FEATURE- From the Tower by Bob Frey

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Thu, 5 Jun 2008, 07:32 PM

Our Mid-Summer Classic

By Bob Frey
Photo copyright 2008 Auto Imagery, Inc. & Robert Grice

Standing: Russell Linke, Ron Erks, Craig Abbott,
Spencer Massey and Michael Iacono
Kneeling: Ed Olpin, Sal Biondo and Frank Manzo

OK, so it's not exactly mid-summer, but it is time for the drag racing version of the All Star game. At Rt. 66 Raceway this weekend the Jeg's All Star race will be held for the 24th time. The reigning individual champions all get a chance to defend their hard earned titles while the overall team champs will try to prove that, like last year, they do represent the division with the best racers in the country. While that may or may not be true based on the outcome of one race, it's the best we have, and so for at least one year, the other divisions will just have to live with it.

In truth, the other divisions have had to live with the folks from Division 1 for two years now, since they won the team title in both 2006 and 2007. That gave the racers from the "Land of NED," (North East Division), five overall titles and that ties them for second place with the home team from D-3 and the racers from the South Central part of the country, the Division 4 champs, who are also known as "The Good Guys." But all of them, along with the three other

Mick Snyder
divisions, five, six and seven, are all looking up at the team from the Southeast which has a record six All Star championships to its credit. Division 6, the team from the Northwest, or the "Land of the Leaders," won the team competition in 1988 and 2005 while the "High & Mighty" racers from Division 5 and their counterparts, the "Magnificent 7" for, you guessed it, Division 7, will be looking to win the team title for the first time. Only the home team has won this race in three consecutive years so the champs from Division 1 have that to shoot for as well as looking for the individual titles. Last year, en route to the championship, D-1 put four drivers in the winner's circle and that's pretty impressive. Frank Manzo, Sal Biondo, Michael Iacono and Russell Linke all won and they'll all be back to defend their titles this weekend. Frank Manzo will be participating in an All Star record 16th event and he'll be looking for his seventh win. Frank first competed back in 1992 when the Top Alcohol Funny Car crown was won by Mike Gordon over Vern Moats. Vern, by the way, is second best with fourteen trips to the classic while Gordon's son, Doug, will be racing against Frank and the other TAFC drivers at this year's event. There are two first timers in the class including Topeka champ, Steve Harker and the youthful Paul Anderson for D-5. Veteran and three-time finalist Jay Payne, Mick Snyder and Brian Hough round out the alky funny car field. One more thing, any rounds that Frank Manzo wins as part of the All Star show will not count toward his current forty-two round winning streak. Any rounds he wins on Sunday, will.

Brandon Pierce
There will also be two rookies in the dragster field that will be paced by defending champion, Spencer Massey. Brandon Pierce and Cody Perkins will get to enjoy their first taste of the All Star experience, although Cody may have been here before but only as a spectator. Another second-generation racer, I'm sure the "Flash" was here with his dad when he competed in the show in 2005. John Finke makes his second straight start and he'll look to give the D-1 team some points when he races with and against two-time all star, Artie Allen, multiple winner Marty Thacker, three-time starter Richard Putz and former Super Comp all star Thomas Bayer. Top Alcohol Dragster at the initial All Star race was won by Bill Walsh, a win that helped Division 1 win their first team title in '85. Bill, who was the hottest thing in the class at that time, beat Bruce McDowell in the final round. Among others in that class in '85 were Walt Rhoades, Butch Osmon and Troy Buff who will be competing this weekend in the Top Fuel class.

Matt Harris
There are certainly no easy classes at the All Star show, but Competition Eliminator is always exciting and this year should be no exception. Going back to the first race, when Bill Maropulos beat John Lingenfelter, Comp has always provided some of the best action of the entire event. In addition to the two finalists, Doug Kjono, Tim Cole and Roy Johnson were part of that Comp class of 1985. Tim will be racing this weekend while Roy will be helping his son, Allen, as they try to win the Pro Stock title. Sal Biondo, who has been to five previous All Star races, will look to repeat as the Comp champ and he'll get a serious test from the likes of Indy champ Jason Coan, two-time star Adam Bowdish and his fellow D-1 racer, Frank Aragona Jr.. Joining them in the hunt will be rookies Frank Cervelli for Division 2, Craig Bourgeois for D-4, Matt Harris for Division 5 and Winternationals' champ Jim Cowan for the west coast contingent. Sal's job of repeating won't be easy, especially when you look at the history of the class and see that only three drivers, Maropulos, Garley Daniels and Bo Nickens have even gone back-to-back in Competition Eliminator.

