Posted on 04/06/2006 6:20:44 PM PDT by Loud Mime
Night time racing in Vegas this Friday. I plan on being there and will post up some photos. I also received an OK from the Army crew to photo some of the returning Vets with the Schumacher car!
To start things, I'm doing a little photo piece on one of the greatest hot-rodders of all time Mickey Thompson. He challenged life many times, but lost his life when he was gunned down, along with his wife, by hit men.
The Challenger I was powered by four blown pontiac engines. It made a top run at 406.6 mph. at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Considering that the car was wheel-driven on small tires, that's quite an accomplishment. In Mickey's book he claimed he did not make the return run because a friend of his told him that he had a dream that he would get killed on the upcoming run. Does anybody remember this?
In 1962 Mickey built the car driven by Dan Gurney at the the Indianapolis 500. I went to that race and remember how the buick-powered car sounded far different than the Offenhausers. This was not the first rear-engine car to race in the modern 500's; the year before Jack Brabham drove a Cooper Climax to the end of the 500 miles.
In the 1963 Mickey made a move toward the future with a car that required a newer profile of tire that made changes in the sport. His car was over-shadowed by the Lotus Fords in performance, but it's unique make-up was the talk of the race.....along with the ford's claim of making one pit-stop.
The 1964 Indianapolis 500 saw a newer design, driven by ascending drive David McDonald. The car was powerd by gasoline instead of alcohol, which would give it better mileage.
Coming out of turn four McDonald spun out, hit the inner retainer wall, burst into flames, bounced back into the track, hit the outer retaining wall, then was hit by Eddie Sachs. Both McDonald and Sachs were killed in this terrible crash.
Thompson raced the quarter mile up to 1975 in a funny car sponsored by the US Marines.
Here the Marine car races Don Prudhomme's Army Car.
Hey, I got to hit the road! If anybody wants to add on this, please do!!
'mime
If any of you want on the drag racing/hot rodder ping list, let me know.....
You'll find loads of information on Thompson's killing. Please put it on here......I've got to hit the road!
Please add me to your ping list. Thanks.
I was at the Indy Nationals in 69 and 70. Mickey Thompson was running a funny car then. One of those years I was in the pits behind the lights near the front of the staging lanes.
There was a lull in the action and Funny Cars were getting ready to qualify. Mickey went walking on the track near the Christmas Tree to check track conditions and people were happy to see him out in the open. Those were the days when you mixed nitro and gas. I don't know it they still do that.
People were yelling at him to put pure nitro in his car (or as pure as it comes). They were yelling "Put the label in the tank, Mickey"! And he was smiling and waving to the crowd, a big favorite with the fans.
Racing Las Vegas Pre-Race
Thursday, 06 April 2006
TEAM CASTROL/JOHN FORCE RACING
Pre-Race
Event: 7th annual Summitracing.com Nationals, fifth of 23 events in the 2006 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.
Site: The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Dates: April 7-9, 2006
Track Records:
Funny Car – 4.746 seconds by Gary Scelzi, Oct., 2005; 328.22 mph by Del Worsham, Oct., 2004.
Top Fuel – 4.472 seconds by Scott Kalitta, April, 2004; 335.57 mph by Doug Kalitta, April, 2004.
Pro Stock – 6.775 seconds by Jason Line, Oct., 2004; 203.09 mph by Greg Anderson, Oct., 2004.
Top Alcohol Dragster – 5.367 seconds, 269.29 mph by Morgan Lucas, April 2003.
John Force Racing Team History at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:
Victories – 4. One by John Force for Castrol GTX (fall race in 2002); two by Tony Pedregon for Castrol SYNTEC (spring and fall races in 2003); fall race in 2000; one by Gary Densham for the Auto Club of Southern California (spring race in 2002).
Current points:
NHRA POWERade Series:
FUNNY CAR – 1. Ron Capps, 395; 2. John Force, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, 327; 3. Robert Hight, Team Castrol/Automobile Club of Southern California Ford Mustang, 258; 4. Phil Burkart Jr., 249; 5. Eric Medlen, Castrol SYNTEC Ford Mustang, 221; 6. Tommy Johnson, 214; 7. Del Worsham, 213; 8. Bob Gilbertson, 205; 9. Tony Pedregon, 174; 10. Cruz Pedregon, 171.
