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SUNDAY NOTEBOOK

NHRA INVITES OTHER DIVISIONS TO THE TEARDOWN BARN - As randomly chosen Stock and Super Stock entries cycled through the NHRA Teardown Barn during the 59th annual Chevrolet NHRA U.S. Nationals Friday and Saturday, other categories got hauled in to be scrutinized by the NHRA Tech Department.

Sunday, a pair of Alcohol Dragsters and Funny Cars got the invite but not for the same potential infractions Stock and Super Stock Doorslammers are being checked for. Instead, NHRA Tech Officials are looking for a host of items to make sure the racers in other eliminators are playing by the rules.

“We don’t just do Stock and Super Stock teardowns, we do other Sportsman and all the Professional classes on a random basis,” said Danny Gracia, NHRA National Technical Director. “Here at Indy, we’re bringing in various cars in between the sessions for a closer look to make sure it’s a level playing field in their respective class. We’ll do Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock Car and Bike. We sometimes go to their pits or in the case of a Pro Stock Bike, we pull it into our NHRA trailer, close the door, and closely examine it.”

For the Alcohol Dragster and Funny Car candidates in the barn Sunday, the NHRA was looking for numerous items.

“We’re checking for traction control and making sure the car’s wiring meets our standards,” Gracia explained. “There’s a big perception out there that the alcohol cars competing have traction control but we’re finding out there’s nothing there. In all the years I’ve been out here, we’ve never found evidence of traction control, but it’s our job to randomly inspect these cars and keep it fair for all racers.”         

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK

WHITELYS REMAIN DOMINANT AFTER TWO SESSIONS - Warm racing conditions resulted in no changes atop the Top Alcohol qualifying lists at the GM Performance Parts NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

Jim Whitely remained the leader of the Top Alcohol Dragster division on the strength of Friday’s 5.342 elapsed time. Shawn Cowie [5.402] and Brandon Booher [5.406] remained second and third on the qualifying list.

Annie Whitely, Jim’s wife, remained in the Top Alcohol Funny Car lead thanks to Friday’s 5.599 to finish the day ahead of Frank Manzo, who was second with a 5.621 best. The bump spot headed into the final day of qualifying is now a 5.852.

FAST RUNNER – Mike DePalma raised a few eyebrows during Competition eliminator qualifying at the NHRA U.S. Nationals. He raised them even higher when he lowered his index during eliminations with a CIC hit of a tenth of second.

DePalma could afford to lose a tenth considering the Pontiac GTO he was driving obliterated the AA/Altered Turbo index with a -.926 run and a 6.114 elapsed time. Fortunately for him the CIC only kicks in during eliminations.

“We were expecting less,” DePalma admitted. “”We’ve been trying to take boost out of it. We really don’t know how to slow it up at this point. We are kind of guessing. It’s got potential to go faster. We just didn’t know what it was going to do.”

The GTO DePalma is driving belongs to the Hairston Family and is tuned by turbo specialist Jake Hairston.

“The Hairston family has this car lined out,” said DePalma. “It’s very consistent and a great piece. It’s unbelievable to drive.”

Hairston remains in eliminations during Indy and will race the third round on Sunday. In winning the second round, it was evident he and the team were struggling to slow a tremendously fast race car as his 6.395 at only 195 miles per hour was enough to beat Jim Greenheck.

“You always want to keep the CIC in check,” said DePalma. “You don’t want to race your way out of the race early. It’s just so difficult because this car is so fast. The Comp guys know when you have a really fast car sometimes it is harder to win in those than one not so fast. It’s not something you have to worry about when you are a slower car. There’s a lot of stuff going on in there that you have to make decisions quickly.”

And while DePalma clearly has an enviable problem of reigning in a really quick car, his options are limited and one doesn’t include patting the gas at the finish line.

“You cannot really pat the gas in this car,” DePalma said. “You can’t brake them, so you have to pretty much guess and stick to your decision. This is not the kind of car you can hit the brakes and cut someone at the finish line.”

DePalma will gladly live with the challenge of not trying to kill his index all the while driving a really good performing race car.

“This car is unbelievably consistent,” DePalma said. “It makes lap after lap after lap. Turbo cars are fairly docile. They start buying up the real estate and making horsepower about 400-feet out. Jake Harrison knows what he is doing. He’s a sharp cookie. Getting the car down the track is not a problem for this team. It’s just trying to do the right thing every weekend.”

