Mission Raceway Park LODRS 2009 Photo Extra

Following a race report I filed for another website (so far unused) I still had a selection of images not in that report, so I thought I would do a little 'photo extra'.

There will be more to come with more artsie stuff and people shots. keep your eye on my gallery page.

I hope you enjoy.....

Watch out for more cool stuff from this race coming soon......

Cheers

Paul

www.330images.com

Mission LODRS Race Report 2009

SHAWN COWIE WELCOMES DIV.6 ALL COMERS NORTH OF THE BORDER
LODRS Division 6 - round 2 at Mission Raceway Park, BC Canada

Words and images by Paul Grant

What a weekend! The weather was perfect and despite the economy, there were 20 more cars on hand to contest the weekend's racing, bringing track records or personal bests in most classes. Add to that large crowds and plenty of cool hotrods, oh and for good measure, nitro harleys were added to the race card this year, it was probably one of the best races in recent history. Yes the alcohol car count was down a bit on last year, but the quality of machinery on hand was as good as it gets in the Northwest. In the the Top Alcohol Dragsters, local guy, Shawn Cowie added another Wally to the two he has already won this year by winning this class for the first time at his home track while taking his ride into the 5.20's for a new personal best. NW Funny Car Champion Brian Hough continued to dominated the division with another win in his brand new car.

Brandon Johnson took first blood by taking pole over Cowie running a 5.36 @ 263.92 in a side by side run with Shawn who ran 5.37 @ 269.94. Next up was last year's class winner Joey Severance with a 5.40 followed by the lone Federline entry of Justin Davis to round out the top half of the field. The other qualifier's on this weekend were Dale Carson, Doug Hegge, Ashley Bart, and Kim Parker, with three other runners on the outside wanting in.

Brandon Johnson burns out in preparation for his pole qualifying run.

Funny Car qualifying was a little more straight forward with just seven entries on hand, everyone was going to get in. Brian Hough was the man in charge all weekend, with his 5.65 @ 256.77 from Friday's late afternoon session standing up for the number one spot. Next up was John Evanchuk, fresh out of the Alberta winter weather, running for the first time in '09. He was hoping for a run in the sixties with a new drive line combination but ended up with a 5.706 @ 251.35 to take the number two slot. Clint Thompson was next up, last year's race winner recorded a 5.708 @ 253 ahead of Ken Webster's 5.73 @ 252. In the #5 position was Rob Atchison, the former IHRA Champ was out for his first NHRA event of 2009, as he settles in to his new team and car he put a 5.77 up on the board at a career best speed of 252mph. Following him was local guy Tim Nemeth and a struggling Trevor Lebsack.

John Evanchuk spent most of the weekend getting the hang of his new, heavier, clutch

In Comp. Elim. Casey Plazier took top spot in the '04 Cavalier, followed by Dan Barton's '05 Cavalier, and a great showing for Alberta's Dale Giroux Cavalier into the number 3 spot.

Dale Giroux pulls the chutes on another 7.0 run

In both Top Dragster and Top Sportsman the local guys were in the top spot at the end of Saturday, with Neil Lachelt in the dragster and Terry Spargo in sportsman. Terry was running a brand new 707 Sonny Leonard combination and his car was running personal bests in the 6.50's
Alberta's Byron Setters took pole in Super Stock in the 2009 G5, while Jim Mantle got the little Pacer Wagon to the top spot in Stock.

Last years Top Sportsman winner, Mike Henderson, settled for the tenth spot on the ladder

Byron Setters on his way to the #1 qualifier in Super Stock

On race day, the sun was shining, the stands were filling up with fans and the pits seemed full of smiles. In Top Alcohol Dragster Gregg Lawrence stepped into Kim Parkers spot as she did some terminal damage to her engine during quals. He would face off with Brandon Johnson, our #1 qualifier and Brandon won this race on the start line posting a 5.43 over Greggs smokin tires. Ashley Bart had the task of running Shawn Cowie in round one and despite her improving with every pass, she was not match for the ultra-consistent Cowie and he moved on to round two comfortably with a 5.31 @ 270.

Brandon Johnson (far lane) gets out on a tire spinning Gregg Lawrence

Severance took on Hegge in the next pairing with the performance and result going the way of Joey, even though Doug put up career best numbers, his 5.40 would not top a 5.33. Davis and Carlson faced off next with pretty even times, Carlson did his job on the tree and beat a team, that on paper, would have been considered a stronger performer but on this day Dale got the holeshot with a 5.46 over Justin's 5.43.

Joey Severance burns out on route to meet Shawn Cowie in round 2

In Funny Car, the action started with Rob Atchison getting the holeshot over Ken Webster, some considered this to be an upset, but with Rob's experience I didn't think a new car and a screw blower would slow him down running a 5.91 over Ken's 5.78. Brian Hough got a single in the first round but still posted a 5.62 @ 257, the first step toward getting wife, Mindy, a cool birthday present.



Rob Atchison dispatches Ken Webster with a holeshot win

Next up was John Evanchuk and Trevor Lebsack. John had a real bad reaction time as he adjusts to the new, heavier clutch, but took an easy win with a 5.75 @ 252 and Trevor had been fighting his car all weekend and in this run he smoked the tires and ended up blowing the engine half track. Tim Nemeth got the jump over Clint Thompson in the next pair, but Thompson's superior performance won through with a 5.64 @ 254 over another half track engine failure for Tim.


Trevor Lebsack must have thought he was at the rodeo and not the races

In Competition Eliminator, a class I shall not pretend to full understand, the winner was Rob Harrison, a local racer running a six cylinder 2005 Cavalier known as 'Igor'. Rob had been at odds with Igor all through qualifying, not being able to run better than 16 seconds in any session, yet come race day, with a little luck and Igor feeling happier the Cav got the job done over all comers and for the second year straight the CE Wally stays in BC. Brandon Huhtala was runner up in his '97 Cutlass.

