Thu, 13 Aug 2009, 05:26 PM The Division Races are Heating Up

By Bob Frey

Bill Reichert Photo by BME Photography

As a Philadelphia Phillies fan you can imagine that I'm a pretty happy guy right about now. They are, of course, the reigning World Champions and are currently in first place in the National League East. It's about this time of the year that the teams who hope to make a run for the divisional championships need to step up and make a statement. Whether it's the National League East or the American League Central where the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago White Sox are slugging it out, there are some good divisional races to watch over the next few weeks. The same is true in drag racing where there are some really good battles for the top spot in the alky classes in most of the seven divisions. With only a few races remaining in the season for the sportsman racers to add to their totals, I thought I'd take a rare look at some of the hot races in the sport. Remember, when it comes to the divisional, not the national championships, racers in the alky classes can score points at eight divisional races and then take their best five. National events don't figure in the totals when it comes to crowning divisional champs, and that's why I suggest a trip to the Lucas Oil divisional race near you, especially at this time of the year when there will be some championships decided at your local track.

John Finke Photo by Jim Samuel

The Division 1 battle in the Top Alcohol Dragster class is between John Finke and Mike Kosky. At this moment John leads with 267 points while Mike has 203. Since both have claimed the same number of races, five, it sure looks like the championship is John's for the taking, but make no mistake about it, he'll have to take it because Mike won't give it to him. John, driving his fuel-injected car, already has one division crown to his credit while Mike has five. Mike's titles have come in two different divisions and two different classes. He won the TAD crown in both Division 1 and 3 and he also has a Top Gas title to his credit, the one that he won in 1971. How many racers are still active who can say that they have won a championship in Top Gas? Mike and Janet have been fixtures in the class for a long while and, even if they don't win the championship, they will have another year to be proud of. The Funny Car class in D-1 is, basically, a foregone conclusion. Frank Manzo continues to have his way with the other drivers in the class and unless he takes the rest of the summer off he is going to win his 19th division championship. For the record Terry Munroe is in second place in the division, and now that I think of it, even if Frank does take the summer off he still has enough points to win another title.

Artie Allen Photo by BME Photography

The picture is a little different in the Southeast Division where Artie Allen and Bill Evans are engaged in a pretty good fight for the top spot in the dragster class. Artie leads the way right now with the 245 points that he has earned at three races while Bill has 235 points and four races under his belt. Artie, who switched to a fuel car about two years ago, has been to finals at Gainesville, Valdosta and Indy, and at the Valdosta race he lost to Bill Evans in the final round. Bill, who has been to two finals on the divisional level this year, won that Georgia race and he lost in the final at the other one to the D-1 leader, John Finke. Duane Shields, who is claiming D-2 this year, is in third place with 182 points and Robin Samsel is in fourth with 171. Mickey Ferro, who lives in the northeast, has ventured down to Division 2 this year and he's having a pretty good season, good enough to be the points leader right now. Mickey has three final rounds this year and he has won two of them including one over Frank Manzo, and I ask you, how many guys can say that this year, or any year for that matter? Jay Payne, who has won thirteen divisional championships, including nine down south, is in second place just thirty-two points behind Mickey so he is certainly within striking distance. Jay's other division crowns came when he raced out west and claimed Division 7 as his home, and his first came in Super Stock back in 1977. Talk about staying power.

Andy Bohl Photo by Auto Imagery, Inc.

It's not over, but I like Bill Reichert's chances of repeating as Division 3 champ in TAD. Bill has a hefty 101 point lead over Marty Thacker, and even though Marty has one less race, that's a big deficit to overcome especially when it's the champ you're trying to catch. Bill has earned his points by making it to four divisional finals, races where he beat Artie Allen, Duane Shields and John Finke. The other final he lost to Jim Whiteley and we'll hear more about Jim when we get to the points battle out west. Ken Perry could be the sleeper in the field since he is only twenty points behind Marty and he has claimed one less race. That really is a pretty tough threesome, isn't it? Bill, Marty and Ken, how'd you like to run against them every week? The D-3 Funny Car points are what got me thinking about the regional battles in the first place. No sooner had I mentioned that there was a three-way log jam at the top when things changed and changed quickly. Andy Bohl stepped out to run the Division 5 race in Cordova and he made it pay off when he beat Chris Foster in the final round. Last year I said that Andy was probably the most-improved alky Funny Car driver in the class and this year I think that Chris can claim that title. Mick Snyder leads the division with 246 points, Chris is second with 234 and Bobby Martin, who sat out the weekend, is now in third place with 203 points while Andy is fourth with 193. This division is loaded and it looks like the championship may go down to the last race of the year. Of the contenders, Bobby is the defending division champ and Mick has three big trophies on his mantle.

