38th Pontiac Excitement Nationals
Columbus, OH. (June 13-16th, 2002)
Notes |
Results | Photos
NATIONALS NOTEBOOK:
Ron Capps earns his first win of the 2002 season when he prevails in the Funny Car eliminator slugfest driving Don Prudhomme’s Skoal “Team Green” Camaro. The Capps win is pretty ugly -- he must peddle his way through tire smoke in both the semi-final and the final rounds to take the victory. Capps’s semi-final round win comes over teamate Tommy Johnson Jr., and in the final he beats Bruce Sarver who has his best finish yet driving Alan Johnson’s White Cap Toyota.
Whit Bazemore wows the crowd with a track record shattering run in Funny Car qualifying, driving the Schumacher Racing Matco Tools Firebird to a stunning 4.798 secs at 320.36 mph. That eclipsed the previous National Trail Raceway track record of 4.848 secs (Jerry Toliver) and 316.08 mph (Tony Pedregon) set in 2000. Bazemore however blows the tires off in round two while losing to Capps.
Pro Stock racing sees fast-rising star Greg Anderson win for the second time this season driving his Chevy Cavalier. The win is an historic one for the brand -- it is Chevrolet’s 100th NHRA Pro Stock title. Anderson wins the final easily when Darrell Alderman shakes the tires driving David Nickens’s Team Mopar Dodge Neon. Anderson runs the fastest speed ever at National Trail Raceway -- 200.92 mph -- which is also the track’s first 200 mph by a Pro Stocker.
Craig Treble closes the gap behind Angelle Savoie in the Pro Stock Bike class by winning for the third time this season riding the Matco Tools Suzuki. Treble advances to the final where he beats Antron Brown, while Angelle goes .399 red in the semi-final. Angelle and team owner George Bryce have to deal with accusations in a local Columbus newspaper from both Matt Hines and Craig Treble -- who allege that the Star Racing team have been cheating this season. Bryce’s team shrugs that off as simple complaints from very poor sports.
Larry Dixon’s Miller Lite “juggernaut” continues it’s unreal season pace winning for the 7th time in 10 final round appearances this season. Dixon is out-qualified by Kenny Bernstein but makes up for that on raceday as he blasts by Scott Weis, Cory McClenathan, Tony Schumacher and finally Doug Herbert. Bernstein, in his last driving appearance ever at National Trail Raceway, rewrites the track mph record during qualifying when he goes 323.81 mph during a pole qualifying 4.586 secs (low ET).
Shirley Muldowney has a spectacular showing at Columbus driving a special edition Mac Tools U.S. Navy Blue Angels dragster. Muldowney and crew chief/husband Rahn Tobler are fast and consistent throughout qualifying while landing the 9th slot. They take revenge on Andrew Cowin (remember Gainesville 2002 verbal exchange!) in round one and then upset Kenny Bernstein in round two. Victory over Bernstein is however costly as the car kicks out the rods on the top end and they cannot make repairs within the allotted 75 minutes. That allows Doug Herbert a free trip to the final round. Reaction to Muldowney’s race efforts are however unrivalled on event’s fan appeal Richter scale.
Top Alcohol class racing produces a couple of upset winners. Gary Ormsby Junior, who unloaded that record quick 5.13 secs at Topeka two weeks earlier wins in TAD driving Randy Meyer’s nitro-injected machine. Ormsby beats Shelly Howard in the final after notching low ET of the meet at 5.321 secs in round one. TAFC goes to Marc White who hands Frank Manzo a rare final round defeat. White wins on a holeshot -- 5.730 secs 250.13 mph to 5.721 secs 249.07 mph. Manzo had dominated the meet performance wise with a 5.698 secs (low ET) and 252.99 mph (top speed).
TAD racing produces a couple of pleasant surprises with Illinois-racer Russ Lindert qualifying on the pole. Lindert runs a 5.441 secs during the final session to just edge out Canada’s Ken Perry for the top qualifying spot. Perry had run a quick 5.477 secs in the supercharged Fontana-powered “Iceman” dragster from Toronto.
Michigan’s David Bieneman tries his hand in Top Fuel at Columbus driving the Wix Filters car, which Josh Starcher has been driving in IHRA this season. Bieneman gets the call because 17-year old Starcher is below the minimum Professional-driving age in NHRA (18 years). Bieneman runs a good 4.867 secs but that just misses the 4.856 secs Top Fuel cut.
Rumours rotate throughout Columbus Pro Stock pits of a factory team from Ford Motor Company -- possibly by 2003. Insiders say Bob Glidden would oversee the program but would not drive. Jon Kaase was mentioned most often as the engine builder. NHRA Pro Stock fans collectively hope the rumblings are factual.
