CompetitionPlus.com Spring Open Sunday Wrapup
March 11, 2001
Petersburg,
VA - SUMMIT FastNews - With three good days of testing under their
belts, many of the competitors at the CompetitionPlus.com IHRA Spring Open
loaded up and headed for home prior to Sunday's test sessions. Those
that left missed the best weather of the weekend, the quickest Pro Stock
run ever, and possibly the richest Jr. Dragster payout in history.
John Montecalvo continued to put his '01 Chevy Cavalier through its paces.
After making two almost-perfect test runs Saturday, Montecalvo went a bit
beyond the limits on his first two runs Sunday, the first out of shape in
the first 100 feet of the run and second out of the groove about 300 feet
down the track. But his third trip down the track was the quickest
Pro Stock run ever, a 6.575 at 208.71 mph, and the car was legal at the
scales, 2,405 pounds! Had this been a national event, his 5.61
Saturday would have been good enough to back it up as a World record, the
current mark Tom Lee's 6.582 at Rockingham last year. The run was
quick from the start, Montecalvo's 0.949 60-foot time also the quickest
ever and his half-track mark of 4.224 at 166.52 mph almost unbelievable
for a 2,400-pound Pro Stock car.
The
highlight of the day - at least the highlight up until Montecalvo's
amazing run - was an impromptu Jr. Dragster Shootout, which started with a
half-jesting $50 donation and ended up with a donated $3,235.01 purse
($1,635.01 cash plus a $1,600 website package) for the seven young racers.
The winner was ten year-old Richie Williams, of Dinwiddie, Va., who
defeated sixteen year-old Robbie Dowdy, of Chesapeake, Va. to earn 30
percent of the cash prize plus the website package. The remainder of
the cash prize was distributed among the other six contestants, 20 percent
to Dowdy and 10 percent to the other five.
Pro
Modified driver Carl Moyer Made two nice runs in his '57 Chevy Bel Air
Sunday, including the third-best Pro Mod run of the weekend, a 6.315 at
217.84. His other run Sunday was a nice, smooth 6.412 at 213.94 mph,
so Moyer appears ready to open the season in competitive form.
Angelo Alesci, the only other Pro Stock driver making runs Sunday, made
two smooth, clean passes, the first at 6.703 seconds and 205.29 mph, the
second 6.740 at 206.32.
John
Vouros made several runs in his CompetitionPlus.com Funny Car Sunday, his
best ET a 6.058 at 222.44 mph and his fastest a 6.108 at 228.23.
In Pro Modified, several drivers tried to beat Alan Pittman's winning
performance from Saturday, but only Moyer came close. Marc Hemling
made the second-best Pro Mod run of the day, his '00 Chevy Monte Carlo
clocked at 6.415 and 218.37 mph.
Mike
Castellana, Wayne Torkelson, Jr., Scott Ray, John Bartunek, Shannon
Jenkins, and Marc Hayes all made partial runs, but only Moyer and Hemling
crossed the finish line under full power. Castellana made one run,
to 330 feet, with no apparent problems, then called it quits for the
weekend. Jenkins, who set the mark at the Darlington pre-season
session, appeared to have his starting line handling problems sorted out
on his first attempt of the day, but a later run saw his new '68 Camaro
once again make a hard turn on the launch. Bartunek made a good
1,000-foot run early in the day, but when he came back later the engine
went sour at half track. Hayes had similar problems, the engine popping
and banging in the middle of the run. Ray's teething problems with
his new injected Pro Mod Corvette continued Sunday, the car leaving hard
and then fishtailing violently. Torkelson made several attempts in
his '55 T-Bird, but was unable to get the car cleanly off the starting
line.
For an event that the weather forecasters wrote off before it started, the
four-day CompetitionPlus.com Spring Open ended up being an amazing event,
conducted under blue skies. The racers will return here in six weeks
for the second event on the IHRA Summit Drag Racing Series 2001 schedule.
Results provided by the FastNews Network,
courtesy of Summit Racing Equipment
** http://www.summitracing.com/
**
Petersburg,
VA - SUMMIT FastNews - With three good days of testing under their
belts, many of the competitors at the CompetitionPlus.com IHRA Spring Open
loaded up and headed for home prior to Sunday's test sessions. Those
that left missed the best weather of the weekend, the quickest Pro Stock
run ever, and possibly the richest Jr. Dragster payout in history.
The
highlight of the day - at least the highlight up until Montecalvo's
amazing run - was an impromptu Jr. Dragster Shootout, which started with a
half-jesting $50 donation and ended up with a donated $3,235.01 purse
($1,635.01 cash plus a $1,600 website package) for the seven young racers.
The winner was ten year-old Richie Williams, of Dinwiddie, Va., who
defeated sixteen year-old Robbie Dowdy, of Chesapeake, Va. to earn 30
percent of the cash prize plus the website package. The remainder of
the cash prize was distributed among the other six contestants, 20 percent
to Dowdy and 10 percent to the other five.
Pro
Modified driver Carl Moyer Made two nice runs in his '57 Chevy Bel Air
Sunday, including the third-best Pro Mod run of the weekend, a 6.315 at
217.84. His other run Sunday was a nice, smooth 6.412 at 213.94 mph,
so Moyer appears ready to open the season in competitive form.
John
Vouros made several runs in his CompetitionPlus.com Funny Car Sunday, his
best ET a 6.058 at 222.44 mph and his fastest a 6.108 at 228.23.
Mike
Castellana, Wayne Torkelson, Jr., Scott Ray, John Bartunek, Shannon
Jenkins, and Marc Hayes all made partial runs, but only Moyer and Hemling
crossed the finish line under full power. Castellana made one run,
to 330 feet, with no apparent problems, then called it quits for the
weekend. Jenkins, who set the mark at the Darlington pre-season
session, appeared to have his starting line handling problems sorted out
on his first attempt of the day, but a later run saw his new '68 Camaro
once again make a hard turn on the launch. Bartunek made a good
1,000-foot run early in the day, but when he came back later the engine
went sour at half track. Hayes had similar problems, the engine popping
and banging in the middle of the run. Ray's teething problems with
his new injected Pro Mod Corvette continued Sunday, the car leaving hard
and then fishtailing violently. Torkelson made several attempts in
his '55 T-Bird, but was unable to get the car cleanly off the starting
line.