Its amazing how racers are able to adapt to different track conditions, track temperatures, traction and last but not least weather conditions. They had to tackle all of these things in the span of three days.

Friday was HOT with temperatures reaching into the high nineties. Temperatures cooled slightly on Saturday; then on Sunday it was overcast and cloudy and over 25 degrees cooler than at the same time on Friday!

Weather not withstanding, some excellent racing and an amazing show on Saturday night by the competitors that were part of the “Professional Classes” including:

• Northwest Nostalgia BB Funny Cars
• The Front Engine Dragsters in “Top Eliminator”
• The classic cars of the Northwest Nostalgia Tour
• Nitro Harley

Along with an entertaining job of “finish line reporting” by Mr. Explosive himself Mark Sanders and an exciting finish by the Jet Funny Cars made for a fun time for everyone who attended this annual event.

Sunday’s cool temperatures provided excellent racing conditions and some close action in all the classes. The winners in the various classes were all awarded the coveted NHRA “Wally’s”:

WINNERS

Jim Doyle was very busy this weekend, there are well over 1,000 images of this event.  To visit the photo galleries, which are organized by day – click here.

Throughout his childhood Bill Litton had a love of competition and just about anything with an engine. At an early age Litton competed in the tough physical and ultra competitive world of Motocross Racing, at one point earning the coveted #1 plate in West Texas (1974). His professional motocross aspirations ended due to a torn ACL in 1976.

Litton at the time owned a 1968 GTO that many thought “was the fastest car in town” in his then hometown of Kermit, TX which is about 50 miles from Odessa TX.

His love for competition and speed quickly turned to the sport of Drag Racing. He attended the Frank Hawley School of Drag Racing in California; in 2003 to earn his competition license under the tutelage of current Nitro Funny Car Driver Jack Beckman to compete in a Super Comp Dragster. Bill’s need for speed was still not satisfied as shortly thereafter, he flew across the country to again attend the Frank Hawley School this time in Florida; to upgrade his license to drive a Alcohol Funny Car at speeds over 250 MPH! The instructor was none other than the former World Champ Frank Hawley himself! All this lead Bill to realize that maybe the best path to success wouldn’t be driving a Funny Car at all? Maybe a 270MPH Dragster world prove to be the best choice to achieve his ultimate goal. He then spoke with Former World Champ and accomplished “tuner” Tom Conway to see about the possibility of driving one of Tom’s cars and earning the proper grade of license to compete in that class as well. This took place the week prior to the trip to Seattle!

Hopefully you can see a pattern developing? Bill has a talent for surrounding himself with good people and enlisting help and advice from the best the industry has to offer in an effort toward the ultimate prize.

This same pattern translates to Litton’s success in the business world. His firm, Litton Financial, holds a position in the top one percent of the largest independent investment brokerage companies in the country.

When the time came for Bill to assemble his “team” to field a competitive car in the Alcohol Dragster category he didn’t have to search far; Anthony Dicero was one of Tom Conway’s protégés, and has crewed for many championship winning teams and drivers like Bob Gilbertson, Morgan Lucas, Tony Pedregon and Don Purdhomme.

The rest of the team looks like this:

Now with the team assembled the parts and pieces readied and a newly licensed driver ready to go, a plan was formulated to debut the “team” this weekend in Seattle at the O’Reilly Auto Parts Northwest Nationals! The team was greeted by unusual weather with temperatures nearing 90 degrees; Friday’s opening qualifying effort was a 5.60 ET with a speed of 257MPH; which for Bill Litton was a career best! Faster than he had run the week prior during licensing in Bakersfield!

The next round of qualifying was a bit slower 5.70ET as both the track and ambient temperature had risen over the prior round which caused most of the cars in the class to slow as well. However the “bright spot” of this run was the speed was better at over 260MPH! With qualifying now completed, the team lead by Anthony Dicero made the needed changes to prepare for a hopeful first round victory on Sunday!

The Litton Financial Dragster matched up with former National Event Winner, category standout and this weekends #1 qualifier Chris Demke and the Peen Rite Abrasives Dragster of the Maddern Family in the first round of eliminations. Litton’s dragster began dropping cylinders shortly after leaving the starting line as a result the car ran its slowest numbers of the weekend 5.89 at 259MPH. The bright spot is that Chris Demke went on to eventually win the event.

Although there was no outright trophy awarded to the Litton Financial team this weekend, lessons were learned and experience gained toward the goal of Winning the ultimate prize…

Photo coverage from the weekend’s activities can be seen by clicking here –

For the second consecutive year “Bracketstars.com” hosted what is becoming a annual get together at Performance Grill in Auburn. A classic car show highlights the gathering along with a visit by “NHRA Drag Racing Legend” Jerry “The King” Ruth.

Jack Beckman driver of the Schmacher Electric Nitro Funny Car signed autographs; Beckman’s Crew Chief Lee Beard also was seen in attendance.

