14th Carquest Empire Nationals
Leicester, NY (July 12-14th, 2002)
Notes|
Results | Photos
NATIONALS NOTEBOOK:
Clay Millican keeps his absolutely amazing undefeated 2002 Top Fuel season intact when he wins for the 6th time this year. Millican’s event win is however uncharacteristic for the usually steady Werner Enterprises team. They abort a qualifier and then oil the track down twice during Sunday’s eliminations. Millican does set low ET and top speed in qualifying. Clay and Bruce Litton have a bit of a staging duel in the final and Millican is there for the taking -- when he runs a sub par 4.954 secs. Litton cannot take advantage however as he boils the tires right off the starting line.
IHRA 2002 Carquest Empire Nationals is alleged to be the last ever national event at NYIR. Despite that a huge crowd packs the place all three days. Some $2.0 million in investment is required at the race track for IHRA to maintain the event however track owner Bob Metcalf confirms cannot justify that. Rumours circulate at the event that the Empire Nationals will not be the only major deletion from the 2003 IHRA schedule.
Ohio’s Brian Gahm wins for the second event in a row in Pro Stock driving his mountain-motored Mustang. Pro Stock final is again an all Ford brand affair with Gahm taking out pole qualifier Jason Collins’s Mercury Cougar. Collins had set low ET of the meet at 6.626 secs while Gahm motored to top speed of the meet at 211.06 mph.
Pro Stock racing at NYIR includes a strong debut for Canadian John Konigshofer who attends first time out with his brand new Jerry Haas-built 2002 Mercury Cougar. Konigshofer Brothers makes a couple of easy checkout runs on Friday before the team unleashes the car to a 6.643 secs during Saturday night’s final session -- to qualify 3rd. It is arguably the single most impressive run of the event. Konigshofer beats a red-lighting Rick Jones in round one but the car slows to a 7.075 secs in round two and falls to John Montecalvo’s Citgo Chevy Cavalier.
Pro Mod racing at NYIR seems to back up what many argue and theorize that nitrous-injected cars have a clear and definite advantage when racing in hot conditions. Final round is all NO2 with Shannon “Iceman” Jenkins defeating Ed Hoover. Both Jenkins and Hoover are equipped with latest generation 706 CID power plants from Gene Fulton at the event. Jenkins’s win is his first on IHRA trail this season -- and a nice bound back from his shocking DNQ at Grand Bend.
Pro Mod racing sees former NSCA/NMCA Pro Street lady racer icon Annette Summer make her class debut driving the ex-Mike Castellana nitrous ’57 Chevy. Summer runs a career best 6.459 secs at over 217 mph but just misses the show in the 18th slot. Pro Mod racing attracts a very strong field to the event with 26 machines showing for competition.
Alcohol Funny Car action sees NHRA regular Bob Newberry take full advantage of a rather rare IHRA event appearance as “240 Shorty” wins convincingly driving his Chevy Camaro. Newberry takes out pole qualifier Dale Brand in the final round when Brand blows his motor just past the tree. In earlier action Brand had set low ET of the meet a 5.891 secs during qualifying and had ended Jimmy Rector’s undefeated 2002 season. Brand delivered the overall points leader his first strike of the year in round two as Rector rolled through the beams and went .278 red. Brand skipped to a winning 5.914 secs at 238.91 mph
Steve Stordeur mows down the Nitro Harley field riding Johnny Mancuso’s #2 bike. Final round is as good as the class gets with Stordeur winning on a holeshot over points leader Doug Vancil, 6.455 secs to 6.451 secs. Stordeur set both low ET (6.370 secs) and top speed (217.18 mph) during qualifying.
Pro Mod class racing includes a nice effort by Sal Passarelli driving his very cool supercharged ‘68 Nova. For Passarelli, it is his first IHRA race since last summer. Fans will remember he was involved in that terrible top end fire and high speed crash at Mid-Michigan last year. Passarelli qualifies 8th at 6.368 secs and wins round one but is dealt out by points leader Al Billes in the 2nd frame.
