|
 Canadians at IHRA ET Summit!
Bruce Biegler - October 25, 2007
Canada was very well represented during the IHRA’s Summit SuperSeries Championships held during the recent World Finals at Rockingham, NC.
Will Steckly, the track Super Pro champion for 2007 at Grand Bend Motorplex,  earned what is arguably the most significant Sportsman racing title of the season by a Canadian when he took top honors in the “No Box” Championship runoff.
Driving his ultra reliable 1980 Dodge Omni, Steckly combined some deadly reaction times with uncanny consistency to win the IHRA Summit 2007 ET World Championship.
In the double break out final round his time of 8.992 secs (9.00 dial in) ran down Maryland’s Ed Talbert who ran further under his 11.71 dial in at 11.67 secs.
 For his win Steckly collected some significant prizes including a cheque for $10,000, a brand new Harley Davidson motorcycle and a future holiday to Aruba.
“To get here I won five events at Grand Bend and then at the Divisional Championships,” said Steckly who lives in Milverton, Ontario. “I feel fortunate about that and it was both great and a real honor to be here.”
Steckly who had also participated at the 2005 IHRA Summit SuperSeries where he had a semi-final round finish, was awesome in rounds one and two also. Using an 8.98 dial in he had consecutive laps of 9.016 secs (.004 RT) and 9.014 secs (.017 RT).
Steckly was nearly joined in victory lane by another Canadian driver, Burlington Ontario’s Steve Ferstl. Driving his 1978 Chevy Monza and representing Toronto Motorsports Park, Ferstl also advanced to the championship final round but lost the “Box” title by a very narrow margin.
 His final round effort of 9.219 secs (9.20 dial in) was edged out by the dragster driven by Tennessee’s Chad Hedgecock which ran a 7.450 secs (7.44 dial in).
Ferstl’s first career trip to the IHRA’s Summit SuperSeries event included round wins over Alaska’s Nathan Thornsley and Texan Leroy O’Bryant.
“There is no doubt this event is the highlight of my career so far,” said Steve. “Just to get to this race was a real struggle – all year.”
 Ferstl did reveal that the Rockingham event will likely be his last driving the familiar silver Chevy Monza which he has owned and raced for 20 years. He has a new dragster scheduled to be debuted next season.
Western Canada was also represented at the North Carolina showdown with Edmonton’s Dan Coss representing Castrol Raceway. As fate would have it Coss did lose out to eventual winner Steckly in round one of competition.
 Coss, who drives an impressive 1970 Plymouth Duster was invited to the event as the first alternate when that track’s overall champion could not attend.
“I didn’t find out about the invitation until two weeks before the event,” said Dan, who is a mechanic at Sherwood KIA. “I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity and Rob Reeves (Castrol Raceway Track Manager) really helped us out by setting us up with an enclosed trailer. That made the decision for us to come much more realistic.”
Coss finished 2nd in Castrol Raceway track points during 2007 winning two events during the season.
(Bruce Biegler Photos)
| 
