24th Mopar Parts World Nationals
Norwalk, Ohio (Aug. 23-26th, 2001)
Notes|
Results | Photos
NATIONALS NOTEBOOK:
Driver Clay Millican, tuner Mike Kloeber and team owner Peter Lehman take
an absolute stranglehold on IHRA’s 2001 Top Fuel championship chase following a fourth consecutive event win with the Werner Enterprises dragster. Millican’s string of four straight are unprecedented in IHRA TF class history. Clay turns back Ohio’s Jim Head in the final round to again denies Head his first career IHRA Top Fuel win. Millican runs a national record setting 4.631 secs which is second quickest run of the IHRA season and a NRP track record. Millican also ups the IHRA national mph mark to 320.13 mph. Defending IHRA World Champion Paul Romine nets top speed of the event however at 320.66 mph -- also a track record. Romine falls to Head in the semi final round when his blower belt breaks.
Defending IHRA Pro Mod World Champions Fred Hahn and Jim Oddy claw their way back to victory lane -- winning for the first time this season. Savvy owner Oddy delivers both low ET and top speed of the meet in the PM final to beat current points leader Mike Janis in a battle of supercharged Corvettes. Janis, who paced the PM field in qualifying (6.261 secs) has a .424 RT in the final but that is not enough to hold off the Summit Racing Equipment Corvette which drives by him in the lights. Pro Mod racing at Norwalk is another dandy affair. 36 cars do battle -- the bump spot is
6.364 secs.
Nitro Harley riders Steve Stordeur and Ray Price face off in two different final rounds at Norwalk. On Saturday, Price wins the Carquest Northern Nationals title, which had been deferred from Mid-Michigan (July 29th). On Sunday, Stordeur gets his revenge by reversing things and earning his 6th career IHRA event win. Stordeur runs a track record (and low ET of the event) in the final at 6.438 secs. Price, at age 64, hits a wild 220.87 mph during qualifying which is top speed.
Norwalk event includes a number of incidents, the most significant involving Canadian Funny Car racer Rob Atchison and Pro Mod driver Ron Kammes -- both in round one of eliminations. Atchison has a parachute malfunction, which sends him flying off the end of the race track at between 100-125 mph. His car noses into the dirt and then does three complete end over end flips. Atchison's Olds Cutlass is all but destroyed and Robbie suffers a broken tail bone along with bumps and bruises. Kammes, from Illinois, whacks the guardwall hard driving his now CompetitionPlus.com sponsored Corvette. His car is heavily damaged and he is transported to hospital with a suspected broken arm. Kammes incident is his third in two races -- at the previous event in Mid-Michigan he made contact with both the starting line centre barrier and then later the guardrail.
A number of new Pro cars debut at Norwalk. Canada’s Al Billes is the talk of the pits with his new Murray Anderson-built ’53 Studebaker which was imported from Australia. Billes runs a 6.41 secs in the final session during his first race out with the untried car but is a DNQ. Detroit’s Harold Martin debuts his much overdue AC-Delco sponsored Pontiac Grand-Am in Pro Mod but just misses the field with a 6.370 secs at 220.15 mph. Veteran Pro Stock racer Charlie Peppers returns to the IHRA circuit after a long lay off driving a new 2001 Ford Mustang. Peppers (from Georgia) is a DNQ with a best of 6.820 secs at 203.61 mph.
Canada’s Kasey Janzen wins big in the Lizzard Top Sportsman Quick 8 Shootout driving his feared Dana-sponsored Chevy Lumina. Janzen takes no prisoners while winning from the pole. He has low ET during each and every round of eliminations and finishes the field off with a titanic 6.435 secs at 215.86 mph shot -- which is reportedly the quickest and fastest TS run of the season. The Lenco Top Dragster Quick 8 title, which is also run off on Saturday night, is won by Virginia’s Phillip Adams and his nitrous-injected dragster.
Carl Baker has a career event effort in Pro Stock driving the Summit Racing 2001 Mercury Cougar. Baker pockets a cool $20G when he wins his first ever PS title on Saturday -- taking the prestigious Sunoco Race Fuels Shootout. Baker beats Tommy Lee to the finish line in that final running 6.652 secs at 208.55 mph to Lee’s 6.662 secs at 208.04 mph. Then on Sunday Baker goes to the event Pro Stock final facing off against runaway points leader Gene Wilson. Wilson wins the IHRA’s first ever PS final round battle of Mercury Cougars taking razor thin 6.685 to 6.681 secs decision. Wilson’s 5th win of the 2001 season in the Charlie Hunt-owned machine is complete -- including both low ET 6.642 secs and top speed 209.01 mph.
The Top Dragster and Top Sportsman fields at Norwalk’s Mopar World Nationals are truly amazing. A record setting 87 cars show for TD and despite losing one of three scheduled qualifiers to rain racers still produce a 48-car field bump spot of 6.875 secs. TD is paced by Phillip Adams who runs 6.388 secs (low ET). The gruelling program is ultimately won by Eric Boyd. The TS field is also massive with 86 cars (!) entered for competition. That 48-car bump is a record quick 7.260 secs. TS is paced by Saturday night’s Quick 8 winner Kasey Janzen but Sunday’s title goes to Jerry Albert (who also won IHRA’s previous event at Mid-Michigan) driving his nitrous-injected Camaro.
IHRA runs off another demonstration Top Stock eliminator feature at Norwalk which is captured by Matt Morgan (from Virginia) driving his 428 Cobra Jet ‘69 Mustang. Morgan beat out Paul Mecure’s ‘67 Camaro in the exciting final round running 10.306 secs at 118.60 mph to Mecure’s 10.308 secs at 129.05 mph. Morgan had qualified on the pole with a 10.294 secs.
Event sponsor Mopar Parts is pleased with the overall results at it’s title rite event as the Dodge brand scores four eliminator wins. Ohio’s Mark Thomas dominates the Funny Car field driving his Dodge Avenger winning on a big holeshot over Jimmy Rector in the final round. Thomas has a .426 RT which makes his 5.966 secs a winner over Rector's 5.903 secs. Thomas had earlier set both low ET and top speed at 5.848 secs and 240.98 mph. Mopar drivers Scott Vandewalker (Super Rod 9.90), John Lovins (Stock) and Gary Matthews (ET Tournament) are also winners.