Rob Harrison and Igor getting it done

Top Dragster ended up a bit of a gong show with Wes Garvin breaking in the semi's, but his opponent broke out giving the win back to Garvin. Jon Riedel got the single in the semi's setting up a match with Garvin for the Wally. Garvin's damage was terminal so Riedel got a single in the final, on route to that final he found a problem with his dragster, but had enough to take the green light and the win and an anticlimax to the weekends racing for those guys.

Wes Garvin's gorgeous '32 Bantam got the runner up in Top Dragster

Top Sportsman went to Randy Johnson as he had been running strong all weekend, cutting great lights and consistent mid 7 second passes, although his speed was circumstantial in the final as Tony Hopkins red lit his way to the runner up position. Terry Spargo's blistering pace would not help on race day as he got a bye in round one and an engine issue that would take him out of competition but be sure, notice to other racers has been served.

Randy Johnson going rounds in Top sportsman

Back in Top Alcohol Dragster Dale Carlson ran a career best of 5.37 @ 264 to beat out nephew Brandon Johnson's cylinder dropping 6.00 @ 219 to set up a possible all Canadian (teams) final. In the next pair Joey Severance ran a very stout 5.37, but on this day it was not to be as Shawn Cowie ran his first ever pass in the 5.20's, sticking a very strong 5.29 @ 271 up on the board and setting up that Canadian final the large crowds were craving as they cheered in appreciation.

Dale Carlson putting in a career performance on this weekend.

In the all Canadian teams final, Dale set off on a stellar .003 light, he would need all he could get and over powered the track and pedaled to a 5.59. Meantime Shawn Cowie continued his bracket consistent times and ran a 5.33 @ 270 to make up any time lost on the tree and the lad from Richmond BC got his third Wally of the year.

Your winner in Top Alcohol Dragster

Funny car semi's saw a couple of USA vs Canada match ups with the crowd hoping to see a couple of maple leafs in the final. First up was Clint Thompson with lane choice over the surprising John Evanchuk. Clint Thompson, already having a couple of races under his belt, was last year's winner here and is always a threat. Evanchuk was at his first race of the year and trying new equipment, he had shown signs of struggling to hold the new heavier clutch on the line, but in this race he got Clint on the tree and took a holeshot win and a birth in the final with a 5.69 @ 252 to Thompsons 5.63 @ 256. In the other semi Rob Atchison was the crowd favorite and would be the underdog as he faced Div.6 hot shoe Brian Hough. Rob gave it a shot off the line but lit the cherry and handed the win to Hough who cruised to a 5.66 @ 250 to meet John Evanchuk for the race for the Wally.

Clint Thompson went down to John Evanchuk in the semi's

In the final, the race was once again for national pride. Off track these teams are all good friends, but when it comes down to the race for gold it's every man for himself. At the start of this race John Evanchuk possibly still struggling with holding his car on the line, Brian took longer to stage his car and at the hit John went red and his day was done and Brian Hough cruised to a Division point lead and a birthday present for Mindy.

Brian Hough running the stealth funny car all the way to the winner's circle

COMPLETE RACE RESULTS :

T/A DRAGSTER

8 Shawn Cowie, Delta BC, Santos-BAE 0.090 5.330 270.10 def

6455 Dale Carlson, Olympia WA, Hadman-BAE 0.003 5.597 243.70

T/A FUNNY CAR

7 Brian Hough, Junction City OR, '06 Monte Carlo 0.098 5.641 256.55 def

64 John Evanchuk, Edmonton AB, '02 Firebird -0.115 5.825 252.03

COMP ELIMINATOR


Rob Harrison, N. Vancouver, B.C., '05 Cavalier, J/A, 7.779, 153.11 def.

Brandon Huhtala, Puyallup, Wash., '97 Cutlass, C/A, 7.529, 154.13


SUPER STOCK



Jody Lang, Puyallup, Wash., '81 Malibu, GT/JA, 11.849, 86.33 def.

Casey Setters, Red Deer, Alb., '05 Cavalier, GT/AA, foul


STOCK ELIMINATOR


Greg Kielman, Vancouver, Wash., '69 Camaro, H/SA, 11.808, 109.60 def.

Bill Bushmaker, Auburn, Wash., '76 Roadrunner, I/SA, 11.609, 112.21


SUPER COMP


Geoff Hughes, Eagle, Idaho, dragster, 8.891, 171.23 def.

Chuck Linne, Port Orchard, Wash., dragster, 8.885, 165.74


SUPER GAS


Ken Heard, Ridgefield, Wash., '86 Mustang, 9.881, 151.13 def.

Dave Kelly, Walla Walla, Wash., '02 Firebird, 9.880, 156.71

Larry Miner on route to the win in Super Street

SUPER STREET

Larry Miner, Sedro-Wolley, Wash., '69 Camaro, 10.884, 143.88 def.

Dudley Gee, Canby, Ore., '66 Mustang, 10.872, 134.42

TOP SPORTSMAN


Randy Johnson, Snohomish, Wash., '04 Cavalier, 7.480, 184.23 def.

Tony Hopkins, Snohomish, Wash., '97 Firebird, foul



TOP DRAGSTER


Jon Riedel, Arlington, Wash., dragster, broke def.

Wes Garvin, Kennewick, Wash., '32 Bantam, broke



SPORTSMAN MOTORCYCLE


Jeff Havens, Yakima, Wash., '95 Suzuki, 7.933, 153.47 def.

Al Omond, Surry, B.C., '94 Kawasaki, 8.162, 174.24



TOP FUEL HARLEY


Damien Cowden, Victoria, B.C., 7.015, 204.49 def.

Andy Beauchemin, Sherwood Park, Alb., 7.683, 198.36





SUPER PRO


Jime Behnke, Coquitlam, B.C., '67 Barracuda, 10.145, 129.83, def.