Alan Falcone
Over the past few years the folks at ESPN have had in-car cameras in several of the cars in the All Star show and the ones in the Super Stockers have provided the viewing audience with some great shots. After all, nobody does wheel stands like the Super Stock cars and no track is better for it than Rt. 66 Raceway. Michael Iacono, who had a career year in 2007, won the All Star show in Super Stock before going on to win the Lucas Oil World Championship in Stock Eliminator. Well, he better be ready to run hard if he wants to defend his All Star crown because the Super Stock World Champion, Darren Smith, is part of the Division 7 team and he'll be raring to go this weekend. He'll be joined by another former World Champ, Anthony Bertozzi, who is making his first start in the sportsman show case event. Jerry Emmons, who once qualified for this race in two different classes in the same year, will carry the banner for Division 4 and he'll be looking for his second individual title. The rest of the field is relatively young, at least in All Star years, with Bryan Worner, Michael Mans and Alan Falcone all rookies. And then there's John Coughlin, who will fly the yellow and black for Jegs as he looks to pick up one of the few things that he hasn't already won and that is an All Star title.

Tommy Mattingly
Big Russell Linke returns to the scene of his best day in racing when he comes to town to defend his Stock Eliminator crown. Russell, who beat the globe-trotting Mark Faul last year, will look to carry on a tradition that goes back to the '85 race, and that is, having a D-1 star win in Stock. At the inaugural race it was Alan Peters who beat Bill Quinn for the Stock Eliminator crown and that was another reason why the Northeast stars were the overall champs back them. Quinn, by the way, is one of only four drivers in the history of the event to foul out in the final round. Several first timers, like Tommy Mattingly, Austin Ford, Troy Henderson and Tommy Gaynor will also be in the field as will 2006 representative, Erroll Farmer. Brenda Grubbs rounds out the class and, with the way the women have been winning lately on the NHRA tour, maybe we should just give Brenda the trophy. Then again...Brenda will try to add her name to a very short list of women winners at the All Star race, a list that is made up of Mary Ann Method, Shelly Howard and Lynn Hoosigian. Like I said, it's a short list.

David Harrington
Six drivers in the 8.90 category will be making their first start and that should help, or may help, the defending champion Ron Erks. Ron, who will be making his fourth consecutive start and sixth overall, has a pair of final rounds to his credit and I have to think that little advantage could turn out to be a real plus for the former World Champion. The only other driver with any previous experience at this level is Sherman Adcock who will also be making his sixth start. Despite that, and despite all that he has done in his career, like win two World Championships, Sherman has never been able to seal the deal as an All Star. Maybe the seventh time will be the charm. Then again...None of the others in the Super Comp group have ever been part of the show before and I'm willing to bet that most of them have never even set foot on the Rt. 66 property before this weekend. Included in that group are Jack Sepanek, Mike Fuqua, Lloyd Parfait, David Harrington, Andy Morris and Justine Jeffrey

Carl Root
Ed Olpin is the defending champ, or the "blocker" as they are called, in the Super Gas class. Enjoying a good start to the 2008 year, Ed will tow in from Utah in hopes of defending his Super Gas championship. That has only happened a couple of times and it was accomplished by Vic Singer in 1989 & 1990, John Wood in '93 & '94 and by Jimmy Lewis in 1998 and 1999. Trying to stop Ed will be Michael Sawyer, the veteran David Tatum, who won Super Street in 1991, three-time division representative Doug Woody and Mike Coltrin who was here in 2004. All the others are rookies, including Carl Root, Wes Neely and Division 7's Val Torres. Torres has been running very well this year and maybe, just maybe, he can go enough rounds to keep the Division 7 guys (winless in All Star history...see above), in it until his alky guys can put some points on the board in the last round. Then again...

Gary Federico
The last class, but certainly not the least since they all carry the same amount of weight when it comes to adding up the points, is Super Street, the class that was once dominated by Rudy Matthews. For years Rudy was a fixture at the race and he went to five final rounds and promptly won them all. He won't be a part of the class of 2008, but Craig Abbott will because he's the defending champion. Craig, who will be making his fifth appearance in the race, won it twice in his two final round appearances. Craig won the 1995 race over a field that included among its members, Kyle Seipel, Ellard Lambert and Ed Alessi Sr.. Not exactly a walk in the park, is it? This year he'll have five drivers in the field who will be looking to win in their initial start. They are Gary Federico, Mike Desio, Paul Richardson, Regan Wilson and Jeff Landholm. Only third time all star, Dudley Gee and Dwight Downing have any experience at this race at all. Good luck you're going to need it?