17th Pep Boys Keystone Nationals
Reading, PA (Oct. 4-7th, 2001)
Notes |
Results | Photos
NATIONALS NOTEBOOK:
NHRA Pro and Sportsman
racers deliver and then some as superb Maple Grove Raceway track surface
and terrific atmospheric conditions result in a landslide of record
performances. Pro Stock class in particular steals event thunder as
it features the quickest and fastest times ever seen along with barrier
breaking runs. Coming into Saturday's qualifying no NHRA Pro Stock racer
had ever run officially in the 6.7 secs zone -- but by day's end no
less then seven different racers had recorded runs sub 6.8 secs. Mopar
racer Darrell Alderman earned the distinction of being the first --
he runs a 6.788 secs. Mark Osborne runs a 6.771 secs shortly thereafter
which holds up for the pole. Jeg Coughlin Jr, Kurt Johnson, Jim Yates,
Ron Krisher, Mike Edwards and "WJ" also notch 6.7 secs elapsed
times. Kurt Johnson cracks NHRA's 203-mph speed barrier for the first
with a 203.74-mph shot.
Sunday's even cooler conditions (53F) produce
even quicker and fastest times including Chevy pilot Jeg Coughlin Jr
who runs an amazing 6.750 secs in round one which is a national ET record.
Mark Osborne thunders to a 204.35-mph speed in David Nickens's Neon
during a semi final round loss to Tom Martino. Osborne's speed is the
first 204-mph in Pro Stock and is also a national speed record. Tom
Martino and Troy Coughlin also dip into the 6.7 secs zone during Sunday's
eliminations and ultimately they face one another for the championship.
Martino gets out of the gate first but it is Coughlin who catches him
to collect his first career NHRA national event title running a career
best 6.768 secs at 203.40. Oh yeah -- the Pro Stock bump spot was 6.831
secs topping the 6.844 secs all time quick field set at Chicago one
week before.
Funny Car racing also produces some mind-bending
elapsed times with John Force and Whit Bazemore once again butting performance
heads. Force leads the field with a truly thrilling 4.731 secs blast
in qualifying which is the quickest run ever in FC racing. He also sets
top speed at 325.14 mph in the Castrol GTX Mustang. After that both
Force and Bazemore deliver a flurry of all 4.7 secs runs during eliminations.
Bazemore earns lane choice over Force for the final with a titanic 4.732
secs semi-final round effort compared to Force's winning 4.750 secs.
The money run sees Force run 4.792 secs at 312.06 mph to beat Bazemore's
4.832 secs at 318.54 mph. Force's win is the 98th of his career and
all but clinches the 2001 Winston Championship -- his 11th NHRA World
title. When Force beat Johnny Gray in the semi final round it was his
milestone 1000th round win -- the most in NHRA drag racing history!
FC racing also sees Del Worsham run sub 4.8 secs
with a 4.778 secs qualifier. Del then produces the event's most visual
sight when he blows the body off his CSK Firebird in round one after
the supercharger lets go just past the Christmas tree. The FC bump at
Reading is a 4.927 secs making it NHRA's 3rd quickest field of all time.
Drag racing's first ever 330 mph driver Tony Schumacher
reclaims his title as the fastest man in the sport with a thundering
333.08 mph clocking in the U.S. Army dragster on Friday. That is the
fastest run of all time. Schumacher cannot however back up the speed
for a national record -- instead it is Kenny Bernstein who leaves the
premises holding the official speed mark at 332.18 mph. Bernstein stretches
out his Winston points lead by placing runner-up to Gary Scelzi in the
Top Fuel final. Before that Bernstein wins a thrilling head to head
2nd round match over points rival Larry Dixon: 4.511 secs 329.58 mph
to 4.510 secs 322.96 mph -- arguably the best race of the entire 2001
season so far! Three drivers, Mike Dunn, Kenny Bernstein and Doug Kalitta
all qualify in the 4.4 secs zone. Dunn's pole qualifying 4.491 holds
up for low ET of the event. Kalitta's 4.498 secs is his career quick
ET.
FMD program is also sensational with 2001 championship
rivals Rick Santos and Mark Hentges meeting head on in the final round.
Hentges keeps his FMD world title aspirations alive with a great driving
effort in that final. He cuts a .415 RT to win over Santos -- 5.338
secs 265.22 mph to 5.293 secs at 266.11 mph. Santos, in his first ever
racing appearance at Maple Grove Raceway, runs the first ever sub 5.3
secs times by a supercharged alcohol dragster including a 5.278 secs
national record. Hentges cards a phenomenal 267.32 mph -- which is the
fastest run ever by a supercharged alcohol FMD.
Pro Stock Bike racing sees the 7.1 secs barrier
broken for the first time as Matt Hines delivers an historic 7.092 secs
during a round one victory. Hines backs the mark up in round two running
7.117 secs on the Vance & Hines Eagle One Suzuki, but surprising
comes up short to Angelle Savoie, who's 7.148 secs wins on a holeshot.
Savoie goes on to run the classes second ever sub 7.10 secs in the final
round at 7.099 secs to defeat sentimental favorite and upset mined Steve
Johnson. PSB class racing also includes the fastest speed ever in the
class -- 194.77 mph by GT Tonglet. Geno Scali rides to a 7.174 secs
to qualify 3rd which is the fastest run ever by a Kawasaki in PSB racing.
The PSB field at Reading is just one short of being an all 7.2 secs
field. The bump spot ends up as 7.310 secs set by Joe DeSantis. That
is the quickest field in history -- beating the 7.338 secs mark set
at Route 66 Raceway last June.
Top Fuel racing includes an inspired performance
by Scott Weis who in only his fifth event in the class rides to a strong
semi-final round finish. The independent Weis qualifies 11th and upsets
Darrell Russell and Doug Kalitta. His round one win includes a career
best 4.564 secs at 316.67 mph. Weis leaves first and runs a solid 4.638
secs at 315.19 mph in the third frame against Kenny Bernstein but that
is not enough to hold off "King Kenny's" 4.517 secs at 311.19
mph.
Dean Skuza and Scotty Cannon both show at Maple
Grove with new paint schemes and qualify 9th and 10th respectively.
Skuza driving the Mopar Parts Dodge Avenger and Cannon driving the Oakley
Mad Scientist Pontiac both lose in the second round.
Pro Stock racer Allen Johnson announces during
the event that he will field a 2-car Hemi-powered Dodge Neon team in 2002. Johnson has pegged IHRA
Pro Stock driver Tommy Lee to drive his team's second car. Johnson is
a DNQ at Maple Grove despite running a otherwise very quick 6.888 secs.
No less then 11 Pro Stock racers ran in the 6.8 secs zone but do not
qualify -- another testament to just how quick the Pep Boys Nationals
field was.
Frank Manzo blasts his way past the FMFC
program again. The win is Manzo's third straight and 6th of the season
on the NHRA trail. The New Jersey driver collects both low ET and top
speed at 5.606 secs and 255.92 mph and beats division one rival Bob
Newberry in the final round.