FRIDAY NOTEBOOK - IT'S THE DAY OF THE SHOOTOUTS, AND RULE REVERSAL

HOUSER ROCKS THE HEMI SHOOTOUT - Hemi Super Stock racer Rick Houser covered the Lucas Oil Raceway quarter-mile in 8.502 seconds at 158.54 miles per hour and this run was more than enough to beat Steven Hebert’s 8.682, 154.56 to claim the 19th annual Mopar Hemi Shootout title. This was the second time he’s won the prestigious event.

Houser, the No. 2 qualifier in SS/AH, defeated heavy-hitters such as Joe Teuton, Jim Pancake and Charlie Westcott to reach the final round of the race within a race staged at the NHRA U.S. Nationals.

“It’s pretty satisfying, because we had a completely different program the last time we won,” said  Houser. “We had an automatic, and Joe Allred was our engine builder.  We were all close friends, and then Joe passed away. We had to go in a different direction, and that’s when we went with Westcott power and put a stick in the car. It took us a few years to get acclimated and get on top of the clutch, so from that standpoint it’s very satisfying.  The win in 2007 was also very special, because it was with Joe. Each one has its own significance as a great achievement.”

For his part, Hebert made a series of strong runs to beat Joseph Paillot, Dan Zrust and David Barton to reach the finals.

Houser’s win resulted in a $15,000 payday.

"I’m very appreciative – although I wish it would have begun even earlier in our career,” said Houser. “It makes it really special. We’re treated like this is very meaningful, and it’s something that you’ll treasure all your life.”

PRO STOCK VETERANS DOMINATE FACTORY STOCK – The final round of the second annual NHRA Factory Stock Showdown at the GM Performance Parts U.S. Nationals went down to a pair of drivers with close ties to Pro Stock.

In the end, past IHRA Mountain Motor Pro Stock champion used performance as his biggest weapon to force 500-inch ace Pro Stock driver Dave Connolly into a foul start on Friday evening.

Holbrook maintained a torrid 8.8-second pace to beat the likes of Bo Kenney, Clay Arnet, Jonathan Allegrucci and Bill Skillman to reach the final round.

“Well, you know, it’s awesome – Bo Butner won it last year, and he’s a customer of mine, we won it this year, and it’s just great. The U.S. Nationals, and it’s the second one, and we won it," said Holbrook.

Hobrook’s quickest run of the event was an 8.838 but his toughest run came in the semis against Skillman.

“I know what motor he has, and he can easily beat me,” admitted Holbrook. “It was a good race – it was an .87 to an .89, and I hate taking a customer out, but here we are.”

In the final round, Connolly turned the bulb red by .02 and despite the foul start, Holbrook still ran him down with an 8.879 elapsed time.

“When I saw Connolly’s red light come on, and I started hooting and hollering right away,” said Holbrook. “I want to thank Varsity Ford for all the support they’ve given me over the years; this a dream come true.”

ERASING THE HARD LINE - After drawing a hard line in the sand earlier in the season, NHRA officials confirmed Friday that they will take a relaxed approach with regards to the Super Stock/AH cylinder head rules.

The issue was the planned enforcement of a rule in 2014 where many of the Hemi 426 cars would have had their cylinder heads rendered illegal. The rule in question has largely gone unenforced in recent years as the popularity of the Hemi Shootout grew.

Reportedly, during the last two seasons, several engine builders had interpreted the rule book differently, leading some to carry out machining to the block that caused cylinder heads to have relocated bolt holes for the valve covers.

On Thursday during the NHRA U.S. Nationals, Dale Aldo, Motorsports Marketing Manager for the Mopar brand, broached the subject with the various SS/AH teams.

The NHRA’s planned enforcement for 2014 would have rendered the cylinder heads on 95-percent of the cars in competition this weekend illegal. To come into compliance would have required anywhere from a $20,000 to $50,000 investment.

Many of the teams protested, with some seriously wondering if the investment was worth the reward.

Jim Pancake, a longtime SS/AH racer and past Mopar Hemi Shootout winner, said the enforcement of the rule would have forced him to take a long hard look at continuing to compete.

