"No, YOU hold it!" -- No one wanted to hold the Pro Modified "Ironman" trophy in the winners circle. Quain Stott, who took the final against teammate Tommy D'Aprile in a highly unconventional side-by-side parade down the quarter-mile, sat it on the ground. D'Aprile walked around it.

 

"If we can't hold it together, we're not going to hold it," Stott said. "This is a team deal."

 

Stott had just won the race, officially, with a 41.828-second elapsed time at a whopping 25.24 mph to D'Aprile's 44.480/28.04, to jump from fourth in the standings to first. The numbers are correct. They had arranged beforehand to travel alongside each other in their '63 Corvettes to the finish line. When they reached the stripe, they stopped, then Stott rolled across first.

 

D'Aprile, who offered to let Stott win., said, "This is what has to be done. We live and die as a team. We're not only a team -- we're a family."

 

Stott, who drives the Lee Boy entry, said they agreed to run the final that way because "we're not lying about what goes on here. We respect our fans and our sponsors. This is a team deal. What's got to happen has got to happen."

 

He said he wanted everyone to know that the idea was D'Aprile's. "This was Tommy's decision. There were no team orders," Stott said. "He could've let the clutch out and crossed first if he'd wanted to. My hat's off to Tommy for doing what he did, because he didn't have to do it."

 

D'Aprile's "Support The Troops" car carried an American flag affixed to the rear end. He said they wanted the sponsors to get some attention and wanted to salute our military because "it has been such a positive car all year long and people are just so emotional about it."

 

 

Playin' games, havin' fun -- Rickie Smith, joining the Pro Stock class for the first time in 12 seasons, showed why his nickname is "Tricky Rickie."

 

Before he got a 6.374-second, 219.22-mph out of his Torco/Skull Chevy Cobalt to defeat Tony Gillig's 6.352/ 220.19 in his Ford Mustang, Smith played a staging game with the points leader.

 

"We were just having fun. I had them duels with [NHRA class stars] Warren Johnson and Ronnie Sox. It just made me feel back at home. When you can go up there and have a starting-line battle and nobody messes with you -- let the two drivers hash it out," Smith said.

 

He said he would have engaged Gillig in a burndown even if the final round hadn't taken place on a Monday.

 

"I'd do it anytime," Smith said with a wry grin. "It doesn't matter if it's Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. It's part of the game. Playing the game is having a good time."

 

The Real Diehl -- Fans missed seeing "The Real Diehl" -- Californian Jeff "The Surfer" Diehl -- riding the Nitro Funny Car wave for the first time in beating Paul Lee.

 

Diehl, of San Clemente, Calif., said he "drove 48 hours nonstop -- we didn't turn the truck off" -- to come here.

 

The former "Witch Doctor" Fuel Altered driver, who last won a race in 2000, said as he clutched his Ironman trophy, "Just when you're about ready to quit, you earned one of these and you go for another 20 years. This is a dream come true."

 

He said in the final against Paul Lee, "I just sat there. I'm a really mellow guy. So it took me awhile to get pumped up." Once he did, though, he said, "I don’t want to lose" and decided he owed it to his crew to win.

 

Of the run, Diehl said, "It was haulin' in the middle. Then it started going through the clutch and it filled up with black clutch dust. I couldn't see nothin'. But I wasn't going to quit until I hit the wall or the cone."

 

Diehl beat the top two drivers in the Nitro Funny Car standings, Dale Creasy Jr. and Jack Wyatt en route to

the victory.

 

"We had some luck this weekend," he said.

 

 

Winning in style -- Alcohol Funny Car's Neal Parker won for the first time in six years, defeating Mark Thomas on a holeshot.

In a showdown of Chevy Monte Carlos, Parker earned his Ironman with a 5.841-second, 240.04-mph performance in "The Excavator" over Thomas' 5.773/247.20.

 

"It was unbelievable, just luck," Parker, of Millville, New Jersey, said. "I didn't think an 84 ever would beat a 77. No way."

 

 

'Them' again -- Clay Millican had waged a championship battle with Doug Foley all year until Foley suffered season-ending injuries exactly a week ago. But the Kenny Koretsky/Werner Enterprises Dragster driver ended up racing Foley's teammate, Rick Cooper in the final.

 

 "No matter what we do, we have to run them," Millican said.

 

Cooper red-lit, handing the less-than-stellar 7.276-second, 84.43-mph victory and series title to Millican.

