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

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