“I’ll probably be done for a while,” Pancake said Thursday after the meeting. “I have to make my mind up about that. You’re looking at at least $20,000 for a set of heads to conform to the new rules. While they say these are the old rules, we have been running this stuff for over twenty years. I, personally, have been through tech for twenty years in setting records and winning, and have never had a thing said about it. In fact, I inquired about it early on, when we first got back into it. I said, ‘I thought you couldn’t get into that hole, and they told me, ‘oh, it’s not a problem.

“Now it is.”

NHRA’s Vice President-Technical Operations, Glen Gray, met with Aldo and various members of the community and made the decision to back away from the planned enforcement action. The modifications allowed this weekend will be allowed in 2014.

“We were going to start enforcing them rigidly beginning in 2014,” said Gray. “After talking to the racers and listening to their concerns, and after the impact to them technically and financially, more than just changing the heads and the additional things that would need to be changed, intake manifolds, pistons, etc., we just decided that was too much of a burden on the teams to start enforcing on January 1.”

Gray believes all too often what looks good on paper doesn’t always have the same effect in everyday life.

“That’s why you have to keep talking to the racers,” said Gray. “This allows you to see their side and understand the impact of what you’re doing to them, technically and financially.”

Aldo said on behalf of Mopar they are pleased with what has transpired in the last 48 hours to rectify what could have been a tough situation.

“All of us came to a better understanding of the situation as a result of that,” said Aldo. “I think everybody is walking away a little bit smarter than they walked up.”

TALES FROM THE TEARDOWN BARN - So you want to play in NHRA Stock and Super Stock? Well friends, be prepared to be invited to a teardown party courtesy of the NHRA Technical Department without notice, and make sure to bring your tools. As Indy traditions go, racers competing for class honors sometimes get picked for a day’s activities pulling your intake, cylinder heads, and if you’re lucky, a rod and piston.  There were 20 Stocker contestants in the barn today tearing down in the sweltering Indiana heat and humidity.

The NHRA tech guys randomly look at certain engine combinations from a GM LS1, Mopar Drag Pak 6.1L HEMI and 5.4L Supercharged Cobra Jets. There’s no rhyme or reason to their process and it doesn’t matter if you’re number qualifier or running in the bottom of the pack; when it’s your time, it’s your time. Sometimes there’s a theme, as you may find the same of two or three car/engine combos being raced together, being checked in the barn. Today we had pairs of Challenger Drag Paks and Cobra Jet Mustangs being scrutinized to see if they measure up with the same specs.

Travis Miller has teched cars for over 40 years with the NHRA, so he’s pretty sharp and doesn’t let anything slide by. There’s no grey area; it’s either right or wrong. He measures the camshaft lift, bore and stroke, cylinder head chamber, runner CC specs and valve sizes. Travis also looks over the intake manifold, carburetor/throttle body and numerous other internal parts. Travis points out: “We treat everyone the same when they come in for teardown.”

For the racer, this sentiment is not always mutual. Take Leonard Mattingly, whose 2000 B /SA LS1 powered Firebird was picked to be torn down for the third time in 12 months, for instance. He didn’t win class, but was randomly chosen for a teardown party with the NHRA. “I don’t like getting torn down, if you’re going to tear somebody down, pick somebody who’s fast, not the slower one.  It‘ll take us 2 ½ hours to put the engine back together”.  When asked what advice he’d give a racer looking to run Stock or Super Stock, Leonard commented: “If you’re not in the “clique”, you’ll be the one randomly torn down. There’s a lot of politics involved and everyone but me knew NHRA had an LS1 cylinder in their trailer to compare with ones on my car.” 

The NHRA assures there's no preferential treatment going on.

“Obviously it’s not a clique I mean it’s random checking that we do, and the other thing is also is we have a list of cars that run really fast that don’t go to national events that have never been torn apart," said  Danny Gracia, NHRA National Technical Director. "So we feel it’s only fair for the group to take these cars apart but by the same token, they’re going to learn what’s there or not. In the better interest of the category, it’s good for the other competitors to know that car is legal. This (Indy) is a prime spot to do this, so we want to make sure everybody plays by the rules like everyone so again, it’s all random.”

