Feb. 3rd, 2007

Was Team SIR Race #1 along with the High School Team race #1. Once again, something new was tried at SIR to make it better for the drivers. After second round eliminations we inserted a Conci race for Box and No Box during the team races. It was only a $20 buy-in for box and a $10 buy-in for no box. The best part was that one-half of the purses went to Team SIR for anything they might need during the season, while the other half went to the 1st and 2nd places.

The Super Pro ranks were stacked with talent such as we see during a divisional race. Names like Dave Workman, Joseph Landavazo, Lonnie Garcia, and the Division 7 ET Finals Champion Larry Spitali represented Team SIR. Tony Pesquiera made it all the way to the final only to face the “Black Cherry” Camaro of Spitali. Larry may be trying to repeat his successes of last season. In the final he had a .011 light, dialed a 9.92 and ran a 9.444 at 135.33 mph to win team race #1. Tony was runner-up by only five one-thousandths of a second. He had a .015 light, dialed a 7.95, but broke out by one one-thousandth and ran 7.949 at 158.86 mph.

The Pro category was the place to be if you wanted to race on Saturday. Three time runs plus six rounds of eliminations were what it took to get the 2005 champion, Joe Kidd back in the winners’ circle on the double break-out win. Joe dialed his Nova at a 12.39 and ran a 12.381 at 107.30 mph while Victor Sandoval went further under his dial for the number two spot. Victor dialed a 10.45 and ran a 10.437 at 121.99 mph on a .103 reaction time.

In Sportsman it also took six tough rounds to get into the final. Bob Thurston and his beautiful black ’57 Belair took the win at the tree when Kevin Terlecki with his ’66 Chevelle turned on the red light by one one-thousandth. Bob dialed a 13.02 and ran a 13.007 at 103.95 mph as Kevin also ran under when he dialed a 13.88 and ran a 13.730 at 99.59 mph.

The Motorcycle final also pitted a reigning champion and team captain, Craig Wood against the hard charging Tom Lannie. Tom’s GS1100 knocked down the tree with a .002 light and he ran closer to his numbers to take the win from Craig’s Suzuki. Tom had to fight through a large field to the finals where he dialed a 9.24 and ran a 9.297 at 139.78 mph as Craig dialed an 8.97 and ran an 8.911 at a faster 142.78 mph.

Several new high school racers were introduced to the SIR family and the fierce competition. The final put the current High School Champion Matt Hawk up against the former Jr. Dragster competitor Jeff Veek. Jeff left first with a .039, but took too much stripe by four-thousandths to give the win to Matt. Jeff dialed a 13.10 and ran a 13.976 at 100.55 mph while Matt’s .044 light began a run of 16.773 on his 16.48 dial to take the win.

With only two races left on the day, the Box Conci final featured two great drivers in a classic drag racing battle. Scott Sturm and his ’64 Nova left first with a .043 reaction time. He dialed a 10.54 and ran a 10.583 at 126.59 mph for the win. Howard Gerstel had his Pinto set on kill right from the hit. He had a .051 reaction time, but reached the stripe two-thousandths too quick. Howard dialed a 9.59 and ran a 9.571 at 139.83 mph.

The final race of the day was another match-up that had the stands on their feet waiting for the green lights. The Phoenix based Dodge Dart of Kim Zimmerman put another win in the books for Zimmerman Racing. She ran under her 11.74 dial with an 11.688 at 113.96, but Tim O’Moore had already turned on the red light by .012 at the start. Tim’s Camaro still ran a 10.790 on the 10.84 dial at 129.82 mph.

Car show trophies went out to Mike Valdez and his ’69 Camaro for the Host Club Trophy and Ralph Davis in his ’30 Ford Coupe for the People’s Choice Award.

The next race at SIR is Feb. 10th where we sill feature our first Jr. Dragster Team Race along with our Big Wheel Race #1, our 1/8 Mile Shoot-out Series #1 and an open ¼ mile test and tune.

Bruce Mabry, track announcer.

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