Rick Bart, High River, Alb., Dragster, 8.226, 164.62

Runner up in Top Fuel Harley, Andy Beauchemin

Paul Grant

www.330images.com

The Mission Raceway Park 2009 season is a go.....let's burn some rubber!!!

So here it is, after a long winter knee deep in rain and snow. We kick off the drag race season with the NHRA Summit Series with the headline class being the Canada West Door Slammers, ground pounding door cars that eclipse the 1/4 mile in the range of 8.70 or quicker, including some six second cars! Add to that bill the likes Super Pro, Pro, Bikes, Hot Rods, Jnr Drags, Super Combo, and of course BC SuperShifters and you have a recipe for some great racing.

I was pleasantly surprised by how full the pits were, with all the economic gloom going around I figure more regulars to be missing than there were. The weather was kind and held off and we got some cars running on the new surface. All reports I heard was how it was real nice and smooth and that there wasn't a real groove they had to keep in for a good run, however, being new asphalt oil downs took a while longer to clean up and there were a couple of dragsters that seemed to get a little out of shape at the transition. But all-in-all it is a much needed improvement and as the track gets more use it will be great.

As for me, I'm going to try and bring a little more flavor to my images this year, with more faces behind the wheel, more focus on cool body lines and graphics all mixed in with plenty of tire smoke big wheelies and the odd flame. I am hoping to take you and stick right in the action and put a smile on your face along the way. I will be putting a small collection together in these blogs and a larger gallery in the usual place so there will be something for everyone. I do hope you enjoy what I do. So without further ado, here is my first small collection of '09 and the larger gallery will be here. Race results can be found here at the Mission Raceway site

The winner in Canada West Door Slammers was Rod Charlton in the sweet S-10

Brian Ritchie gettin' some air off the line


Martin Dykstra haulin' in Super Pro

Dean Bettenson primes his Camaro for a qualifying pass in Door Slammer

Dan Tempel getting out on Al Omond

Kim Cornish waiting in the lanes in the newly painted Mustang

OK so I know this guy's name was Mike, but I really don't know much about the cool red Mustang putting some test passes in and running in the 8's

KC warming the tires.

Mike's mad Mustang

Dwayne Wipf in a very cool Super Pro Challenger checking his position as he lines up

Dave Jung is running consistently strong in Pro

Another shot of Martin Dykstra as he burns out

Dan Parsons gettin' up and at 'em in Super Pro

Kevin Lance in Door Slammer running a sweet Chev

Stefan Kondolay is ever dominant in Super Pro

Randy Arlit has one of my favorite cars in D/S, this being a sister car to Kevin Lance

An all Chev match up in Super Combo, with Pete Bereditsch in the near lane

Hot Licks!

Russ Armstrong has one of the coolest hotrods that run at MRP

Miss Super Shifter takin' names and dishin' out numbers

This Super Stock Camaro was out testing in preparation for the upcoming LODRS race

Pro Bracket racers waiting patiently while some oil is cleaned up

Grant Howell's 08 Championship winning Chev waiting in the lanes under the watchful eye of the Boss

Warren Jacobson has step out of the dragster and now runs this sweet door car in Super Combo

You have been cleared for take off!

CWDS airing their dirty laundry

RC burning out his Chev truck on route to picking up some more points

Jack Springer will be a hitter, at least, in the burnout contest if nothing else

"it's OK dad, there'll other races......"

And your winner is.....Rod Charlton

A familiar stance for this cool little 'vette

Kayla Allen has made the transition from Jnr Drags into the ex-Warren Jacobson S/C dragster.

KK smokin' the 'bird

Kim staring the track down before she lays a beating on the blacktop

Pete Bereditsch in the Super Street Camaro

MRP fixture Lloyd filing some of his many thousands of images

Cars are built, raceday is finally here, some final checks, line 'em up!

Fred Pleines in his super-fine Camaro mixes it up in Super shifter

Terry Spargo wrestling the Chevy off the line.

Fred is at it again...

TLD hasn't been able to get the Willys going strong so far in 2009, it's just a matter of time before those front wheels once again see some air.

Smoked Barracuda, mmmm....

Doug Rathburn's visor always makes a good reflection

New injection meant more air in the engine and more air under the front wheels for Bill Clifford

Brad Vinje is always strong in Super Combo

More cool visor reflections

Brian Kikel burns out in an ex-Spargo slammer

Dave Warren pulls the front up in his door slammin' V8 beetle

"Dad, can't we get a tow vehicle like everyone else?"

Otto Schulte running in Super Pro in the classic blue oval

Flying 'eh'

Top photog and track rep for top sponsor and friend to many teams, Bill Jeffery applys another 'Jet Equipment' decal to a race car

Presenter of the CWDS race was Ken Kruger seen here charging off the line along side Terry Spargo

Lovely paint.

One of the coolest cars at the track doing the coolest burnout.....cool!

SK burning out

Checking out the grill

When I took this shot the shadows were making quite a contrastie look, so I pushed the blacks a bit more and got this pretty cool image.

The intensity of the motorcycle class is just unbearable at times

A Jim Behnke lift off in the 'cuda S/P

Brian Ritchie getting some traction

Martin Dykstra heads on a pass under the watchful eyes of the competition

Vicki Strell heats the Demon's hides on route to an early exit from competition.

Brett Payne keeping the front wheel down on this run

Darryn O'Connor gets a good leave in the Chev truck in doorslammer action

Randy Arlit charging off the line in the shoebox.

A couple of very cool rides.

I think it's gonna be a smokin' hot season of racing at MRP!

Thanks for taking time to check my images out. A larger gallery can be seen here or via my website here

You have to Wonder.....

Toward the end of our trip down South we have the great fortune to stop over in Santa Monica, Ca.

It was our first time there, and as with all the other California beaches we had not visited before we were very excited to experience it.