Other racers don’t fret too much about having to disassemble their engines for the prying eyes of the NHRA Tech Department. “If you’re scared of the barn, don’t come to the races,” said Gary Summers, who was this year’s number one Stock Eliminator qualifier and won U/S class with his 302 ’78 Mustang II. “We try to build them the way they’re supposed to be built. Since we’re the number one qualifier, we were invited to the barn.”  Good advice for a long time racer who’s been to through teardown numerous times, and has never been pitched.

Whatever the feelings may be among these elite Sportsman racers, they know it comes with the territory when you run in Stock and Super Stock and that’s what makes it even more challenging.

HUSBAND-WIFE TEAM LEAD SPORTSMAN QUALIFYING - The husband and wife duo of Jim and Annie Whitely dominated the alcohol classes during first day qualifying at the GM Performance Parts NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

Jim was the king of the dragster drivers as he drove his Grand Junction, Co.-based dragster to the provisional lead after two sessions with a 5.342 elapsed time. A distant second and third were Shawn Cowie [5.402] and Brandon Booher [5.406]. The top three spots were all filled by blown alcohol entries. Anchoring the sixteen car field was Duane Shields with a 5.562.

Wife Annie was the queen of the Top Alcohol Funny Car field as she ran a 5.599 to edge Frank Manzo, who ended the day with a 5.621 best. Jay Payne was third with a 5.656. Steve Franke anchored the field with a 5.884.

Mike DePalma retained his top spot in Competition eliminator on the strength of his incredible -.926 under effort with his AA/Altered Turbo GTO. The run equaled a 6.114. A distant second was Vinny Barone with a -.617 [8.183] in D/Econo Altered. There are 52 cars to make Saturday’s first round call.

THURSDAY NOTEBOOK - CLASS ELIMINATIONS HIGHLIGHT DAY TWO

BEWARE OF THE ELEPHANT - This shootout is likely to never gain the popularity of the annual Mopar Hemi Shootout for Super Stock/AH cars or the newly created Factory Stock Shootout, but for the Stock eliminator purists the A/Stock Shootout is a true battle for supremacy of the class’ top of the food chain.

Let the record reflect an elephant is the new king of this jungle.

On Thursday afternoon at the GM Performance NHRA U.S Nationals, Kevin Helms, driving a 2010 Dodge Challenger, used a holeshot to beat Luke Ubelhor to win this year’s title.

“It’s good because I’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” said Helms. “We had some good races, so that made this very special.”

No disrespect to Ubelhor, but Helms’ toughest victory might have come in the opening round when he took out defending multi-time winner Caleb McFarland.

“That was pretty huge because we haven’t beaten a McFarland in the last three years,” Helms admitted. “I haven’t been able to beat them either in bracket racing or class racing. They are good friends of mine, and it was a good clean race.”

The A/Stock Shootout has been running for almost eight seasons with little fanfare in the media and lots of attention within the class racing community. Over the course of its existence,  it event has received support under the table from many manufacturers and openly from fellow competitors.

“This is really the top of the food chain for Stocker,” said Helms, who credited fellow manually shifted Stock racer Jim Schaechter for the success of the program.

Helms brother Scott, who passed away earlier this year, also assisted Schaechter in the formation of the A/S Shootout.

“I was racing inspired,” Helms said.

THURSDAY’S LEADERS – Mike DePalma made his long journey from Glendale, Az., to Indianapolis a worthwhile one, if only for two sessions of Comp qualifying at the NHRA GM Performance U.S. Nationals.

DePalma’s AA/ATurbocharged 2007 Pontiac GTO covered the Lucas Oil Raceway quarter-mile in 6.114 seconds, -.926 under the index. Running a distant second was Vinny Barone, who was -.617 under the D/Econo Altered index at 8.183. Bo Butner’s CC/AT was third at -.600 [7.130].

Super Stock remained the property of Ray Skillman as his 8.267, -1.133 run against the SS/AAA index was unbeaten.

Just like Skillman, Gary Summers remained atop the Stock charts as he retained the top spot with a 13.008, -1.642 under the U/Stock standard. The rest of the top ten cars in Stock were comprised of Factory Stock entries.

ON TAP – Sportsman qualifying resumes on Friday at 8 AM, EST with the first round of eliminations for Super Comp followed by class eliminations. Also scheduled to run tomorrow are both Top Alcohol classes and Competition eliminator.

