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Serious Heat at Hot August Night!
Austin Ogonoski - August 18, 2006
Wednesday August 16th marked the final major event at Castrol Raceway for the 2006 Season. The 13th Running of "Hot August Night" featured 5 Jet Cars, 2 Nitro-Burning Dragsters, 2 Nitro Funny Cars, and a host of all of the main Pro cars that you've come to expect from any event at a drag strip (Alky Funny Cars, Pro Mods...the usuals...). Here's a recap of the event ...
Before racing began, a few Pro cars went up to make some test runs. From what I can remember, those cars were Tim Boychuk , Nathan Sitko, Trevor Lebsack , Randy Bykowsky and Nathan Sitko.
Tim Boychuk was up first in the "Happy Hour Racing" Vega, which was competing in the Pro Nostalgia class.This used to be Cal Tebb's old car. Recent body work was done on the car after a crash in Mission B.C .so he looks a little beat up. On the burnout his steering linkage broke .
Nathan Sitko was up next in the TA/FC Nemeth Racing Camaro. The Sitko's had made some changes and wanted to test them out. They had an all rookie crew who did a fabulous job at keeping the car maintained. Nathan left with a bit of tire shake and might have shut it off early, but still managed to run a 6.15.
Trevor Lebsack made the final practice run in his "Tenacity" TA/FC Mustang. Trevor had a lot of tire shake and shut it of very early.
The final test pass was made by Randy Bykowsky in his Nitro Funny Car. Randy left out the wheelie bar to get some extra traction. The car did an awesome wheelstand off the line.
First round of elimination's came at around 7 PM, with the Jet Cars opening the show. Brad Janishewski would open the show in his Rolling Thunder jet Civic. Although the fire show was spectacular, Brad wouldn't be able to put up the big numbers, and would run in the 6.50's. Other Jet Cars in the show would be the two Chuck Haynes cars,Gravity Storm and Volcano. Chuck would set a new speed record in Volcano, running 302 MPH. The Warhawk and Nitehawk cars also made appearances, and they ran very respectable passes.
The first round of Pro Nostalgia saw some very weird runs. Joey Steckler would go into the sand after the chute wrapped around the brake cable at the top end of the track and cut the line. Tony Kupris made a decent pass, as well as Jay Mageau and Mark Campbell who was driving the Team Ace Pro Alky FC sitting in for Eddy Plaizier who was out of town. Cory Kincaid was also in there, but broke on the burnout against Jay Mageau. Cory ended up with a cracked manifold and couldn't continue.
In Pro-Mod , Dan Vogt, Vern Mills , Ross Hogenson, Tom Meheden , Perry Thyr , Jeff Doyle , and Joe Delahey all failed to make full passes in qualifying. In elimination's, we saw Vern Mills kaboom on the launch with a huge fireball ,that thrilled the packed crowd. Many drivers, again, failed to make full passes. The final saw Vern Mills and Ross Hogenson , Vern couldn't start the car, giving Ross an easy win.
Top Alcohol Funny Car saw many different drivers competing in a Chicago-Style race format. Alan Tarapaski , Trevor Lebsack, Nathan Sitko, John Evanchuck , Cal Tebb , Ken Kraus, Dany Fillion, and Kevin Therres all made runs.
The Final saw Nathan Sitko and Ken Kraus. Nathan ran a career best 6.05 to get to the final. However, the race was over before it began, as Nathan rolled through the beams, giving Kraus the win. Kraus would reset the track record at 246.10 MPH.
Nitro Funny Car consisted of two drivers match racing against each other. Jason Duchene and Randy Bykowsky ran each other twice on Wednesday. Neither car made it down the track on both runs. On the final run, Duchene trailed a shower of sparks after the clutch let go. The crowd went wild!
3 Dragsters also made an appearance here. Ed Verenka (A/FD), Keith Falconer (TF), and Greg Sereda (TA/D). Sereda ran first, and posted a decent 5.88. Verenka was supposed to run next, but was unable to start the car. Falconer was the final TF run of the night, and ended it in a big way. The car started puking fuel from the start, and caught on fire at about the 60FT mark. Falconer's engine exploded at the 1000FT mark, and lifted the injector pretty high into the air.
The Jet Cars did make a few passes after they finished cleaning up both messes left by Jason and Keith.
The sun did set on this spectacular day.The show ended at about 1:00 am. Although slow at times, with so many cars breaking, it was great entertainment ! The night ended with an amazing fireworks display. As good as any Canada Day Celebration!
Castrol Raceway Results Hot August Night
Jet Dragster
Win: Chuck Haynes 5.26 @ 308.00 mph ***NEW SPEED RECORD***
R/U :Curt White 6.10 @192.02 mph
Jet Funny Car
Win Richard Smith 6.06 @ 262.16 mph
R/U Derek Snelson 6.16 @258.62 mph
Pro Mod
Win Ross Hogenson 6.58 @ 210.62 mph
R/U Vern Mills BROKE AFTER BURNOUT
Top Alcohol Funny Car
Win: Ken Kraus 5.89 @ 240.44 mph
R/U: Nathan Sitko DQ: REDLIGHT
Top Fuel Harley
Win: Ron Houniet 6.57 @ 213.82 mph
R/U: Brian Hall 6.87 @ 206.65 mph
Pro Dragster Nitro Harley
Win: Doug Casson 8.27 @ 143.35 mph
R/U: Al Miles 8.86 @ 143.74 mph
Quick 16
Win: Tom Ebertz 7.43 @ 181.08 mph
R/U: Scott Taylor DQ: REDLIGHT
Electronics
Win: Paul Glandon 8.89 @ 153.79 mph
R/U: Gary Miserva DQ: REDLIGHT
Non-Electronics
Win: Darren Ursel 10.75 @ 124.44
R/U: Bernie McIvor DQ: REDLIGHT
Photos by: Sheryl Ogonoski
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