Our first spot to check out seeing as it was close to the hotel, was the Santa Monica Pier. Eagerly march down the boardwalk our attention was grabbed on the North side of the pier. The beach was being used to demonstrate the cost, in human life, of the war in Iraq. With an obvious focus on the US army, it spoke of the numbers of lives lost to the Iraq nation.












Seemingly endless boards were posted giving the lost soldiers an identity, a home, and when they were lost to the conflict.














A young girl takes a moment among the nameless crosses that represent the lives of many that have been lost in a war that seems to have lost it's way.

Along with the many lines of names of fallen heroes were more boards giving them a face. To stand in front of these panels of life and know they are all lost is quite overwhelming and it really hits home the true cost of war.

As shown above, it's not just the US army that is mourning it's losses.

An endless sea of faces of fine young men and women who gave their lives for their country.

A woman spends some time reading the names of those who have sacrificed to help keep her safe.

Crosses bare names of those no longer with us.

Like the crosses and images the lists seemed to go on and on, emphasizing the large numbers of individuals taken during the Iraq conflict.

Another image of the young girl trying to comprehend what has been laid out before her.

My apologies for some of the formatting of this particular blog, it seems to have had issues in translating to this page. I sincerely hope this does not spoil you enjoyment of my images.

Thanks

Paul

Are You Serious?

March Meet at Auto Club Famoso Raceway, Bakersfield, CA - March 7-9 2009

The Northwest had a great showing at the 2009 March Meet, the 51st running of this iconic event. Fife, Washington's Bucky Austin wheeled his super quick Plueger Plymouth to another win in funny car and Brett Harris continued the family domination of Top Fuel at this event. These were just two of 500 cars entered at this event, with 31 funny cars on the premises and 18 top fuel dragsters you just knew this was going to be big.

As a March Meet rookie, I was completely unprepared for just how big this event was. I arrived still living my drag racing high, having had to consecutive weekends enjoying both NHRA's pro's and sportsman, I was so hopped up I got excited just driving past Pomona, Glendale, and of course with the geeking out I'm doing I just had to call in at Yorba Linda for a visit to the King's palace.

So here I am pulling in to Auto Club Famoso to shoot some images of the famed March Meet. This was a race that had been at the top of my list for a long time, and for that I was totally excited, but take it from me, you have to experience this 'event' as there are no words for what you will take away with you after this weekend. In I walk with my cameras on my shoulder and my head immediately starts to spin, in one direction might be a cool hotrod, in another there could be a fire breathing dragster or funny car, a gasser or some iconic car and driver from years gone by. Friday was a great day, my first day in drag race heaven, I was thinking is was very cool and considering the economy, it was quite busy. I had been blown away by the amount of photog's there, the size of the car show and swap meet and the amount of folks, my wife had come with me that day as well and was equally impressed. We had experienced, for my money, drag racing at it's best and it couldn't get any better right?

The next day I figured I would have breakfast with my good lady, as she elected not to come along, and cruise in mid morning, parking had been tight yesterday but it should be alright, or so I thought. As I drove toward the track there were cars parked up and down the road approaching the track, I'm thinking okay, so there's a few more fans here today. Well, after circling the parking lot for 30mins, where even though I had a pass, I soon realized it was every man for himself and ended up leaving my rental in a fairly precarious position so as not to miss too much more action. Once in the pits, it was crazy, there were people and cars everywhere. Show cars, rat rods, old racers, young guns and all in this one area. You had to keep your head up to miss oncoming cars and people but keep an eye down so as not to trip on the many tow straps pulling the competitors to the line.

Once I made it down to the start line I took one look at the 'mosh pit' that was the crowd of photographers and headed up to the finish line. A pretty cool spot to see cars bounce through the lights as they hit a bump in the track just after the lights and the first top fuel session saw a ton of carnage as these front engined rails crossed the finish in a cloud of steam and oil vapour. I had my first real wake up call at the drags up there when Tom Padilla's Plymouth decided to fire it's entire body about 80ft in the air, I had been shooting Kris Kabrill in the far lane and heard a large sound and as I swung my lens around I saw Padilla's car heading right for me, flame coming out of the side, so right away I took a lunge to the side as he was hugging the the wall I had been shooting over. The car passed by in a mass of flame and smoke kicking up a bunch of debris, phew that was close I thought as myself and another photog gather ourselves together, what I hadn't clued into in all the action is that the Plymouth body was completely missing and as soon as the thought entered my head I saw it out of the corner of my eye and once again found myself leaping out of the way as it crashed down on the track a few feet away. What did we learn here kids? Well I have always thought you should never turn your back on any action and always have an exit, I learnt this as a race car mechanic many times in my career, and I was once again reminded of that in Bakersfield.

After shooting a couple more rounds of cars I headed back down to the start line and got with a newspaper guy and we worked in tandem to maximize our little piece of real-estate amid the craziness in the starting area. While I was there the cacklefest arrived and man what can I say, I was standing amid a collection of pristine front engined racers from yesteryear with guys like 'TV' Tommy Ivo and Art Chrisman sitting in the hot seat, and the very lovely Cindy Gibbs wetting the pipes. Shortly there after I finally got to see the fabled burnout of the wild 'Winged Express' altered, I had seen it in many images with tire smoke pouring off the big slicks and I was finally going to get to see and feel on right in front of me - frickin awesome!
Note - I must admit to missing some shots as I was 'watching' and completely forgot I should be shooting, when you are there amid so many cool race cars and drivers it's hard not to just stand and watch as it happens right there in front of you.

Away from the track there wasn't anything you couldn't purchase in the vendors area, there was a car show in 'The Grove' with some of the baddest and craziest cars this guy has seen in a long time and a collection of some very cool people all having a great time.
Yes you could question some of the aspects of this event, but at the same time the March Meet is a wonderfully politically incorrect event that does not apologize for what it is. I am already planning a return trip and I will know this year to get up early, to pack lightly, and to bring a smile

As a technician I was impressed at the engineering elegance of the cars, as a fan I am still geeking out at seeing so much cool stuff, as a photographer it was an absolute pleasure to shoot this festival of incredible imagery, and as a person I met some other great people all of whom were equally excited and happy to be there. It was a wonderful experience. I really hope you enjoy my images, as I'm sure by now you know I had a great time trying to capture them.

