Sat, 22 Nov 2008, 08:44 AM Congratulations To The Sportsman Champions

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2008 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Jirka Kaplan

While most of the attention this past week was focused on the professional racers and the battle for the POWERade championships, there was a lot of excitement surrounding the sportsman racers, too. Several of the championships were decided this past weekend and the fans who were in Pomona saw some great racing. There were almost thirty cars in the Top Alcohol Funny Car class and that included several top rated teams who had never been to the southern California track before. It took a great 5.695 just to make the show and the top three qualifiers were in the 5.5 range. The dragster class was loaded with talent and all you had to do was look at the final bump of 5.471 to see how tough the class was. And, for those who really love the intricacies of the sportsman classes, Pomona may have had the best, most diverse and most exciting Competition Eliminator field that we have seen in a long time. Let's face it, any time you have a field with Steve Matusek, Jirka Kaplan, Jay Payne and John Mihovetz just for starters, it's going to be a great show. And it was. In the end, three of the drivers who finished the season as Lucas Oil World Champions made it to the final round at Pomona and two of them won. It was like an all-star show and everyone who appreciates good drag racing had to love the show the sportsman racers put on at the last race of the year.

Whiteley vs. Reichert

Bill Reichert won his third consecutive Lucas Oil championship and he almost won his fourth consecutive "Finals" title. Bill, who ran a stunning 5.165 in Pomona, smoked the tires in the final round and lost to Jim Whiteley, the man who finished second in the national points this year. In the process, Jim became the first guy in seven years to win this race driving a supercharged alcohol dragster. Not since the great Rick Santos did it in 2001 has a blown car gone the distance to win the last race of the year. Bill also put down a 282 mile per hour run in Pomona and that was the second fastest run in class history. I'll have more on Bill next week but let me just say that he had another good year and he joins a very select few racers to win three TAD world titles.

Mick Snyder

Frank Manzo was in Pomona but he wasn't racing. He did start out the year at the Pomona track for the Winternationals, which he won, before adding six more national event wins to his total this year. Frank completed what is known as a "perfect season" by winning and claiming the maximum five national and five divisional races, which he seems to do almost every year now. Of course Frank also had that remarkable run over the past two years when he won an amazing forty-six rounds in a row and even Tony Schumacher can't say that he did that this year. In Pomona, Mick Snyder beat Steve Harker in the final round to win his third national race. Mick got a bye run in the final when his opponent, Steve Harker, was forced to shut off with a fuel leak on the starting line. Steve had a good year, a great year by most standards, but when you're running against a guy who was perfect there's not much you can do but admire his work and take your second place finish.

Fletcher vs. Connolly

Dan Fletcher went two-for-two this weekend, that is, he won the race and claimed the Lucas Oil Competition Eliminator world championship, too. Dan had actually clinched the championship before coming to Pomona, the same track where he began the season with a runner-up finish. Dan's Comp championship goes along with the two others that he won in Super Stock and I think he will have to be included in any discussion about the best sportsman racers of all time. His win was the 56th of his career and that puts him in the top ten on the all-time NHRA win list.

Ricky Decker won the Lucas Oil Super Stock world championship and he did it without winning a national event. In fact, Ricky has never won a national event, but he has been the Division 3 champion and a Jeg's All Star along with a top ten finisher for several years before clinching the national championship. Meanwhile, in Pomona, Byron Worner won the Super Stock crown and that gives his family the very rare trifecta for 2008. That is, his dad and his brother both won national events this season and now, so has Byron. There have been several families with three members winning races but none of them have done it in the same year. Congratulations to the Worners.

Zane vs. Johnston

Lee Zane did what Dan did when he won the national championship and the last race of the season. Lee now becomes a two-time Lucas Oil World Champion, adding this title to his 2004 Stock Eliminator title. Lee finished the season with a flurry by winning the Las Vegas Division 7 race and then the "Finals" in Pomona. Lee beat Mike Johnston in Pomona and that kept Mike from winning his first national race.

We often talk about drivers who may be the best to never win the national championship and I have to put Anthony Castillo in that category. Anthony, one of the top Super Comp and Super Gas racers in the country, won the Pomona race when he beat Robert Naber in the final round. Actually, the race was over early when Robert fouled out, but that does not and should not take away from the fact that Anthony won for the fourth time in his career. Anthony's first win came at this very same event back in 1998 and he's been running well ever since. While Anthony was winning the race Shawn Langdon was winning the world championship for the second consecutive year. That gives the driver of the Lucas Oil dragster a little place in history since he becomes the first driver to ever win back-to-back 8.90 national championships.

Coapstick vs. Torres Jr.

Brian Forrester is the Super Gas national champion and Dave Coapstick is the final Super Gas national event winner for 2008. Brian, who opened up the year with a win in Gainesville, put all of his points on the board early and then let the other 9.90 drivers take a shot at him. Mike Ferderer was the last guy with a chance to catch Brian but he fell one round and one tie-breaker short of his goal. Mike lost in the second round, and if he had won that round he would have tied Brian, but then he would have lost on a tie-breaker. Anyway, that didn't happen and Brian is the champ. For Dave, the Pomona win was the second of his career on the national level and both of them have come at Pomona. I always enjoy watching Dave race and I'd like to congratulate him for going the distance in Pomona.

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