AND THE WINNER IS – The B/Stock Automatic division attracted the most entries at 17 but when the smoke cleared following class eliminations, Jimmy DeFrank was declared the winner as his 10.229, 128.84 got the best of longtime Super Stock runner Jim Boudreau.

STILL IN THE HUNT – Only four cars remain in contention for the second annual Factory Stock Showdown crown. During Thursday qualifying, the class was eliminated down to four contestants.

Chris Holbrook had low elapsed time of the quarterfinals as he pushed his Cobra Jet to an 8.838, 152.30 to beat Jonathan Allegrucci’s 9.020, 148.58.

Dave Connolly, driving Victor Cagnazzi’s COPO Chevrolet, was second quickest with a 9.264 on a single in beating Joe Teuton, who failed to make the call.

Todd Patterson drove past Jim Harrison and Bill Skillman beat Bo Butner to complete the round.

YEP, THAT’S ABNORMAL - The NHRA U.S. Nationals brings out some the oddest combinations in Stock Eliminator. Timothy Weinzapfel’s R/S ’66 Bel Air wagon is powered by a 283 and even with its hefty weight penalty still clicks off consistent 13.20s on a 13.95 index.

NO PRESSURE, JUST RACE - Sometimes a Sportsman racer has no idea how he or she gets into the top-ten in their respective class. It just happens by skill, determination, sheer luck or a combination of all three. Heading into this year’s NHRA Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals, Stock Eliminator racer Charlie Downing knows he’s at least guaranteed a top-ten finish. Charlie, who’s currently number three in the Lucas Oil Championship Point Standings, has been cutting great lights, grabbing gears and going rounds in his 4.6L-powered 2010 Cobra Jet Mustang.

This 29-year-old from Michigan cut his teeth in his dad’s Chevy Malibu wagon stocker while running mostly Division 3 events. Eventually he made the trip to Indy for the “Big Go” in 2003, and has finally got some class wins under his belt. When Ford Racing announced the Cobra Jet program back in 2008, he thought long and hard about running another brand. He knew it would be a challenge, since he had worked on nothing but small block Chevys, but after talking it over with his dad, they decided to pull the trigger and worked a deal to get a body-in-white and run a 4.6L three-valve engine tied to a Jerico four-speed.

After its initial outing, Charlie headed to Indy in 2011 as he had gotten his Mustang dialed in. After winning class, he was invited to the NHRA teardown barn, only to be tossed due to the factory submitting the wrong specs on the valve sizes. Undaunted, he came back full force the following year to get his Cobra Jet its well-deserved class trophy.

At the start of the 2013 season, Charlie focused on exacting even more consistency from the Mustang, with some adjustments to the clutch making all the difference in the world. Charlie began driving even better and soon he wound up as the runner-up at the Gatornationals. He was also runner-up at the Norwalk Division 3 event and many other divisional races.

With Thursday’s Stock Class Run-Offs in the record books, Charlie again won in F/S and the reward for his labor will be another trip to the teardown barn. Charlie’s not worried; he knows his engine is right and will have everything buttoned up for first round of eliminations Saturday. Charlie knows he’s achieved a goal that many racers can only dream of and he’ll do what he does best; cut a light, dump the clutch, row the gears and go some rounds. No pressure for this potential world champion.

WEDNESDAY - THE BIG GO IS GOING BIG ALREADY

SKILLMAN, SUMMERS LEAD WEDNESDAY – A pair of Fords were at the top of their respective categories at the GM Performance Parts NHRA U.S. Nationals on Wednesday afternoon in Indianapolis.

Skillman’s SS/AAA 2010 Cobra Jet Mustang went -1.069 under the index to edge Ronald Matchum’s -1.063 effort. Of the first six provisional qualifiers, five were in Cobra Jets and Larry Stewart’s SS/IA Challenger was fourth.

There are 142 entries attempting to earn a spot in the 128-car field.

Ten of the top twelve provisional qualifiers in Stock compete in the new Factory Stock division, but after two sessions Gary Summers was the king of the hill with his stick-shifted 1978 Mustang U/Stocker. He nailed the 14.65 index with a -1.642, 13.008 elapsed time.

Qualifying resumes on Thursday at 8 AM, EST.

