American
DRAGCAR entered the 2nd half of its Season IV
Arizona Differential Specialists Central State Championship
Series schedule at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports
Park with Race #4 on Saturday May 30th and what
an event it was to behold. The Arizona weather was hot
to start the day but it actually cooled off comfortably
after the sun went down. And though the air temperature
cooled, the action heated up as DRAGCAR was not only featuring
the CSCS DragCar/DragSport Eliminator combo at this event,
but also the very first outing of the Arizona Race Company
StreetCar Showdown Series as well. See more on the Showdown
in a separate story that will be published in an upcoming
edition.
Willie
Wray did manage to get his Camaro back together
in time for this race after the match race’s broken
crankshaft episode and all looks to be in order as he
again qualified #1 as the top DragCar Eliminator competitor
with a .15 under performance while Jeff Sefranek could
only settle for #2 with his .14 under performance. Looks
like there’s going to be another “showdown”
between these two at an upcoming race.
With
20 cars entered, DragSport Eliminator’s #1 qualifier
was once again Austyn Downing in the
famed Bustin’ Loose Team dragster with an 8.818.
Geanine Ballard again took #2 with a 9.228 while Mark
Ballard repeated a 3rd place positioning with his 9.243
performance. Willie Wray moved into the 4th qualifier
spot for DragSport with his 10.045 while Ron Shelly again
rounded out the Fast Five with his 10.102 sprint.
First
round DragSport eliminations excitement started out with
Steffen Schulte taking the upset win over defending DRAGSTAR,
Jeff Sefranek. Both racers had nearly identical reaction
times but as they crossed the finish line it was Shulte’s
’64 Falcon ahead by a half a car as he ran a 12.744
on his 12.85 over Sefranek’s 11.054 on an 11.05
adjusted index. Neva Wray took out Mick Sramek with an
11.898 on an 11.90 adjusted index in her ’55 Nash
Rambler over a 13.049 on a 13.05 attempt, and A.J. Crader
then beat Mark Ballard in the upset of the round, and
the closest race of the night as he put an impressive
hole-shot on the wagon with his .02 light, but Ballard
ran an incredible 9.147 on his 9.25 adjusted index only
to fall short by a mere 19 thousandths of a second to
Crader’s 13.772 on a 13.75 adjusted index. Next
up it was Rick Lagno doing virtually the same job in his
’75 Monza as he hammered out a .034 reaction time
and ran 10.379 on his 10.40 adjusted index to fend off
the 12.743 on a 12.90 under-index attempt of Michael Porter.
Third place points positioned Ron Shelly continued his
winning streak as he took out the #2 positioned Bill Matchette
with a trademark .022 light coupled to a 10.126 on a 10.10
over a 13.091 on a 13.10 adjusted index. And Eddie McDaniel
in his ’07 Mercedes did a number on Chris Holbrook
with a 14.446 on a 14.50 over an 11.663 on an 11.65 adjusted
index battle.
Second
round of eliminations opened with Neva Wray getting another
win when Matt Ballard lit the red-light in giving chase,
and Rick Lagno took out Eddie McDaniel with an O25 light
and a 10.378 on his 10.40 over another under-index 14.351
on a 14.40 struggle. Ron Shelly closed out the round with
a 10.058 on a 10.10 win over A.J. Crader running 13.773
on his 13.75 adjusted index while having a slight 8 thousandths
reaction time advantage from the tree.
First
up for third round was Neva Wray again going to the line
against Austyn Downing in his 8 second dragster, and it
was the closest race of the round as Neva took an ever
so slight 5 thousandths reaction time advantage from the
tree and stretched it out to 3 hundredths as she held
off the 152 mph charging Downing with an 11.883 on her
11.90 for the win over an outstanding 8.808 on an 8.80
adjusted index pursuit. Rick Lagno followed by putting
up another solid reaction time and running 10.389 on his
10.40 to hold off the late leaving 9.937 on a 10.05 charge
of Willie Wray in his Camaro.
For
the semis, Neva Wray took the bye-run as Rick Lagno would
face Ron Shelly for another one of their spectacular wheels
up battles. But this time, Shelly fell victim to troubles
as he clocked a 10.702 on his 10.00 adjusted index while
Lagno’s 10.420 on a 10.40 would continue his march
ahead of the field in the points chase.
So,
going into the final, Rick Lagno appeared to hold a small
2 hundredths advantage as he had previously run 2 hundredths
under his 10.40 adjusted index while Neva Wray was now
indexed dead on the 11.85 that she had run in the previous
round. Neva managed to take a decisive lead off the tree
with a substantial reaction time advantage over Rick and
it was enough to hold on as she took the stripe with an
11.890 on her 11.85 over Lagno’s 10.446 on a 10.40
attempt.
With
her first DRAGCAR win, Neva Wray also becomes DRAGCAR’s
First Winning Woman after its three and a half seasons
of DRAGCAR racing, and we congratulate her on breaking
that milestone for us.
Rick
Lagno’s Runner-Up finish still stretches out his
lead on the field by over 1300 points ahead of Ron Shelly
who takes over the #2 spot, and with only 3 races left
of the CSCS season, it’s already starting to look
grim for anybody lower than 8th in the chase at this point,
but you still never know.
The
Kenny Speed’s Tire & Performance Center Best
Losing Package $50 award goes to A.J. Crader for his .050
2nd round defeat and the Kenny Speed’s Best RT of
Eliminations $50 award goes to Ron Shelly with his .022
first round performance.
Next
up on the DRAGCAR Full Power schedule is the Micro Import
Service Inc. Southwestern Championship Series Race #3
at Southwestern International Raceway in Tucson, Arizona
this coming June 20th.
Results
- American DRAGCAR, Wild Horse Pass in Chandler, AZ /
May 30, 2015
Quarter
Finals:
W:
Neva Wray, Glendale, AZ., '55 Nash Rambler,
Index: 11.90, RT: .103, ET: 11.883
L: Austyn Downing, Glendale, AZ., RED
Dragster, Index: 8.80, RT: .108, ET: 8.808
W:
Rick Lagno, Scottsdale, AZ., '75 Monza,
Index: 10.40, RT: .047, ET: 10.389
L: Willie Wray, Glendale, AZ., '69 Camaro,
Index: 10.05, RT: .297, ET: 9.937
W:
Ron Shelly, Phoenix, AZ., '74 Vega, Index:
10.00, RT: .915, ET: 18.495
L: Bye
Semi
Finals:
W:
Rick Lagno, Index: 10.40, RT: .027, ET:
10.420
L: Ron Shelly, Index: 10.00, RT: .138,
ET: 10.702
W:
Neva Wray, Index: 11.90, RT: .052, ET:
11.855
L: Bye
Final:
W:
Neva Wray, Index: 11.85, RT: .153, ET:
11.890
L: Rick Lagno, Index: 10.40, RT: .293,
ET: 10.446
