Texas Speedzone - Litton, Creasy, Patrick, Hoover and Munroe take Amalie Oil Ironmen

San Antonio, Tx.(March 25, 2007) Sunday kicked the final day of IHRA National event at the now-shortened 1/8 mile track. The weekend crowd total was estimated at 28,000 for the three days, with Saturday's "Night of Fire" having over 18,000 come through the gates. Drivers, crews and fans from all over the US and Canada, with car counts totaling 361 filled the pits for the 5th annual event.

Knoll Gas Nitro Jam, Amalie Oil Texas Nationals, presented by NAPA Auto Parts @ San Antonio Raceway, 3/23-25/07 By J M Hallas San Antonio, Tx.(March 25, 2007) Sunday kicked the final day of IHRA National event at the now-shortened 1/8 mile track. The weekend crowd total was estimated at 28,000 for the three days, with Saturday's "Night of Fire" having over 18,000 come through the gates. Drivers, crews and fans from all over the US and Canada, with car counts totaling 361 filled the pits for the 5th annual event. Everyone seemed to have adjusted well to the new 1/8 mile format, with Sportsman classes being given some extra track time to figure out stall boxes, gears and all the other electronic goodies on some of these radical machines. Patrick’s Pavement Pounder Sweeps Weekend Pro Stock In the Pro Stock finals, top qualifier Robert Patrick took on 2004 event winner, John Montecalvo coming from the number four slot. Patrick and Montecalvo had identical reaction times of .046, but it was Patrick inching away for the victory in the side by side run. Robert Patrick 4.156, 173.29 John Montecalvo 4.171, 172.63 "The biggest thing I wanted to accomplish this weekend was coming out of here with a win," said Patrick. "Last year I qualified on the pole a couple times and got beat on hole shots and that really kept me out of the championship chase. I didn't drive that good the first couple rounds, but did what I felt I needed to based on the cars I was racing. On the finals I stepped it up a little bit and we got the win. I couldn't feel any better for my team. My engine builder Bob Ingalls and my entire have been working real hard during the off season. I'm just real happy everything panned out the way it did." When I came out Saturday morning and they were paving the track, I didn't know what to think. I applaud their decision to cut this to an 1/8 mile. I didn't mind it, I used to race some Mini-Nationals back in the 90's. Hey, racing is racing and a win is a win. I’m just glad everybody got out of here the way they did." Sponsors; Jerry Haas Race Cars, Bob Ingalls Race Engine, Purvis Ford, Easy Care Vehicle Warranty Service, ADG Pro Stock first round Ladder goes 4/4 between top and bottom half winners, number two qualifier(Spiess) out. Robert Patrick 4.100, 173.67 Elijah Morton 4.183, 178.65 John Nobile 4.156, 173.14(red light) Jeff Dobbins 4.231, 170.49 Rob Mansfield 4.169, 172.45 Larry O'Brien 4.176, 177.45 Mike Corvo 4.127, 172.63 Pete Berner 4.158, 172.04 (hole shot win) Steve Spiess 4.146, 172.87(red light) Dan Sweeney 4.972, 109.58 Brian Gahm 4.739, 136.10(red light) Frank Gugliotta 4.203, 177.12 John Montecalvo 4.131, 174.19 Dean Goforth NT/NS (timed out red) Rickie Smith 4.177, 171.79 Cary Goforth 6.091, 77.04 Pro Stock round two Robert Patrick 4.133, 173.36 Jeff Dobbins 4.192, 178.75 Rob Mansfield 4.234, 169.83 Pete Berner (red light) Dan Sweeney 4.198, 177.62 Frank Gugliotta 4.200, 171.21--(hole shot win) John Montecalvo 4.138, 173.34 Rickie Smith 7.546, 54.38--sideways off line Pro Stock round three Rob Mansfield 4.181, 177.97 Robert Patrick 4.156, 173.94 Frank Gugliotta 7.250, 77.05 --tire shake/pedalfest John Montecalvo 5.102, 152.23--tire shake/pedalfest Hoover Hustles to Pro Mod Payday Pro Modified The most constant Pro Modified of the weekend, Ed Hoover went up against Danny Rowe for the win. Hoover, who won the 2005 event, qualified in fourth, while Rowe came from the bottom of the ladder as ninth qualifier. Hoover continued his runs of 4.0's and got the jump on Rowe in the finals as green came on. Rowe's car shook bad and drifted towards the wall, while Hoover blasted through the lights for the win. Ed Hoover 4.031, 183.39 Danny Rowe 4.597, 