For the lucky nostalgia drag racing fans of North Texas, seeing two dozen injected and blown front engine dragsters and altereds race side by side on a Saturday night under the lights isn’t as rare an opportunity as it is for most. Texas is the home of the Texas Blown Fuel and Southwest Junior Fuel Associations, who can be found eight or nine times a season entertaining crowds across the southwest. This past Saturday night, May 19th, the T.B.F.A. and S.W.J.F.A. series rolled into North Star Dragway in Denton, Texas to headline a feature event on a warm summer evening with twelve injected junior fuel dragsters and ten blown alcohol dragsters and altereds in attendance.
Ricky Marshall has dominated the junior fuel series thus far this season and after winning the last outing two weeks ago in San Antonio, came out strong on his opening lap posting a 4.59 at 149 mph to take the top qualifying position. Former NHRA Division 4 alcohol dragster and funny car campaigner, Brandon Lewis, wheeled Charlie Smith’s junior fueler to a 4.77 at 143 mph to qualify number two.
For the lucky nostalgia drag racing fans of North Texas, seeing two dozen injected and blown front engine dragsters and altereds race side by side on a Saturday night under the lights isn’t as rare an opportunity as it is for most. Texas is the home of the Texas Blown Fuel and Southwest Junior Fuel Associations, who can be found eight or nine times a season entertaining crowds across the southwest.
This past Saturday night, May 19th, the T.B.F.A. and S.W.J.F.A. series rolled into North Star Dragway in Denton, Texas to headline a feature event on a warm summer evening with twelve injected junior fuel dragsters and ten blown alcohol dragsters and altereds in attendance.
Ricky Marshall has dominated the junior fuel series thus far this season and after winning the last outing two weeks ago in San Antonio, came out strong on his opening lap posting a 4.59 at 149 mph to take the top qualifying position. Former NHRA Division 4 alcohol dragster and funny car campaigner, Brandon Lewis, wheeled Charlie Smith’s junior fueler to a 4.77 at 143 mph to qualify number two.
Twenty one year old Tera Wendland, niece of NHRA Nitro Funny Car Crew Chief Rob Wendland, qualified number three with a 4.78 at 143 mph in the Darrell Walden owned junior fueler, her best start of the season. Richard Brady, Gary Isom and Don Scott also nabbed positions in the top half of the field as the junior fuelers returned to the pits to prepare for eliminations.
Final Qualifying Order for Junior Fuel:
1) Ricky Marshall (Burleson, Texas) – 4.59 @ 149
2) Brandon Lewis (Tulsa, Oklahoma) – 4.77 @ 143
3) Tera Wendland (Commerce, Texas) – 4.78 @ 143
4) Richard Brady (Ft. Worth, Texas) – 4.834 @ 139
5) Gary Isom (Burleson, Texas) – 4.838 @ 140
6) Don Scott (Garland, Texas) – 4.92 @ 139
7) Ron Muncy (Weatherford, Texas) – 4.95 @ 138
8) Brian Briggs (Lake Charles, Louisiana) – 4.99 @ 138
9) Mike Buchanan (Goddard, Kansas) – 5.25 @ 130
10) Thomas Hixson (Keller, Texas) – 5.35 @ 132
11) Ross Laird (Ardmore, Oklahoma) – 5.36 @ 125
12) Mike Millsap (Sachse, Texas) – No Time
In the Texas Blown Fuel series, Ted McCord wheeled the Mike Brown owned “Senior Moment” blown Hemi to a 4.65 at 150 to qualifying at the top of the ladder in this 4.65 indexed series. Points leader Steve Matthews posted a 4.69 at 149 to secure the number two spot and Dustin Johnson wheeled the “Fair Warning” blown altered to a 4.73 at 146 to qualify third.
Final Texas Blown Fuel Qualifying Order:
1) Ted McCord (Claremore, Oklahoma) – 4.65 @ 150
2) Steve Matthews (Ardmore, Oklahoma) – 4.69 @ 149
3) Dustin Johnson (Davis, Oklahoma) – 4.7392 @ 146
4) Steve Dunkin (Aledo, Texas) – 4.7996 @ 147
5) Rick Grindstaff (Dickinson, Texas) – 4.75 @ 147
6) Chris Stouffer (Cleburne, Texas) – 4.771 @ 150
7) Chris Graves (Carrollton, Texas) – 4.772 @ 146
8) Eddie Taylor (Arlington, Texas) – 4.85 @ 142
9) Wesley Darter (Kaufman, Texas) – 5.06 @ 137
10) Wes Breiten (Wolfe City, Texas) – 5.08 @ 141
After three rounds of great side by side racing from both series, Southwest Junior Fuel Association points leader Ricky Marshall found himself lined up against the 2010 points Champion Richard Brady in the final round. Marshall was looking to claim his second straight win while Brady was hoping for his first win of the season and to put an end to Marshall’s round winning streak.
The cars crept into the beams and at the flash of amber, Brady was off the line first. By half track Marshall had closed the gap and pulled ahead to take the win at the stripe with low elapsed time of eliminations, a 4.59 at 149 mph to take out Brady’s 4.83 at 138 mph.
“I would like to thank my friends and family for coming out to the races and for all their support and help. A big thanks goes out to Bob McKray for the power and the Southwest Junior Fuel Association for giving us a place to race,” said Marshall.
Junior Fuel Final Round Results:
(W) Ricky Marshall (.070 rt) 4.59 @ 149 mph vs. (L) Richard Brady (.054 rt) 4.83 @ 138 mph
In the Texas Blown Fuel action, defending series points Champion Chris Stouffer advance to the final round in the Meador & Stouffer “Defiant” blown front engine dragster, to face first time finalist Steve Dunkin and his “Foolish Pleasure II” blown slingshot. Stouffer had hopes to claiming his first T.B.F.A win of the season while Dunkin was looking for his first win in his debut season with the series.
After side by side burnouts the cars crept into the beams and Stouffer was off the line first by a bunch and lead the entire way to his first win of the season, posting a 4.67 at 139 mph over Dunkin’s 4.85 at 147 mph.
Texas Blown Fuel Final Round Results:
(W) Chris Stouffer (.073 rt) 4.67 @ 139 mph vs. (L) Steve Dunkin (.505 rt) 4.85 @ 147 mph
“We are blessed to grab our first win of the year. It was great to have several of our friends and family members there to enjoy it with us. We want to thank all of them for their support. We’d also like to thank Pete Riola at AMS Racing Engines, Boyd’s Machine, Troy Green and Spud Miller at Fuel Injection Enterprises for getting repairs done and putting us back on the track! We’ll see you at the next one!” said Carl Meador, owner and crew chief of the “Defiant” dragster.”
Two great finals put a cap on a non-stop night of great drag racing action at North Star Dragway. The Texas Blown Fuel series has a seven week break before returning to North Star Dragway on July 21st while several of the Southwest Junior Fuel Association teams will be heading to Bowling Green, Kentucky to race at the NHRA Holley Hot Rod Reunion on June 14-16th.
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