Funny Car Chaos World Finals@ Alamo City Motorplex, 10/15-16/21

[rebelracewriter]

Funny Car Chaos World Finals@ Alamo City Motorplex, 10/15-16/21

By JM Hallas

 

Marion, TX.,(Oct. 16Th, 2021) Weird ending to the night. Well, they don't call it “chaos” for nothing.

 

With the passing of a cool front Friday evening, temperatures and air conditions changed considerably for Saturday's start. Now it would be up to crew chiefs to keep up with cooler track surfaces, air density and a wind shift from south to north.

 

Having one more qualifying round helped teams try out different set ups getting down the track under completely different circumstances. In Friday night qualifying in the warmer, humid conditions it was Ronny Young grabbing the number one spot in Funny Car while Mark Hunter got the top spot in the Outlaw Fuel Altereds.

 

The final qualifying session Saturday, under better conditions, saw a lot of shuffling in the field with some teams hitting the proverbial nail on the head, while others under estimated conditions. When the smoke cleared, it was championship contender, Kirk Williams jumping past Ronny Young with a pass of 3.62 @ 214.08 to take the number one spot.

 

After the final round of qualifying, Funny Cars were then split into groups with eight cars in each grouping. Eliminations are different than other national sanctions being broken down into groups based on qualifying times, the top 8 and the next 8 in a second group, with each group running their own rounds of eliminations and break out times.

 

With a huge field of cars on site several sponsors stepped up to add a “C” field to eliminations giving more chances for drivers to grab some cash, trophies and those all important championship points.

 

Funny Car Eliminations(Group A)

The “A” group Funny Car finals was on the track awaiting their finals match with Kirk Williams(Williams Bros Racing) in the Firebird bodied car, going toe to toe with Bob Alberty jr.(Thunderin' Okie) in his Mustang bodied car. Unfortunately all they could is watch as clean up efforts began in both lanes. It was finally decided to split the purse after a long wait. The two had a roshambo(rock/paper/scissors) play off to determine who got the trophy. Alberty took home the hardware after an “overtime battle.”

 

Alberty took out Ken Singleton in round 2 and Ronny Young in round 1. Williams trailered Allen Middendorf and Dustin Bradford.

 

** With his round 1 victory over Alan Bradshaw and qualifying points, Singleton was able to get enough of a points lead to lock Williams out of the points battle. This would be Singleton's third Funny Car Chaos title in a row.

 

Funny Car Eliminations(Group B )

In the last of the two Funny Car groups to make it through the final round it was Lyle Greenberg(Cone Hunter) in retro Corvette Funny car paired with Keith Jackson(High Heaven) in his retro Camaro Funny Car. Jackson broke on his burnout and pulled to the side, exited, but left a puddle of oil. Greenberg ran out his pass, and at the top end chunked out some fluid and parts sparking a massive clean up effort in both lanes.

 

Lyle Greenberg, 3.996 @ 173.48 defeats Keith Jackson DNR

 

Greenberg beat Curtis Loftin in round 1 then Chris Schneider in round 2. Jackson bettered Tom Furches and Shayne Lawson.

 

Funny Car Eliminations(Group C)

The first group of the Funny Car finals saw Alex Barker, in only his third ever start, going up against Daniel Brutherus. A. Barker(Back in Black) in his retro GTO Funny Car got 4/100th on the line and that was about all she wrote as Brutherus(Rat-atude) in his Camaro bodied Funny Car tried to play catch up, but to no avail.

 

Alex Barker, 4.190 @ 172.61 defeats Daniel Brutherus, 4.274 @ 166.48

 

A. Barker bettered Tim Boychuck and Andy Mears while Brutherus beat Shane Blanton and Jade Cook.

 

