FEATURE- From the Tower by Bob Frey

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Thu, 12 Jun 2008, 11:42 PM

No Wonder They're All Stars

By Bob Frey
Photo copyright 2008 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Bayer vs. Brandon

As much as I enjoy watching the professionals race at every NHRA national event, I have always said that a really good sportsman show is as good for me as a 330 mph Top Fuel run, and all you have to do is look back at the Jegs All Star show on Saturday in Chicago and the sportsman races on Sunday to see why. From Thomas Bayer's win over Brandon Pierce in the Top Alcohol Dragster class Saturday night to Thomas Bayer's loss to world champion Bill Reichert on Sunday, this was a great weekend for sportsman racers and fans of the sportsman classes. Plus, you have to remember that this is one of the few races all year where all of the sportsman classes, from the alky dragsters to Super Street all compete.

Reichert vs. Bayer
The Top Alcohol Dragster All Star for 2008 is Thomas Bayer who drives the Toyo Tires car for owner Steve and Patty Federlin. Thomas made a pair of 5.44 runs against defending All Star champ Spencer Massey and Division 1 champ John Finke in the first two rounds before unloading a 5.40 to beat Brandon in the final round. For his part, Brandon had beaten Division 5 champion Richard Putz and Marty Thacker in the opening two rounds before meeting Thomas for the title. Along the way, Brandon used two holeshots and a couple of 5.47 runs to get those wins and earn his shot in the championship round. In the final round he was first off the line again and he ran 5.47 again, but this time Thomas stepped up with his best run of the day, a 5.408, and he won the race and earned points for Division 6. On Sunday, Thomas and Steve picked up right where they left off, recording a 5.40 in round one against west coast standout Shawn Cowie and they followed that up with an even better 5.39 in their round two win over Aaron Tatum. A 5.43 in the semi-finals put them in line for the lucrative double-up bonus if they could beat the champ in

Gordon vs. Manzo
the final round. Reichert, who had gone 5.32, 5.35 and 5.34 in his first three rounds put another 5.34 on the board and that was more than enough to beat Thomas who shook the tires and shut off. It was a very good weekend for Steve and his team and, in the big picture, maybe even a better weekend for Bill. Right now there doesn't seem to be a clear cut favorite in the dragster class and with Bill's first win and his second final round appearance he is in good shape to defend his title. Spencer Massey, John Finke, Aaron Tatum and Duane Shields are all in the top five and all could mount a challenge to Bill. Bill did reach a milestone by winning his 200th round on Sunday and that's a bunch in the TAD class so congratulations to him and his entire Rislone team. Thomas shouldn't feel too badly about not getting the two wins because that's only been done twice in the Top Alcohol Dragster class in All Star history. Rick Santos did it in 2000 and Morgan Lucas matched that with a pair of wins in 2003.

Doug Gordon did something in Joliet that nobody has done in a long time, he beat Frank Manzo. Not only did he beat Frank but he actually ran him down to win the All Star portion of the Top Alcohol Funny Car class on Saturday. Frank was first out of the gate but Doug ran 5.621 to edge Frank's 5.655 and add his name to the TAFC winner's list at the All Star show, a list that already includes his dad, Mike, who won in 1992. Doug beat Steve Harker and Mick Snyder before taking out Frank in the final round. Frank then had his revenge on Sunday when he ran his consecutive round win streak to an amazing 46 by beating Chris Foster, Cy Chesterman, Gordon and Roger Bateman. The last two he stopped by dipping into the 5.50 range, a 5.59 against Doug and a

Manzo vs. Bateman
5.58 in the final round. A lot of people have asked if Frank's loss on Saturday ended his streak and the answer is no. It's like a baseball player who goes into the All Star game with a seventeen game hitting streak. If he goes 0-3 in the All Star game his hitting streak still continues when he goes back to the regular season games. It's the same with Frank who looks to close in on the longest streak in drag racing this weekend at the Division 1 race in Atco, New Jersey. Bob Glidden currently holds the record at fifty consecutive round wins, a mark that he set in the 1978 and 1979 seasons. Back then, the pro drivers could score points and round wins at both the national and the divisional events and that's what Mr. Glidden did. With his win on Sunday Frank ran his national event final round record to 24-1 over his last twenty-five final rounds. Amazing, isn't it?

Biondo vs. Bourgeois
There are a lot of great racing families in our sport but very few of them are as consistently good as the Biondo's. It was Sal's turn in Joliet as he helped the Division 1 racers defend their team championship when he beat Craig Bourgeois in the final round of Competition Eliminator. For Sal, it was his third All Star title and second straight. And before you say that he was the "blocker" and couldn't earn points, remember that he did stop Division 2 champ Frank Cervelli in round one and if that race had gone the other way D-2 would have won the title, so Sal did, indeed, help his team win. Sal then beat Division 6 star Adam Bowdish before stopping Craig Bourgeois in the money round. Craig didn't have to wait long before getting a little redemption because he won the race on Sunday. Winning a race is good, but when you do it by beating David Rampy, the best Comp racer in history, it's even better. In that final round Craig had a .008 reaction time and he needed every bit of that since David put a .007 on the board. For Craig it was his fourth national event win while David was in the 112th final round

Bourgeois vs. Rampy
of his great career. The win moved Bourgeois to the top of the pack in the national points standings while two other All Stars, Frank Cervelli and Jim Cowan are also in the top ten. It should also be pointed out that on Sunday in Joliet the two Biondo brothers squared off and Sal beat Peter by the slightest margin. According to the numbers posted on DragRaceCentral.com (the only place you'll get this kind of information) Sal beat Peter by the grand total of one inch! Anytime they get together it's a great race and the other competitors love to see them race each other because they know that at least one of them won't be moving on to the next round. And what do you do after you win the All Star show and while you're waiting for the next national or divisional event? Well, if you're Sal Biondo, you go to Atco Raceway and win a big Super Stock / Stock combo eliminator and pocket a whole pile of cash. A whole pile..