120.17--shook tires/drifted right "I credit my new crew chief, Al Billes for my consistent times," said Hoover. He's an expert at his job and that leaves me to be the driver. I'm still mechanic on the car, but I don't have to come out here to check the track and watch cars go down the track. He gets information off the other cars, we've got a team of three others. It's just a team effort on behalf of all my people that are with me. He contributes the horsepower and set up to get down the track, all I have to do is drive it. Last year I tried to do it all, and in a professional class nobody else is trying to do it. I'm hard-headed and used to racing that way, but times have changed and you've got to step up to the plate." "It's been a long winter but it paid off here at the first race. Last year we sucked, but this year to come out and leave here number one, gives us momentum. Next week we to the dyno with the engine and make it better. We're not just going to leave it in the trailer and go on to the next race. We're going to work on it and make it faster and better. This a professional class, if you're not working on it, then you can't cry about it. It's your own fault if you don't win. "I kind of judge my competitors in a way, I tighten up as tight as I can get. You better take the win after the crew's worked this hard. You've been here three rounds and you better not flub this up, you better hammed the tree. I did my job on the tree and we had the elapsed time. It worked out this time." "I knew IHRA would make the right decision about the track. I've been with them a long time, I've been here since Pro Modifieds were conceived. I helped name the class. I won the first Pro Mod race. They're not dummies, they've been around a long time. Eighth mile racing is tighter because you can run someone down on power. You'd better be on the tree because the finish line is coming up just as quick." Sponsors; Paul Trussell Motorsports, G-Force Chassis, Al Billes horsepower Pro Modified round one Top three qualifiers(Commisso, Cannon, Pontieri) find their way to the trailer after round one of eliminations. Ladder goes 4/4 with top and bottom half even. Raymond Commisso 5.012, 109.55 Danny Rowe 4.156, 178.90 Kirk Kuhns 4.195, 169.53(hole shot win) Mike Janis 4.160, 178.95 Tony Pontieri 5.259, 96.42 Pat Stoken 4.067, 181.74 Burton Auxier 4.339, 157.25 Shannon Jenkins 5.650, 85.50 Scott Cannon 4.207, 176.07 Jim Halsey 4.058, 182.23 John Russo 6.269, 96.76 Quain Stott 4.106, 182.55 Ed Hoover 4.045, 181.30 Mike Castellana 4.318, 169.68 Kenny Lang 4.075, 183.10 Harold Martin NT/NS (broke off line) Pro Modified round two Danny Rowe 4.062, 183.07 Kirk Kuhns 5.856, 80.63--shook tires Pat Stoken 4.188, 179.44--red light by 1/1000th Burton Auxier 4.242, 172.98 Jim Halsey 4.070, 182.97 Quain Stott 4.057, 183.39 Ed Hoover 4.045, 183.72 Kenny Lang 4.113, 186.67 Pro Modified round three Danny Rowe 4.030, 183.64 Burton Auxier 4.239, 173.03 Quain Stott 6.870, 65.94--shook tires Ed Hoover 4.040, 189.67 Munroe Masters 1/8 Mile for First Ever Ironman Alcohol Funny Car Defending event and National Champion, Mark Thomas raced quick qualifier Terry Munroe as the two top qualifiers paired off for the battle in Alcohol Funny Car. Thomas, who also won the 2004 event, looked for a three-play. Munroe left Thomas sitting at the tree with a better reaction time and increased the margin as he made his way to the finish line. Mark Thomas 3.949, 184.95 Terry Munroe 3.893, 187.11 "When I left(the line) I never heard him, I never saw him and when I saw the win light I could have crashed my car," replied Munroe. "This year I decided to go up there and race my own race. He's(Mark Thomas) has beat me up plenty in the past. I've been after this for five years now and I used to let him worry me. We came out planning on winning some races, and planning on doing good. I honestly didn't worry this time. I just knew we had it in the bank. The car was pretty consistent, though it wasn't the fastest thing on earth, but we were getting it down the track. Normally, yes, Mark makes me nervous. I had Rob(Atchison) in the first run and I had to go to bed thinking about him. So I