Trusting in God

Mark Maulde launching his Top Fuel, just made the field on the bump spot

Nostalgia - nuff said!

Beauty and Drag Racing, that's Cindy Gibbs

Lee Paul Jennings is an American Patriot this year under a Camaro body, seen here doing one of his exciting warm-ups

Very cool B/Gas Camaro of John Saliani

Mike Adams had his recreation Coors 'vette out and running hard

The Bomb Squad has been called and they're responding

'Rookie' Garrett Bateman out of Tacoma, WA was the only real challenger to the might of teamate Bucky Austin, as he wheel the Mustang to a 5.80 for the #2 qualifier spot and runner up in the event final.

Cool shot of Dave Ward in his Topo

F/C driver Craig Micheal warming up the Vegas Heat

Some cool retro pin strip and paint

Adam Sorokin in his version of 'windows on the world' , his drag racing world. This is the latest Champion Speed Shop racer with a funny car style hood on the cockpit for that slippery aero look.

Old school Jnr Fuel ready to go

If Jeff Utterbeck was in a stare down, the race would be over!

Smokin' Canadian A/Fuel

High speed pursuit

The engine gods claim another Top Fuel soul by taking Terry Cox's Hemi

Nate Bugg shutin' the 'Cuda down

Brendan Murray showing off with his chutes in Top Fuel

Claude Lavoie from Sherwood Park, AB just missed the eight car field with a 7.39 for 9th spot

Tommy Ivo having fun with the 'cackle'

Mendy Fry in her office in the 'Bomb Squad' 73 Duster, she qualified #12 which had her with lane choice in round one of the consolation F/C race. As she adapts to a new car/team, watchout as she will be going much quick and further in the races.

If ever you could have a crush on a driver it would be Mendy Fry, she drives the wheels off a funny car, she is a very nice person and a smile that will melt the hardest of hearts, a very cool person.

Steve Romanazzi just missed the top eight in his '77 Firebird. Apparently he does not like the color now he's driven it and it was going back to the paintshop after this race.

Mike Halstead burnin' the big bad Daytona, he was best of the rest with #1 qualifier in the consolation funny car race which he turned into a win and his first five second pass

This very fine young lady was anything but what her shirt tells

Nick Norton wrinkles his A/Fuel tires on a hard launch

The event A/Fuel winner was Kin Bates, he qualified #2, got top speed and low e.t. in a dominating weekend

Ronnie Lennon in a '32 Bantam put on a great show with quick runs and awesome burnouts, a definite favourite.

Mike Smith was your 7.0 Pro winner

Ah, the sweet smell of 'A/Fuel' at sunset.....

Terry Capp out of Edmonton wrestled the Roland Leong tuned, Hodgson '77 Firebird to the #3 qualifying slot

The Pisano Vega in the lanes on a picture perfect day

Bob Godfrey is 'Burnin' Money' as he gets his wheels up on a good launch in the Camaro funny car

John Powers is seen here doing a decent burnout in his '77 Camaro but didn't end up qualifying very well

With her Mustang sidelined due to money, Leah Pruett was wheeling the 'Holy Toledo' Jeep which proved to be quite the handful and she did a pretty good job by qualifying 19th with a 6.30. I wouldn't mind seeing a match up with Ashley Force in equal cars, I'd put my money on this young shoe.

Ed Dougan in the 'Fighting Irish' 74 Camaro ran right down the middle, trouble was it was the center line in the middle of the track and his run was done. He ended up qualifying a very strong fifth in a huge field of quality cars

Jeff Utterbeck smokin' up the joint in the Pisano Vega

Tom Padilla blew the whole body off of his Plymouth funny car, easily 80ft up

Steve Nichols didn't show too strong in qualifying this weekend, seen here slowly up along side Kirk Kuhns in his new Camaro funny car

Tucson's Mike Savage is now running the C&H colors, the car looks great, but the performance still needs some help

The 'Lil'Nate' Barracuda rips up the strip at sunset

The very cool funny car style '38 Chev of Howard Anderson didn't make the field on this ocassion

Jirka Kaplan out of Calgary, AB has been the class of this field in the past, but had met his match on this weekend with a mid pack qualifier and losing to event winner Renteria in round 2

Cecil Mathews had one of the most gorgeous cars at the track but could not translate the good looks into a place in the top eight qualifiers

Mark Mahood brought his beautiful camaro form Yorba Linda to run in AA/Gas

Sean Renteria was the man in AA/Gas, taking #1 qualifier, top speed, and finally the race win.

Surely the 'Golf Cart Nationals' must be just around the corner

Gary Reinero lines his '48 Austin up as the sun sets on Famoso

"Have you AAA membership cards at the ready, and line 'em up!"

Dan Horan readies himself for his first run in Top Fuel. It would go well, as he colided with Mike Chrisman just past half track and ended up being flown to hospital (as a pre-caution) after hitting the wall quite hard and running all the way to the sand trap at the end. Chrisman didn't fair too much better but did avoid the trip to Hospital.

Rick White does one of the best burnouts of the weekend in Top Fuel

Seeing these sweet Topolino drag cars brought back so many great memories from my younger years visiting Santa Pod Raceway in the UK. This great example was being wheeled by Dave Ward.

Oakland, CA's Rick Mcgee has one of many engine failures experienced by the Top Fuel class in the first qualifying sessions

Jim Murphy bounces through the traps after losing the motor in qualifying

Troy Green making waves (of heat) in Top Fuel. I really like this shot even though the car is not tack sharp, between the heat, the tall slicks and the wings bending down, it's a shot full of energy.

