25 Jul 2014 Kent, WA – by John Ramsey It was a throw-back throw-down as northwest Funny Car legends Bucky Austin and Twig Zeigler delighted a large Pacific Raceways’ crowd with a side-by-side hammer-down pass at the 27th Annual GoodGuys Friday Nite Vintage Drags July 25that the historic Kent track.

Kris Krabill, driving for the legendary “Northwest Hitter” Bucky Austin, grabbed a slight starting line advantage and powered to a 5.748 at 249.44 mph over Zeigler’s ’74 Plymouth Satellite piloted by Devery Howard, who stopped the clocks at 5.834 at 246.39 mph.  In the nightcap, Krabill set top ET and speed of the night in his match-up with Roger Garten’s 1973 Mach 1 with a 5.737 at 254.86.  Howard’s second round run wasn’t enough to hold off the hole-shot win of Nathan Sitko and his Edmonton, Alberta based ’78 Plymouth Arrow that ran 5.934 at 244.03 to Howard in the Twig Zeigler car ata 5.914 ET at 222.18 mph.

Sitko also took the measure of Garten in the opening round with a 5.889 at 243.33 to Garten’s centerline crossing foul.

Austin’s and Zeigler’s floppers were mainstays at Pacific Raceways in the heyday of Funny Car match racing when the track was known as Seattle International Raceway (SIR), hosting such events as 64 Funny Cars.  In recent years, Austin’s Fife, WA-based team has made regular appearances in testing at Pacific Raceways.

The GoodGuys annual event at Pacific Raceways attracted nearly 200 hot rods, muscle cars and competition race cars 1972 and older.  In addition, a large car show was held in the upper pits.  The GoodGuys Friday Nite Drags are part of a weekend festival of hot rods and hot cars held at the nearby Puyallup Fair Grounds.

Other winners at the Friday Nite Drags included John Ermish of Renton WA in Competition; Tacoma’s Steve Wilson and his ’38 Ford Coupe in Hot Rod 1; the ’36 Dodge of Buckley, WA’s Pat Kelly in Hot Rod 2; North Bend, WA’s Ken Reeves and his ’67 Dart in Street Machine 1; and Gary Gandee of Bremerton driving his Pontiac Firebird in Street Machine 2.

Images of all the action are now in the galleries.  Click here to go there.

SAMPLES

19 July 2014 Kent, WA – With just one class already claimed the race is on to settle the rest of the season. The big goal is to stay one round ahead of the person in front of you or hope they go out in an early round. Point counting is of high interest at this time of the season.

The racing was intense: no current front runner won and a pair of normal Mission runners took the trophies in two classes.

Lots of great shots with colorful sunset skies this weekend – click here to go to the album.

WINNERS

MC: Chris Benda over past champ Joe Lind
SM: John TaBak on his number stopped Joey Fielder
PRO: Chris Stone from Mission, BC got by local racer Greg Kent
SPRO: Past champ Fred Hoffman got the win as Norm Braedt ran too quick

18 July 2014 Kent, WA – As the rounds are getting less, the chance to gain on the person ahead of you is getting short. Lose a few rounds in the beginning of the season and it could be the difference in earning you a spot for the E.T. Finals and even a track championship.

Counting points can be counter-productive; it can take you out of your game. Think too much and mistakes can be made. It only takes a fraction of second to lose concentration and you lose the race from one little miscue. As in any competition, keeping your head clear for the task at hand is a constant work in progress.

Think of it yourself trying to do something that takes a great deal of concentration. Add in a slew of people watching your every move. Did I mention that this concentration is being attempted by kids 5 to 18 yrs. old. Quite impressive the way they take care of business, and leave the point counting to the parents to figure out as they go back to being kids running around tossing a football.

The ability to get into a zone of total awareness of what you are doing and about to do is a natural born gift to a few, to all other’s it’s practice, practice, practice.

These are the winners and point gainers for this race:

Jr. Storm: Alexis Krier got by Ryan Warnke
Jr. Thunder: Cameron Calhoun over Elizabeth Lindsey
Jr. Lightning: Yeshua Wilcox edged Devin Lewis

Images of all the action are now available – click here to go to the album.

SAMPLES

17 July 2014 Kent, WA – Family and friends, co-workers and drag racers came together today to celebrate Gary’s life. It began with a committal service at Tahoma National Cemetery as any military person has earned and ended with a memorial potluck at Pacific Raceways, a place he loved so dearly.

It’s hard to describe how many people Gary touched as he was involved with his basic favorites, football and drag racing, and both involve a lot of people. I only knew Gary for a short time; though in that short time we grew close quickly. His personality was infectious and hastened by our mutual love of the drag strip brought us together with that commonality. Being day’s apart in age was another part of our quick friendship; I too will miss what he brought to the track.

R.I.P. GARY

In memory of Gary there are images of the Potluck – click here to go to the album.

13 July 2014 Kent, WA – Ten classes of Nostalgia iron at Pacific Raceways to qualify for Sunday’s elimination rounds. Here for the second time, this race brings all kinds older race cars out for competition.