All in all a fun evening prior to the start of racing activity at the 25th Anniversary Edition of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Nationals presented by Super Start Batteries this weekend at Pacific Raceways!

A full photo gallery highlighting the night’s activities is now available – click here to go there.

Although its only Wednesday and the actual competition does not begin until this Friday, today’s activities included lots of famous people as part of “Media Day” at Pacific Raceways.

Area dignitaries including Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire, Kent Mayor Suzette Cook and Auburn Mayor Peter B. Lewis along with members of the area media including Dale Roberts from radio station KZOK 102.5 and TV Channel 13’s Aaron Levine; were taught the fine art of “drag racing” by former Frank Hawley Drag Racing School Instructor and current driver of the Schumacher Electric Nitro Funny Car “Fast” Jack Beckman. Beckman spent time with everyone in attendance and offered a “question and answer session” along with individual instruction. As a side note, Beckman is currently 3rd in the Nitro Funny Car Points Standings.

This fun day of racing and instruction was orchestrated by Pacific Raceways owner Jason Fiorito and his staff.

An autograph session and meet and greet featuring Jack Beckman and other drivers will be held on Thursday at BB McGraw’s Restaurant in Auburn. Hosted by Bracketstars.com

Full photo coverage from the media day is available now  To go there click here…

More than 250 vintage “hotrods” converged on Pacific Raceways for the “racing” part of the Goodguys Rod and Custom Association’s 25th Anniversary Edition of the Pacific Northwest Nationals “presented by Wesco Auto Body Supply” this past Friday.

The silver anniversary edition of this annual “happening” was special in a lot of ways.  The racers in attendance put on a great show highlighted by “Twig” Ziegler’s vintage Pizza Haven Plymouth Satellite Nitro Funny Car in a “match” race with Bucky Austin’s Bucky’s Brake and Muffler Plymouth Arrow Funny Car.

One of the other cool aspects of this weekend was the variety of classic drag race machinery. Some of which only come out for this event each year, and don’t attend any other drag racing events on the Pacific Raceways schedule. All of the cool race cars plus some of the areas most unique street rods parked in the pits; put on an entirely different “car show” than you would see at the Puyallup Fairgrounds a mere 15 miles away!

Photos from both locations are included in the photo gallery. You can view the photos by clicking here.

By Webster’s definition the word “success” means “the favorable outcome of something attempted”. For the Gage Family it is many successful “outcomes” spanning three generations. You see, for Roger, Kevin and Kelsee Gage its all about a winning tradition.

The story begins with Roger Gage who; after earning a degree in engineering went to work for Arctic Cat snowmobiles in the early 70s in their Research and Development Department in Minnesota. He was instrumental in the design and development of one of the iconic race “sleds” of the era known as the Arctic Cat Twin Track 440X. Roger recently helped restore to one of the original Arctic Cat Twin Track 440X’s. That restoration displayed at a snowmobile roundup earned 1st place trophy, a further testament to Roger’s skills and talents.

Fast forward some 30 years, after working for several companies, Roger and his wife Jane eventually landed in Washington State. Roger got a job at Boeing where he still works today. He turned his considerable design, and fabrication skills to the sport of Drag Racing, building a very cool big block Chevrolet powered 10 second black 38 Chevrolet Business coupe for local competition at what is now Pacific Raceways.

NOTE: As of this writing Roger is tied for 10th place in Pro Bracket Points after two events in the Auto Max USA Bracket Series at Pacific Raceways.

One of Roger’s two sons, Kevin followed in his father’s footsteps. He got his introduction to drag racing at 16 when he and his brother would go to the races with their dad. Like his father, Kevin also works in the aerospace industry as a production supervisor. He also has his own race car. A 1966 Rambler American racing in Pro Bracket with power coming from a Dart equipped Chevy 383 built by Dale Green at DG Machine. Power passes thru a TH400 transmission to a Ford 9” with 4:11 gears. He raced this car until last season. He will be retiring the Rambler to build a 69 Nova for the 2012 season. With upgrades to the former Rambler’s power train Kevin is looking to move to Super Pro in the new season.

That brings us to the third generation “driver” Kelsee Gage, Kevin’s daughter. Kelsee is a 7th grader; who participates in volleyball, basketball and track while maintaining a 3.00 GPA. Her good grades keep her in the seat of a RPC built Gunslinger Jr. Dragster, and at the drag strip with Dad and Grandpa, “we like to hang out” she says. With help from her family and a few sponsors her goal is to be the first in the “family” to earn the coveted “NHRA Wally” for winning an event. Her other interests include music; in particular Justin Bieber: she is a teenage girl after all…Her mother even helped Kelsee dress up as Justin for Halloween.

NOTE: As of this writing Kelsee is 2nd in Junior Thunder Points following a runner up finish at the first event for Junior Dragster competition in the Auto Max USA Bracket Series at Pacific Raceways.

It is not uncommon on any racing weekend to see all three generations of the Gage family in the late rounds of competition in three different classes….

So I guess it is true “a family that races together stays together”.