Southwestern International Raceway

Tucson, AZ

Jan. 27, 2007

Racers in Tucson at Southwestern International Raceway were treated to warm temperatures and a great Saturday of drag racing on Jan 27th, 2007. A very large car count including a nitro front engine dragster and two nitro nostalgia funny cars that came to enjoy the sunshine and the well prepared racing surface. Chuck Tanko’s dragster didn’t have the best outing on his first test and tune of the season. The car just did not want to run right and the crew thrashed all day long to no avail. Jim Broome’s funny car with Mike Savage at the wheel was testing for the upcoming March Meet at Autoclub Famoso. The crew got most all of the bugs worked out on the first two passes then on their third and final pass of the day laid down a low six second pass at 220 MPH. The Powers and Steel nostalgia funny car also wanted to get some practice before Bakersfield. Ron Fassel came along as crew chief and set the car on kill right out of the trailer. Their first hit of the throttle lit the big Goodyears and sent the car to the center line. The next pass had a full load of nitro, but this pass was straight and true to the delight of the crowd. That put both funny cars in the six second range over 200 MPH. Along with the fans getting to see some nitro cars, SIR held a Gambler and the R1320 Club Bracket Race. The R1320 final was first as Carl Mapes ’71 Camaro edged out Jamal Brewer in his 2004 Dodge SRT- 4. Carl took the win right from the tree all the way to the finish. The Camaro reacted with a .094 to Jamal’s .154 as Carl dialed a 14.25 and ran a 14.345 at 91.21 MPH. Jamal dialed a 14.30 and ran a 14.629 at a faster 98.96 MPH. The final race of the day saw the Jan 13th Gambler winner, Chuck Hawk Jr. take on the street legal ’64 Nova of Scott Sturm. Chuck got to the final round by chopping the tree down in every round. His worst reaction time was a 010 which was the only light with only one zero. Chuck dialed a 7.80 and ran a 7.863 at 167.03 MPH to take the win over Scott when Sturm dialed a 10.59 and ran a 10.623 at 125.62 MPH on his 051 reaction time.

The next race at SIR is Summit Racing Series Team SIR race #1 and High School race #1 on Feb. 3rd. Gates are at 9 AM.

Bruce Mabry, track announcer

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