A beautifully restored 'Big Daddy' Swamp Rat

The iconic 'TV Tommy' Ivo reliving great runs of the past in one of his old fuelers during the cacklefest.

You know when you see a car in a magazine or on TV a few times and you end up thinking to yourself; it would be really cool to see that car in real life. Well I got to see the 'Winged Express' at last and it was really cool!

Friday was a much more laid back day with less folks around so I was able to get some nice atmospheric shots like this one.

The hot rod class was full of a wide variety of cars and it would take a lot of imagination the think about how cool it was 'back in the day'

Kelly Harvey in his 7.0 Pro dragster, it's a cool shot of a cool car, in a cool place!

Phil Lukens slowing up the beautiful red Topolino, another personal favourite car from this race

Chris Bates smokin' the hides of the Rolling Stone '23 T altered as twilight sets in and offers some lovely backlight

Jim Godec burns out the Warlock '37 Chev in fine fashion.

Dennis La Charite's crew have their focus on the job at hand as fans were treated to a nice fireworks disply.

Next up for me will be the opening races at Mission Raceway Park, it should be a great season and I can't wait to get started. See you at the strip!

For more images, please check out the gallery at 330images by clicking here. And be sure to visit Horsepower Heaven, without whom some of these images would not be possible.

My Drag Racing High Continues....LODRS D7 Opener

March 1st 2009, Firebird Raceway, Az

BC boy Cowie takes T/A dragster honors while O'Bannon is King of the Coupe! Another great weekend at Firebird for this fan and budding photog of this very unique motorsport.

I arrived this weekend still reliving a great weekend of the pro's putting on their 'big show', it had been much better than I thought purely because of the economy and the effect I felt it might have on this, sometimes, fragile sport but the cars and the people still came and all was, as it should be.

Now, in my humble opinion, drag racing has a niche it fits into, and as it tries to climb out of that relatively small market to compete with the likes of the mighty Nascar and meet the masses, but as it does so, it loses a little of it's soul, one which is rooted deep in it's sportsman classes. I mention this because the LODRS Div.7 season opener was a great weekend, no doubt, but the fan count was pretty low and there were, for sure, racers not attending who would normally have done so in previous years. It's something I think the sanctioning body really needs to be a bit more sensitive toward, if a big tree loses its roots, it will fall over. Now I am assuming (yes I am aware of what that does to you and me....), though maybe wrong, that this is related to the economy. Fans would not want to pay for two straight weekends racing and the 'big show' will always win this battle, and as for cars, team Force pulled their T/A D entries due to finances which they want to keep for national events, Dennis Taylor, FC pilot has a nostalgia ride now and I am not sure about a couple of others so I will not surmise any further.

All of the above been said, this weekend's race was great, there were enough cars to fill all fields, there were some new cars out, some older favourites and top names from up and down the left coast. It was great to see representation from my home province of British Columbia in the form of Richmond's Shawn Cowie, who not only showed up, he won the whole darn thing! Also there was great representation of Div.6 regulars, many of which I will look forward to seeing throughout 09 in the Northwest. Western Canada was 'in-da-house', with may runners out of Alberta trying to get away from the cold of winter while burnin' some rubber, and having fun. Couple all of this with smiling faces filling the pits because the long winter away from the track was finally over, the sweet smell of bbq filling the evening air under warm colorful sunsets and awnings stretching out over some very fine machinery. Yes, this is what I understand a drag race to be all about......

As with before, I have put a selection of images together that hopefully show, not only the competition, but also give you a feel for the weekend as a whole. I hope you enjoy. If you would like to view these images and more as a gallery, click here

Old Mustangs don't die, they just go higher and faster.....yah I know it's not that old, but work with me here people.

Super Gas is the class for you if you are a Corvette fan, they come in all shapes and ages, and usually wear some of the best paint out there.

The bright sunshine in Arizona really accentuates some of the cool body lines of these race cars

Hopefully I will be able to get scoop on this story.........

"Hey Dude, I got this itch, d'ya mind"

We got funny cars going in every direction! Here, Swedish import Leif Andreasson, readies himself for a burnout as "The Woz" roles across behind him.

Like many drivers, Shawn Cowie packs his own chutes.

A nice candid shot of Alberta's Joe Delehay. He was running his Promod in Comp Elim this weekend and completely dominated until he withdrew after winning in Rnd 1, siting his 'testing for the next P/M race' was done

Tony Bartone back in his office, get another deal done.

Todd Hoerner with new car, new backing from Sonny's and tons of potential. This weekend he beat himself with a red light in Rnd 1.

Want a cool burnout, come see Top Sportsman. A bunch of nasty door cars gettin' it done.

Sean O'Bannon, no longer with Tequila Patron, but not missing a beat as he wins the T/A Coupe class this weekend with a dominant performance from Friday on. Here you can see his rear tires lifted off the track as the chutes deploy.

Chris Demke launching hard in T/A Dragster.

Keeter Ray smacked the wall pretty hard as he got out of shape off the line trying to get into the show on his final qualifying attempt.

As previously mentioned, Top Sportsman is full of very cool cars, like this ol' Chev driven by Robert Costa.

Jason Rupert burns out under the afternoon sun in Arizona

Jim Whitely had a very strong car on this weekend, it was unfortunate for him he met an even stronger Shawn Cowie in the first round.

Steve Gasperelli leaving hard in Top Alcohol Funny Car

A late model Corvette Super Gasser of Rick Cayes Tx. getting the wheels up at the start.

Mark Niver, a local racer about to go into some tire shake

More wheels up action in Comp, this one by Don Thomas Ab..

Super Comp were like the poor cousin that got left until last as they run into the evening.

I liked how the light worked on this T/S car of Ted Carli.

Even Funny Cars were getting in on the wheels up action, in this case, Tony Bartone

Jim Whitely dong his burnout in Top Alcohol Dragster.

Some nice cross light on this Dodge truck racer

Anita Olsen debuted the Team Ynot Top Dragster, but lost in Rnd 1 action.

