The National Sand Drag Association (NSDA) held their season opening event February 2-4 at the Soboba Casino in San Jacinto, CA. Sunny skies and moderate temperatures were welcome weather for some great racing action. The racer turnout was great with right around 300 racers competing throughout the weekend. This race also counted for NSDA’s point series which helped make for extra close racing throughout the weekend.
Top Fuel
Scott Whipple and his Canidae dragster was consistently the man on top in TF throughout the weekend. Scott started off the weekend with a 2.432 in the first qualifying session and never looked back. Scott would end up as the #1 qualifier with a Saturday afternoon 2.431 pass followed by Terri Blair running a 2.65. In round one; Scott was scheduled to face off with Jeff Janoe and the JWJ dragster, however Jeff suffered two starting line boomers earlier in the weekend and couldn’t make repairs for round one giving Scott a single. Scott ran a nice 2.51 to move on to the finals. The other round one match up would find Terri Blair’s Fugowie team up against Dennis Reick and the Hammer Down Racing small block nitro dragster. Dennis would hit the tune up and run a 2.63 defeating Terri’s 2.81. The final round race would see Scott make another consistent pass with a 2.48 defeating Dennis’ game 2.56 to take the win and early season points lead.
Scott Whipple on his way to the TF class victory.
Dennis Reick riding out a wheelie.
Terri Blair & the Fugowie team had a good showing qualifying #2 with a 2.65.
Jeff Janoe experienced problems at the starting line taking him out of competition.
Top Alcohol
Shane Sanford’s Frederosa Racing dragster was set on kill all weekend and ended up with the victory at the end of the weekend. Qualifying was an interesting battle as the class looked like it was going to be a toss up on Friday with most of the favorites struggling and Shane Switzer ending up in the top spot with a 2.64. The competition heated up in Saturday’s qualifying sessions as Shane Sanford stole the top spot away with a sizzling 2.53 in the night session. Gary Mink would follow at 2.62 with Mike DeNunzio and Switzer rounding out the top half of the field. Mink would start out eliminations with his “Bad to the Bone” dragster running low ET of round one with a great 2.61 to eliminate Rick Morris’ Heavy Metal buggy and advance to round two where he would face DeNunzio. DeNunzio’s Canidae sponsored entry would take the victory in an extremely close 2.61-2.62 race over Mink, but would face parts damage that would take him out for the final round. The other semi-final match up would feature Sanford versus number five qualifier Dan Allen. Allen left before the tree was activated handing Sanford a trip to the final round where he would find a single pass awaiting him. Sanford decided to run it all out in the final and laid down a spectacular 2.532 run to seal the final round victory.
Shane Sanford en route to the Top Alcohol class win.
Mike DeNunzio had a strong start to the season earning a final round appearance.
Gary Mink had a great weekend qualifying #2 and making it to the semi-finals.
Shane Switzer ended up #4 in qualifying with a fine 2.64, but damaged parts kept him out of eliminations.
Top Eliminator
TE was one of the closes contested classes all weekend long. Qualifying was tightly bunched with Tim Martin ending up as the number one qualifier with a 2.963 on the class’ 2.95 Index. Martin would be followed by Taylor Brewer, Jim Williams, Jeff Mamer, and Paul Taylor rounding out the top five. Tim Martin’s New Mexico-based dragster was once again closest to the Index in round two defeating Terry Crawford with a 2.99. One of the most interesting match ups of round two saw Jeff Mamer’s “Sidewinder” entry take care of DL King’s “Animal Control” car when King ran a breaking out 2.93. The semi-finals saw Martin red light his chances away against Mamer, who would advance to the final round. The other half of the semis saw Jim Williams’ “Wild American” dragster run a nice 2.97 to defeat Taylor Brewer’s “Bad News” dragster which ran a 3.05. The Snake would once again strike as Jeff’s “Sidewinder” ran a nearly dead-on 2.953 to defeat Williams’ under the Index 2.945. Mamer jumped out to the early points lead with his win and looks like he will be tough to beat for the inaugural NSDA TE championship.
Jeff Mamer is the early points leader in TE with his win at the season opener.