STOCK CLASS ELIMINATIONS ON DECK – Stock Eliminator class eliminations kick off on Thursday morning. The top of the food chain of traditional Stock, the A/Stockers, has four cars entered. B/Stock Automatic has the most entries at 17. The Factory Stock cars [FS/AC, FS/DC] have a combined 26 entries.

THE GENTLEMAN RACER - Jeff Teuton has made the annual trek to the NHRA U.S. Nationals more times than he cares to remember.  He, along with his brother Joe, are the patriarchs of the Teuton racing family and have been campaigning HEMI and Wedge-powered Mopars going back to the 1960s.

Jeff’s infectious smile and the twinkle in his eye are just part of the friendly demeanor of this southern gentleman.  A self-made man, he and his brother started out with a modest one-car showroom Dodge dealership located on a back street in Houma, Louisiana in late 1968, selling 340 Darts, Six Pack Super Bees and 440-powered Charger and Coronet R/Ts.

Their business flourished despite the gas crunch and economic downturns of the 1970s. Today, his Southland Dodge franchise is just one of six businesses he and Joe own and is one of the top performing Chrysler dealerships in the country. It’s a good thing, as it has provided him and his sons the means to race some pretty impressive Dodge and Plymouth products over the last forty years, including his current fleet of high-flying HEMI and Viper V10-Powered Drag Pak Dodge Challengers that compete at NHRA National and Divisional events across the country.

Jeff’s also not afraid to speak his mind when it comes to Stock and Super Stock issues that impact these classes and its participants. He’s very vocal on many things, including the current state of the SS/AH class in which his nephew “Lil Joe” competes in with his 1968 HEMI Barracuda. Jeff feels it has gotten out of control with the lack of any clearly defined and consistent rule enforcement from the NHRA Tech Dept.

“These HEMI Super Stockers came from the factory with cross ram intakes and over the past 10 years they’ve morphed into Inline individual runner tunnel rams. Now everyone is spinning these motors in the stratosphere and the resulting increased breakage is driving up the costs,” said Jeff.  “This is just of my many concerns with this class and they (NHRA) need to reel these cars back in to what they were if SS/AH is to survive. If not, many these guys will park their cars or install a bracket race motor and compete in a Nostalgia Super Stock class somewhere else.”

On the new Factory Stock Shootout class that ran last year at Indy for the first time, Jeff was instrumental in improving what everyone felt was a dismal outcome of the inaugural event.

“Last year the indexes were so bad that many cars that had stepped up to run the Factory Shootout couldn’t qualify for the big show. After Indy, I spoke to NHRA and was asked to revise the rules. Now there are two Factory Stock classes for the Drag Paks, COPOs and Cobra Jets, Supercharged and Natural Aspirated. There’ll be more of a level playing field for everyone and I think this year’s Factory Stock Shootout will have a great turn out.”

When we asked Jeff what his chances are for Factory Stock Shootout win at this year’s event, he just smiled and said,” I don’t know if can run with the blown COPOs and Cobra Jets but I’d like to scare them with my Drag Pak!”

Whatever the outcome, Jeff’s Stock Eliminator victory at the 2011 U.S. Nationals, along with his numerous class wins speak for themselves on his love and passion for Stock Eliminator.

OLD DAYS IN THE MODERN ERA - In another day and age, the two-door 1955 Chevy wagon Wayne Denklau races in NHRA Super Stock might have been a G/Modified Production car.

Today, the Wayne, Nebraska-based driver races the heavy Chevy [3370 pounds] in SS/O, where he was No. 80 out of 137 entries on Wednesday. His best run was an 11.535 elapsed time, -.665 under the index.

“This car has always been a Super Stocker,” Denklau explained. “Gene [Bichlmeier] has owned this car and raced it since the early 1970s.”

Bichlmeier found the car sitting in a Nebraska salvage yard and along with friend Willie Burnstraw massaged the car into drag racing shape. Burnstraw actually drove the car for a couple of seasons.

Denklau said the car was then parked in a garage where it remained idle for nearly three decades.

“This was an original V-8 car,” Denklau said with a smile. “It had a three-speed [column-shifted] and a 265-inch engine. They used this engine with the Carter carburetor.”

The 265-inch Chevrolet Denklau has under the hood is rated at 180 – 200 horsepower and couples with a G-Force clutchless transmission and 6:50 gear.

What the car fails to deliver in being the quickest car at the track, it more than makes up for in entertainment value.