Tom Mettler raced his Dodge pickup truck all the way to the winners circle in Comp Eliminator.

"Okay Gentlemen, let's line 'em up"

Sportsman Motorcycle was well represented with old, new, young and old.

A blown Top Dragster driven by Jimmy Johnson (no not that one!) burns out, this was a fast competitive class.

Lucas Oil are fast becoming the big big sponsor in drag racing, this Super Comp being one of many cars flying the Lucas colors.

Mike Ferderer could only get the Grand Am up to the runner up placing on this weekend.

Some entertainment away from the track in between classes.

Normally running the FIA Championship in Europe, Leif Andreasson is going to run about eight N.American races before packing up and getting back in time for the Euro Season

Clint Thompson warming up the Mighty Monte

This very cool split window Corvette of Ray Martin, Alaska was a winner to kick his season off.

Ed Schmeekle got in the show at #7 but lost first round.

Eddy Plaizier goin' at it in Top Dragster for Alberta's Tean Ace.

Team Cowie ready to claim another victim on the blacktop.

Brian Thiel burns out the funny car in the warm sunshine

Chip Rumis had his T/S Cobalt and his T/D rail here looking fantastic, but niether got him past Rnd 1.

Paul Crifasi's team working on his FC into the evening

Alan Ellis in the beautiful little altered, always compeditive, but not quite good enough this weekend.

A classic Div.6 match up in Div.7, Ken Webster and Clint Thompson, I'm sure we'll see this again a few times this year.

John Patton, a proud Arizonian, shows his patronage with a gorgeous paint job on his T/A FC

Another one of those really pretty Corvettes in S/G

In Top Dragster Tyler Hogan got his new machine all outta shape and ended up on it's side with some fire

Speaking of fire, Ken Tupper had the old twin turbo ford going hard when the engine decided it needed a breather hole in the block, with the hot turbos sitting quite low, naturally a fire ensued.

And she kept burnin' all the way into the shutdown area.

Here he has just come to a halt and you can see how intense the fire was

Late model, older classics, pickup trucks, altereds, sportsman racing has it all....

Frank Nelson, another D6 runner out of Washington, seen here running the Cavalier hard in T/S

And your winner is........ Shawn Cowie doing a burnout

Mike Blogett heatin' the hides on his S/G hot rod.

The Champ in back! Tony Bartone returned to Top Alcohol after some years in Fuel Funny Cars. He is a past Champion in the T/A FC class.

A Plethora of Super Comp cars are a common sight at divisional events.

Dale Carson does a big smokey burnout for maximum traction (and probably max fun as well).

Chaz Mclaws backs up his Firebird FC at Firebird Raceway.

Ah, there's nothing quite like a sunset burnout........as Mike Vattioni shows.

Dean Carter in the very cool slimgshot kicking out some heat

Joe Delehay playing the waiting game.

Brian Thiel's unique family photo album

Justin Lamb's other ride, a very sweet Camaro S/G racer

Cowie's young lady waits to back up her Champ after his burnout.

John Wickmann ready to go!

Dan Partridge warms the rubber while his compeditors look on.

Shawn Cowie smoked all-comers on this weekend.

Clint Thompson made a valiant effort but fell short when the chutes were finally pulled.

Justin Lamb was doing double duty with runs in S/G and Comp, but left empty handed at the end of the day.

The sun sets on another awesome weekend of badass hotrods tearing up the strip.

All good things........

As usual please check in at 330 Images for more of my stuff and at Horsepower Heaven for another presentation of this work.

NHRA Arizona Nationals 2009 - Firebird Raceway Feb 20th - 22nd

Apparently there's a Recession.....

At least that is what I thought. It was a great weekend's drag racing at the Firebird Raceway in Chandler, Arizona. Antron Brown, Ron Capps, and Jeg Coughlin were the winners in the pro categories.

Back to that recession deal, I arrived expecting to seeing an event that would be a little scaled back, I'd read about the racers and runners in the pro catagories that had been set on the sidelines due to a lack of funding and how the public were tightening the purse strings. Well, my weekend began with seeing full fields with spares for all the pro ranks, admittedly there were a lot more 'independents' running on smaller budgets, but none-the-less we had full fields - cool.
With Friday always being a bit quiet, it wasn't until the next day I saw the impact the current economic climate was having on the NHRA fan, the stands looked packed, beer was flowing, JFR shirts couldn't come off the rack quick enough, and to walk 'Nitro Alley' you needed to dodge left then right and squeeze through crowds of fans sniffing the thick nitro fumes until their eyes could no longer open. Yep, that's right, the more things change, the more things stay the same and luckily for the NHRA things seemed just fine on this weekend. They were even running ahead of schedule midway on Sunday because the racing was going so well.

This was my first weekend's racing of three that I had planned for this vacation. This would be a weekend of shooting images from the stands as a fan of the sport and a keen amature photographer. Rather than spend my time reliving the race and offering up a bunch of results, here are a selection of images and observations from a great weekends action. If you would like to view these images and more as a gallery click here.

Tony Pedregon, the '07 champ is seen here making his friday evening pass, this would be the last pass this cool new look chev body would see on this weekend as he burnt his car up on the third pass during Saturday's action.

Mike Strasburg lights up the Friday evening sky during Q2 while running against Clay Milican. He would be back to fight another day.

2009 was also the welcome return of David Baca in his Mach 1 Serivces Top Fuel Dragster. He made it comfortably into the field but fell in round one to traction.

Washington's Terry Haddock can never be accused of not trying. A racer with heart, and a real fan of this sport, the current IHRA Funny Car Champ is always a great addition to any field of racers.

Erica Enders, now running the only Ford in NHRA Pro Stock, has to be wondering 'what if' she had stayed at Cagnazzi. Another DNQ would see her on the trailer early, but with rumors of Nascar's Roush-Fenway looking to supply ford race engines to Pro Stock, perhaps help is on the way or maybe more competition, time will tell.