ended up with two multi-time champions on the same day. I felt confident though, we changed our game plan and everything is working good so far. We went to four finals previously, Mark beat us up, Rob beat us up, this is going to be my year to beat back, I hope. At least that's what we're going to go for. I'm not wanting to sound cocky or anything, but that's the game plan." "Honestly changing to the 1/8 mile didn't bother me. I'm not a complainer. I am so glad that just didn't cancel this weekend. I think they made a great decision. I would have been impossible for us to get back here. I have an all volunteer crew and they have to take to work and all." "We're going to try to run for the championship this year. All my guys said they'd go to the long races, like Alberta, Canada. When they said that this winter, we decided to give it a run for the title. I've always come out and wanted to do good, win races, a championship was never on my mind to be honest. I mean, I wanted to, but with a totally volunteer crew it difficult. I don't know why they would do this, not making any money. It just blows my mind" Sponsors; Mickey Thompson Tires, Cool Shirt, Pen Brand Oil, Munroe Auto Body, Pro Star Chassis, Bob Newberry(in house) motor. Jimmy Border tuned. Alcohol Funny Car round one Terry Munroe 3.946, 187.13 Rob Atchison 3.994, 192.03 Tim Stevens 3.962, 186.77 Terry McMillen 4.045, 185.13 Mark Thomas 3.963, 192.00 Larry Dobbs 3.986, 186.51 Laurie Cannister 8.265, 61.70--smoked tires off line Tony Bogolo 4.160, 172.36 Alcohol Funny Car round two Terry Munroe 3.930, 185.00 Tim Stevens 4.027, 179.98 Mark Thomas 4.007, 187.81 Tony Bogolo --no show Creasy Conquers Funny Car Field Nitro Funny Car The Nitro Funny finals saw last years winner and fast qualifier, Gary Densham roll into the staging lights with defending National Champion Dale Creasy jr. who could only muster the sixth starting position. Creasy was first off the line, with Densham catching him at 60'. Densham got upon the tires and started to smoke the hides allowing Creasy to run back by and pick up the win. Gary Densham 4.130, 142.79---smoked tires Dale Creasy jr. 3.407, 246.17 "I don't ever worry about the guy in the other lane," replied Creasy regarding his final run against defending event winner Gary Densham. "Gary's a good friend of mine, but we've never beat him. I very rarely can leave on him, the guy's just that good. We don't run our car against him, we run it against the track. If I go up there and think about that, I make mistakes. A whole lot of people say that, but that's what we did to make us successful last year. Once I get in and they close the body, it's just me and my racecar. I don't care about who's over there. His car was 1/10th quicker than ours all day long. There was no way I was going to make that up. So we just ran our car the way we knew how it would get down the track." "The momentum from last year's championship helps. The confidence will be better in Rockingham when we get there. Last year we started our season bad, ran into the sand, then hurt a motor, got a black flag(oil down) and left here with not many points. So this year we're leaving ahead, but this is just one race and there's eleven more to go. If you look at the players that will run every race, we're all within 5/100th so it's going to be some good drag racing all year." "I'm a fan of the 1/8 mile, it's definitely a parts saver. The car usually hurts itself after half track or around 1000'. You still have to run quick, put on a good show for the people and of course it worked our good for me. We've also had tire issues for a couple years and the speed what's doing it to them. The cars never stop accelerating until the finish line, so this makes it a safer race for the driver. I'm not suggesting we go to 1/8 mile at every track, but it's a lot cheaper to run 1/8 mile than 1/4 mile." Torco Race Fuels, Red Line Oil, Beaver Shredding, Bump and Grind, Oakley, Tek-Pak, Murph-McCain Chassis, in house motor Nitro Funny Car round one Ladder goes 2/2 with second and fourth qualifiers(Capps, Worsham) finished for the day. Gary Densham 3.287, 259.76 Bob Gilbertson 3.331, 253.09 Terry Haddox 