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BAYTOWN, Texas -- Mike Dunn and Darrell Gwynn returned to the NHRA tour with a big bang as Dunn headed qualifying with a 4.530 from the NY Yankees backed car. That was the quickest run yet since the implementation of the 90% rule and the 322.34 mph speed was not only a career best for Dunn but also one of the fastest this year. Although the team has tested extensively since the deal was announced immediately prior to the U.S. Nationals the first couple of outings produced little in the way of results as Ken Veney and Todd Smith learned the ins and outs of new clutch and fuel management systems. The car did run well in post event testing in Memphis but that lack of quality track time, despite some 30 test laps, told in round one as Dunn smoked the tires to advance Bobby Baldwin. Although the Gwynn/ Dunn team was previously backed by Mopar the car now sports GMC lettering on the injector butterflies. Well before Dunn started making news here there was plenty to talk about with Jim Epler making a surprise announcement that he is leaving the WWF team at season's end to wheel Chuck Etchells' second entry that will be backed by Racing Champions/ ETRL and Matco Tools. Epler informed team owner Jerry Toliver of his decision after the Dallas race was rained out and when the news became public knowledge a nunber of hopefuls began angling for the primo ride. With several new start up teams entering the mix, quality drivers with plenty of fuel car seat time are in short supply and it looks as if Toliver may be stepping outside the ranks as Tony Bartone appears to have the inside track. Alky flopper standout Bartone was very much in evidence when the WWF cars went to the line here and Toliver was also observed at the start line when Tony’s Federal Mogul entry ran. Bartone’s FM/FC victory here obviously did not hurt his chances of landing the ride. As a side bar to the Epler note, crew chief John Stewart and the majority of Epler's crew were evidently planning to follow their driver to the Etchells camp, but Stewart was waylaid by Dean Skuza and will now join that team next year. Skuza plans to announce the replacement for the departing Matco Tools backing at the SEMA show in Las Vegas on Monday and is evidently close to signing a deal for a second car as well. The trend to two car teams in the F/C ranks may extend even further if Gary Scelzi has his way. Scelzi has gone public with his desire to get back into the short wheelbase cars that he last drove while contesting the Division 7 Federal Mogul championship in 1996. Scelzi won the alky dragster championship that year before replacing the late Blaine Johnson and winning what will soon be the first of three T/F titles in 1997. In 1993 Scelzi had won that Pacific Division championship in an alcohol funny car and has long desired to get back under a roof. The rumour accompanying the Scelzi disclosure has Cory McClenathan taking some backing from current sponsor MBNA to Alan Johnson’s Foxen Canyon Motorsports operation and taking over the dragster ride there while the Winston backing follows Scelzi into the F/C ranks. If Johnson needs another crew chief he could call Lee Beard who was "released" by Kenny Bernstein prior to the original Dallas weekend. Mike Green has been promoted to the crew chief position and next year Johnny West will join the Bud King team as well. That marks the second time the Green has followed Beard to a team and then replaced him as crew chief, the Gibbs operation being the prior scene of a "coup" although Green later befell the same fate when Wes Cerney took over the dragster operation there. Following the Memphis event the MBNA team stripped down their 174 run chassis and switched the components into the back up car, but here McClenathan was driving yet another car. The new unit is the latest design from Murf McKinney’s shop and is probably the most radically different top fuel chassis seen in some time. The new frame design has the cockpit centre uprights made from bigger diameter tubing and from that point forward the cockpit narrows considerably. That change allows the front frame rails to be attached to the upright rather than being an extension of the main rails as is the norm. In turn that adds a considerable amount more flexibility to the frame as the lighter front rail tubing is now some two feet longer. A side benefit is that in a catastrophic incident the frame is even more prone to separating at that attachment point with less likelihood of the foot box being torn open. Adding to the safety factor are titanium plates attached to the foot box alongside the driver’s feet. In a violent accident the magnesium body panels are usually stripped off a fueller while the titanium components should survive and help keep the drivers feet within the cockpit confines. The plates will also prohibit intrusion of foreign objects. Something must be working right with the car as after testing at Dallas following the rain-out there and running a 4.59 best the team came here and qualified 2nd with a 4.540 at 321.35 mph. In eliminations McClenathan was in the 4.5’s in every round on his way to his first national event victory since Indy last year. McKinney's phone will probably be ringing off the hook this week as teams scramble to place orders for duplicates of the chassis which crew chief Was Cerney notes seems to be able to handle all the horsepower available. While the rest of the MBNA team are headed in different directions next year Kirk Butterfield is staying with Joe Gibbs but in a rather different capacity. Butterfield who began his professional drag race career with John Force is going to move to the #18 Winston Cup Pontiac of current points leader Bobby Labonte where he will be responsible for making final tuning adjustments to the motor at the track Also with new McKinney pipe under them were Ron Capps and Johnny Gray. Capps’ U.S. Tobacco Camaro was so new that the paint job was in black "suede", aka primer. The Don Prudhomme owned team tested as Dallas as well with good results but struggled in qualifying here after an initial 5.007, smoking the tires on each subsequent lap. The problem was traced to a leak in the clutch management system but crew chief Ed McCulloch and the team got it all figured out in time for round one of eliminations. Even the less preferred right lane was good for a 4.858, low elapsed time for the