Maple
Grove Raceway - I spent the weekend at Super Chevy as
a guest of Hanna Motorsports. the three
car professional jet drag racing team. The team tours
all over the country and competes at events like Super
Chevy and other specialty drag racing events. Notice I
used the word "competes." Racers, I know that
many of you think the exhibition teams aren't competing,
but I have to tell you that after my time with them and
seeing how competetive they are, don't doubt that they
are always trying to turn on the win light. There's a
lot of tuning that goes into these engines in an effort
to get the most out of them, and when the drivers stage,
they're trying to drill the 'Tree just like you and me.
Make no mistake, these are hard-core racers. Hopefully
my photo essay will illustrate that.
|
| |
|
The
day begins with getting the cars out of the trailer and
ready to race
|
| |
| |
|
This
is a team effort and everyone wears a lot of hats. This
is driver Ken Hall making sure the tow vehicle is spotless. |
Team
owner Al Hanna and his driver of The Queen Of Diamonds II,
Jill Canuso. Al is a veteran of nitro funny car (Google
"The Eastern Raider") and Jill has raced everything
from motorcycles to monster trucks. |
| |
|
|
The
crew takes care of getting everything ready, including filling
the fuel tanks... |
|
|
| ...but
the drivers pack their own chutes. |
| |
Ken
Hall, driver of the Top Secret Eastern Raider taking a
moment to check out the track.
|
| |
|
|
| Fans
started gathering shortly after the cars were unloaded from
the trailers. |
GOJO
is a big supporter of Hanna Motorsports. Here's the GOJO
Firebird along with the GOJO product display. |
| |
|
|
Rodney
Fazekis is the crew chief of the Queen Of Diamonds II. Rodney
is also the current owner/driver of Al Hanna's original
Eastern Raider funny car. |
Everybody
wants a closer look at what makes these cars fly. |
|
|
| Jill
Canuso stopping to sign autographs for fans, as Rodney undertakes
some welding. |
|
This
is Page 1 |
|
Photos
and text: The Dragtime News
Click
HERE
for information on purchasing photos |