Skoal Showdown (top eight drivers will compete for a $100,000 top prize on Sept. 3, 2006, at Indianpolis):
FUNNY CAR – 1. John Force, Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, 1,380; 2. Eric Medlen, Castrol SYNTEC Ford Mustang, 1,285; 3. Robert Hight, Team Castrol/Automobile Club of Southern California Ford Mustang, 1,235; 4. Gary Scelzi, Oakley Dodge, 1,215; 5. Tommy Johnson Jr., Skoal Chevrolet, 1,210; 6. Tony Pedregon, Quaker State Chevrolet, 1,185; 7. Ron Capps, Brut Dodge, 1,175; 8. Del Worsham, CSK Chevrolet, 1,145; 9. Whit Bazemore, Matco Dodge, 1,120; 10. Gary Densham, Racebricks Chevrolet, 950.
Full-Throttle Pit Crew Challenge:
FUNNY CAR – 1. Castrol GTX Ford Mustang (John Force), Austin Coil/Bernie Fedderly, 166; 2. CSK Chevrolet (Del Worsham), Chuck Worsham, 129; 3. Matco Tools Dodge (Whit Bazemore), Brian Corradi, 128; 4. CSK Chevrolet (Phil Burkart Jr.), Chris Cunningham/Mark Denner, 127; 5. Brut Dodge (Ron Capps), Ed McCulloch, 126.
NHRA Lucas Sportsman Series:
TOP ALCOHOL DRAGSTER – 1. Aaron Olivarez, 307; 2. Ashley Force, Castrol Dragster, 265; 3. Steve Torrence, 234; 4. Tie, Randy Meyer and Duane Shields, 202 each; 6. Arthur Gallant, 191; 7. Tie, Chris Demke and Bill Reichert, 170 each; 9. Sean O’Bannon, 160; 10. Spencer Massey, 159.
Television (all on ESPN2):
Saturday, April 8 – Qualifying highlights, 8-10 pm (ET).
Sunday, April 9 – NHRA 2Day, 11:30 am (ET); Pro racing highlights, 7-10 pm (ET).
Tuesday, April 11 – Repeat race highlights, 2:30-4:30 am (ET).
Sunday, April 16 – Sportsman highlights, 12 noo-1 pm (ET).
Thursday, April 27 – Repeat sportsman highlights, 2-3 am (ET)
Quarter-Mile Record Holders
Updated 04/06/2006 Professional Categories
Class E.T. Speed Date Driver/Car Location
TF 4.440 10/01/05 Tony Schumacher - Long Grove, IL
'04 R.E.D. Hadman Joliet, IL
TF 336.15 05/25/05 Tony Schumacher - Long Grove, IL
'05 Hadman R.E.D Hebron, OH
FC 4.665 333.58 10/03/04 John Force - Yorba Linda, CA
'04 Ford Joliet, IL
PS 6.633 208.23 03/19/05 Greg Anderson - Concord, NC
'05 Pont Grand Am Gainesville, FL
PSM 6.968 07/30/05 Andrew Hines - Brownsburg, IN
'05 Harley Davidson Sonoma, CA
PSM 197.45 03/19/05 Andrew Hines - Brownsburg, IN
'04 HD V-Rod Gainesville, FL
TAD 5.109 11/01/04 Mitchell Myers - Hermiston, OR
'98 URC Pomona, CA
TAD 280.66 10/01/05 Bill Reichert - Owosso, MI
'97 R.E.D. Bowen Joliet, IL
TAFC 5.519 10/03/04 Jay Payne - Claremont, CA
'04 Chevrolet Joliet, IL
TAFC 262.33 05/18/03 Frank Manzo - Morganville, NJ
'03 Pont Firebird Englishtown, NJ
Add me to your list please. Thanks.
it's been on TV on AMW
Hight rockets to top Funny Car spot; Shoe, Anderson also leads in Vegas.
Reigning Rookie of the Year Robert Hight showed Las Vegas Motor Speedway the quickest Funny Car pass in its' eight-year history Friday, covering "the Strip's" quarter-mile in 4.702 seconds at 327 mph to lead the qualifying action at the seventh annual NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals.
Three-time and reigning Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher and Pro Stock points leader Greg Anderson also earned provisional low qualifier honors at the $1.7 million race, the fifth of 23 on the $50 million NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Schumacher posted a 4.501-second lightning strike in the first round of action, while Anderson waited until the cooler evening session to run a 6.787-second pass.
Ping to the weekend drag-racing thread.
Ping bac at'cha from the Nascar TMS weekend thread,, ;-)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1609160/posts
Busch series is racing now on Fox..
333 mph 4.6 seconds, Whew.. That is flat out flying.
7,000 horsepower! Boggles the mind!
Just got round 3 off the Summit site; looks like its a little warm in the desert today - lots of tire smokers. No major changes.
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