37th Pontiac Excitement Nationals
June 14-17, 2001 (Columbus, OH)
Notes |
Results | Photos
NATIONALS NOTEBOOK:
FC class racing sees John Force creep even closer to the magical 100th national event win mark when he captures his 95th career title. Force overcomes spunky Del Worsham in the final round. Worsham and Force leave as one however Del spins his tires and Force in the Castrol GTX Mustang motors by for the victory. Low ET in FC is produced by home state favorite Dean Skuza who travels to a 4.885 secs driving the Mopar-sponsored Dodge RT. Skuza is however taken out in round two by a quicker leaving Johnny Gray. Gray, driving the “Nitro Fish” Pontiac has a solid semi-final round placing -- he holeshots John Force and leads to the 1000-ft mark before his car drops cylinders and drifts towards the wall. That allows Force to edge him. Top speed in FC goes to John Force at 309.49 mph.
Kenny Bernstein’s three-event winning streak comes to a halt at Columbus when he bangs a blower while racing Darrell Russell in the semi-final round.
Russell then smokes his tires in the final which gives Larry Dixon his second win of the season. Dixon’s win includes low ET of the meet -- 4.647 secs -- which comes in round one of eliminations. Bernstein has top speed of the event at 316.82 mph.
Warren Johnson rebounds in Pro Stock with a convincing performance in the poor atmospheric conditions. After struggling early, WJ has both low ET and top speed (6.907 secs and 199.52 mph) while handling the field. WJ takes out Mark Osborne in the Team Mopar RT in the final round. Pro Stock racing sees Nevada’s George Marnell qualify on the pole (6.935 secs) which is the second time in his career he has done that. Despite heated racing conditions Pro Stock program is still an all-six second program (6.983 bump).
NHRA Columbus race includes highly prestigious race-within-a-race for Sportsman racers as top representatives from all 7 NHRA geographical divisons participate in the 2001 NHRA Sportsman All-Stars competition. Based on points accumulated during eliminations, NHRA Division 2 is the overall champion. It is the second year in a row the Southeast Division has prevailed and the 5th time in the All-Stars event 17-year history. Individual class winners included Jeff Wilson (FMD), Von Smith (FMFC), Jeff Taylor (Competition), Peter Biondo (Super Stock), Brandon Wood (Stock), Rock Haas (Super Comp), Ed Richardson (Super Gas) and Rudy Matthews (Super Street). Conspicuous by it’s absence is title rite sponsor Federal Mogul who despite underwriting the overall NHRA Sportsman drag racing program, option out of hosting the 2001 All-Stars tournament (!?).
Pontiac brand racers thrill overall event sponsor as numerous drivers put their Pontiac’s into victory lane. The Sportsman parade includes Jeff Taylor who doubles up in Competition eliminator winning both Saturday’s All-Stars event and then the Pontiac Excitement Nationals title on Sunday driving his super feared C/Altered Grand-Am. Robby Rashid in a GT/BA ’82 Firebird scores in Super Stock and Jeff Hefler wins in Stock with his F/SA ’98 Firebird. Defending NHRA World Champion Peter Biondo also wins in a Pontiac Firebird -- taking Saturday’s All-Stars Super Stock title.
FC class racing includes an rather impressive debut for class newcomer Vince Arcadi from Lancaster, NY. Unknown racer shows with a flashy new 2000 Camaro and using tuning help of Glen Mikres gets progressively quicker throughout qualifying. Ultimately Arcadi’s best lap of 5.118 secs at 285.41 mph does not make the cut -- but he doesn’t break any parts and his solid effort does not go unnoticed.
Angelle Savoie narrows the gap behind points leader Antron Brown when she wins in PSB. Savoie has low ET of the event at 7.224 secs while earning the pole -- the 20th of her career. Brown cuts a .410 light on Angelle in the final but then breaks his transmission. Geno Scali had top speed of the event at 187.11 mph aboard his Suzuki.
Top Fuel racing sees former Funny Car class racer Scott Weis (from Virginia) make his class debut. Weis shows with the ex-Cavalieri Brothers
dragster which he traded his Funny Car for straight up. Weis makes one qualifying lap and gets in 14th. Weis runs a decent 4.843 in round one but that is eaten up by eventual winner Larry Dixon who runs 4.647 secs.