He insisted that Cooper and his team owner, Tim Lewis, join him in the top-end interview.

 

Millican credited his own Atoka, Tennessee-based, crew for the championship streak: "These guys do all the work. I just ride and tear their stuff up.

 

"We were the Night of Fire Friday," Millican said. "Weblew the thing up Friday night. And Mike [crew chief Kloeber] decided we have to do something. I'm glad he did."

 

The e-Max Drag Racing Series season will end Oct. 22 at Rockingham, N.C., where Millican will seek his 50^th career victory.

 

 

He's everywhere! -- Top Fuel driver Bobby Lagana lost to Rick Cooper in the semifinal round. But he didn't go home. He went to work, helping the sanctioning body Monday. Donning a red-and-black e-Max Drag Racing Series uniform, Lagana and his younger brother, Dom, worked on the starting-line crew.

 

Lagana kidded that IHRA Technical Director Mike Baker "has a new rule: Any Top Fuel driver who helps out and stays over on a Monday and helps out gets a first-round bye at the next race."

 

Baker joked, "I'll give you a free black flag."

 

Shot back Lagana, "I already had one. Can I have it taken away?"

 Mark Thomas' wife, Chris, works alongside him daily on the family farm in all kinds of weather and milks cows and feeds the animals and juggles those chores with making sure their three children handle school and homework properly. And the five-time Alcohol Funny Car champion wondered aloud what life would be like if conventional roles were reversed.

Helping where help is needed -- Bobby Lagana has become the social secretary, of sorts, in the Top Fuel class. It seems a natural role for the affable New Yorker, who has made a special point to walk through the pits at races this year, just to become acquainted with drivers in classes other than his own. "Man, you learn a lot about different people," he said.

 

"In high school, I wasn't a jock, I wasn't a nerd, I wasn't the preppie or Guido. I hung out with every one of them and kind of kept them all neutralized. It's kind of the same over here."

 

And Lagana proved by his action this past week that he doesn't just fancy himself a friend of every racer. He showed that by his actions.

 

To begin with, he chose to abandon his chances at the Cayuga make-up race to attend his sister's wedding.

 

Then when Lagana found out that friend and fellow dragster driver Doug Foley had been injured and hospitalized in Canada, he came to the rescue for Foley's wife Shelagh and their two sons. The Foley family flew from Philadelphia to Buffalo, and there Lagana picked them up and helped them get to the hospital.

 

"I've become very close with Doug in the last three years. His wife is awesome, and the kids are great. I love kids anyway, and those kids are unbelievable," Lagana said. He said he and his family "hung out with them, trying to get their heads straight."

 

He said, "I've been down that road when you're in the hospital. Every single person in drag racing helped me.

 

Any support you can get --a phone call, a dollar, a flower, or something to eat, a handshake -- it makes you think what you do is worthwhile. He got hurt in the line of duty."

 

"We just pray for them," he said, including Bruce Litton

 

 

 

Zizzo seizes top spot -- T.J. Zizzo set the Top Fuel class' elapsed-time track record Saturday night with a 4.615-second pass at 325.61 mph that knocked Rick Cooper from the No. 1 position.

 

Zizzo said of Cooper, "It's neat that he has picked up the reins pretty well" after the nasty crash that sidelined teammate Doug Foley this past week. However, the Chicagoan said he was determined to swipe that No. 1 spot in the order -- with the hope of parlaying it into a second Ironman trophy Sunday, just like he had done at Martin, Michigan.

 

"That's what were going after today -- the No. 1 position. There's no doubt in my mind we're going after the No. 1 position," he said between Saturday sessions. "Nice consistent passes this weekend -- just like we did at Martin, Michigan, and we'll take home the gold again," he said.

 

He said he appreciates the financial help Evan Knoll has provided, starting at midseason, "just when the chips were getting real hard to come by" and "we were stressed out to the max."

 

Zizzo was the first Torco-sponsored professional driver. "I knew Evan Knoll back when Evan Knoll was running his own Top Alcohol Dragster in the United Drag Racers Association. That's how Evan and my father met." He said right after he got his fuel car that Knoll came aboard as a sponsor at Brainerd, Minnesota, in 2004.

 

"People will remember Evan Knoll because he jump-started so many careers, including mine," Zizzo said.

 

Zizzo is expecting to add a new member to his crew sometime around February 24, 2007. However, this one won’t be expected to turn any wrenches anytime soon -- he and his wife are expecting their second child. They have a two-year-old daughter, Maddy Rose.

