2011 - 2012 WAR STORIES SHOWDOWN - EVENT NEWS PAGE
ELIMINATION PAIRINGS
FINAL ROUND - Wednesday, Jan. 8
SEMIS – Wednesday, Jan. 5
Editor''s Note: Because of unforeseen circumstances, Dale Funk was forced to withdraw from competition. Al Tucci was reinstated.
FINALS – Wednesday, Jan. 12
FIRST ROUND
FIRST ROUND COMPLETED RACES
LINKS TO STORIES LOCATED UNDERNEATH PHOTOS
NO. 1 PAT MUSI (50.67) DEF. NO. 8 SID WATERMAN (49.33)
NO. 4 LARRY SUTTON (72,78) VS. STEVE EARWOOD/DAVE DENSMORE (27.22)
NO. 7 FRANK HAWLEY (75.79) DEF NO.2 DONNIE COUCH (24.21)
NO. 3 DALE FUNK (57.46) DEF. NO. 6 TUCCI (42.54)
FIRST ROUND COMPLETED RACES
LINKS TO STORIES LOCATED UNDERNEATH PHOTOS
NO. 1 PAT MUSI (50.67) DEF. NO. 8 SID WATERMAN (49.33)
NO. 4 LARRY SUTTON (72,78) VS. STEVE EARWOOD/DAVE DENSMORE (27.22)
NO. 7 FRANK HAWLEY (75.79) DEF NO.2 DONNIE COUCH (24.21)
NO. 3 DALE FUNK (57.46) DEF. NO. 6 TUCCI (42.54)
MUSI DOMINATES QUALIYFING
Pat Musi is the man when it comes to storytelling.
This is what the readers of CompetitionPlus.com believe and they made a statement with their votes during qualifying for the fifth annual War Stories presented by CompetitionPlus.com.
Musi grabbed a leading 27.3-percent of the reader votes during seeding of the eliminations bracket. He currently is the winningest participant in the competition with eight round wins and two runner-up finishes.
“This is great,” said Musi, who has never qualified No. 1 for the event before. “I’d like to thank the readers of CompetitionPlus.com who voted for me. Maybe this will be the year to seal the deal and get the win. I know I am going to have to bring it this year more than ever.”
Donnie Couch qualified second with a 16.76-percent share. The first-time participant brings a wealth of life experiences in racing with drag racing legends Tom McEwen, Raymond Beadle, Billy Meyer and Don Prudhomme just to name a few.
For Couch, he’s excited to mix it up with drag racing’s best storytellers.
“I was born and raised in this sport … a third generation,” said Couch. “You tell these stories and there are those who will not believe stuff happened, but I can tell you, I saw it with my own eyes. We lived through some wild times. I’ve seen it all and done it all.
“This competition is important. We all want to win. The pressure is on, I have to come out and run 3.80s with my Funny Car.”
Slipping into third was the Kentucky-based Dale Funk who grabbed 12.16-percent of the votes edging former starter/racer Larry Sutton.
The tag team of Steve Earwood/Dave Densmore, announcer Al Tucci, Frank Hawley and Sid Waterman rounded out the vote-getters.
Eliminations open on Wednesday, Dec. 28 with Musi matching up against Waterman while Larry Sutton has lane choice over Earwood/Densmore.
On Thursday, Couch battles Hawley and Funk meets Tucci to close out the first round.
The semi-finals are scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 5.
2011 - 2012 EVENT TO FEATURE MANY FIRST TIMERS
The CompetitionPlus.com War Stories Showdown will open on December 19. The annual story-telling competition will open with qualifying in the days before Christmas with eliminations slated to begin on Wed, December 28. 
For the first time in the history of the five-year old event, tag teams will be allowed to participate as one entity and the 16-participant field has been narrowed to eight. This year’s crop of story-tellers could produce one of the tightest competitions ever with a score of first-timers. Those first-timers committed to compete include former Lion’s Dragway starter Larry Sutton, longtime fuel systems specialist Sid Waterman, tuner extraordinaire Donnie Couch, two-time NHRA Champion Frank Hawley and colorful announcing personality Al Tucci.
Pat Musi plans to come back for his firth run at trying to win story-teller of the year. With 8 round wins and two runner-up finishes, Musi holds the dubious honor of the winningest competitor to never have won the competition.
The one tag-team combination will feature the formidable combination of Steve Earwood and Dave Densmore.
The competition is conducted similar to a national event drag race. We list the names of the participants, and you, the reader, vote on who you think will tell the best story. This will seed the field for eliminations. The No. 1 qualifier will face No. 8 and so on. The higher qualified storyteller in the first gets “lane choice” and tells their story first. The lower qualifier tells theirs second. Then, the readers vote on the best story, in terms of quality and delivery, not popularity. The competitor with the higher percentage of votes will advance to the next round. Lane choice for the second and third round is determined on the higher vote percentage of the previous round.
Previous winners include Scotty Cannon [2007 – 2008], John Force [2008 – 2009], Bill Doner [2009-2010] and Louie Force [2010 – 2011].