breed until John Force uncorcked a 4.847 later in the round. Gray's new car sports a Pontiac shell rather than the Dodge that adorned his last car, a former Paul Smith unit. With Rick Cassel tuning him to a 5.022 Gray was on the bump for the quickest F/C field in history and his much improved 4.96 at 303.84 (both numbers being career bests) in round one had #1 qualifier Bruce Sarver covered even before the e-moola.com Pontiac took out a couple of cones. Following his Maple Grove DNQ and acrimonious split with former crew cheif Mike McLaughlin, Don Lampus is well and truly back on track with his now Wayne Dupuy tuned Express AutoParts.com dragster. Lampus was third on the final qualifying list with a 4.580 at 320.36 mph recorded on Friday night and backed up that effort with a 4.584 at 321.19 mph to record career best numbers. Dupuy and co-crew chief Chris Cunningham also put the Cristen Powell into the show with the Nitro Fish Camaro and she gave a good account of herself against John Force in round one before a dropped cylinder drove the car towards the centerline. Even with the early shut off Powell still carded a 4.971 at only 274 mph but Force was long gone with the aforementioned 4.847. After struggling at recent events Paul Smith had Bob Gilbertson's Camaro back in the fours here. The Trick Tank Camaro sported a camouflage paint scheme with Stewart and Stevenson and FMTV signage. For the uniniated FMTV is not a competitor to cable or satellite but rather the acronym for Family of Military Tactical Vehicles, the primary product of Stewart and Stevenson. While Gilbertson was in good shape with his sixth best 4.934/ 308.28 mph qualifying effort Smith was not doing so well. Last week in Dallas Smith had fluid drained from his knee and he was getting around on crutches here. The winner of the early season race here, Gilbertson again showed well with a semi final finish. John Force should treat Gilbertson and his team to a really good dinner this week as their efforts here locked up a 10th championship for Force. In round one Gilbertson used a holeshot to eliminate Jerry Toliver and by taking out Capps in round two he removed any mathematical chance of either driver passing the Castrol backed driver in the points chase. Capps' elimination also increased the chance that Tony Pedregon will finish second to his boss for the third time in four years and Pedregon helped that cause himself by winning the event. When Force rolled out for the final round of eliminations his car was wearing the Frankenstein body as the regular white Castrol GTX shell suffered some structural damage in the semi. Continuing the halloween theme Joe Amato carried the Wolfman colors on his Dynomax entry and had grown a beard to match while Matt Hines was riding the Dracula Suzuki. Both Dean Skuza and Whit Bazemore showcased new paint jobs here at sponsor Matco's title event. The Etchells entry was primarily red and yellow with a flame theme and was a definite candidate for the best appearing car award. Frank Pedregon's Checker/ Schuck's/ Kragen Pontiac also wore new colors as Texaco/Havoline have mounted a promotion with special edition die cast models available in conjunction with the two Texas events. Tony Schumacher made a brave attempt to re-enter the T/F points race but after the first qualifying session he again stepped out of the Army dragster noting that he injured left leg was unable to adequately control the clutch at what he determined to be a safe level. The original plan had been for Melanie Troxel to switch to the Army entry while crew man and former Joe Amato test shoe Bill Walsh steered the Exide car. When Tony decided to make an attempt to compete the decision was made to leave Troxel in her regular ride and have Walsh substitue in the Army car if necessary. When Walsh staged for Friday night’s qualifying session it marked the first time that he had driven a fuel car at night as all of the test runs that he made for Amato were daylight efforts. That lap produced a 4.791 and the first run on Saturday was slowed by half track tire smoke sending walsh into the final session on the bump. When the 17th and only unqualified car driven by Mark Kinsella pulled out of line for that session Walsh was safe but he made sure with a 4.730 that moved him up a spot. Incidentally the car that Walsh drove here is what was formerly the team's spare as well as being the car that ran 330 mph at Phoenix last year. A final Schumacher note involves the four butterfly injector hat that is now on both the Schumacher entries. As well as simplifying tuning calls for crew cheif Dan Olson it also gives the sponsor a little more exposure as A-R-M-Y will not fit on the three hole unit. The ever "politically incorrect" Whit Bazemore was burning bridges again here. The Kendall/Matco team struggled in qualifying, smoking the tires on the first two attempts and wallowing to a safe 5.134 early on Saturday before Terry Manzer got it right. Bazemore was on the bump going into the final session and by the time he ran was down to 22nd in the order. With a stout 4.919 at 313.00 mph he moved up to third at the time and fifth in the final order. Much to the chagrin of the team's p.r. man Bazemore then proceeded to comment in a top end interview that his team owner probably needed to devote his efforts to his currrent operation rather than spending his time putting a second team together. As Etchells' input into the actual tuning of the car is virtually nil Bazemore appeared to be on the wrong track there with his criticism. Ron Krisher loaned one of his motors to Richie Stevens at Memphis and here the Valspar entry once again had one of Krisher's bullets under the hood. The motor that took Stevens to the semi final was the one used by Tom Hammonds until his season ended early with a return to basketball. Bo Nickens made his pro stock debut here in the third of the Dodge Boys R/T's but missed the cut as did Scott Geofffrion. Darrell Alderman and Larry Morgan qualified 12th and 16th respectively but neither made it out of round one.
David Feazell was the quickest of the Harley Davidson’s trying to
qualify for the bike field with a career best 7.651 at 171.84 mph although
he was well short of the 7.431 bump spot. Dan Baisley and Tom Bradford were
not far behind with 7.690 and 7.694 efforts as the quickest of five H-D's
in the 28 bike line-up.
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