PROLONG SUPER LUBRICANTS NORTHWEST NATIONALS
SEATTLE (July 28-30)
EVENT HOME
Event schedule
Results
Star Tracks
Audio Broadcast
Photo Gallery
Video highlights
Race Notebook
Preview
Event records
Ticket information
How to get there
Where to stay
Where to eat
Visitor Information
Prolong Super Lubricants Northwest Nationals Notebook
News and notes from the 13th annual Prolong Super Lubricants Northwest Nationals.
Most recent items at top.
|
Awesome Force: Okay, we know that you know that John Force is NHRA's all-time winningest driver, which, naturally, makes him NHRA's all-time winnginest Funny Car driver, too. He dominated the 1990s and is seeking his 10th career NHRA Winston championship.
But you knew those facts, right? Here's one we bet you didn't know:
Force's 87th win now gives him one more victory than the combined win total (86) of the next three winningest Funny Car drivers: Don Prudhomme (35); Kenny Bernstein (30); and Cruz Pedregon (21).
Now go amaze your friends.
|
Six for Scelzi: Gary Scelzi's Top Fuel victory was his sixth, tying the single-season Top Fuel record shared by nine drivers, who accomplished the feat in this chronological order: Don Garlits, Darrell Gwynn, Gary Ormsby, Joe Amato, Kenny Bernstein, Eddie Hill, Scott Kalitta, Cory McClenathan, and Scelzi.
The win also made him just the third Top Fuel driver to accomplish the feat twice; Ormsby and McClenathan did it back to back in 1989 and 1990, and 1997 and 1998, respectively. Scelzi's first six-win season was in 1998.
Scelzi now has 10 remaining races this season to set a new mark.
07/30/00
The Coil connection: When Bobby Lagana Jr. backed up from his burnout prior to his first-round meeting with Cory McClenathan, the driver of the Ralph White Top Fueler was taking direction from Lisa Coil, wife of 11-time NHRA Winston Funny Car championship crew chief Austin Coil.
The connection? Lisa Coil used to babysit Lagana.
07/29/00
|
It's an all-Cory for RT glory: Cory McClenathan and Cory Lee claimed the inaugural Red Roof Inns "Always Stop At Red, Go On Green" Quick Light Challenge, award and its accompanying $1,500 cash and six-night hotel stay.
McClenathan (pictured right), driver of the MBNA dragster, had a .451 in Top Fuel and Lee, pilot of the Pro Motorsports Avenger, a .437 in Funny Car.
07/29/00
|
Look ma, no wheel: Frank Pedregon experienced an anxious moment before ripping off a stout 5.05 in Saturday's first qualifying session:
"I was doing the burn-out and the steering wheel came off in my hands! That's why I stopped so quick, and I was crooked down there, I couldn't steer. Then I dropped it and you know, you're so strapped in you really can't move around in there so I was reaching down trying to find it and finally got my hands on it. Then, you have to put these things on in a real specific way and I was just stabbing at it trying to get it back on. I was just about to say 'The heck with it' and shut the car off when it clicked back on the stem. Then I was all messed up, hurrying back there and trying to get staged and everything. So what does it do? It flew right down there so nice and easy it was like a drive in the park. What a weird deal though man, it was nuts to be sitting out there trying to figure out what to do if I couldn't get the steering wheel back on. I couldn't pull over, because I couldn't steer! I was just sitting out there on the track going nuts in there. So there you have another first in my career."
|
The bald truth?: Adding to the excitement of Top Fuel qualifying was a side wager that reigning Winston Top Fuel champ Tony Schumacher made prior to the race in the media that if Gary Scelzi won their first-round match-up he would shave his head. Scelzi took the win light by a 4.680 to 4.772-second margin.
"If the man is worth a grain of salt he'll be bald tomorrow," Scelzi said. "(Joe) Amato said we'll have a shaving party and he'll buy the beer and the razors."
At right is an artist's rendition of the proposed "Shoe Do."
|
Anderson joins Marnell: Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson, who is best known for his many years as Warren Johnson's crew chief, has parted ways with Mark Pawuk and the Summit Racing camp and is now working for fellow Pro Stocker George Marnell as an advisor.
Anderson had competed in Pawuk's No. 2 Summit Racing Pontiac Firebird in every event on the 2000 schedule with the exception of Denver. He is currently 11th in the Winston championship points standings. His best finish of the year was a runner-up in St. Louis.
"It's very disappointing that we couldn't find a way for me to continue driving," Anderson said. "Like most things in this sport it came down to money. Mark gave me a great opportunity this year and he really wanted me to stay in that car and so did the Summit people, but the money just wasn't there.
"I'll be helping George out now and we'll see if we can't get him running quicker. I want to emphasize that his crew is staying the same and Marcus Svenson is still the crew chief. I'm just a friend helping out. I want to stay involved with this sport and be around if any opportunities present themselves."
 (click for larger image) |
Something to crow about: Former Winston Top Fuel champ Gary Scelzi and Alan Johnson's Team Winston camp have a new mascot, a crow called Maxx Kakl. The black bird is the team's answer to Nitro Fish, Louie The Lizard, Snake, Snoopy and the Mad Scientist.
The name originates from the moments leading up to Scelzi's first final-round appearance, at the 1997 Winternationals, when he asked car owner and tuner Johnson, "Have you put everything you can in this motor?" to which Johnson replied, "It's got 'max cackle' in it!" (meaning more nitro, more power, and more tune-up).
|
Bazemore 'tools' around Washington: Funny Car driver Whit Bazemore decided to get in a little extra seat time Thursday. However, instead of assuming his usual position at the controls of the Kendall Motor Oil/Matco Tools Camaro Z28 Funny Car, Bazemore strapped himself into the passenger seat of a white, red, black and silver Matco Tools van.
As part of a "Driver Ride Along" promotion, Bazemore left his hotel early in the morning and, with District Manager Mark Ito, headed north of Seattle to Marysville, Wash., where they met up with Matco Tools distributor and racing representative Scott Anderson. After boarding the Matco truck, they visited several customers throughout the area, including dealerships such as Ray Robinson Chevrolet. At each stop, Bazemore is taking take time to sign autographs and meet with the employees, an obvious reversal of the normal setting.
"So far this season, I've met quite a few Matco Tools customers at the track, whether at one of their hospitality tents or in the pits," Bazemore said. "The way I see it, at the track they watch our team prepare the Kendall/Matco Camaro for competition. By riding with a distributor for a day, not only do I get to thank these customers in person for their support but I'll see them at their place of work. Overall, I think it's going to be a very interesting and fun day, and a great start to our weekend in Seattle."
|
The future is now: Defending event Pro Stock champion Kurt Johnson will be driving his familiar Chevrolet Camaro this weekend, but his mind already is on the future.
"We take delivery of our new Cavalier bodies in three weeks," Johnson said, referring to the new car he and several other drivers will be piloting next year. "We'll have them over to Don Ness right away and he tells me we'll see the finished product in less than three months. I can't wait."
Johnson has helped the Cavalier project along since its inception, spending several hours working with engineers in the wind tunnel.
"We had a fiberglass mock-up that we took into the tunnel to work on the aerodynamics," Johnson said. "By the time we were done it was a pretty slippery machine. I'm pumped up about the potential of this car.
"I'd still like to drive this old Camaro into the winner's circle a few more times before we retire it. This has been a great car for us over the last few years. I have plenty of great memories. But the future is exciting too."