Thunder Valley Sand Drags in Grain Valley, MO
has been plagued with bad weather all season long, but they were able to hit on
a great first weekend of October to hold their biggest race of the year, the
Show-Me Fall Nationals. This Friday-Saturday event featured a different race
each night. Racing action was great on track, continue on to read the outcome
and see some great photos from our friends at Lone Star Graphics.Top Eliminator
Friday night’s race saw 7 competitors sign up to go for the TE class victory. Terry Glasscock led qualifying with his Turbo Pinto-powered Dragster recording a 3.01. David Hauser’s screw blown BBC-powered Predator Dragster ended up second with a 3.08.
Round one saw Heartland Nats TE runner-up Jeff Sieg run too fast and lose a double break out decision to Tim Hatfield 2.93 to 2.80. The next pair would see #2 qualifier Hauser run a touch too fast with a 2.94 allowing Jack Monroe to advance on.
This would set up a great 4 cylinder Dragster match up to start round 2 between Hatfield & Glasscock. Hatfield in the ex-Dee Trower Dragster would leave first .016 to .041 and force Glasscock to break out in a 3.03 to 2.940 decision. The final pair of the round would see rookie driver Trent Oldham in his first weekend behind the wheel of John Moreland’s AMSOil Blown BBC-powered Dragster up against Jack Monroe’s potent 4-cylinder Dragster entry. Oldham would leave first and force the 4 cylinder car chase him down; Monroe would take the stripe, but went too quick running a 2.92 to hand the win to Oldham.
This would set up a classic rookie versus veteran and 4-cylinder versus V-8 battle in the final round. Experience would pay off as Hatfield would leave first and not look back for a 3.01 to 3.25 victory.
Saturday’s event saw eight entries shoot for the event victory. Friday night’s winner Hatfield led the field in qualifying with a great 2.96 on the 2.95 class Index. Monroe would slide into the second spot with a 2.97 while Friday night’s runner-up Oldham ran a 3.14 for the #3 position.
The #1 qualifying spot would not be the favorable position to be in on this day as Hatfield would face off with the always tough Terry Glasscock, who qualified on the bump with a great, but too fast 2.85. In this race, Terry would pull out one of his trade mark great RT’s with a .022 and run a nice 3.03 to defeat Hatfield’s too fast 2.84. David Hauser would be the next to advance when Monroe would stage foul. Jeff Sieg would stop the rookie Oldham in the next pair with Closest to the Index of the weekend running a 2.957 to stop Oldham’s 3.22. Rounding out the round was to be a match up between Karen Hauser’s Blown BBC-powered Dragster and Kenny Kapple’s Turbo 4-cylinder powered Dragster. Hauser broke the rear end in her entry in the final qualifying session setting up what was to be a single run for Kapple. However, Kapple experienced problems as he came up to the starting line on his Single and had to shut off, putting him out of competition.
Kapple’s problems set up a single for Glasscock in the semi-finals and he would take it easy to prepare for the final round. The all V-8 Dragster match up between Sieg and Hauser was up next. Both struggled on the tree, but at the stripe it would be Jeff running .002 closer to the Index than David in a 2.916 to 2.914 victory.
This set up a classic Glasscock vs. Sieg final round. Glasscock, as he has shown throughout the years, thrives in pressure situations and he once again didn’t disappoint with a great .001 RT giving him enough room to pedal once he got out of shape taking a 3.17 to 2.97 hole shot victory.
Terry Glasscock
Jeff Sieg
Tim Hatfield
Trent Oldham
Top Alcohol
The Top Alcohol class was plagued with parts breakage throughout the weekend. First off, David Hauser’s Lethal Threat TA Dragster had major fuel pump issues and he was not able to make a pass down the track. By the time Saturday rolled around, three entries had decided to head into eliminations. John Moreland’s AMSOil Dragster ended up as the #1 qualifier with a 2.76. The Moreland Team improved throughout the weekend, but transmission problems would sideline them after qualifying on Saturday. Stacy Sieg ran a great 2.79 on his qualifier Saturday, but he would hurt the engine in the process so that would put him out of the program as well. This left David Hauser, in his Predator Dragster, who ran a best of 2.87 in qualifying. He would move over to compete in the TE class during eliminations. These guys all put on a great show during Friday’s T&T and in Saturday’s qualifying.
John Moreland
David Hauser
Pro 1 Cars
Friday night saw Big River Sand Drags regular David Risher face off with TVSD’s Brent Harper in the final round. Risher would leave first with a brilliant .008 RT and hang on for the big victory. On Saturday night, it would be locals facing off in the final as Bill White would take the victory over Ralph Keller.
Bill White
Ralph Keller
David Risher
Brent Harper
ATV Classes
Josh Hibdon was the dominant force in the ATV classes throughout the weekend. He would score wins on Friday night in the Pro 2 & Sportsman ATV classes while Saturday he would triple up taking Pro 1 & 2 ATV as well as Sportsman ATV. John Butler was the only other winner on the weekend, taking the Pro 1 ATV title on Friday night.
Josh Hibdon
Other Winners
Tony Hatfield came home with the Pro 2 Cars victory. Eric Denman ended up as the Sportsman Car winner on Saturday. Jacob Perry (Juniors) & Dayton Dockins (Peewees) were the Kids class winners Saturday.
Tony Hatfield
Photo Extra
Eric Gallay brought over the Dirtinator to TVSD for the first time & ran strong in the 4.6 range.
Russ Bailey fought through some parts breakage early in the weekend to run some consistent 3.3's with his ultra fast Motorcycle-powered Buggy.
Karen Hauser's TE Dragster was sporting a new wrap was looking strong in TE action before breaking the rear end spectacularly in Saturday Qualifying.
Kaylee Dennis was very impressive in Junior class action running in the low 6 second zone before clutch problems took her out in the Final Round.
John Dreher brought out his Altered equipped with the new Procharger SBC powerplant & looked impressive before transmission problems took him out for the weekend.
2010 PTN 3.5 Index Champion Dan Wies brought out the Wies Racing hot rod & dipped into the 3.3 zone in Pro 1 class competition.
Kody Bunch ran well in Pro 1 ATV class action.
John Butler did a great job on Friday taking the Pro 1 ATV class victory.
Kevin Moreland brought out his sharp General Lee Dodge Truck and made a couple of exhibition passes down the track. (NSDN Photo)
Photos Courtesy - Lone Star Graphics.