

Some more big news for me is that I'll be writing for newly licensed fuel Funny Car driver Blake Alexander. After success in the sportsman ranks, mainly Comp and A/Fuel, he's making the big move to nitro with the help of Uni-Select Auto Plus, Exide, and several other fine automotive companies. He'll be making his Pro debut this weekend at the Auto Plus Nationals, so if you're attending, be sure to stop by and see him at the Paul Smith Racing hauler. I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to do Public Relations for a Pro driver, especially at my age.

I'm planning on being in Reading this weekend, so I probably won't post until I get home on Monday or Tuesday. In the mean time, check out my news site, http://www.topalcoholnews.com/. We have some big things planned for the next week.

Thanks for reading, see you in Reading!

Another Great Year at the U.S. Nationals

It's been awhile since I've done a personal blog on here. The main reason is, well, I haven't had much to talk about. I had about a month off of races, so there wasn't much of interest for the readers of this blog. I just got back from Indy, so now I have a ton to write about!

I've been looking forward to this year's U.S. Nationals since I pulled out of O'Reilly Raceway Park last year. It really is the biggest, most competitive, most fun race in the country, maybe even the world. The car counts are huge and there are always legends and usually a few celebrities in attendance.

Thursday morning and afternoon was spent in the car, as I had a 6 hour drive to Indianapolis. When I got to the track, I spent most of the time hanging out and helping to get everything ready for the race weekend. The Big Go was my sixth race working with Brandon Booher and the AB Construction Top Alcohol Dragster team. They've been doing really well this year, so I was expecting another great finish.

The schedule for Indy is not the same as all the other NHRA national events. For TAD, we get 1 qualifying pass on Friday, 2 on Saturday, another on Sunday morning, then 1st round of eliminations on Sunday evening. There weren't really any highlights or lowlights during qualifying, so I'll skip over that. The real excitement came when we found out who we would be facing first round: Marty Thacker. If you're not familiar with the name, he's a two-time Indy winner, the defending event champion, and a multi-time Division 3 champion. Oh yeah, he's also the guy we lost to in the Norwalk final round.

To make a long story short, we got the win over Marty, 5.45 to Thacker's 5.48. The fact that a relatively new team can beat a driver that's been driving and winning since the 90's is a statement. The car shut off right after the 1,000ft mark, so Brandon could hear Marty on his tail. We had won the battle, with hopes to win the war. As the team headed down the return road back to the pits, we stopped to watch the Chase Copeland-Matt Cummings matchup. Copeland ran 5.27 in qualifying and Cummings ran in the 5.60s. The winner of this matchup would be the next victim of the Booher Racing machine. Fortunately for us, Chase dropped cylinders and lost, so we would race Matt in E2.

The reason for the car shutting off in E1 was still elusive, so our goal for the night was to find out why. The crew was up until 4:30 am on Monday morning, making changes and trying to to find the problem. They were back at it at 8 am and continued working until just before E2. We had lots of help, including the Cantrell Brothers. guys from the Peen-Rite/Maddern Racing team, and even a couple Top Fuel crew chiefs. Their help was very important to us and was appreciated very much.

We got the car started and were pretty confident about our chances in the next round. We rolled up to the lanes, prepared to be moving on to the semifinals. As Brandon pulled through the waterbox and began his burnout, Matt Cummings just sat with the car running. He didn't start his burnout until Brandon started backing up. Once he was backed up, he didn't pre-stage until after Brandon fully staged. In my opinion, Matt was either being rude and unsportsman-like, or he's a bad driver. He finally staged, the tree dropped, and they were off. When the scoreboards lit up, the win light was in our lane! Brandon ran 5.44 to Matt's 5.46, which was a big shock. We got the car hooked up to the tow vehicle and headed back to the pits to get ready for the semifinals against Duane Shields.

I was relatively confident that Brandon would pull out the win, as I should be. In the end, Duane got the win. Brandon tree'd him on the line, leaving earlier by .029. According to announcer Alan Reinhart, Brandon lost by 2-3 feet at the finish line, about a blink of an eye was Duane's margin of victory. When we got to the car in the shut down area, we found that a broken injector nozzle ended our day. The nozzle sprays fuel into the engine. When the engine didn't get that fuel, it leaned out and torched a hole in the #2 cylinder as well as the block. Despite the loss and engine damage, Brandon made racing history. His 5.42 pass was not only his career best, it was also the quickest pass by a converter car. It's so impressive what Brandon and his dad Aaron have done with their car over the past two years.

