QUALIFYING IN THE BOOKS AT NHRA SOUTH CENTRAL DIVISION’S LUCAS OIL EVENT AT TEXAS MOTORPLEX

Qualifying is complete at Texas Motorplex’s NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing
Series event.  Eliminations were slated to begin Sunday morning,
however, due to high winds in the forecast, NHRA and track officials
chose to begin eliminations today and run as many rounds as possible in
all categories. When qualifying was done Kemmelyn Buff-Pesz of The
Woodland, Texas, remained the No. 1 qualifier in Top Alcohol Dragster
and Steve Harker, Gainesville, Ga., kept the to spot in Top Alcohol
Funny Car. 

Buff-Pesz did not improve on Friday’s 5.325-second, 274.72 mph run but
it was enough to keep her in the top slot.  Harker failed to improve on
Friday’s qualifying as well but his 5.623-second, 250.13 mph effort
still eclipsed the competition.

It was ugly.  There’s just no other way to say it, and it was no one’s
fault.  It was just one of those

Arley Langlo didn’t disappoint in terms of his exploding spectacularly, but the trail of oil he left on the track ultimately helped end the day’s racing. And not a moment too soon, either!

disastrous days at the races when just
about nothing went the way it should have.

Let’s begin with just trying to get to Las Vegas on Friday. Incoming
flights were delayed due to the high winds, and those clinging to their
seatmates as their aircraft bounced around like ping pong balls
couldn’t help but notice, if they were brave enough to look out the
window, that much of the desert floor seemed to be heading east in a
massive dust storm.  Getting from the airport to fabulous Las Vegas
Motor Speedway was another nightmare, as I-15 appears as if it’s being
rebuilt one mile at a time – every mile!

It doesn’t rain in Las Vegas.  Come on, it just doesn’t – but it
did, showering the track with enough moisture to halt the proceedings
and set the schedule back not by minutes, but by hours.  When the first
of two scheduled pro sessions began, more than a few Pro Stock drivers
tried to blow the clutches right out of their cars on the starting
line, while others fought for control as their machines came whipping
out of the shelter provided by the massive grandstands.  For those
spectators on hand – and there weren’t many of them, take our word for
it – every run was a nail biter.

In the first rounds of qualifying at the NHRA South Central division
Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at Texas Motorplex, Kimmelyn
Buff-Pesz, The Woodlands, Texas, set the pace in Top Alcohol Dragster
and Gainesville, Ga., Top Alcohol Funny Car racer Steve Harker took the
top spot in his class.

Buff-Pasz’s impressive 5.325-second, 274.72 mph pass was just enough to
get around Malcolm Wahle of Caremore, Okla.  Wahle ran 5.347 seconds at
265.90 mph to put him in the No. 2 spot.

Harker outpaced the field with a 5.623-second, 250.13 mph lap. Kebin
Kinsley, Kennedale, Texas, and Lee Callaway are in the second and third
slots after running 5.718 seconds at 255.58 mph and 5.720 seconds at
251.11 mph, respectively.

FICCO, GROSSI AND BURTON LEAD FRIDAY SPORTSMEN

Lou
Ficco Jr., Wheat Ridge, Colorado, was the class of the field in
Competition eliminator Friday in the 2009 Summitracing.com Nationals at
Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Ficco drove his 2009 Pontiac GXP to a solid 7.447 elapsed time, -0.573
seconds under the B/Altered Production classification. Ficco out
performed Steve Holloway, also from Colorado, who negotiated the
quarter mile in 6.727 seconds, -.567 seconds under his A/Altered
Automatic standard. The field for the Competition Eliminator division
will be set following another qualifying session Saturday morning.
First round eliminations will be run later on Saturday.

Somehow or another the term massive just doesn’t do justice to the explosion European Top Fuel driver Urs Erbacher experienced in Houston.

Erbacher’s explosion netted an inordinate amount of television time but
the four-time FIA European champion ended up paying heavily for the
exposure. The team estimates the explosion did $120,000 worth of damage
and forced them into the back-up dragster for this weekend's event.

"With the short turnaround time between Houston and Las Vegas we just
didn't have time to inspect the car as closely as I feel we need to for
it to be ready to race," crew chief Wayne Dupuy said. "It needs to be
put on a jig and checked with a laser before I put Urs back in the
seat. I'm not going to take any chances.

Bob Bode was not going to make the walk alone.

The former powerboat racer from Barrington, Ill., brought along his
wife Alice and son Bobby when he went to the media center at the Strip
at Las Vegas.

Bode, for the first time in his nine year Funny Car career, had driven
his way to the provisional low qualifying position. He believed family
deserved to be in that room, facing the media as much as he did.

There’s a reason Greg Anderson has qualified on the pole five times in his career while racing The Strip at Las Vegas.

To understand why, roll the clock back six years, to a time when Ken
Black selected Greg Anderson, an up and coming Pro Stock driver, to be
the hired gun for his KB Racing Pontiac for the answer. Black told
Anderson that performing at the top of his game was important to the
survival of the team and his position in particular. But just as the
successful Las Vegas businessman drove his point home, he paused to
make one more point.

Winning around the country is admirable. Success in Vegas was mandatory.

Qualifying and time trials were cut short in the first day of action at
South Georgia Motorsports Park’s NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series
event.  Heavy rain in the area in the days prior to the event caused
water to seep through the track and SGMP and division officials were
forced to pull the plug and make a fresh start on Saturday.

The only qualifying that was complete today was in Super Stock and
Stock Eliminator.  Bobby Dennis of Shorter, Ala., leads the Super Stock
category in his ’91 Calais while Bud Rowe, Bridgeton, N.C., drove his
’89 Camaro Stocker to the top of the field.

Journeyman
Funny Car racer Bob Bode claimed the qualifying lead for the first time
in his nine-year NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series career Friday at
the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals.

Greg Anderson also raced to
the top spot in Pro Stock at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in a
shortened day of qualifying after unseasonably cool weather and high
winds forced NHRA officials to cancel the first session of Top Fuel
qualifying and the second scheduled session for all three pro classes.

Jason Scruggs is more excited than he is concerned with debuting his new Camaro next weekend during the ADRL’s Hardees Drags in Valdosta, Ga.

One might believe just the opposite if presented the history of the
last time the Saltillo, Miss.-based driver debuted a new ride.

Scruggs debuted a new Dodge Stratus, in late 2007 and crashed on the maiden voyage.

During testing, after winning the 2007 ADRL Pro Extreme title, the
Mopar exploded the supercharger and in turn ripped the roof from the
car.