Sat, 21 Nov 2009, 12:30 PM They are the Champions

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2009 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Standing: Compton, Ray Connolly, Jimmy DeFrank, Bruno Massel, Forrest Sitting: Edmond Richardson, Bill Reichert, Frank Manzo, Jim Perry

For the first time in a long while all of the Lucas Oil Sportsman champions were decided before we got to Pomona this year. Normally there are one or two titles that are still up for grabs at the last race and, on several occasions, the titles aren't decided until late in the day on Sunday. But not this year. The 2009 champs all did such a good job that by the end of the day at the last Lucas Oil division race in Las Vegas we knew who all the champions were. As always, I'll have a review of the champions in upcoming weeks, but for now I just wanted to give a quick overview of how they did on their way to the championships.

Bill Reichert

For the fourth consecutive year Bill Reichert won the Top Alcohol Dragster championship. He did this based on national event wins in Norwalk, Brainerd and North Carolina as well as a runner-up finish in Gainesville. On the divisional level Bill picked up wins in Richmond, Reading, Indy and Bowling Green and he added two more runner-up finishes to get his final points total of 776. Bill, who stopped by the D-7 race in Las Vegas, wrapped up the championship when Hillary Will beat Jim Whiteley in the second round of that race, and that happened right after she beat Bill in the first round. Bill has had a great car for a number of years now and his performances in 2009 gave him several records in the TAD class. He is fourth on the overall win list, tied for first on the number one qualifying list and he has the record for the most top speeds recorded in the class. And he's not done yet.

Frank Manzo

For an amazing thirteenth time Frank Manzo won the Top Alcohol Funny Car class. What he has done in his career is simply amazing, and as you read this, he is probably in Qatar working with the folks over there, his new employers, as they get ready for the 2010 season. In 2009 Frank was, as he has been in the past, perfect, that is, he won the maximum number of national and divisional races in order to post his 850 points. He actually did better than that, if you can be better than perfect. He won seven national events and six divisional races during another dominating year. As I mentioned at the Lucas Oil awards ceremony on Monday, I have run out of superlatives for Frank. After all, what can you say about him that hasn't already been said? He is the consummate racer, and by that I mean he runs hard all the time and he has earned the respect of those who race with him and against him. In all the years I have watched him race I have never heard another racer say a bad thing about him, and you can't say that about many racers. When I ask the other alky racers if they are impressed or depressed when they see what Frank does they usually say "both." 2010 should be interesting for him now that he has a new alliance with the folks in Qatar, but the good news for his competitors is that he can't get any better, after all, he was perfect in 2009.

Bruno Massel

Bruno Massel joined the ranks of first-time Lucas Oil Champions when he won the Competition Eliminator title. Bruno's 718 points were more than enough to hold off the defending champ, Dan Fletcher. Bruno, by the way, had nothing but nice things to say about Dan at the Lucas Oil ceremony and it's always nice to hear a competitor compliment the people that he raced against. Bruno, whose dad raced for a number of years, spent a few seasons getting his little turbo-charged car to work perfectly, and in 2009 he drove it to national event wins in Dallas and Topeka and went to the finals in Brainerd. He also won four divisional races to complete his scoring in 2009, and it should be noted that his total of 718 points is the most in the history of the Competition Eliminator class and it's only the second time that a Comp driver has scored over 700 points, with the other time being last year when Dan Fletcher did it. Bruno was accompanied to the awards ceremony by his wife and his mom and dad and it is just another indication of what a great family sport this is.

Jimmy DeFrank

At thirty one years old Jimmy DeFrank has already accomplished more than most drag racers will in their careers. He has now won three Lucas Oil World Championships, with his 2009 crown joining those that he won in 1999 and 1997, and he looks like he just keeps getting better. In 2009 he won divisional races in Sonoma and Belle Rose and he went to the final round at four national events. Well, five or six if you count the two final rounds that he made at Pomona, a race that he couldn't count toward his total. After finishing fourth in 2006, third in 2007 and second in 2008 it seemed like a foregone conclusion that he would win it this year. In his acceptance speech Jimmy mentioned his mom and dad and his brother, Tony. Tony, who has a couple of top ten finishes in his career, spends most of his time these days working at the family business and Jimmy said that's one of the reasons that he is able to go out and race. The Super Stock champ is another very gracious young man from a very good family.

Edmond Richardson

If Jimmy's three championships are good, then Edmond Richardson's four must be better. Rated as one of NHRA's top 50 drivers of all time, Edmond has only raced sporadically on the NHRA tour for several years now. He came close to winning a championship in 2008 when he finished second in Super Comp and sixth in Stock, and that's just one of the many years that he has been in the top ten in two classes. One of the first to drive two cars at the same race, Edmond made that pay off this year when he won two classes at the same divisional race twice. Not bad, is it? His road to the championship began when he went seven rounds at his first divisional race of the year and he never looked back. He went on to score 666 points based on wins in Bristol, Joliet and Cordova and he beat his closest competitor, Anthony Fetch, by a scant thirteen points. Even with all he has accomplished in his career, he was very humble in accepting his trophy on Monday night and he acknowledged the caliber of racers that he was surrounded by at the ceremony.

Jim Perry

Jim Perry won the Lucas Oil Super Comp World Championship and that makes him another first-time winner. In the rugged world of the 8.90 class, Jim was chasing Thomas Bayer for most of the year, but then again, so were all the other racers. Going into his final race of the year, the Division 7 race in Las Vegas, Jim had to go eight rounds in order to pass Thomas and that's exactly what he did. He said that he wasn't nervous all day long but admitted that his wife was. Apparently he spoke the truth, because on race day you can't be too nervous and then post reaction times of .001, .005, .001 and .004 in four consecutive rounds. And you can't be too nervous and then run 9.05 on the 9.05 index in Las Vegas not once but three times. Jim adds the Super Comp crown to an already very impressive resume, one that includes divisional wins and a Jegs All Star championship. He added that, when the season began, his big goal wasn't to be a world champ but to make the All Star team, and he did just that. Jim won the championship by one of the closest margins ever, beating Bayer by just eight points and Tommy Phillips by nine.

Ray Connolly

The final sportsman champion for 2009 is Ray Connolly. Ray passed and then held off Mike Ferderer to win his first national championship by ten points. He went to the final round at the Jegs Sportsnationals where he beat Dennis Rutherford and then he made it to the final round in St. Louis where he lost to Larry Bernshausen. On the divisional level he was almost unbeatable. In 2009 Ray won races at Silver Dollar Raceway in Georgia, Joliet, Illinois, Stanton, Michigan and Cordova, Illinois, and that all added up to a grand total of 699 points and that's one of the best totals in the history of the Super Gas class. While he has won several of the big money bracket races in his career, this is his first Lucas Oil World Championship.

Congratulations to all of the champions and, as I said, we'll have more on them in the weeks to come.

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