3.515, 210.87 Andy Kelley 8.734, 80.15--smoked tires off line Del Worsham 4.580, 150.78--smoked tires Dale Creasy jr. 3.523, 208.36 Jon Capps 4.637, 108.28--shook tires Jack Wyatt 3.538, 238.64 Nitro Funny Car round two Gary Densham 3.306, 158.12 Terry Haddox 3.427, 244.56 Jack Wyatt 3.639, 220.48 Dale Creasy Jr 3.426, 241.50 Litton Leaves with Ironman, not Parts and Pieces Top Fuel Dragster Bruce Litton made it to his second Texas Nationals finals, but only the first he actually made run in. Litton won his semi-final pass in 2004, but suffered a terrible crash that saw his life-flighted to a local hospital. Litton was released in time to make it back to the track only to watch Clay Millican make a solo run. Litton would be matched up with T J Zizzo, who caught a couple breaks getting solo passes in both his rounds. Zizzo got a slight edge on Litton at the start, but Litton drove around Zizzo who slowed about track leaving Litton to grab the victory. T J Zizzo 5.417, 7694--laid down at half track Bruce Litton 3.165, 265.12 "In one way yes and another way no," stated Litton when asked if the track in San Antonio owed him one after his terrible crash three years ago. "I can look at it another way, that it's blessed me twice. I've survived a 302mph hit into the wall and God graced me to be able to come back and do this again. We ran the same lane and actually have one of the heads that was on that car from the crash." "We try to run our own race. I didn't know that he(T J Zizzo) had a couple of bye runs, that just part of it. He was there, he had good performance and I knew that he could run good. He was number two qualifier and we were number three so I felt like I needed to be on my game and leave on time. I felt like we had pretty good power and fortunately it all worked out." "I applaud them for doing what they did going to the 1/8 mile format. I looked at the track on Thursday and was worried about the lane to begin with. They had no choice. They came out and ground the track and it just didn't work out. I can't believe what they did in that short amount of time, overnight. That's the lane we wanted and picked all day, so it was the best lane." Litton recalled his crash that happened nearly three years ago exactly. "It was the semi-final round of 2004 and I had just won the round against Grant Flowers. I blew a tire right at the finish line, it took the rear wing off and turned me hard right into the wall. I was hard that it broke the car in half. I was knocked out, came to for a moment and remember talking to Mike(Wolfarth ) while they cut the cage off the car and was air-flighted to BAMC. I woke up again at the hospital in the CAT Scan and my spirit said, you are fine. I told them that I was fine and they asked me to walk. I jumped up off the table and walked and they said to let him go. I still to this day don't remember anything about the run itself. I remember starting the car and that the end of it." " The crash weighed on my because of what happened to Eric(Medlin). Eric was a friend and he had bright future ahead of him. This sport is dangerous. I feel bad for his family, and John Force racing. These cars have a lot safety equipment on them and the majority of crashes you hear about people walking away and every once in a while there's one that takes you back to reality. I depend on God for my protection. I pray every round." Lucas Oil, Torco Race Fuels, United Trailers, Bruce Litton Trailer Sales, 2007 Hadman Chassis, 500 cubic inch TFX built by Mike Wolfarth Top Fuel Dragster round one Doug Foley 4.886, 93.04--shook tires/shut off Bruce Litton 3.163, 266.53 T J Zizzo 5.373, 87.77--shook tires bad Scotty Cannon--no show Top Fuel Dragster Ladder goes 4/0 with all top four qualifiers advancing to next round. Doug Foley 3.142, 265.27 Terry McMillen 4.746, 94.65--tire shake Bruce Litton 3.211, 267.27 Scott Weis 3.706, 168.28--went away on top end T J Zizzo 3.172, 262.90 Mitch King--no show Scotty Cannon 3.446, 244.01--drove through early tire shake Bobby Lagana jr.3.883, 170.67--smoked tires Sportsman Finals Hot Rod Troy Baxter, 7.011, 102.98 Wayne Hoffman, 7.035, 111.75 Stock Anthony Bertozzi, 6.757, 98.86 