Mon, 13 Sep 2010, 12:28 PM Jim Luikens' Reporter's Notebook

Courtesy of NHRA Communications Photo copyright 2010 Auto Imagery, Inc. At the 56th Annual Mac Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil

CLERMONT, Ind. --

Bob Glidden

Cooler than usual temperatures greeted fans at this year's Big Go. While Indy is famous for being hot and muggy this year it was mostly cool and breezy. In fact one announcer went so far as to say that the racers were experiencing "Disneyland" conditions. The only really warm day was Monday when the temperature soared to 88 degrees after hovering in the sixties throughout the preceding five days. I personally feel that a number of the naturally-aspirated cars were caught out by the surprise rise in Monday's temperature after so many cool days.

Somewhat mostly overlooked in all the hubbub that surrounds Indy was the fact that this was the 50th consecutive U.S. Nationals to be contested at Indianapolis. After beginning in Kansas and then hitting Oklahoma and Michigan, the Nationals moved to the then-new Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1961 and have been there ever since.

The return of Bob "Mad Dog" Glidden has been widely covered, and rightly so. After making five ever-improving qualifying runs Bob still found himself outside the field, recording the 24th best elapsed time of the 30 Pro/Stockers that ran. But the real story is the fine job he did driving the car after being out of the seat for the better part of this decade. The driving gig has really re-ignited Bob's passion for racing and he has committed to driving the Cunningham Mustang for at least the balance of this season. "Mad Dog" fully expects to be able to qualify before this season ends. As Bob came up the return road after his last qualifying pass the fans rose, section by section, to give him a standing ovation as he passed in front of them.

Chip Foose

The second greatest applause was heard for custom car designer Chip Foose, who served as the event's Grand Marshal this year. Chip was also on hand to introduce a new sport driving shoe that he has designed for Oakley named the Three Palms. Unlike existing sport driving shoes, which were designed for the "sporty car crowd" according to Chip, these shoes were designed for the guy that has a '70 Chevelle. The shoes are good-looking and, priced at around $100, should be a good seller as well.

T.J. Zizzo and the Zizzo Racing Team and the one of the best weekends of their Top Fuel career. After a career-best 3.86 elapsed time off the trailer during Friday night's first qualifying session the team never looked back. With one of the most consistent top fuel cars on the premises, TJ ran another career best, a 3.85, on his third run, which was good enough for the tenth qualifying position in the final order. Round one brought a match up between Doug Kalitta and Zizzo. T.J. was on his game as he went on to record another career-best with a top speed of 314 MPH. It was one of the biggest round wins of his career.

The second round brought a pumped Zizzo Racing Team to the staging lanes, where they were positioned fourth pair out. All three racers ahead of them in the right lane smoked their tires. With a last minute change to the PEAK dragster from Mike Kern and Tony Smith, Zizzo was the only one to make it down the track in that lane with a 3.90-second elapsed time. Unfortunately, that wasn't quite enough to beat eventual runner-up Cory Mac's 3.821-second elapsed time.

T.J. Zizzo

"The team prepared a great car for me all weekend long, which allows for easy driving. A last minute decision to make the race car go down the track shows a lot of maturity from our team because we chose to race the lane, rather than the other driver. If Cory had made a mistake, then we would have advanced," Zizzo said.

Zizzo Racing sponsor Expo Dry Erase Markers was on site to fulfill their promotion which allowed kids to sign a portion of the PEAK dragster. With each run where T.J. was first to the finish line, including qualifying, Expo donated 1,000 feet of markers to Teachers' Treasures, a Kid's in Need affiliate. "This was a huge hit with the fans and a very successful promotion. We were able to donate 6,000 feet of Expo Dry Erase Markers and we talked to thousands of people over the weekend," Zizzo said. The team is now preparing for their next outing, which will be in Charlotte.

Another Top Fuel team that showed well was the Amalie Oil dragster of Indiana's Terry McMillen. Terry, in his first full year on the NHRA tour, has qualified for every race so far this season. After running well early in the weekend, the team went into the final qualifying session on the outside looking in. A clutch 4.014-second elapsed time was good enough to get the car back in the field and maintain his perfect season record, which is quite an accomplishment for a first-year team. It was a battle of the Macs in the first round as McMillen smoked his tires and was defeated by eventual T/F runner-up Cory McClenathan.