“It’s a fun car to drive,” said Denklau. “I used to have a Super Stock/O two-door post car that I ran in Super Stock for years. That’s how I met Gene and got all into this [class racing].”

Denklau is an admitted late bloomer to class racing, but not drag racing. He was an accomplished bracket racer before headed into the legal racing. On Friday, his mettle will be tested in class eliminations, as he faces the only other Super Stock/O car entered. Denklau trails the 1966 Impala of Richard Feldman by .135 of a second in qualifying. Friday, they will race heads up.

“If we can get this thing off of the starting line, we might be able to give him a race,” Denklau said.

COMETS ARE COOL - Dick Lux’s ’64 SS/M Comet harkens back to the days Mercury was a player in NHRA competition and sponsored the likes of Sox & Martin, Dyno Don and Fast Eddie. The 289 powered four-speed combo ran 11.10 on a 11.60 index.

ON A WINNING NOTE - Troy Coughlin Jr. is upholding the family tradition. After winning last weekend at the NHRA LODRS event at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Ky., the third-gen drag racer holds the NHRA Super Gas point lead headed into Indianapolis.

 Coughlin beat D3's second-ranked driver Pat Martin in Round 4 before eclipsing girlfriend Mia Tedesco two rounds later in the final to fashion a nine-point edge over Mike Sawyer in the national rankings. He'll now try to close out his national-event schedule with a victory at the sport's biggest race.

"It's getting very interesting, to say the least," Coughlin said. "This is the first time I've ever led the points, nationally or even at the divisional level. I'm humbled to say the least. There are so many great racers in Super Gas and Super Comp. We've been fortunate this year and I feel very, very lucky to be in this position."

Coughlin will actually have two chances to win his second Indy title as he'll be racing in both Super Gas and Super Comp. He already claimed victory three years ago at Lucas Oil Raceway in Super Comp, one of three national event trophies he's earned in his brief career.

He currently ranks third in Super Comp points in the Div. 3 standings.

"Both cars have been running well," Coughlin said. "My guys have given me very consistent racecars and that's allowed me to focus all my energy on driving. It's been an awesome season."

It wouldn't be unprecedented for Coughlin to follow up his Beech Bend win with another at the U.S. Nationals. His father Troy, the reigning Pro Mod world champion, accomplished a similar feat in 1991 when he won at Beech Bend one weekend and then went on to win the U.S. Nationals a few days later.

"There's a lot of legacy with the Coughlin name," T.J. said. "We're actually getting close to 100 wins as a family and I think it's crazy that I've contributed a few of the wins that make up that total. It would be incredible to add another one this weekend.

"It's going to be a great race with a lot of our family there. My Uncle Jeg is racing Pro Stock and dad's Pro Mod car is running perfectly right now so he should have a big weekend. I can't wait to get started." 

IN THE MEANTIME ... - Pro Stock team owner Victor Cagnazzi has experienced a challenging season in keeping his cars in competition. Despite a lack of sponsorship on the car driven by Erica Enders-Stevens, he and tuner Dave Connolly managed to guide this car into the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship.

With the uncertainty of major funding for the Pro Stock operation, Cagnazzi and Connolly are looking into the sportsman arena to sustain their competitive needs until something significant on the pro side materializes.

Cagnazzi and his driver are planning to make the forthcoming NHRA Factory Stock Showdown and Stock eliminator a landing spot, starting with this weekend’s NHRA GM Performance Parts U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

“I’m interested in the Factory Stock thing because it goes beyond just Stock eliminator racing,” said Cagnazzi. “You look at it, and it’s almost like the old days of original drag racing. It’s pretty exciting.”

Cagnazzi introduced the Cagnazzi CC/SA COPO Camaro at Indy last year and fared well, winning class and going deep in eliminations.

“I’m pretty impressed by what these teams have been able to do with these [late model special edition] cars,” said Cagnazzi. “It’s remarkable.”

Cagnazzi didn’t make his debut in professional drag racing but rather had a stint in both Modified and Competition eliminator before graduating into Pro Stock truck.

Cagnazzi views the Factory Stock Showdown as a measure of drag racing repeating itself.

“It might be a sportsman class but it’s exactly what Pro Stock used to be,” said Cagnazzi. “It’s really intriguing and certainly a lot less expensive.”