Wed, 18 Jun 2008, 12:30 AM Englishtown Is Always Fun

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2008 Auto Imagery, Inc. & Jim Samuel

Over the course of the years the NHRA national event at Englishtown has provided drag race fans with many memorable moments, and the way the 2008 season is going there's no reason to believe that this year won't have more of the same in store for the fans who make the trip to the historic New Jersey track. Besides the normal activities, like trying to qualify for the race, win some rounds and take home the trophy, the racers are always faced with the uncertain weather conditions, the out-of-nowhere thunder storms, the knowledgeable fans and the famous curfews which make racing at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park unique.

The start of Johnson's fire.

Just last year the fans saw one of the great comebacks of all time when Tommy Johnson's car caught fire and burned badly in the first round of eliminations. Tommy and his team then went to work, put it back together, came back and beat Jack Beckman, Jeff Arend and Tony Pedregon to get the win. One of the scariest moments of that incident was when Tommy got out of the car and tried to lift the body up on the car. When he did, the flames that had been trapped inside, shot out of the car and engulfed TJ. It's a good thing that he still had his helmet on and his visor down because that could have been really nasty. But, true to the history of the sport, his team responded in true, championship form and that had to make the win all that much more satisfying for Tommy and the rest of the Skoal Racing team. That was the last final round and the last win for Tommy so maybe a return trip to the Garden State is what he needs to rebound and put his new ride, the Monster Energy car in the show and in the final round....Staying

"Jungle" Jim Liberman

in the Funny Car class, one of the real highlights in the history of this track had to be the 1975 final round, the one that was won by "Jungle" Jim Liberman. "Jungle," always a crowd favorite where ever he went, qualified number four in the field behind Don Prudhomme, Gary Burgin and Kosty Ivanoff. He then went out on Sunday and beat Raymond Beadle, Paul Smith, Ed McCulloch and Tom Prock. Jim's win came a year after he went to the final round at the same event and where he did that famous wheel stand against Al Segrini. Did you know that those were the only two final rounds of "Jungle's" career on the NHRA national event level? It's only fitting that they would come at Englishtown, one of his very favorite tracks..Mark Oswald, who has had many great moments in his career, and who did so well in Chicago in his first start since 1997, had one of those "do we have to talk about it" moments at Englishtown in 1987. Mark was leading Kenny Bernstein in the final round of the Funny Car class when he inexplicably pulled the parachutes about one hundred feet before the finish line allowing

Mark Oswald

Kenny to go by for the win. Mark said after the race, "I have no excuse. I just made a mistake." Kenny's 5.56 beat Mark's 5.53 so the loss went down as a holeshot loss for Mark and that was one of only ten that he has had in his entire career. Did you know that Mark has raced in almost 500 rounds of competition? With that many rounds and only ten holeshot losses it's easy to see why he is and always has been rated as one of the best drivers in the sport..At that same event, Kenny Bernstein had earlier beaten Mike Dunn (who set the national speed record) and John Force (who was coming into town fresh off his first win ever in Montreal) and Johnny West..With the weather and the rules changes over the years, did you know that nobody has set a Funny Car record of any sort at Englishtown since John Force went 323.89 in 1998? It was at that race that John became the first Funny Car driver to go over 320 miles per hour and he did it four times that weekend. John's record was more than five miles per hour faster than the old mark and every run he made on Sunday was faster than the old speed mark, too. It was, in short, one of the more awe-inspiring wins of his career and that's saying something. Did you know that was one of four times when John set top speed of the meet, and I mean top speed of the meet and not just for the Funny Cars? John did something at the Chicago race that he had only done four times prior in his entire career. When he raced Tim Wilkerson in round one it was the first time in five years and only the fifth time ever that John had beaten a driver in a final round at one race and then faced him in the first round at the next race. And on four of those five occasions, including in Chicago, John lost the round one match. Hey, I guess it's better than losing the final round match, isn't it? John will face another test this weekend as he tries to earn enough points in qualifying to move him into contention for a spot in the U.S. Smokeless Showdown at Indy this year..Speaking of tests, Gary Scelzi, Jack Beckman, Del Worsham and Melanie Troxel all face the test of trying to get into the top ten in points while Gary Densham (7^th), Ron Capps (8^th), Mike Neff (9^th) and Bob Tasca (10^th) face the challenge of trying to stay in the top ten and, as a result, in the "Countdown."