Over 900 Images of all types of nostalgia cars available in two albums, one for each day – click here.

Updated with current safety equipment they are pretty much the same as they were back then. Throw in with this a two day car show put on by Bracketstars and its non raced show cars from the same period. Fine looking hot rods with fine looking race cars and sunny weather, what could be better for a weekend?

The hot sunny weather had everyone’s attention as higher than normal temp’s covered the northwest. Plenty of liquids needed for man and machine were needed for both in these conditions. As far as racing goes, it’s the same for everyone to figure what tuning to do to try and tame the heat. Plenty of wheel’s up launches showed the track prep in great shape.

Along with the nostalgia runs both Austin families went after their respective information on what they are after. You have to make the runs to find out what you really have and what you may or may not have to do to get to your target. Good luck to both.

In the only real race of the day, the “running for the bucks” saw Randy Shaw from Lincoln, MT. get the money when Camarillo, CA. resident Roy Pool fouled.

Sunday morning brought the same conditions as yesterday and now everything counted. A time hit for all classes and the dial-ins began. In-line six’s to AA/supercharged testing their machines in win or go home racing on Pacific Raceways legendary quarter mile.

Surface improvements had racers commenting good things and the up-coming events should show it. Quicker 60′, a little faster speed and most of all better E.T.’s brought a number of high fives and smiles.

Starter by committee quickly filled by Jeremy Scrivner and Jack Stutler with Jack bringing his Div.6 experience in kind of a lead role when Asst. drag strip Mngr. and starter Rick was sidelined with a medical condition. Speedy recovery my friend. For Jack starting an AA/FC of the current 1000′ era was a first.

Flipping the switch on a car making a couple of sub 4.70’s runs would bring a smile to anyone’s face.

Here are your Nostalgia class winner’s for this year’s race:

INLINE: Jeff Nelson over Scott Cummins
SS/FX: Thor Prestegand over Jamie Roth
HOT ROD I: Ross Walker over Gary Clark
HOT ROD II: Chris Sheldon over Randy Gaidjiergis
STK SHIFT: Uwe Gerdes over Scott Nelson
STREET MACHINE I: Alan Borgen over David Marquart
STREET MACHINE II: Andy Collins over Larry DeCamp
TOP GAS: Dave Wakefield over Randy Brown
DRAGSTER: Allan Thornock over Trevor Smith
AA/SUPER: Troy Owen over Mitch Chamberlin

SAMPLES

11 July 2014 Kent, WA – Car Club members who take part in the season series got a bonus as far as the cars that came out for the test and tune part of the Friday night race. With a weekend of Nostalgia race cars on the property they were eager to test. Some very fine early iron made passes down the track to the delight of those spectators and club members watching.

Throw into that an ongoing development of a dragster in bare metal and a competition license upgrade. Walt Austin with son Pat and Pat’s son Drew testing their fine work on the dragster. Am looking forward when it goes into competition.

For the upgrade, longtime northwest racer Bucky Austin brought out a AA/FC for the upgrade. Having mostly driven and won in the alcohol funny car classes any E.T. or speed could be classed as a personal best. Planned runs over the weekend should give him the runs needed for the upgrade.

In-between the Car Club rounds saw Jr. Dragsters, altereds, front engine dragsters and even a motorcycle testing. Quite a range of race cars to watch tonight.

The race winner for Car Club this race saw Jason Cooper of Arlington top Steve Kranz of Snohomish

Images of all the action are now available – click here to go to the album.

09 July 2014 Kent, WA – If you ride a motorcycle you know that there is a wide range to choose from. Whatever is your choice you will more than likely find one at the drag strip on these Wednesday nights for the Urban Custom Bikes sponsored races.

From a full dressed out Harley to a pure drag Kawasaki, and a lot in-between. As more and more riders are coming out to take part in a mid-week night out, the different manufacturers represented is growing.

Add in this night the high school series and a test and tune you could see again another wide range of race cars, NHRA legal C/SMA Cobalt to a highschoolers old T-Bird. Toss in a parachute pulling dragster and an import that hauls the mail and needs a parachute. Just a sample of the wide range of what you will see on a mid-week race date.

Images are now available – click here.

The two class winners are:

In high school Patrick Fiorito got the win over Peaton Biscay
The motorcycle class had Sonora, Ca. native Daniel Hoheisel take down local guy Jacob Becker

25 June 2014 Kent, WA – Custom bikes and drag bikes racing against a dial-in. Custom bikes with all their add-ons against a pretty much stripped down bike seems like an unfair advantage to the drag bike.

Racing against your dial-in evens the odds to pretty even, though a 9 second bike trying to run down a 15 second bike makes for some very close finishes.

The custom bike rider’s picked up pointers given by the drivers, and they got more consistent in their performances and times, which translated to better dial-ins; which in turn made the finish closer.

Mid-week action can’t get much better, it was a nice way to pass the hump day. The two in the finals turned out to be a drag bike against a custom bike, with Joe Lind on the drag bike topping Jeremy Lind on the custom.

Images of all the action are now available – enjoy some shots of some of the nicest custom bikes in the area. Click here…

SAMPLES