. . . Canada’s newest Super Stock entry was in action at the NHRA Mac Tools Gatornationals. Owned and driven by Gene Emes, who is from Stouffville, ON., the Smith Performance Specialties built ‘99 Chevy S-10 ran well under it’s GT/TA national index (10.90 secs) with a 9.978 secs elapsed time.
Updated March 16th 1999
BILLES BRUTALITY . . .
. . . Canada's Al Billes rocked IHRA racing with a national record setting effort in his new '53 Studebaker Pro Mod at 6.268 secs and 222.62 mph.
Photo Courtesy of David DeAngelis
ALCOHOL UPDATES . . .
. . . London, Ontario’s Rob Atchison, the owner and operator of Atchison Machine Services, has looked impressive during his IHRA national event debut at the Prolong Winter Nationals. Driving his supercharged Chevy-powered Oldsmobile Achieva, the former Pro Comp class star has qualified solidly for eliminations with a best run of 6.155 secs at 235.22 mph. But like everyone else, Atchinson will be forced to wait until May 8th for the rain delayed event’s conclusion. Another London-area racer, Doug Weaver has confirmed that he will replace the Ford Thunderbird body on his Alcohol Funny Car with a sleek new Dodge Avenger this season. Weaver, who is slowly but surely gaining experience in the class will continue to receive backing from Castrol of Canada.
Updated March 12th 1999
FULL CIRCLE . . .
. . . Larry O’Brien, who was until recently Canada’s quickest and fastest Pro Stock racer (6.721 secs at 207.30 mph) has sold his mountain motored Ford Probe racing operation to Doug & Carl Kirk and will switch back to a Dodge Avenger in 1999. O’Brien, who is from Windsor, ON., has rekindled his racing relationship with reputed Canadian engine builder Gary St. Denis, and will run one of St. Denis’s new configuration 813 CID Mopar Hemi engines. The team will in fact reacquire the Dodge Avenger that Kirk and St. Denis ran as a team on the IHRA tour last season. That car had been sold to Ohio’s Larry Morgan who is currently running it on the NHRA tour with a 500 CID. The switch will return O’Brien and his brother Larry back to familiar footing as they had enjoyed much success racing a series of Dodge doorslammers in the past.
BELIEVE IT OR NOT . . .
. . . Western Canada is home once again to a fuel burning Funny Car! Regina’s Charlie McIntosh has purchased the Dodge Daytona that has been driven in recent times by England’s Norman Wilding. McIntosh, who is the owner/operator of Queen City Radiator, is one run away from completing his license upgrade and hopes to run a limited match race schedule this summer. McIntosh and his crew have in fact attended a few events with Wilding since late 1998 to become adjusted with the car and process prior to purchasing the racing operation. A couple of NHRA national events, likely Seattle or Brainerd, are in the works.
PRO MOD PREVIEW . . .
. . . Toronto area drag racing fans that attended the Performance World Car Show (Mar. 5-7)
were treated to a preview look at some of the fantastic machinery that will be running within Eastern Canada’s Pro Modified Championship series in 1999. Some of the more impressive cars on display included the record smashing ‘41 Willys that Gary Irving drove last season which is now owned by Kirk Silberman (Ajax, ON) and driven by Terry Noddle. Ed Rybecki’s slick new Tim McAmis-built nitrous injected ‘57 Chevy and Brad Matheson’s new look supercharged ‘55 Chevy were the talk of the show. A couple of Corvettes were on hand with Bob Nagy showcasing his new "Buzzwater" sponsor on his ‘63 Corvette and Hamilton’s Bruce Boland unveiled his slick new machine. Bob Chovance, from Smithville, ON., displayed his new nitrous-injected late model Camaro as did Mark Nielsen with his sharp looking "Quick Fix" supercharged Lumina . The 7 event Canadian Pro Modified Championship series kicks off in early May.
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