"Big Daddy" Don Garlits

A lot of Top Fuel drivers have had memorable moments at Englishtown but the main one is and always will be "Big Daddy" Don Garlits. That historic blow-over that he had back in 1986 is the stuff of which legends are made. I was in Florida a few weeks ago and spent a day with Don and he talks about that race and that run as if it was yesterday. His recollection of it is so vivid that it's amazing. Of course I probably wasn't the first guy to ask him about it, either. A year later Don would have another, much less publicized blow-over when his "Swamp Rat" went up and over at the AHRA World Finals in Spokane, Washington. Take a trip to his museum in Florida and you can see photos and footage of those runs along with the car that went up and over in Spokane..Clayton Harris, who was one of Don's chief rivals back in the early 1970's, had his most memorable NHRA moment at Englishtown in 1973.That's the year that Clayton won his one and only NHRA national event when he beat Jim Bucher in the final round. Clayton's win was memorable for another reason, too. Did you know that Clayton is the only guy ever to win an NHRA Top Fuel race after not qualifying for the event? Not only did he not qualify but he was the second alternate. But when Chuck Kurzawa passed on getting into the show, Clayton got the spot and he went on to win the race....Nobody has enjoyed coming to New Jersey more than Larry Dixon. Larry, who joined his Don Prudhomme teammate, Tommy Johnson, in the

Larry Dixon

winner's circle last year, has made it to the final round in each of the last six seasons at the Jersey track. Overall Larry has four wins and four runner-up finishes at E'town and that's not bad for a guy who has raced there thirteen times, is it? But as good as that is, it's not the best. Did you know that Joe Amato won in New Jersey six times between 1983 and 1999? And as good as that is it's still not the best. Kenny Bernstein, the guy who beat Mark Oswald in that 1987 final, won this race an amazing seven times between his Top Fuel (3) and Funny Car (4) career..Steve Torrence returns to action behind the wheel of Dexter Tuttle's Top Fuel team this week after the departure of Alan Bradshaw. Steve's a good, young driver and it will be interesting to see how he and the team do this week. As of right now there are seventeen dragsters entered for the race and that includes the cars of Todd Paton and Doug Foley..Tony Schumacher, who is way out in front of the Top Fuel points, is one guy who does not have a lot of fond memories of this track and for good reason. Did you know that Tony has never won in New Jersey? Not only that, but he has never even been to a final round here. And, in his ten trips to this event, he has five first round losses and a DNQ? He has been running better lately than he has in a while when coming to NJ so let's see how he does this weekend.

Glidden celebrates one of his wins.

If there's one class that the fans really love at Englishtown it has to be Pro Stock. Maybe it's because so many different drivers have called this track home, or maybe it's because so many great moments took place here. Whatever the reason, the Pro Stock cars are always among the most popular at this event. In the historical mode, Bob Glidden won this race four times and his wins came over some of the greats in the sport. In 1978 he defeated Larry Lombardo and in 1984 it was Lee Shepherd who was in the other lane when Bob won. After beating Jerry Eckman in 1988 Bob came back and won the race in 1995 for the 85^th and last national event win of his career....Bill Jenkins went back-to-back in 1972 & '73 by stopping Dick Landy and Butch Leal. That 1972 race featured one of the most memorable moments in the history of the race when Herb McCandless broke a wheelie bar and did a huge, and I mean huge wheel stand in the semi-finals against the "Grump." And "Dandy" Dick Landy won his first and only NHRA national event here in 1970 when he beat Herb McCandless. Like I said, it's like a Hall of Fame list of drivers who have been in the final round at this event. Toss in the win by the 4-door car of Wayne Gapp, the "team" final round between Warren Johnson and Don Coonce in 1986, Warren's "double-up" win in 1993, when he won the Pro Stock Challenge and the event and you get an idea of the history that Pro Stock has at this race. And, of course, there is the big moment, the historic six-second run by Kurt Johnson here in 1994. Did you know that at the 1994 race, the one where Kurt made history, he didn't win the race, Larry Morgan did?...With all of that as a background, the 2008 Pro Stock season appears about as wide open as anything we've seen in a long while. Kurt is riding high at the top of the points while his dad, Warren, is hanging on to the tenth spot. In between you have three current or former world champs and a group of drivers who are all capable of winning on any given weekend. That's what will make this trip to New Jersey so exciting for those Pro Stock fans...One of those champs, Jeg Coughlin, spent his off weekend by picking up $25,000 at a big