Kebin Kinsley Photo by Robert Grice

There are a bunch of new names at the top of the leader board in Division 4. Malcolm Wahle leads the way, Shayne Lawson is second, Mike Manners is third, Brandon Lewis fourth and Ryan Copeland fifth. A quick look at the points would seem to indicate that any of the five could grab the title and it would be the first for any of them. Division 4 is and has been wide open recently and there have been seven different winners in the past seven years in the dragster class. Several of those winners have moved on to bigger, and I imagine, better things since their TAD crowns and they include Spencer Massey, Ashley Force and Morgan Lucas. Of the top five in the points Malcolm, Shayne and Ryan have amassed their totals at four races while the others have all been to five events. The Funny Car class in D-4 is also wide open even though Kebin Kinsley leads with 192 points. Steve Burck, also one of the most improved Funny Car drivers recently, is next with 160 and he is followed by former champ Lee Callaway with his 139 points. The real sleeper in the field is Steve Harker who sits in fourth place but he has only been to two divisional races so far and he won one of them, beating the points leader, Kebin Kinsley in Dallas. Steve, who has spent a lot of time this year working on the new dragster for his daughters, Kate and Diana, is the defending D-4 champ and is looking for his third consecutive crown.

Richard Putz Photo by Barry Bergeron

The Division 5 title may come from the current or former champ or it may be one of two drivers who are looking for their first division championship. Ed Schmeeckle, the 2008 champ, and Richard Putz, who won it a year earlier, are one and two in the points with rookie Daniel Kracht in third and Jared Dreher in fourth. Ed has 224 points and five races on the books while Richard is thirty-two points back and he has competed at one more race. In the only final round meeting between the contenders, Richard beat Ed at the Great Bend race while Jared edged Daniel in their final round meeting in Brainerd. Roger Bateman, the reigning Division 5 champion, leads in the Funny Car class and he has one of the largest leads in any class and in any division. Based on wins in Brainerd and Denver, and with another final round at the Great Bend race, Roger has 320 points and that puts him way ahead of Vern Moats, who is in second place with 214. In addition to his D-5 title Roger also won in Division 6 in 1998 while Vern is looking for his sixteenth division crown, his first coming back in 1974. Kirk Williams, the 2002 champ, is back in third place with 192 points. Both Vern and Kirk have two extra races to claim compared to Roger but they also have a lot of ground to make up if they want to stop Roger from going back-to-back.

Shawn Cowie Photo by Rich Carlson

I've said several times that Shawn Cowie may be driving the best supercharged car in the class this year. I've also said that about Jim Whitely and both of those guys are leading their respective divisions right now. Shawn is the Northwest leader while Jim, the reigning Division 7 champ, leads that division right now. Shawn has 425 points and that's the most of any alky driver, Top Alcohol Dragster or Funny Car, in any division. Those 425 points also put him far ahead of Joey Severance, the second place driver, who has 257 points. The resurgent Dale Carlson is in third and Justin Davis is in fourth. As good as those last three drivers are it looks like they'll have to battle it out for second place since Shawn has already posted five wins on the divisional level and that's a perfect score. Things are a little closer in the Funny Car class where Brian Hough and Kevin Webster are tied for the lead with 235 points. Brian would have to get a slight edge since his points have come at five races while Kevin has been to six. Clint Thompson is in third and John Evanchuk is fourth with 181 and 160 points respectively. If Brian holds on it will be his fourth consecutive title and fifth overall.

Jim Whiteley Photo by Bob Johnson

And, finally, the D-7 report. Jim Whiteley, he of really good supercharged car fame, is well on his way to his second straight tile since he has 266 points and that's 95 more than the 2006 champ, Chris Demke. Johnny Ahten, who ran so well at his last divisional race where he was the top qualifier and set a personal best of 5.270, is in third another thirty-three points behind Chris. The Funny Cars in the Pacific Division are led by Sean O'Bannon and his 362 points and that puts him a comfortable 138 points ahead of Doug Gordon and 150 up on Steve Gasparrelli. Doug, who won the championship in 2003, 2004 and 2006, is running very well right now and he still has plenty of time to catch and pass Sean. Of course, I don't believe Sean is going to stand still so if Mike wants to win his fourth title he'll have to be almost perfect the rest of the way. Steve, another three-time champion, is also running well as his recent win at Sonoma indicates.

I just thought I'd mention the division battles since they are very important to all the sportsman racers and they provide some of the best racing of the year. I also find it interesting to see the mix of great veteran racers, like Manzo, Kosky, Payne and Moats along with the talented young drivers who are slugging it out for those seven divisional titles. That's one of the many things that I like about drag racing, on any day anybody can win and there are no guarantees. Well, except for Frank Manzo that is.