Thu, 12 Aug 2010, 06:20 PM It's Quality Not Quantity

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2010 Auto Imagery, Inc.

I often get asked questions about the fields in the alky classes at national events and most of them pertain to the number of cars that are entered. Historically there are and have been events that draw big fields in these classes, Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Car, the top of the line in the Lucas Oil series. On the other hand, there are those that, for what ever reason, don't do as well and really never have. A few years ago NHRA decided to scale back the number of national events where the Top Alcohol Dragsters and Funny Cars can run and I think that was a very good decision. I thought so then and I think the same way now. Still, for whatever reason, we have races where the fields are short, like this weekend's event in Brainerd, but even with only eleven cars in the alky dragster class, it is loaded with talent. Even with only about a dozen cars entered, it may be an over simplification to say that this race probably will be very pivotal in the battle for the 2010 Lucas Oil World Championship.

Bill Reichert

Coming into this event Bill Reichert, the four-time World Champion, is leading the points. As any follower of the sportsman classes knows, the way the points are calculated in the sportsman ranks means that it's tough, if not impossible, to tell who really is the leader at any point in the season. Coming into Brainerd Bill has scored 617 points and they have come at four national and five divisional events. Since the alky classes are permitted to score at eight races, both on the national and divisional level, it's easy to see that Bill will probably add to his total before the year is over, and based on what we've seen in the past, he'll have to. It almost always takes over 700 points to win the championship and some times it even goes well above that. In 2005, the last year that Bill didn't win the championship, Steve Torrence put 819 points on the board to win his championship and Bill's total was 776 last year. Bill is coming to a track where he has historically done well, and over the years he has been to the final round five times and he has won three of them. It's supposed to be hot and humid this weekend and that might not be the best combination for Bill, but as he has shown recently, he can run and win in any weather.

Chris Demke

Jim Whiteley is second in the points and he is not going to be at Brainerd this weekend, but Chris Demke, the third-rated driver right now is. Chris, who has 575 points, has earned those at five national and five divisional races. Driving Jerry Maddern's car, Chris has been as good this year as just about anyone in the class. I don't know if it has anything to do with the rule changes about cooling fuel (nitro), but three of the top five drivers in the points this year are driving supercharged cars and Chris is one of them and Jim Whiteley and Shawn Cowie are the others. Chris started the season off with a solid performance in Pomona where he beat Joey Severance for the event win and he followed that up with the emotional win in Seattle. Mixed in are a couple of final rounds at divisional races including one at Brainerd earlier in the year when he beat Scott Palmer. This team has been solid over the past few years but they have really come into their own in 2010 and they will be, or at least they should be, title contenders until the end of the season. In fact, the way this year is going, I'll be surprised if anyone claims the championship before we get to Pomona. Since Chris will be replacing a first-round loss, just about anything he does this weekend will add to his total of 575 points. One thing you can't afford at this stage of the season is an early exit, so qualifying will be very important for all of the contenders. With the short field you'll really want to be in the top half of the field this weekend, but with a car that has run 5.270, I don't think Chris really cares who he runs in the first round or in the final round.

Shawn Cowie

Shawn Cowie is one of the real rising stars in this class and he is currently in fourth place with 532 points. The Northwest driver has amassed those points at four national and five divisional races so he still has a lot of races to claim. Shawn will be making his second appearance at the Brainerd event following his second-round loss last year. So far in 2010 he has won in Las Vegas at the national event and has four final rounds at divisional races. Of those four, he won one and lost two of the others to Jim Whiteley. Based on that, all of the points he earns this weekend will add to his total, and with a car that is capable of running in the 5.20 range, the Division 6 standout should look to go deep into eliminations in Brainerd.

Duane Shields

Duane Shields, who is currently in fifth place, will head to Brainerd for the just the second time in his career. He came here in 2002 and lost to Cliff Bozzelli in the second round. As an aside, I saw Cliff this past weekend at the 50th anniversary of Atco Raceway and he hinted that he and his father, Richard, may be returning to action very soon. Anyway, with one of the best fuel-injected cars in the class, Duane has already won two national events this year, Gainesville and Topeka, and he also has a pair of divisional wins. Like Shawn, Duane has scored points at four national and five divisional, and since he runs out of Division 2, he may not hit another divisional race for a while yet. Like Bill, the weather could be a factor this weekend for Duane, and like Bill, he and his team seem to have figured out how to run in any weather. Duane has made a run for the championship before and he has to be counted among those who will give Bill a real battle this year. Duane, along with his wife, Betsy, daughter Whitney, who also races, son Adam and the rest of the crew, are a very formidable team and they should make life miserable for the rest of the alky dragsters this year, just like he has in the past.

Darren Nicholson

The other top-ten driver who will be here this weekend is Darren Nicholson. With the J.C. Auto Glass car, Darren has been running well and running all over the country this year. In fact, next to Duane Shields, they may have put more miles on their truck than any other team in the TAD class. Darren had a great outing in Gainesville where he went to the final round only to lose to Duane Shields, and he has also made the money round at a pair of divisional races. With eleven final rounds in his career and an Indy win, Darren should be able to handle the pressure, if any, that a title contender can face. As much as he has travelled this year it's a bit surprising that he hasn't faced Shawn Cowie or Chris Demke. As a matter of fact, he has never raced either of them on the national level, but with a short field in Brainerd, there's a good chance he'll cross paths with one or both of them before this weekend is over. Of the top ten drivers who will be racing this weekend Darren has scored points at the fewest number of races, so all the points he gets in Minnesota will go right to his current total of 414.

Reichert, Demke, Cowie, Shields and Nicholson, a small but powerful group that will be racing in Brainerd this weekend, and while other top ten drivers sit this weekend out, we could see some real movement in the standings in the Top Alcohol Dragster class before sunset on Sunday.