There is plenty that can happen in a race car as it hurtles down a
strip of concrete and asphalt for 1000 feet propelled by an 8,000
horsepower nitro methane-fed time bomb.

Ask any Top Fuel or Funny Car driver and they'll be happy to spend
several minutes talking about what can go wrong in four seconds or
less. And, the veterans will talk about making decisions based on pure
instinct when something does go wrong. It is for that reason NHRA
officials have mandated the use of a safety device which shuts off the
ignition, shuts off the fuel pumps and deploys the parachutes if the
burst panel, located on the manifold, is blown.

Steve Gasparrelli put the Gasparrelli Motorsports Top Alcohol Funny Car
’08 Mustang in the winner’s circle with a string of runs in the 5.50’s
and a best 5.578 second, 258.42 mph pass in the final for the win at
this weekend’s NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Division 7 event
presented by Korbel at Infineon Raceway.

Gasparrelli, West Covina, Calif., had been on a dry spell before taking
the win last month at the Lucas Oil event at Pacific Raceways near
Seattle.  This marks his second win on the year as he outran Keeter
Ray, Newport Beach, Calif., who held off No. 1 qualifier John Lombardo
and veteran racer Jay Payne on his way to the final against Gasparrelli.

In Top Alcohol Dragster it was Cody Perkins, Bluffdale, Utah, taking
the easy win when fellow finalists and No. 1 qualifier John Ahten,
Saugus, Calif., broke in his semifinal round win and was unable to make
the call for the final round.

Martin, Michigan’s beautiful U.S. 131 Motorsports Park has always been
known for great racing and record runs, but perhaps at no point in the
track’s long history have more records been broken in one weekend.

Two world records were reset over the course of the weekend and nearly
half a dozen track records were toppled as well as Del Cox Jr. (Top
Fuel), Kenny Lang (Pro Modified) and Frank Gugliotta (Elite Motorsports
Pro Stock) all survived the wild weekend and picked up Ironman trophies
on Championship Sunday at the IHRA Northern Nationals presented by Dart
Machinery.

Along with the trio of professionals, over half a dozen sportsman
champions were crowned as well as Ricky Adkins (Top Sportsman), Rick
Schneider (Top Dragster), Larry Cummings (Super Stock), Jim Marshall
(Stock), Luke Bogacki (Quick Rod), Jim Linter (Super Rod) and J.J.
Brock (Hot Rod) also picked up IHRA Ironman hardware.

While there were plenty of exciting races and record runs throughout
the weekend in Elite Motorsports Pro Stock, there was little

Roger Richards

doubt who the winner was going to be after Saturday night.

After all, there simply wasn’t anyone who could keep up Frank Gugliotta.

Gugliotta, who never faltered even once in putting up consistent chart
topping numbers lap after lap, defeated John Montecalvo in the final of
the IHRA Northern Nationals presented by Dart Machinery Sunday in
Martin, Mich.

“That is my crew and a good car. We made good calls all weekend long
and I drove halfway decent and we just had some consistency and that is
what it takes to win,” Gugliotta said.

For the sixth consecutive race Kenny Lang found himself in the finals of an IHRA Pro Modified race.

Roger Richards

This time, however, he was able to finish the deal.

While any driver would be happy with multiple final round appearances,
for the defending world champion four runner-ups to only one win was
beginning to get a little old so he decided to do something about that
on Sunday, picking up his second Ironman of the season while taking
over the points lead at the IHRA Northern Nationals presented by Dart
Machinery Sunday in Martin, Mich.

Going to the finals and getting a runner-up, there is nothing wrong
with that, but six finals in a row with only one win I was starting to
get a little bored with that,” Lang said. “It felt good to finally
clinch another win and get that under our belt and jump into the points
lead.”

With former world champion and winner of this very race one year ago
Spencer Massey watching from the starting line, Del Cox Jr.

Roger Richards

was
able to drive around Bobby Lagana Jr. in the Top Fuel final at the IHRA
Northern Nationals presented by Dart Machinery Sunday afternoon in
Martin, Mich.

It was déjà vu all over again for the rookie out of Downey, Calif. and
the Mitch King Motorsports bunch as Cox and his team found themselves
parked just inches from where Massey’s rig was parked last year – and
everyone knows how that turned out.

Massey went on to win the ’08 Northern Nationals and eventually the
championship in his first year on the tour and now Cox, exactly one
year later in the same car Massey drove to the victory, was able to
repeat the performance of the man who helped him get his current ride.

Point standings (top 10) for IHRA professional categories following the
IHRA Northern Nationals presented by Dart at US 131 Motorsports Park,
the seventh of 10 events in the 2009 Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series -

Final round-by-round results from the IHRA Northern Nationals presented
by Dart at US 131 Motorsports Park, the seventh of 10 events in the
2009 Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series:

First-round pairings for professional eliminations Sunday for the
IHRA Northern Nationals presented by Dart at US 131 Motorsports Park,
the seventh of 10 events in the 2009 Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series. 
Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday.

One need not look very far in the sports pages (or web pages) these days to find extensive coverage of high school athletes who are
drawing the attention of college and professional sports teams, and
garnering themselves no small amount of praise (or scrutiny) from the
hordes of sports writers.  But if you look just a bit further, a few
layers beyond the “ordinary”, you’ll find a form of student-athlete who
does more than simply pass a football or field a ground ball.  A
student athlete who’s “Middletown dreams” reach out beyond the end zone
or the outfield.  Enter the world of siblings Brenda and Brandon
Seraphine: Students. Athletes. And drag racers.