Lee Zane

money bracket race. Nice going, Jeg....Another reason that Pro Stock is so well liked at the Englishtown race is that there always seems to be one or two new drivers who show up and this year will be no exception. Lee Zane, the former Lucas Oil Stock Eliminator World Champion will be competing in two classes this week and one of them will be Pro Stock. "This is something that I've always dreamed about from the time I started racing," he told me between rounds at the Atco points race this past weekend. "I don't have any unrealistic expectations about Pro Stock but it's a beginning and I hope it leads to something more in the future." Lee will be driving the former Jim Yates Pontiac that is currently owned by Jack Gaydosh. Jack, a Top Sportsman racer, got his license earlier this year in Valdosta, Georgia but has enlisted Lee to drive the car this weekend. They have purchased a motor from Tom Martino and Lee said that he is really looking forward to his first run in the class. "If I can make it down the track in that first run I should be the number one qualifier, at least for a while. Maybe I'll just take that sheet, print it out and save it forever." Since almost half the field at the average Pro Stock race is made up of drivers who came up from the sportsman ranks it isn't a long shot to think that Lee could eventually race in the pro class. I will tell you this, he is a very good driver and has shown that in both the Stock and Comp classes that he has competed in and I, for one, think that he'll make a good pro driver. Now, if only someone besides me would take notice and agree with that.

Ryan Schnitz

The motorcycles have been a part of the Englishtown scene for a very long time. Did you know that Danny Johnson beat Dick Prime in the motorcycle final here in 1974? That's right, 1974!! Danny, who had crashed a year earlier at Indy, went 9.06 on his Harley-Davidson to beat Prime's H-D in the final. That was a race that also included the menacing triple-engine Honda of Russ Collins, maybe the only motorcycle ever to produce more tire smoke than E.J. Potter did. (Kids, ask your dad about "EJ," the Michigan Madman!). The first time that Pro Stock motorcycles were ever run here was in 1979 when Bob Carpenter stopped some young kid by the name of Terry Vance. Bob was riding a Kawasaki at the time and he had the quickest bike in the field. Today, Ryan Schnitz on the Rob Muzzy Kawasaki is the only green machine even trying to make the show. For motorcycle fans everywhere it would be good if they could get that bike in the show, just like it would be good for Pro Stock fans if we could have a Ford in the show. Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?...Rumor

Angelle Sampey

going around is that Mike Berry may be riding the Buell that Angie McBride has been on this year, since Matt Smith and his team would like to find out what the problem is with the bike which just doesn't seem to want to go straight lately. Angie and Angelle Sampey, and any other rider who has gone from a Suzuki to a Buell, will tell you that the transition isn't as easy as it looks so Angie will observe as Mike and Matt try to sort it out. At least that's what I hear is going to happen. Angie rode well at Gainesville and Houston but over the past few races the bike seems to be acting up and sometimes that requires the team to step back, take a look at the situation and try to resolve the trouble..Angelle, who is currently in sixth place, comes into the race as a three-time champion and only Dave Schultz and John Myers won it more times than that in the bike class, with each going the distance four times. As a matter of fact, did you know that from 1990 thru 2000 the only one other than the "big three" to win this race was Matt Hines in 1997?....With a Harley-Davidson leading the points (Andrew Hines) and with one of the S & S powered Buells in second (Matt Smith) and a Suzuki in third (Chip Ellis), you could make the case that the weight breaks for the bikes are about as even as they can be right now. You could..

Marty Nothstein

Frank Manzo was beaten by Marty Nothstein at the Division 1 Lucas Oil race this past weekend in Atco, New Jersey, thus ending Frank's streak at 46 consecutive round wins. That's still a very impressive number and Frank is all but a lock for the world championship again this year. Marty, driving for Jay Blake's "Follow A Dream" team, had a shot at Frank at the D-1 race in Virginia and let him get away but not this time. In the first round at Atco it was Marty's 5.719 that beat Frank's 5.701. Marc White, by the way, won the race when he beat Marty in the final round, Marc's 5.761 edging Marty's 5.755. Frank will look to start another streak when he comes to his home track this weekend, a track where he has done remarkably well. Did you know that Frank has participated in twenty-six national events here and he has been to the final round at fifteen of them?...With the alky classes and Competition, Super Stock and Stock eliminators being contested this weekend, the race will give the true, hard core sportsman fans a lot to cheer about. It should be fun!!...And since I mentioned some of the real surprises and highlights of this event, you would have to include Eric Lourie's win in TAFC in 2001 as one of them. At that race Eric beat Paul Lee, Frank Manzo and Bob Newberry before stopping Scott Woodington in the final round. Eric is entered this week and how cool would it be for him to win again at his home track?