Racing at the IHRA’s Suzuki Motor City Nationals (which was originally scheduled for August) was delayed by a month after rainstorms and track seepage at Milan Dragway forced a postponement.

When action resumed, a huge upset win in Pro Stock was the highlight as North Carolina’s Jeff Dobbins scored a remarkable victory driving his Ford Escort. Dobbins in fact did not qualify for the event following three time trials, however he got a break when Ron Miller withdrew from competition. Dobbins took full advantage of that development to score his 3rd career win (and his first circuit victory since 2003).

In the PS final he recorded a winning time of 6.340 secs at 220.33 mph to upset the Ford Mustang of Ohio’s Brian Gahm. Gahm had a poor .288 light in the final which nullified an otherwise outstanding effort of 6.339 secs at an astounding 222.66 mph (!) Gahm’s top end speed was the fastest in Pro Stock racing history and was a new IHRA national speed record.

Dobbins ran low ET of the event at 6.311 secs while defeating Rob Mansfield in round one. He also topped John Montecalvo and John Nobile in round competition.

New York’s Mike Janis moved into second place in the overall 2007 IHRA Pro Mod points chase when he won for the 2nd time this season driving the Eaton-sponsored Chevy Cavalier. Janis dominated the nitrous-injected Corvette driven by Burton Auxier in the final round winning handily at 6.206 secs 218.97 mph.

Janis beat opponents Mike Stawicki, Pat Stoken and Scott Cannon in earlier competition.

Canada’s Kenny Lang paced the Pro Mod field driving his ’53 Corvette earning his second career IHRA pole at 6.031 secs. Lang, who is from Manitoba, went on to a strong semi-final round finish losing out to Auxier.

Driving his Erickson Manufacturing-sponsored Chevy Monte Carlo, Canada’s Rob Atchison won his second race of 2007 season. Rob beat his cross-town London Ontario rival Paul Noakes in the championship final winning a 5.885 secs at 245.45 mph (top speed) to 6.087 secs at 198.50 mph decision.

Atchison, who qualified #5 dealt out overall IHRA points leader Mark Thomas in a crucial semi-final round and recorded his best run of the event at 5.818 secs at 243.33 mph while winning. The end result is that Atchison now only trails Thomas by a scant 10 points with two events remaining on the 2007 IHRA Knoll-Gas Nitro Jam Series calendar.

Racing in AFC was highlighted by Iowa’s Dale Brand who made his first IHRA circuit appearance in some five years. Brand ripped off a new IHRA World ET record while earning the pole – resetting the standard at 5.649 secs. His car however shook hard in round one and he lost out to Atchison.

The Nitro titles at IHRA Milan went to Scotty Cannon in Top Fuel and to Dale Creasy in Nitro Funny Car.

Scotty Cannon’s win was the second of his career in the TF category, complimenting his 1st ever win at IHRA Grand Bend earlier this season.

Cannon clocked an impressive 4.640 secs at 320.58 mph in the final round to turn back Bruce Litton’s close 4.692 secs at 315.93 mph.

Cannon beat overall points leader T.J. Zizzo in round one and then edged out Canada’s Todd Paton in a close 2nd round match-up; 4.723 secs to 4.760 secs.

Dale Creasy Jr., from Illinois marched to his 6th win of the 2007 season in Nitro Funny Car and with that effort clinched a 2nd consecutive IHRA World championship crown.

Creasy defeated opponent Bob Gilbertson on a holeshot in the final round as his 4.977 secs at 306.95 mph driving his Torco-sponsored Chevy Monte Carlo handled Gilbertson’s quicker and faster 4.962 secs at 321.12 mph.

Creasy’s march to victory did include low ET of the meet – a 4.898 secs recording which came while winning over John Lawson in round one. He also received a round two victory when his opponent Jeff Diehl had a center line DQ.

Sportsman drag racing action at the Suzuki Motor City Nationals featured two double up winners. Superstar Sportsman racer Anthony Bertozzi (from Virginia) scored in both Super Stock and Stock eliminators and Brian Folk (from Illinois) won in both Top Dragster and Super Rod competition.