Bill Reichert ended up getting the U.S. Nationals TAD trophy this year. I had a great time and the team still did a great job. Once we got the car back to the pits and the thrashing slowed down, my dad and I went to watch the finals, really the only spectating that I did over the weekend. After that we packed up and headed back home to Ohio, arriving around midnight.

I really want to thank Brandon Booher for everything that he's done to support and promote me and my ventures. Whether it's NVW Motorsports Promotion or Top Alcohol News, he's always gotten the name out to the racing world. I'm so proud to be a (tiny) part of his team and plan on being there when he hoists his first NHRA Wally.

Thanks for reading my latest blog entry. For complete results from the U.S. Nationals, visit the Top Alcohol News site. We'll have an event wrap-up and probably a few other stories online during the week.

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.

Time for Night Under Fire!

It's almost August 11th, so that means one of my favorite motorsports events of the year is only two days away. The race I'm talking about is the Night Under Fire at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. If you're not familiar with this speed-fest, let me fill you in.

NUF is one of SMP's premiere events that attracts throngs of fans and racers annually. Way back when it was Norwalk Dragway, the track started Night Under Fire with a couple jet cars and a few local fast cars, along with basic racing. 1994 was the first year that they brought John Force in to the mix to attract more fans. Local Funny Car racer Dean Skuza was the other Nitro Funny Car. Over the years, they've added more Funny Cars and other exhibition vehicles.

One of those attractions is Bob Motz and his legendary Jet Kenworth semi-truck. Originally, he was brought in to make a pass or two in the truck; nothing more. One year, he decided to park the truck closer to the big head-of-staging sign that's behind the burnout box. He started the truck, locked the brakes, and let the jet fuel flow into the jet engine, burning the sign until it was nothing more than a frame of orange embers. Track president and co-owner Bill Bader Jr. was not pleased, but later realized how much the fans enjoyed it. The rest, they say, is history, as it's a part of the NUF show annually. I think there were maybe two instances where the sign was not burned down.

Over the years, the Bader's have brought in several attractions to mix it up and make it an amazing event, year after year. In 2006, Ashley Force made a few passes in her Mattel A/Fuel car. In 2007, Bill Reichert (A/Fuel) and Jeff Bohr (Blown Alcohol) competed in a few match races during the event. One year, the Bar's Leaks Supercharged Thunder group was part of the show. This year, there will be four jet dragsters, two wheelstanders, and Larry McBride's Top Fuel Motorcycle. Elaine Larsen, Jill Canuso, Ernie Bogue, and Lou Pereira will make up the Jet Dragster field; Danny O'Day and Richard Hutchins will be the wheelstanders.

Along with the jets and wheelstanders, there will be an 8-car Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car field. The entry list doesn't look much different than it would in the 70's. Dale Pulde or James Day in the War Eagle, the Dick Harrell tribute car driven by Lee Paul Jennings, Ronnie Young in the Blue Max car, the Jungle Jim car driven by Jon Capps, Mike Savage's Candies & Hughes flopper, Brian Stewart in Tom Hoover's Showtime car, Doc Halladay in the Telastar, and the one and only Frank Hawley behind the wheel of the Chi Town Hustler! This is the first time that these legendary cars and drivers have been all together at a track in this area, so I'm really looking forward to this part of the show.

There's a program that's been absent at Norwalk this year, but it's coming back this weekend for the largest single day drag racer in the world. I'm talking about the Outlaw Dragster and Outlaw Door Wars program. It's basically like the NHRA's Top Dragster/Top Sportsman class, but they run the 1/8th mile heads-up, instead of the quarter mile on a dial-in. Last year, Troy Stone in the wicked Vintage Trailers dragster won. I'm not sure if the door cars ran, or who won if they did. This year, there will be four dragsters and eight door cars, I believe. You can quote me; Troy Stone is going to win Outlaw Dragster again.

The amount of cars for the modern-day Nitro Funny Car portion of the show is a little short this year, but it'll still be awesome. Robert Hight, Jeff Arend, and Ohio favorite Jim Head will be the drivers in Fuel Funny Car, along with some guy named John Force. Although they're tuned down a bit because the race isn't for points, the Nitro cars are almost always the highlight of the night. The amazing fireworks show that follows the Funny Cars is also a must-see.

Once the funny cars and fireworks are over, the real race begins. This is one of Norwalk's regular Saturday points races, one that brings in over 600 sportsman racers from all across the eastern U.S. and Canada. The sportsman points race begins after "the show" and is run until completion; usually around 12 the next day!