John Force Racing has been celebrating the 25th Anniversary of their association with Castrol all season. During each quarter they have been giving away fantastic prizes from JFR and its sponsors. The prize for the second quarter was the actual Yamaha scooter that John is so often seen riding at the track and on ESPN2. The winner was Susan Porter of Tennessee and she took delivery from John at the U.S. Nationals. She also received a new helmet from Simpson and a special 25th Anniversary Castrol/JFR jacket. Since John was now scooter-less Rich Pawelka from Kymco USA stepped into the void and gave John a beautiful new Kymco Super 8 150 in green and black, John's favorite colors. Two quarters remain in 2010 and fans that want to enter the remaining contests can go to www.castrolforce.com to enter.

Indy is well known for special paint schemes and this year there were several beauties on hand. Doug Kalitta had a special Mac Tools/DeWalt/Stanley paint scheme, with a die-cast to match, while Tony Schumacher commemorated the tenth anniversary of his Army sponsorship with a retro look that recalled the original Army paint scheme from 10 years ago. Meanwhile, Robert Hight, Bob Tasca III, and Cruz Pedregon all carried special paint schemes or wraps on their fuel funny cars.

Angelle Sampey officially announced her retirement from drag racing at the U.S. Nationals. Just prior to the Pro Stock Motorcycle qualifying she was presented special plaques from both the NHRA and the Army in honor of her success and contributions to championship drag racing. Now happily married, she is expecting her first child in the spring and is looking forward to motherhood and the next chapter of her life.

Angelle Sampey

Only one of the 40 drivers and riders that qualified for the Countdown to One failed to make the show at Indy, the first race of the playoffs. Pro Stock Motorcycle rider David Hope, from Missouri, actually tied for the 16th and final spot in the P/SM field but lost the spot when Wesley Wells recorded a higher mile-per-hour, which is the first tiebreaker.

Announcer Alan Reinhart may have come up with the quote of the event when he noted that the number 1 on Bill Reichert's Top Alcohol Dragster was not a decal but an engraved titanium plate. While being somewhat facetious, Reinhart was acknowledging the way that Bill has owned the class for the past four seasons and has a good chance of extending his streak this year. Despite losing in the second round Bill remains in first place in the Top Alcohol Dragster standings with a 52 point lead over the number two driver.

It has been said many times that the alcohol classes are great training grounds for the fuel stars of tomorrow. At Indy at least three new bright lights made their U.S. Nationals debut in Top Alcohol Funny Car. Second generation driver Fred Hagen, Jr. qualified second in his family's Dark Horse Ford Mustang while Brent Henry drove the Lane Automotive Dodge Charger of Frank and Dan Parker to the the sixth starting position and Cassandra "Cassie" Simonton hit the ninth spot in her Chevrolet Monte Carlo that is owned by Canadian businessman Spiro Kontos. Good things are expected in the future from all of them as they are top notch young talents that are competing in first class equipment.

The Westcott family from Parma, Michigan has owned the Mopar Hemi Challenge for the past several years and it looked like that string was going to continue in 2010, the 10th anniversary of the ground-breaking event being contested at the U.S. Nationals. During early qualifying Charlie Westcott, Jr. recorded a great 8.41-second elapsed time to pace the field but by Thursday night both of the Westcott's Warfish entries had blown their engines and were headed home to Michigan to see if they could be repaired. They never returned to Indy and that split the field wide open. In the final it was all Barton, all the time as Ray Barton engine customer Jim Daniels defeated David Barton in a battle of Barton-prepared Hemis, 8.56 seconds to David's slightly quicker 8.55 second elapsed time.

2011 will be the 60th Anniversary of the National Hot Rod Association. In honor of the milestone the NHRA is going to have special corrals and historic exhibits at every event on the 2011 tour. Since the incorporation papers were signed in late March the Gatornationals have been designated as the official anniversary event and will host even more special events than the other stops on the tour. More information will be released later but for now NHRA chose to preview the excitement by showing the special 60th anniversary logo at Indy.