Funny Car qualifying round 3

Kirk Williams, 3.626 @ 214.08

Ken Singleton, 3.759 @ 20814

Allen Middendorf, 3.784 @ 155.44

Alan Bradshaw, 3.934 @ 181.67

Tom Furches, 4.057 @ 176.47

Chris Schneider, 4.068 @ 177.44

Clay Cunningham, 4.078 @ 179.86

Keith Jackson, 4.173 @ 178.29

Chuck Loftin, 4.284 @ 167.85

Shane Blanton, 4.308 @ 156.79

Andy Mears, 4.332 @ 162.45

Alex Barker, 4.337 @ 167.72

Daniel Brutherus, 4.345 @ 166.42

Jade Cook, 4.367 @ 157.73

Jordan Ballew, 4.385 @ 161.93

Scott Cousimano, 4.511 @ 139.28

Tod Barker, 4.643 @ 167.66

Jeff Cameron, 4.751 @ 167.66

Bob Alberty, 5.198 @ 993.48

Scott Pareso, 5.592 @ 149.06

Eric Eoff, 5.708 @ 150.85

Terry Haddock, 6.037 @ 157.18

Nancy Matter, 6.423 @ 134.97

Dustin Bradford, 7.547 @ 67.59

Shayne Lawson, 7.840 @ 55.20

Robert Slaughter, DNT

 

Outlaw Fuel Altered Eliminations

The OFAA runs what they call, “Chicago Style” eliminations with everyone making side by side runs. Then the two fastest winners are paired up to run the finals. What was shaping up to be a pretty equal face off between John Broussard and Mark Hunter, who both ran 3.85's, never materialized. After the a fore mentioned delays, the winner was determined by a simple toss of the coin. Broussard won the coin flip to take home the hardware for the weekend. Ken Zimmerer was crowned the 2021 OFAA series champion.

 

Outlaw Fuel Altered qualifying round 2

Ken Zimmerer, 3.899 @ 193.38

John Broussard, 3.917 @ 161.93

Bobby Marriot, 3.946 @ 168.54

Jimmy Jones, 3.997 @ 150.80

Aaron Morrow, 4.945 @ 94.14

Jody Austin, 5.303 @ 140.67

Mark Hunter, 3.778 @ 179.45(BO)

 

The oil down delays came after an incident in the Nitro Harley qualifying when one of the riders exploded a motor and took a blow to the chest. The rider was, thankfully, able to slow the bike down, stay on-board and coast to a stop despite having the wind knocked out of him and possibly a few cracked ribs. He was checked out by track EMS and not transported at the time.

 

So these guys have some huge cajones, but straddling a live stick of dynamite, going 150-200mph, on one tire is not, my idea, of a thrill...I'm thinking kevlar would be a good investment though, yes?

 

Outlaw Top Sportsman

The Outlaw Top Sportsman final was supposed be a round one rematch between David Bills in the Fischer Bros, Cavalier and Keith Whitaker in his XRX CBD Shop, Camaro. Bills got a competition bye on the final run after Whitaker was unable to make the call.

 

David Bills, 4.665 @ 152.75 defeats Keith Whitaker DNR

 

Bills bested Whitaker and Mike Atkinson while Whitaker lost and rebought getting by an early leaving Austin Philpot in the semi's.

 

6.00 Index

The 6.00 final was a match up between two well know local racers, Scott Ball and Jonathon Hernandez, but with a twist. Ball was piloting the Jim Cole owned, Mission Racing, Monte Carlo while Hernandez was in the Leroy Obryant owned, Obryant Automotive, Chevy Monza. Sometimes you need a scorecard to follow these guys. After the long wait, the two opted to split the winning money.

 

In eliminations Ball beat D. Deberry, L. Williams, and Chris Gulitti with a round 4 bye. Hernandez took out Perry Taylor, M. Dodd, C. Deleon and M. Snider.

 

7.00 Index

The 7.00 Index finals should have had Brandon Meadows in his B&M Automotive, Ford Mustang squaring off with Jay Robinson in his American Bracket Racer Chevy Nova. But again, with the delay they decided to split.(Literally and figuratively)

 

Meadows got past Bob Gulitti(who broke out by 12/10,000th), Scott Ball, M. Rachul and Nathan Ybarra. Robinson took out K. Keller, Carlos Carrasco, Matt McInnis and took a round 4 bye to the finals.

 

Jet Dragster vs Nitro Dragster

Ray Kelly and his jet powered dragster ran a sweep of the grudge races between he and Dennis Smith in his blown alcohol dragster.

Edited October 17, 2021 by rebelracewriter

[rebelracewriter]

[rebelracewriter]

[rebelracewriter]

[rebelracewriter]

[rebelracewriter]

[rebelracewriter]

Off to the right you see the front end of Smith's dragster about 2' off the ground. Picked the wrong lane to shoot.

[NickHolt]

Great stuff, Reb!