Jim Williams had a great outing with the "Wild American" car netting a runner-up finish.
Tim Martin was the top qualifier and made it to the semi-finals.
Taylor Brewer's "Bad News" entry had a good weekend ending up with a semi-final finish.
Terry Crawford's "Yabba Dabby Doo" dragster made it to round two before being defeated by Tim Martin.
Pro 1
Arnold Carnes and his Funny Car triumphed over the tough Pro 1 class to take the victory with a string of low 3.3 second ET’s. Arnold defeated Carl Smith’s “Cha Ching” dragster in the final round. Carnes had a tough road to the final round defeating class favorites Bill Swim and Steve DeNunzio in early round competition. Smith made it to the finals taking a very close win in the semi-final round over Carl Jennings.
Arnold Carnes was unstoppable on his way to the P1 class win.
George Amos had a decent outing and currently sits 2nd in Pro 1 points.
"Wild Willy" had a decent showing and starts the season in 4th place in points.
Pro 2
Tracy Malan’s altered topped the always tough Pro 2 category. Tracy defeated Phil Soper’s buggy in an extremely close final round race. Wes Gilmore’s Jeep and Todd Kinney’s V8 Buggy were the semi-finalists.
Tracy Malan was the Pro 2 winner on the weekend.
Ron D'Artenay went several rounds in Pro 2 and as a result sits 2nd in points.
Pro 3
Joe Simeone prevailed as the winner of an all-Jeep final round defeating Al Griffith. Joe defeated Gary Gebert’s Jeep in the semi-final round while Al Griffith made it by a breaking out Grant Fraysier in his Hummer.
Al Griffith made it to the final round before falling to Joe Simeone.
Nick Young went deep in to eliminations and as a result is sitting 2nd in Pro 3 points.
MC Pro 1
Curt Brown took the class victory with a final round victory over Frank Prock. The lone semi-finalist in the category was Robert Garnas.
MC Pro 2
George Amos ended up with the class victory after a close final round race with Randy Mings. Jake Russell ended up with third place. Amos and Mings look like the early favorites in the class points race for the ’07 season.
George Amos took the Motorcycle Pro 2 win and the season's early points lead.
Pro Mod
Geoff Gill and the Black Tie Jeep came out victorious in the first race of the season. Larry Minor and his new Jeep broke giving Geoff a single where he laid down a 3.41 for the victory.
Geoff Gill came away with the win in PM and also had a nice showing in the Pro 1 class.
Pro Index
The wildly popular full body 3.95 Index class had some great action on Saturday. Justin Adamson would end up winning the class defeating Clayton Record in the final round. Wes Gilmore and Charlie Johnson rounded out a Jeep sweep of the top four spots in the class.
Justin Adamson took the first Pro Index class win of the season.
Sportsman 1
“Mr. Excitement” Larry Brown wheeled his dragster to the Saturday S1 class victory defeating Brian Root’s Jeep in the final round. Matt Hegwood and his Jeep would finish third in the class.
Tommy Zavala went a few rounds in the "Looney" dragster.
Lori Ketron had a good showing in Sportsman 1 with the "Miss Conduct" dragster.
Sportsman 2
Carl Jennings’ “Chain Reaction” dragster took the S2 victory over Daline Januik’s Jeep in the final round. April Elliott and Elissa Gill, both in Jeeps were semi-finalists in the class.
Mark Eckart had a decent weekend in his Jeep running in both the Sportsman 2 & Pro 3 categories.
MC Sportsman 1
Bo Crossland ended up the winner in the MS1 class taking the final round win over Ryan Winkle.
MC Sportsman 2
Kyle Stewart took the win and early points lead in the MS2 category defeating Randy Mings in the final round. Stewart, Mings, and George Amos are the current top three point leaders in the class.
Junior Classes
Junior Dragster was won by Alan Mamer who defeated Kyle Walker in the final round. Kyle Hensley won the Kids class over Carson Madrid. The Youth 1 class was won by Jordan Mings. Youth 2 was won by Courtney Russell who defeated Caleb Mings in the final round.
All photos courtesy C3 Productions - www.c3productions.net