Anthony Bertozzi
Anthony Bertozzi, a former Lucas Oil World Champion, not only won the All Star show but he was one of two racers who doubled-up and also won on Sunday. To get the All Star crown Anthony had to beat the reigning Lucas Oil World Champion in Stock Eliminator, Michael Iacono, and to win the race all he had to do was beat the current Lucas Oil Super Stock champion, Darren Smith. Hey, if you're going to win you might as well beat the best to do it, right? Anthony didn't give his opponents much of a chance last weekend because he was brutal off the starting line. In the All Star show we went .002 on the line in round one against Jerry Emmons and he was a perfect .000 in the next round against Bryan Worner. To show that those reaction times were the rule and not the exception, he then went six rounds on Sunday and had an average reaction time of .011 and that included two double-zero lights, one of which (.005) came in the final round against Smith. Oh yeah, he also dialed a 9.27 in the final round and went 9.275. can you say "All Star?"

Grubbs vs. Linke
Brenda Grubbs continued the "Year of the Woman" in NHRA drag racing when she won the All Star show in Stock Eliminator. Brenda joins Shelly Howard, Lynn Hoosigian and Mary Ann Method as women who have won All Star titles. That's pretty good company if you ask me. Brenda was first off the line in her first two rounds against Troy Henderson and Tommy Gaynor and she won when the defending champ, Russell Linke, fouled out. On Sunday, it was the champ, Michael Iacono, who flexed his muscles as he made his way through the field all the way to the final round where he met Tim Mosbek. Tim didn't exactly take the easy way to the final, since he had to beat Don Pires (an All Star), Tommy Gaynor (an All Star), David Rampy ('nuff said), and Thomas Fletcher (future All Star) before getting to Iacono. In the final round Tim and Michael both broke out but Tim was closer to the dial-in and he got the win, his first ever at a national event.

Ron Erks
There isn't a lot that Ron Erks hasn't done in his career. He has been a division champion, a world champion and an All Star champion among other things. In fact, he's done most of those things more than once and his All Star win this past weekend was his second straight in three final round appearances. Ron beat Mike Fuqua, Lloyd Parfait and Sherman Adcock on Saturday before coming back and going seven rounds on Sunday to get the rare "double-up" victory. The final round of the All Star program featured the two drivers who lead the points in the 8.90 category. Ron is first and Sherman is right behind him. It also featured the reigning Super Gas World Champion against the 2006 Super Comp kingpin. Now that's a lot of firepower for one round isn't it? His Sunday final came against a newcomer to the championship round, Joseph Serena who fouled out. Ron's two wins were the first time that someone has "doubled-up" in the Super Comp class at the All Star event.

Root vs. Sawyer
Michael Sawyer went the distance in Super Gas on Saturday while Nick Folk took the 9.90 title on Sunday. Michael, who won the Division 1 title a few years ago, stopped Doug Woody in round one with a 9.90 and he followed that with a 9.92 win over a red-lighting Wes Neely and a final round double-breakout win over Carl Root in the championship round. Carl then lost to Folk in the second round on Sunday so he can tell his family that he was beaten by the two champions in Joliet. Hey, if you've got to lose it might as well be to the guys who win it all. Nick also beat another All Star, Doug Woody in the semi-finals before getting the win when Jarod Bowman's Corvette couldn't start in time to make the final round. Now that's got to be the worst way to end a weekend, doesn't it? Nobody likes to lose and certainly sitting on the sidelines after you've made it to the finals is one of the worst ways to go.

Abbott vs. Downing
The final class of the weekend is Super Street and the All Star final round featured a re-match of the 2007 final. For Dwight Downing, it was too much of a re-match since he lost to Craig Abbott in the 2007 final round and he lost to him again this year. In '07 it was a 10.95 for Abbott that beat Dwight's 10.94 while this year both guys broke out so Craig's 10.895 beat Dwight's 10.808. Just to get to the final round at the All Star race is quite an accomplishment and to do it in consecutive years is really special. This is the first time in All Star history that the same two drivers met for the championship in the 10.90 class in back-to-back years. Dwight then waded through five rounds of racing on Sunday to get back to the final round only to run out again. This time the loss came at the hands of Regan Wilson's crowd pleasing big block truck from Texas. Along the way Dwight had to beat another All Star, Mike Desio, just to get to the final round. Even though he didn't close the deal Dwight has to be pleased with a pair of final round appearances at the toughest sportsman race of the year.

All in all the All Star show and the national event on Sunday provided the real, hard core sportsman fans with some of the best racing of the year. Now it's back to action for a lot of the racers who were in Joliet since there are points races in New Jersey, back in Joliet, in Denver, Colorado and Fallon, Nevada this weekend. Congratulations to all the winners and the Division 1 team who won the title for the third straight year and for the sixth time overall.