Another Nascar parallel in NHRA is the success of Toyota. Alan Johnson has long be an advocate for the Toyota Funny Car flopper, and with the help of Raun Tobler, Cruz Predregon took a Solara Funny Car body to the championship in 2008. The car above is that of the newly formed Al-Anabi, Alan Johnson race team that field a FC for Del Worsham and a TF for Larry Dixon.

This is the crew of the eventual race winner's car, Antron Brown. Seen here being worked on as the sun sets behind them.

As with Brown's crew, race winners come from hard work by the team. Jeg Coughlin's team is no different as they work well into Friday evening setting up the right combination to move them toward the winner's circle on this weekend.

Tony Schumacher, seen here trying not to be noticed as he heads out after a hard days work.

Round three in Pro Stock sees Line and Johnson line up as Stanfield's car fails and gets hauled back to the pits. Throughout the weekend the track 'had teeth' and both lanes performed well with the right having the edge overall, but in Pro Stock, on race day it was not so clear cut.

Larry Dixon, now driving for the Alan Johnson - Al-Anabi Racing team is loving having a car tune by Jason McCulloch (Ed's son), strongly influenced by the great engineering of Alan Johnson who tuned Tony Schu to his five championships. Dixon will be looking for number three this year.

Mike Neff should probably have been this weekends winner, he had "one bad hot rod" according to Force. It was running consist mid to high 4.0's all weekend long, only to be beaten by a clutch/gear linkage in the final and after the burnout. Neff had been tuning his own car this weekend as John Medlen was in hospital for an operation, but they were liaising over the phone for that big boss horsepower. Neff had hoped to win one for both John and Eric Medlen, but it was not going to be his day come Sunday finals.

Your Pro Stock winner Jeg Coughlin making his way back to the pits in between race rounds had a solid consistent car all weekend long and with his reputed faultless driving, he was unbeatable.

The Hot Rod Heritage Series had a 'cacklefest' area set up with some real nicely presented dragsters, a gasser and one of Bernstien's funny cars

Greg Stanfield ran well throughout the weekend but unfortunately had to face the super hot Mike Edwards in round 1 and his day was done. Seen here running with Ricki Jones in Q3.

Jeff Arend driving for Connie Kalitta in the FC previously driven by Scott Kalitta is finding some performance now as the team and he have some stability. Running with 'Scott' as the name on the car, Jeff was a first round loss to event winner Ron Capps in Arizona.

The sun exposes the clean lines of Tim Wilkerson's Mustang bodied funny car as he crosses the finish line.

Bob Tasca, Wilkerson's team mate ran well over the weekend, taking his Shelby Mustang bodied FC to round two losing to Mike Neff. The combination of Tasca and Wilkerson should soon see these guys heading to the winner's circle in '09.

NHRA royalty John Force looked like he had a great car under him on this weekend. A fuel line issue on the start line caused him to get all out of shape at the hit of the throttle in round one, giving an easy win to an under-performing Tim Wilkerson.

Sun sets on a nostalgia hemi front engined dragster set up in the cacklefest area.

Jerry Hass does a seat fitting for a potential new driver for his Pro Stock.....

Arizona sun warms the side of Larry Dixon's '09 ride during the Saturday night overhaul.

The Pro Stock DNQ'ers pack up their bags to head back to the shop to find out where they put that last few horsepower they just couldn't find this weekend.

Chutes have been deployed and the last run for the day is done.

Mike Neff's Nitro Monkeys look up to their leader as they prep a warm up of the Neff tuned and driven Mustang monster.

Thomas Bayer, a former Div.6 T/A Dragster regular for the Federlines was doing double duty, winning in Super Comp and seen here running strong in Super Gas.

Brandon Bernstein with new Canadian tuner Rob Flynn, ran solid all weekend all the way to the final on Sunday, losing the battle with traction in the final round.

Antron Brown is generating some heat on his way to the race win with a number three qualifying position, his ride was solid all weekend long

Bob Tasca's hot Shelby running to the win in round one competition over a traction challenged Jerry Toliver.

Del Worsham shows the real potential of the all new AJR/Al-Anabi Toyota Solara bodied FC by taking it to the Semi's in which he lost to Race winner Ron Capps.

Ron Capps on his way to a round 1 win over Jeff Arend.

Race winner Ron Capps heating Firebird Raceway on his way to a second consecutive win and a 100% win record in 2009.

Robert Hight was a round two loser to Del Worsham. All the Force cars had looked strong all weekend, but not one of them was left standing when the fat lady sang.

King John the First, meeting his adoring public.

The Professor's helmet was hung up in round one when he lost to Greg Anderson. WJ was first away, but the Summit GXP power was just too much.

Morgan Lucas warmin' the hides on his way to a second round loss to event winner Brown.

The Sarge, probably thinking about sending you a 'miss you' greeting card to Alan Johnson as he has a good car, but just can't seem to get that same performance he had in '09.

Spencer Massey and Bernstein line up in a rivalry renewed between Don Prudhome and Kenny Bernstein. BB would be victorious today...

Tony Schumacher playing his instrument to an adoring audience, many of whom wept at his moving performance.

What a difference a year makes........

The boss (JFR) is now running 'The Boss'

Doug Kalitta wondering what it will take to get in the show as he sat outside the field after Friday's running.

Jeggie and Alan Johnson were a great match up with Jeg ending up with the win.

Old school Top Fuel racing, with the economics as they are right now 2009 is a year for the smaller privatier to get some exposure.

A race fan gets a cool moment with Ashley Force-'Hood' as she poses for a cell phone pic.

Larry Morgan running strong with a cool retro look to his Dodge.

And finally, one for the ladies.....

Don't forget to watch out for a bigger gallery at 330 images.com

Next stop, the NHRA Div.7 season opener!

Cheers

Paul