Thu, 30 Oct 2003, 09:23 PM It’s Not Over Until It’s Over

By Bob Frey Photo by:Auto Imagery, Inc.

The Lucas Oil Division 7 race in Las Vegas has turned into a “must see” event over the past few years. If you’re a true follower of the sportsman racers you have to be in Las Vegas this weekend as over 900 drivers will converge on “The Strip” in an effort to put one more win on the board before the end of the season. OK, so circumstances may prevent you from actually making the trip, but thankfully you have Summitracing.com and “Dragracecentral” to keep you posted on what’s going on. And what’s going on will be a battle for some of the remaining sportsman championships that are still up for grabs. With each passing round, with each holeshot or red light, someone’s fate lies in the balance. While a couple of the class championships have been decided (Alcohol Dragster and Funny Car) the others are still up for grabs, and as we saw last year with Todd Stewart’s remarkable two weeks, it’s not over until it’s over. Well, for some, it will be over this weekend. For others, the dream will live on for one more week.

Frank Manzo

Alan Bradshaw, who drives the awesome fuel injected dragster that is owned by Randy Meyer, will replace Art Gallant as the Top Alcohol Dragster champion this year. For the second consecutive year a nitro powered dragster is the best of the bunch and Randy and Alan should be proud of their accomplishments. Now all that remains to be seen from this team is what will they do for an encore? I’m sure that Randy will run the car but whether Alan drives it or not remains to be seen. Alan has made no bones about the fact that he would like to step up to a Top Fuel car (or even a funny car) and he is investigating all of his options even as we speak. Rumor has it that he was even interviewed for the job at John Force Racing. OK, so that’s not a rumor. Anyway, if Alan doesn’t step up I’m sure that he’ll be perfectly content to return to the seat of the quickest car in the class in an effort to defend his title. The other part of the alcohol classes, the funny car part, is again the property of one Mr. Frank Manzo. One of NHRA’s top 50 drivers of all time, Frank proved once again why he is to be counted among the best in the history of the sport as he rolled to his ninth championship and his seventh in the last seven years. Even with stiff competition from Bob Newberry and Bucky Austin among others, Frank rose to the occasion and defended his title as he has done in so many previous years. It’s a shame that the rain that hit Maple Grove kept us from seeing a Frank Manzo-Bucky Austin showdown on Frank’s home turf, although I’m sure that we haven’t seen the last of that great rivalry. Like Bradshaw, Frank would love to race in the fuel ranks although he is wise enough and honest enough to know that it would be a huge undertaking and, as such, he says that he would not go into the sport’s top class without proper funding, which means enough to field a car that could contend for the championship. Until that opportunity comes along, if it ever does, Frank will continue to be counted among the top drivers in the sport regardless of category.

Dean Carter

The other classes aren’t quite so cut and dried and it seems as if there are challenges and challengers in each of the remaining five classes. And while all of the leaders seem secure in their positions they certainly don’t have a lock on the championship and that’s why this weekend should be so exciting, interesting and entertaining. Take Competition Eliminator for example. Doug Engels is the leader in the clubhouse but all he can do is sit and watch as his closest rivals try to track him down, literally and figuratively. David Rampy, who is currently second in the points, has maxxed out his opportunities and will finish no better than number two. Having said that, let’s give huge props to David for another spectacular year, one in which he went to eight national event finals and won an amazing seven races and that’s just in Comp. The chief contenders to Doug’s lofty status are Dean Carter and Santo Volpe. Dean, winner of the Las Vegas national event last week and runner-up in Vegas earlier this year, propelled himself into title contention with his big win in Great Bend earlier this year and he can claim points this weekend but he’ll only pick up points if he gets to the semi-final round. And then he’ll only gain on Doug if Santo isn’t there waiting for him in the semis. You see, Mr. Volpe has one divisional race to claim too, and he could take the lead if he manages to go to the final round this weekend. Of course just qualifying for this event in Comp will be a real task because it took a hefty .514 under the index to make the cut last year and an even quicker .523 under to make the show at the national event last week. That, by the way, was the quickest field in Comp Eliminator history. So the final tally in this class won’t be known until either Dean or Santo win the race or get eliminated.

Jeff Hefler

The Super Stock class, trophy, money fame and fortune appear headed back to New Jersey, Mt. Laurel to be specific, and the home of one Peter Biondo. “The Terminator” has the lead with two races to go and I’m not sure that anyone can catch him. Jimmy DeFrank, the 1999 World Champion and one of many racers from that great DeFrank gene pool, has the races but I don’t believe he has the rounds left to catch Peter. With one national and one divisional still to claim Jimmy finds himself 137 points back and there just aren’t enough rounds left even if he pulls a “Todd” and wins out. So unless my math is wrong, which is always a possibility, Peter Biondo is about to win his third Lucas Oil World Championship. The contenders for the Stock Eliminator title are almost in the same situation as the Super Gas guys were last year, that is, the leader appears to be comfortably out in front, while the challenger needs to have two unbelievable weekends if he wants to win it. Kevin Helms, the amazing Kevin Helms, has already put up 702 points based on his showing at the national and divisional level. This year he has won two national and two divisional races, plus he has added a win in Super Stock just for good measure. Jeff Hefler, who always seems to come close to winning the championship, is the only guy who can mathematically catch Kevin and it will be one of the great stories of all time if he does it. With two races left and two to claim Jeff basically has to win them both in order to add to his total of 662 points. It wont be easy, but then beating Kevin Helms never has been. I’m sure you know that if Kevin wins it’ll be his third consecutive title something that no one has ever done in the Stock Eliminator class. Let’s see, if Biondo is “The Terminator,” then Kevin must be the “Eliminator!”

Anthony Castillo

Gary Stinnett, the 1998 Lucas Oil Champion, has the upper hand in the Super Comp class, in fact, he not only leads the points but he has another divisional race yet to claim. With a 60-point effort to replace, Gary has to go five rounds this weekend in order to add to his total and give himself a little breathing room over Anthony Castillo. Anthony, who has put 617 points on the board, only trails Gary by 21 and he has one national event left to claim. Let’s see, I guess that means he’s going to Pomona, huh? Anyway, Anthony has to go a whole pile of rounds in order to gain points, like six the way I figure it and that’s always tough to do. But when you’re in the situation that Anthony is, you give it your best shot and hope that you can just keep going rounds. Good luck to both guys. In the final class, Super Gas, Bryan Robinson is certainly in the driver’s seat although a Todd Stewart -like performance by Greg Carrillo, the closest guy to Bryan in the points could get the job done. Greg needs to go to the final round at both of the last two races and he needs to win one of them but then we’ve seen that happen before, haven’t we?

However the championships play out, let’s offer some early congratulations to the winners and give the challengers a nice pat on the back for their efforts, too. It’s been another great year on the Lucas Oil Drag Racing tour and I, for one, have enjoyed watching the activity all year long. We’ll have some new champs, some repeat champs and some surprise champs, and then we can all look forward to 2004 when we’ll do it all over again. I can hardly wait.