 

 

Focusing on championship -- Dale Creasy Jr. has been driving a Funny Car full-time since 1997 but has worked alongside his dad and predecessor Gary Bolger for about 20 years. Most of that time he has tried to cobble together a competitive car with limited funds. So it's only natural that he is salivating about his chances this year in the Torco/Skull Chevy Monte Carlo.

 

"We just have to keep our heads on straight. We know what has to happen. If we make a mistake, they still can catch us," he said, referring to closest challengers Jack Wyatt and Bob Gilbertson.

 

"I get phone calls every day, saying, 'You're doing this' or 'You're doing that.' I don't know. I don't have a computer on the road," said Creasy, who has been away from his Beecher, Illinois, home for seven straight weeks at this point. "I think that saves me a little bit, because I don't think about it as much.

 

"But believe me, we're thinking about it," he said.

 

He and his team are doing more than thinking about it. They're throwing everything they can afford to throw at their effort.

 

"These guys are real conservative with the stuff," Creasy said about crew chief Allen Meyer and the team. "But now that it's getting tighter, we're starting to take less chances. Not that anything was unsafe, but instead of putting something back in there that was good enough we get new now.

 

"We have just two races left, and we want this championship real bad. We're not going to leave this year losing saying we could have done something. We're going to do everything we can to make it happen," he said.

 

What a sport -- If the IHRA is taking nominations for its Sportsman of the Year Award, here's one: Dale Creasy Jr.

 

Jack Wyatt is Creasy's most serious threat in the Nitro Funny Car standings. And this past week at Cayuga, Ontario, Wyatt thought he might have to abandon the effort because his last engine was ruined. But Creasy loaned his main rival an engine block and set of cylinder heads so that he could stay in the chase.

The move enabled Wyatt to pull within 56 points of Creasy.

 

"He's been working hard all year, and you could tell they were down," Creasy said. "So I said, I'll tell you what: I've got one spare one." Because of the set-up Wyatt uses, Creasy also had to provide a set of cylinder heads, too. "I guess if I'm going to go, I'm all in," Creasy said.

 

He said he told Wyatt, "I want you to be racing me in Rockingham. One of us has to be racing for the championship. I don't want you to be leaving now, after nine races, and going home and thinking, 'What if?'

 

"So I figured, 'Why not? Let's give it a try.' I hired my own assassin, my wife told me," the leader said.

Wyatt is using Creasy's equipment this weekend, as well, although he is in the process of trying to buy it.

Said Creasy with a laugh, hoping he won't need the extra block himself, "I hope we're OK. If not, I told him, 'I'm coming to get mine.' "

 

He said, "I figure if I need help someday, somebody will help me like that. That's what this sport's all about. There aren't that many of us out here. It might look like a lot on TV, but there aren't 50. If I can help one of 'em get somewhere, so be it."

 

 

PRO MODIFIED

 

Deceptive Flying - No one was more surprised with the 6.01 elapsed time from Scott Cannon Jr., than the second-generation racer himself. He admitted his pace-setting run felt almost one-tenth of a second slower.

 

“I was expecting a 6.10 to be honest,” Cannon said. “It just didn’t feel any quicker than usual. We knew last night’s run would be fast. The car was on a good run when the front wheels got up in the air. If last night’s run would have been on Sunday, I wouldn’t have lifted.”

 

 

 

PRO STOCK

 

Uncharacteristically ugly weekend -- Pro Stock's Rob Mansfield, who has been hot since mid-August with No. 1 qualifying awards at Norwalk and Epping and a victory this past Monday at Cayuga, got a jolt this weekend. He and his Chevy Cobalt missed the 16-car field. Not only was he nearly two full seconds slower than Bert Jackson's 6.416-second bump time, but he also was 28^th among the 29 entrants.

 

Gee Thanks – Pete Berner gained low elapsed time for the first round of the Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com Pro Modified Shootout and sill lost. Berner left .031 on the starting line and that relegated his 6.349 to a qualifying run.

 

“It goes without saying that the car made an exceptional run,” Berner said. “The track was really awesome and the guys made a great job in tuning this Rick Jones car. It is exceptional.”

 

Berner made the switch in 2006 from a Ford combination to a Pontiac GTO and the results have been phenomenal. He’s been to three finals, winning twice.

 

Berner is utilizing a secret weapon and gaining a lesson in carburetion at the same time.