Chad Clark, 6.836, 97.93 Super Rod Tommy Maedgen, 6.425, 114.48 Kip Guenzel, 6.418, 119.04 Top Stock Gary Bingham, 4.806, 147.49 Harold Snyder, 4.775, 142.29 Top Dragster Brian Folk, 4.683, 137.69 Nick Folk, 4.735, 138.43 Super Stock Slate Cummings, 5.735, 114.14 Dan Fletcher, 6.713, 92.61 Quick Rod Nancy Greathouse, 5.706, 123.91 Claude DeBonis, 5.784, 121.09 ET Box Shaun Neidig, 5.077, 130.97(hole shot win) Rae Jean Kilpatrick, 5.059, 135.66 ET No Box Dustin Bradford, 6,844, 99.35 Ryan McDonnell, 10.694, 47.08(red light) ET Final Dustin Bradford, 6.832,(5.83 index) 99.34 Shaun Neidig, 5.070,(5.05 index) 134.86 Bob Motz Jet Kenworth truck, 6.734, 195.90 Knoll Gas Nitro Jam, Amalie Oil Texas Nationals Awards Winners Best Engineered Car, John Clegg, Victoria, Tx. 1988 Firebird(Super Stock) Best Appearing Car, Dan Fletcher, Churchville, NY. 1957 Corvette(Super Rod) DRM Editors Choice, Craig Calhoun, San Antonio, Tx. 1953 Studebaker(Quick Rod) John Kaase Pro Stock Tuning Challenge, Mike Corvo jr. 4.18 Wayne-Dalton "Turn on the Lights", Chuck Demory, 0.002 reaction time Quarter Max Pro Stock Challenge, Robert Patrick(Friday), Steve Spiess(Saturday) Last Man Standing(best winning elapsed time in qualifying-5 bonus points) Top Fuel, Scotty Cannon(Friday), Doug Foley(Saturday) Nitro Funny Car, Gary Densham(Friday), Del Worsham(Saturday) Alcohol Funny Car, Terry Munroe(Friday), Laurie Cannister(Saturday) Pro Modified, Ray Commisso(Friday), Scott Cannon jr.(Saturday) Torco's Competitionplus.com Pro Stock and Pro Modified Shootout points. 1 Robert Patrick 2007 Shelby Mustang 2 Steve Spiess, 2007 Cobalt 3 Rob Mansfield, 2006 Cobalt 4 John Montecalvo, 2006 Cobalt 1 Raymond Commisso, 1967 Camaro 2 Scott Cannon jr., 2006 GTO 3 Tony Pontieri, 1957 Bel Air 4 Ed Hoover, 1963 Corvette Classic Trailer Number 1 Qualifier Bonus Quick Rod, Bart Nelson Super Rod, Craig Anderson Hot Rod, Sam Rufenacht -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Writers note; Of course the big talk all weekend was the track surface coming up on Friday night. First there seemed to be a lot of animosity towards the track, though I don’t believe that most of participants realized that IHRA had come in a month before and requested that San Antonio Raceway grind the track to take out some imperfections in paving. That grinding, along with recent heavy rains compounded by the shear force of the Top Fuel and Funny Cars were the key ingredients in the surface failure. Once it was learned all the circumstances involved, most of the drivers took the change to an 1/8 mile format in stride. To my knowledge only one team choose the option of complete refund and no to race. Ironically it was not one of the Pro teams, but a bracket team. Whether it was one with previous 1/8 mile experience, I never found out, but many of the Sportsman classes race on the 1/8 mile tracks from time to time. From the fans perspective, there were a few grumblings about running on the 1/8 mile instead of the full 1/4 mile. On the bright side, they were closer to the finish line and I doubt many even noted any difference in the action other than higher speeds. Personally I don’t see that anyone was at fault, it was just one of those things that happens occasionally. Growing up in the Midwest, I’ve seen several tracks come apart during one of the first races of the season. True enough up there they have all the seasons, but still no one knew it was going to happen until after it did. The best you can do from is make the best of situation. In this case IHRA/SAR did everything possible, and a little of the impossible as they got crews in overnight to tear out and resurface a section 600' x 8'. That itself is an exceptional feat!! Heck, even NASCAR has tracks come apart now and then. All things considered, everything was handled professionally and show came off without a hitch. IHRA/SAR beat both the track and the weather to get yet another exceptional show in. In true, “the show must go on” tradition, the show went on as scheduled. My hat’s off the everyone involved for making the decision to continue instead of cancelling and/or rescheduling the show, as well as all the overnight repair work.