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“Bull Moose” Charges at Motor City Nationals
Bruce Biegler - May 27, 2008
 The Pro Modified racing field present during last weekend’s IHRA Motor City Nationals near Detroit may well have felt like they had been stampeded after witnessing a 2nd consecutive ‘08 circuit win by the Canadian-based Lang Motorsports/NitroMoose.ca Corvette.
Driver Kenny Lang, his tuner Al Billes, and his very talented supporting staff literally ran roughshod over a very competitive Pro Modified field with a truly dominating event performance. Lang’s final round victory lap of 6.021 secs at 238.55 mph, which easily defeated the nitrous-injected Firebird driven by Mike Castellana, was preceded by numerous highlights including the team’s first ever 5-seconds elapsed times and fastest speed ever, a new Milan Dragway track ET record, low ET of the meet, and back-to-back “Last Man Standing” awards during both Friday and Saturday qualifying. When all was said and done, the Manitoba-based racer exited the premises Sunday night on top of the leader board for 2008 IHRA Knoll Gas Nitro Jam points after three of eleven series races this season.
“We did some testing before we came to Milan and that proved to be a good move on our part,” said Kenny Lang. “We got the chassis working well and we came in fully armed with a lot of Al Billes horsepower. We had everything clicking.”
Kenny Lang entered Sunday’s final eliminations on the pole after he unloaded a dazzling career best 5.958 secs on Saturday night. That run complimented an equally impressive 5.964 secs recorded on Friday evening. Both those runs were spectacular to watch for the capacity crowd as the ’53 Vette carried its front wheels very high and to about the 500’ mark each time. The next closest competitor performance wise was defending IHRA World Champion Scott Cannon who roared to a 6.000 secs for the number two qualified slot.
 Lang then used quick consistency to win as he beat Thomas Patterson, Carl Spiering and Jim Halsey to advance to the final round. Lang’s win over fellow Canadian Carl Spiering’s Eaton Cutler-Hammer Corvette was a particularly exciting one. He prevailed by only inches while taking a narrow 6.061 to 6.060 secs decision.
Lang was the only Pro Mod racer in the “fives” during the event – running sub 6.0 seconds three different times. His 239.65 mph during qualifying was his career best terminal speed so far.
 “We knew that “fives” were just around the corner for us,” Lang added. “The conditions at Milan were awesome and the track prep was first class. We are very proud of that accomplishment and I owe it all to my great crew who did an awesome job. Four years ago I really couldn’t even image being in a position like this and the good part is that I think we still have a lot more good things to come. We are very serious about this. Chasing the championship remains our primary goal.”
(Bruce Biegler Photos)
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