 

“We actually have carburetor specialist Dave Braswell with us this weekend and he’s giving us advice,” Berner said. “He’s really made in-roads to providing more power. I think we can go faster. This wasn’t as fast as we could go. We still have some on the table.

 

 

 

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK  

 

TOP FUEL

Field depleted -- With Bruce Litton's injury during the semifinals at Epping, N.H., and Doug Foley's in the finals of the star-crossed make-up at Cayuga, Ontario, the IHRA Top Fuel field is decimated. Only nine dragsters are entered at this event. Bob Leverich, a journeyman from Michigan, with his injected-nitro with nitrous oxide combination, was the odd man out Friday night.

Wounded warrior -- Doug Foley was at the office of his orthopedic specialist Friday instead of at Maryland International Raceway, continuing his battle with Clay Millican for the Top Fuel lead. The Sewell, New Jersey, driver is starting to mend from injuries he sustained in this past Monday's final round against Millican at the rain-delayed Canadian Nationals finals.

"Doug's doing a lot better. He's still really sore," Tim Lewis, business partner with Foley for the past six and a half years and co-owner of the Torco-sponsored dragster with him, said Friday.
Foley, recovering from a concussion, is banged up from head to toe and, according to Lewis, is "full of bruises."

Foley's left leg is broken in two places, just above the ankle and just below the knee. He has a separated right shoulder and four cracked ribs on his right side. He also suffered a chipped tooth.

Lewis said Foley complained of a sore tongue, and everyone assumed he had bitten his tongue during the accident. However, he said, the doctor discovered that a chipped piece of Foley's tooth was embedded in his tongue.

Lewis said Foley "has no recollection of the run. He has no recollection of the entire day."

The crash "really rang his bell pretty hard," Lewis said "He would speak. The words were clear . . . but the sentences didn't make sense. I could see that his thought pattern was not right, and it concerned me a great deal. But it got better and better and . . . now his thought process is working."

Lewis said when the accident occurred, "I was a nervous wreck. I just was sitting there, watching my world come down, crashing around me. But I could see he was in good hands and he was going to get through this. . . . I'm confident now he will be."


Tee'd off -- One of the more unconventional T-shirts for sale at the race track is found in Top Fuel driver Bobby Lagana's "Twilight Zone" Dragster pit. The "Don't make me mad!" warning printed on the back is credited to the driver's father, Bobby Lagana Sr. -- whose likeness appears on the front of the shirt. In the photo, Lagana Sr. appears to be seething with rage.

He was -- when the photo was taken.

It turns out that Bobby Jr. was doing some repair work on the roof of the family home at Scarsdale, New York, and his father was on the ground, three stories below. He called down to his father for something he needed, and the exchange turned into a shouting match. Father and son became more and more animated, shouting and swearing at one another. At some point, without tipping off his dad, Lagana Jr. saw the silliness of it all and decided to play a joke. He scurried down the ladder, ran into the house, and came out with a camera he had hidden from his dad. Then he started the fight again and stirred his father to anger again. At the height of his father's fury, Lagana whipped out the camera and snapped the photo.
Both dissolved into hysterical laughter. And they decided to market the T-shirt.

Lagana Jr. said about 30 fans have purchased the shirt -- "people who know the old man and wanted to get one."

 

PRO MODIFIED
 
Ghoulish Pleasure – Tommy Gray established himself as a Pro Modified icon in the latter part of the 1990s. His Undertaker theme was a memory maker with crewmen dressed in grim reaper garb with sparking sickles. Then he got out of Pro Modified racing for a while.
 
The Undertaker has returned.
 
“It feels good to be back and I’ve missed everyone,” Gray said. “I am glad to have my own team out here again.”
 
Gray is campaigning a 2006 Pontiac GTO and this marks his first attempt at running a late-model car since 1993, when he campaigned a ZR-1 Corvette. He may be in trouble now with the latest class rule that mandatesPro Stock body styles cannot be legal for the Pro Modified division.
 
“That might do us in before we get started,” Gray said. “We wanted to get the best advantage we could, but this rule might put me out of business.”
 
Gray said he has planned to run a combination of IHRA and NHRA events, as well as a few ADRL stops. He said he will concentrate on the one series that provides the best opportunity for a championship.
 
So Long, Solara – IHRA Tech Director Mike Baker has confirmed that a submission of a Toyota Solara body has crossed his desk but likely will not gain approval. The Solara was not the only body style turned down. Baker admitted he also said no to others, including a Ford GT500.
 
