Sat, 15 Nov 2003, 09:59 PM What a Year!!

By Bob Frey Photo by:Auto Imagery, Inc.

The Sportsman Champions

When I look back on the 2003 season I have to admire what the sportsman racers did and that includes everything from adjusting their schedules in Gainesville and Dallas to traveling coast to coast in search of that one big round win, or race win. And it seems that most of the racers took all of the changes in stride realizing that the changes were necessary and were done in an effort to make the best of a bad situation, most of which was caused by rain.

As I was presenting the Lucas Oil Champions their trophies at the award’s ceremony on Monday I realized one thing, the race for a season championship really isn’t over until the very last day. In 2002 the Super Gas title came down to the next to last run of the year and this year the Super Comp title wasn’t decided until the next to last day of the season. I also realized that no matter how comfortable a lead you may have, someone can catch you if they have a good couple of races at the end of the season. Jack Beckman and Dean Carter weren’t even on the radar screen in their classes until they blitzed the field in Las Vegas and racked up a ton of points. That was pretty evident when I saw the videos at the award’s ceremony and noticed that Jack and Dean were conspicuous by their absence. Of course, if the truth be told, when I did my summary of the contenders a few weeks ago I don’t believe that I mentioned either one of them, so the film editors can certainly be forgiven.

Greg Luneack

The combination of new and old champions is always very interesting, and this year we crowned four new champs while three drivers continued to add to their legacies. Based on their numerous titles and their performances this year Frank Manzo, Peter Biondo and Kevin Helms have to be considered as the top racers in their classes right now. Frank and Kevin are making strong cases for being the best ever in the Top Alcohol Funny Car and Stock Eliminator categories, while Peter is certainly among the most versatile drivers in the sport. I know I’ll get arguments from a lot of fans but if there are better guys than these three out there right now in their classes I’d like to see them. Meanwhile, young Bryan Robinson, a.k.a. “Fish Head,” Beckman, Carter and Alan Bradshaw, the Top Alcohol Dragster winner, all had great years and will be great representatives for their classes. One thing they all had in common, new and old champs alike, was their respect for Forest and Charlotte Lucas and the job that they have done as sponsors of the sportsman series. To a man they all thanked the Lucas family and I can tell you that the thanks came from the heart. When you see Mr. or Mrs. Lucas standing on the starting line during Stock or Super Gas eliminator you know that they have a real love for the sport. Sure, as Forest said, they are in this to sell oil, but one way of doing that is to meet the racers and make them feel like they care….and they do.

There were so many great moments in the sportsman classes this year that it would be impossible to mention them all, or even remember them all. I think next year I’ll keep a log of the races right from the beginning so I can recall them at the end of the year. A couple that come to mind are Shane Heckel’s great wheel standing run in Houston earlier this year, a run that saw him shift the car in the air, carry the wheels to about half-track and then just miss qualifying for the very quick Comp field. With all of that going on Shane still ran 6.941, which was “45” under the index and he just barely missed the show but it was spectacular. Vern Moats wheel stand at the same event, the one where all four wheels came off the ground was nothing short of amazing as was the unbelievable wheel stand by Greg Luneack in Las Vegas. That one may have been the biggest one ever in the history of the class, and just to show that it was no fluke, Greg did it again, almost, at Pomona. Speaking of Pomona, Al Corda’s 9.974 run at the Winternationals was pretty special and so was Harry Holton’s record setting SS/AA run in Las Vegas just a few weeks ago. Hey, anyone who is 72 years old and can still set a national record has to get special mention, plus, when you do it in a hemi ‘Cuda, well, that’s just icing on the cake. Marty Thacker gets double credit for his wild run during qualifying at Indy and his final round match with Duane Shields at the Las Vegas D-7 race. Both were spectacular. He and David Wells also get props for going over 270 mph with their supercharged cars this year. Cool!! Cy Chesterman set the national record in the alky funny car class at a stunning 5.531 in Chicago while Tony Bartone grabbed the mark in the dragster class at 5.227. Tony did it at the first race of the year and then saw the record stand for the entire season which, in itself, was amazing when you consider the performance of the cars this year. John Gallina’s 7-second pass in a Super Stocker, a 7.98 to be exact, also has to rank way up there on the list of great sportsman accomplishments this year.

Al Vanis vs Nick Reiter

Two of the national champions get special mention for “doubling up” this year and, ironically, they did it at the same race. Peter Biondo and Bryan Robinson both won two classes at the Division 2 race in Bristol this year, and Peter, Bryan and Kevin Helms all won at the same race this year, the D-2 affair at Silver Dollar Raceway. Jirka Kaplan has to get the nod for the most amazing run in Competition Eliminator when he went 1.101 under the index at Mission Raceway in August. He gets extra credit for going out and winning the race, too. Poor Maureen Jondahl was .80 under the index at that race and only qualified second and then lost to Kaplan in the finals. And David Rampy had a year that most drivers only dream about, winning eight races on the national scene and adding a Stock Eliminator win to his list of accomplishments, giving him wins in five different classes at the national event level. Now that’s pretty special. Special, too, was Al Vanis winning at Englishtown in Stock Eliminator more than twenty-eight years after taking his Pontiac Ventura to the winner’s circle at Indy which was his last national event win.

Like I said, I can’t remember all of the great runs from this year but I’ll try to do better next season. 2004 is going to be a special year for the sportsman racers on the NHRA trail because, well, I can’t tell you right now, but just let me say that you should watch for a special announcement from NHRA real soon about a very special event for the sportsman racers in 2004. That’s all I can say besides congratulations to all of the sportsman racers across the country, it was a great year. Now if only we could get Bucky Austin to come back to Maple Grove next year!!