You can see why I and so many other Ohio race fans are drawn to Night Under Fire every year. I know I'm ready, and the racers certainly are. They've already lined up to get a pit spot, and the actual on-track racing doesn't start for another day and a half! One way or another, I'll be posting a complete event wrap-up from Night Under Fire, either on this blog or Top Alcohol News. Thanks for reading!

Top Alcohol News!

I was a little disappointed in the lack of coverage and exposure that the Top Alcohol categories receive. As a journalist and top alcohol fan, I decided to start a blog/news site to give fans, drivers, and crew members a place to check in on the latest news, interviews, and points standings. I also found it difficult to find Top Alcohol teams' websites, so I include links to all TA teams that have websites. Now you can find all of this on other sites, but you'll have to dig through articles and such about other classes. Top Alcohol News is streamlined and features strictly TA material.

I have big plans for Top Alcohol News, which I plan to carry out throughout the year. One of the big ones is to interview many of the drivers in the TA categories. Many times, the champions are the only TA drivers that are interviewed in the media. Through my experiences as a top alcohol race team crew member, I've had the pleasure to meet and get to know several of the drivers and I think the average fan should get a glimpse of the great personalities in Top Alcohol racing.

As mentioned earlier, Top Alcohol News will feature news, press releases, interviews, and multimedia throughout the season. We'll also update the points standings after each race, whether it's a divisional or national event. I'm constantly coming up with ideas for the site, so you'll never know what you'll find.

Please check out Top Alcohol News for the latest in TA news. Whether you're a drag racing fan that loves the category, or you're new to the class, I guarantee you'll have fun and learn something during your visit. It's always growing and improving, so check it out often.

Thanks for reading!

Nitro Nate

How to get started in Junior Drag Racing

After posting yesterday's blog about my crew experiences, a few readers have asked me about Junior Dragsters and how to get started. I have a few years experience with a Jr team, so I consider myself to be rather knowledgable on the topic, but I'll use a couple sites I like to use.

At many NHRA Junior Drag Racing League tracks, there are 3 age groups; 8-9, 10-12, and 13-17. The first group is restricted to running no quicker than 12.90 E.T.'s, 10-12 can run no quicker than 8.90, and 13-17 is restricted to 7.90 seconds. Some tracks run all age groups in one class, while others use the three seperate classes for the age groups, but the restrictions are in place in both instances. Junior Drag Racing uses the handicap system, so everyone is even.

Steve, to answer your first question, one of the best ways to get started in Jr. Drag Racing is to visit your local track that has a Jr. program during a Saturday points race. Many of the parents will be more than happy to answer any questions you might have. Make sure you bring your child that is interested in driving, so they can get up close with the cars. They may even get the chance to sit in the car, to be sure that they're comfortable in the race car. Call or email your local track to find out when they run the Jr. Dragsters, as it can vary between tracks. My home track, Norwalk, starts Jr. time trials around 9 and the last car is usually down the track by 1:30. The NHRA JDRL has a nice page about getting started, they cover some things I might have missed. How To Get Started JDRL site

The cost of Junior Drag Racing varies widely, depending on what age group you will be racing in, if you buy a new or used car, etc. I know a family that was able to buy a complete 7.90 race car with spare parts for $4,000, used. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you can spend over $10,000 just on a brand new rolling chassis, without an engine. A great classified site that we like to look around is Racing Junk. Here, you can find hundreds of listings, from parts to complete cars.

Junior Drag Racing parents and even drivers are always very courteous and willing to help, especially when it comes to newcomers. A really fantastic forum that I participate in is Jr Dragster Plus, which includes several sections, like Classifieds and Tech help. You can get a free profile, allowing you to post and comment in all of the sections. Post your questions in any of the sections and you can expect at least one response within a day.

A great opportunity to learn for both the parent and the driver is to go to a driving school. There are only a few schools that offer Jr. Dragster lessons, and Doug Foley's Drag Racing School is one of the best. Not only will they teach the driver how to drive, they also teach the parents how the car should run and how to tune it. For $800-1,000, you'll get lessons both in the classroom and on the track. Your child will get to make a few passes in the car, after learning all of the essentials. They also offer several other courses and "experiences" in different classes. Visit their website here.

I've covered the basic essentials that you'll need to know to get started in Jr. Drag Racing. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. You can also contact any of the sources that I included, they can also be a big help. Good luck!

Thanks for reading!

Nitro Nate