A rule will be implemented in 2008 which will eliminate any body style which could run in the Pro Stock division. Baker did point out that modern Corvettes and Dodge Vipers were safe choices and most any two-seater coupe.
 
The point of contention that has prevented the Solara is its resemblance to a GTO or Cobalt.
 
Mo Baker, Mo Willys – Mike Baker said he’s a fan of the 1941 Willys body style and is confident it fits the spirit of the category’s move to a nostalgic theme. He said he’s even considering special perks to teams who choose to go this path.
 
Fatal Attraction – Ed Hoover is a veteran of fast doorslammer racing, and because of his vast experience he learned quickly about the temperament of Maryland International Raceway.
 
“The air is extremely good but the track can bite you because of it,” Hoover said. “It looks like the air is going to be extremely good this weekend. I would guess it will take a 6.18 to get in the field. A lot of teams will tune for the air and not for the track. Everybody had better be on their game this weekend, especially me.
 
“I’m swinging for the fence tonight. I have no other choice.”
 
Hoover missed the combination and slowed to a seven-second run in his first attempt. He is a past champion, having won the 1999 title behind the wheel of a nitrous car.
 
No Swinging for the fences – Carl Spiering ran a 6.086-second elapsed time but could have run quicker. He contends this was no “would’ve-should’ve” story. Spiering ran quick but didn’t try to rotate the earth and that was his game plan all along.
 
“You won’t see the ones in this title chase swinging for the fences tonight,” Spiering told Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com prior to the first session. “This race is too tight for us to take a chance on things. The ones who swing for the fences on Friday night most likely be on the sidelines on Sunday.”
 
Three other drivers posted a 6.08 elapsed time in the first session.
 
Rowed his Boat – Danny Rowe was one of those Pro Modified drivers who threw out a 6.08 when he recorded a 6.084.
 
“As usual, [crew chief] Jimmy Rector did a great job with the car. The car went straight down the track. It’s exciting how many good cars are out here, and we are excited to be competing among them. The fact that we have Jimmy Rector horsepower really helps. Running a 6.08 makes us very competitive, and hopefully we’ll be able to get after it a little bit more.  However, we want to go rounds and we want consistency.  That’s really what we are looking for, we want to go rounds.  We get two rounds tomorrow, one at 3:00 and one at 7:00, so hopefully at least one of those rounds will be similar conditions as tonight.  I believe we have a very good chance at running a similar number again.  That is what we are wanting, consistency.”
 

PRO STOCK
 

Setting the Stage – Eight of the finest Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com Pro Stockers will battle it out for a $20,000 prize Saturday afternoon And Friday night, most ran competitive times. Robert Patrick leads the point-earners and on Friday night he threw down the gauntlet with a 6.332 elapsed time. Frank Gugliotta was the second quickest of the Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com Pro Stock Showdown qualifiers with a 6.366. The balance of the show will consist of Pete Berner (6.367 Friday), John Nobile (6.376), Tony Gillig (6.381), Steve Spiess (6.381), Brian Gahm (6.691) and Rob Mansfield (9.803).
 
Back in the Saddle - Robert Patrick sold last year’s Mustang and ended up with a former world champion as a teammate – at least for two races. Patrick sold his 2005 car to the duo of Tootie Jones and Patrick Leary, who in turn brought in past IHRA World Champion Dan Seamon Jr., to drive this weekend and in Rockingham next month.
 
“Part of the deal is that they wanted to run the car here and I couldn’t think of anyone better to drive than Dan,” Patrick said. “They are talking about running Rockingham and a few races next year. Dan is.
 
“This gives us all the perks of having a two-car team with the data and having a teammate that can take out a few drivers along the way. I have a lot of time invested in this program so whatever we can achieve will be a bonus.”
 
Seamon, who won the 1998 crown, is excited about driving and the opportunity to help Patrick.
 
“It would be neat if I could pull off some things to help him out,” Seamon said. “We’ll see what happens. Coming back out here is like riding a bicycle. You just don’t forget how to do it. I hope this turns into something big for next year.”
 
Rickie’s First 6.30 – Rickie Smith has won five championships and accumulated a number of awards in IHRA Pro Stock since joining the class in 1979. Smith was the first driver to record a seven-second lap as well as a 200-mph speed.
 
Tonight Smith ran his first 6.3-second pass with a 6.398/ 219.36 perfrmance to eclipse the year-old 6.402 track record. Smith’s run concluded the evening session as No. 8.