Sat, 11 Nov 2006, 11:25 AM Snowballs and Points Races

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2006 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Earlier this year I ran a story about Ross Stickler, the driver of the "National Guard" Top Alcohol Funny Car. I was able to watch the team this past weekend at the Division 7 race at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where they tried to make the quickest TA/FC field in NHRA divisional history. And, while they didn't accomplish that goal, they did make an impression on a lot of people for a very different reason. Ross and his mom, Susan, were involved with promoting a group called the "Snowball Express." This is an organization that works with the Rotary International in an attempt to raise money for the children of service men and women who have been killed in action in the Middle East. They hope to be able to raise money to make the upcoming holidays a little nicer for these children, and after what they have been through, that shouldn't take a lot. Michael Kerr, the founder of the Snowball Express, told me that "we will be bringing children and their surviving parent or guardian from all over the country to Orange County, California for a holiday party that they won't forget." Included in the party will be a trip to Disneyland for the kids during the month of December. As you can imagine, this kind of endeavor takes money and that's what Michael, Susan, Ross and their race team was trying to do in Las Vegas. While they were there I had the opportunity to meet with Christa Griffith, whose husband, John, was killed in Afghanistan earlier this year. As I talked with Christa and she told me about her husband and their two children, Spencer and Hunter, I mentioned that a good

Ross Stickler

friend of ours on the NHRA tour, Louis Brewster, who writes for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, had lost his son in Afghanistan too. As soon as she heard that she said that Louis' son, Bryan, was on the same aircraft as her husband was and that they were killed in the same incident. As you can imagine, I was speechless, after all, what can you say at a time like that and what are the chances that those two would have been connected in that way? The point of this is that Ross and his team will be in Pomona this weekend and, if you are so inclined, why not stop by, say hi and make a small donation to the Snowball Express. I know that several of the teams, including Sean O'Bannon and others, did so in Las Vegas and every little bit means a great deal to the families. With the huge crowd that is expected in Pomona, if we all give one dollar it would be a tremendous help. If you can't get to the track this weekend, check out the web site at http://www.snowballexpress.org to find out how you can contribute. It's such a small world and we are all blessed to be able to do what we enjoy, like going to the races, so let's do something to make life a bit brighter for the children of those who gave so much for all of us. And our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those families, especially to Christa and her children and Louis and his wife.

Randy Wilkes

On the points front, all of the Lucas Oil sportsman championships have been decided except for Stock Eliminator and Super Gas. In the Stock class, Randy Wilkes went to the semi-finals last week to take over the lead and he has a total of 622 points, which is all he can get this year. Tibor Kadar and James Paul are the only ones with a chance at catching the Zanesville, Ohio native and it won't be easy for either of them. Tibor and James can both add points at the final national event of the year but they have to go deep into the eliminations. James, in fact, has to make it to the final round to have any shot at all and, even then, it will depend on what young Tibor does. For his part, Tibor has to at least go five rounds into eliminations to keep his title hopes alive. If he loses in the fourth round, for example, he would be tied with Randy at 622 points and Randy would win on the first tie-breaker, which is total round wins at scored national and divisional events. Randy has thirty-six and Tibor would have thirty-five and, thus, would lose by one round. If Tibor goes to the fifth round he would be the champ unless James goes all the way and wins the event. It sounds complicated but it should be fun to watch and, as I always say, I would rather be the guy in the lead even though he can't help himself, than any of the guys doing the chasing.

Iggie Boicesco

Super Gas is even more exciting, that is, if the total number of drivers who are still alive translates into excitement. Iggie Boicesco continues to pace the field but he will get a challenge from Jeff Szilagyi, Kevin Kleineweber and Tim Landis. It basically comes down to this, Iggie has all the points that he can get for the year, 609, while Jeff has to last three rounds, Kevin five and Tim needs to go to the semi-finals if he hopes to be the champion. There is one of those wacky tie-breaker scenarios in this class as well. If Jeff goes out in the third round he would tie Iggie and then Jeff would win on the second tie-breaker, which is head-to-head competition at their scored events. Since the two only met once at a "scored event" and Jeff won that, he would win on the tie-breaker rule. It gets even stranger if Kevin and Tim end up tied, which they could, and then we would have to go to the third tie-breaker, which is the total number of points based on wins, runner-up and quarter-final finishes. If it comes to that, Tim would win by one point. But before we get to that, let's see how the guys do on race day and we'll take it one round at a time. One thing that is interesting is that I don't believe Iggie is even in the same time zone this weekend. If he holds on and wins he may be punching up Orbitz on the web to check for a Monday flight to California. Good luck to all of them.

Tom Bayer

And now here are a couple of other notes to clean out the note book before the last race of the year....Cody Perkins impressed me in Las Vegas with his strong performance in the family's Top Alcohol Dragster. Making just his fourth start, Cody ran well before losing to John Finke in the semi-finals. Cody, or "The Flash" as he is called, beat Sean O'Bannon in the first round and it marked the fourth time in his four races that he has raced Sean during eliminations. Not that anyone is counting but "The Flash" leads that little mini-match up three to one. The one loss came at Bakersfield when Sean blasted by him at 266 miles per hour and, according to Cody, it blew the side panels right off the car. "Maybe that's not what caused them to come off, but he went by me so fast it sure seemed like it," he said....The Bateman's, Garrett and Roger, won in the two alky classes, with the Big O car that is driven by Garrett, beating the "Beast from the East," John Finke in the finals while Canadian Roger Bateman beat Clint Thompson in the money round. "We wanted to thank Hank Coolidge's team and Joey Severance too, and all of our friends for coming over and helping us change engines between the semi-finals and the finals," Roger said. "Without their help we wouldn't have made it to the line for the last round." It's that kind of friendship and support that sets our sport apart from most others, isn't it? Congrats to everyone involved in that thrash for a job well done....Tom Bayer accomplished something special this week when he wrapped up both the Division 7 Super Comp and Super Gas titles. Winning one championship in a year is tough, but winning two is almost unheard of. I spoke with Tom's dad at the Jack Beckman - Jenna Lucy wedding last night and he was, rightfully so, very proud of his son. Way to go, Tom..Chris Demke held off all of his challengers and won the Division 7 Top Alcohol Dragster title for the third consecutive year. Duane Shields and Sean O'Bannon both had a shot at catching Jerry Maddern's driver but neither was able to get the job done. From top to bottom that's a really good team, and to win three straight division titles puts them in a very select group..Danny Townsend, still on the mend from his accident a few weeks ago, will sit out the 2007 season which means that the Parker family will have to name a new driver for their Dodge car next year. You can expect an announcement any day now and, believe me, it will be a very good choice. I can say no more. Our best to Danny as he recuperates and we hope to see him on the track again, but not before he is fully mended and one hundred percent ready to go again. You won't find a nicer guy or a harder racer than Danny and we look forward to his return, and we look forward to seeing Frank Parker and the team compete in the alky funny car class next year.

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