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CRUM TAKES EMOTIONAL VP QUICK 32 EVENT #4 MAKE-UP WIN

With the final round of the VP Racing Fuels Event #5 and the "consy" race in the books it was time to digress and finish-up the rain plagued Event #4. This race was previously scheduled and contested in Septem ber but was rained out in the middle of the second round. To bring the reader up to speed the ever-familiar Brian Buch (below) stole the pole away from Lester Adkins on the last qualifying shot to claim the Ron's Fuel Injection Dragster Low Qualifier $200 with a stout 4.27. On the door car side Tom Stultz blistered the all-concrete surface to a 4.374 at over 162 MPH. This left no question that he deserved the Woodruff Automotive Door Car Low Qualifier $200 cash and was only two hundredths off the track record that he currently holds from several years ago.

Before the rains came that September evening the Lyons Raceway Park staff was able to finish the Nitroplate Round One with some very tight racing. Winners on the door car side were Ron Hayman, Kynon Dinkel, Stan Crum, Bud Tharpe, Ray Rigdon, Mark Kindle, Jim Schantz and Jason McConnell. McConnell, from Humboldt, Illinois picked up the Nitroplate "Step 'Up to the Plate" free header coating with a .008 package over Mike Luedke. On the dragster side winners were Terry Hoke, Brian Buch, Al Peavler, Phillip Oakley, Lester Adkins, Ed Dudley, Chris Carrico and James Monroe. Monroe (below with McConnell) was awarded his second "Step Up to the 'Plate" award of the year with his .022 package against Darren Douglass.

Fast forward six weeks to Sunday night with the temperatures dramatically lower as the race was resumed in the Tuff Paw Aluminum Products Round two. Three pairs were already settled on the door car side in the September race and they were Ron Rigdon over Mark Kindle, Jim Schantz over Kynon Dinkel and Bud Tharpe over Ron Hayman. When eliminations resumed Stan Crum started his march to the final with a win over Jason McConnell. On the dragster side Ed Dudley disposed of Brian Buch and netted the $100 from the Fastenal Company for the "Fastenal Bounty Hunter Award". Adkins defeated Peavler who was hot off of his runner-up in the day's prior event and Monroe received a competition single. In the marquee match-up of the round Christopher Carrico drew a red-bulb from Phillip Oakley making the points chase immediately interesting going into the last three contested rounds of the season. At this point Washington, Indiana's Carrico had to win the race to seal his second series championship in as many weeks and cap off an already great season.

In the KillerRONS.COM Quarterfinals the dragster pairing of Carrico and Adkins had championship implications as Lester Adkins of Corydon, Kentucky used a .017 light and drove the stripe to take out Carrico and seal the championship for his buddy Phillip Oakley. In the other pair Monroe squeaked past Ed Dudley in a tight race of 4.4x dragsters. On the door car side Stan Crum was pleased to have the competition bye as Ray Rigdon was unable to attend the make-up event. In the other ‘slammer pair Bud Tharpe advanced past Lyons Raceway Park Super Pro “Race of Champions” representative Jim Schantz.

The Steve Schmidt Competition Engines Semifinals (dragster final) pitted two previous JEG'S Super Quick Series champions who are no strangers to fast bracket racing. In that showdown Monroe held a slight starting line advantage of .019 to Adkin's .020 but couldn't make it stick as he lost a vacuum pump belt in the burnout and slowed to a 4.511 on his 4.47 dial. Adkins, as he commonly does, capitalized on any slight competitor weakness and turned on the guardrail light with ease. On the door car side rivals Stan Crum (below) and Bud Tharpe staged their impressive vehicles to see who would face Adkins for the title. Crum reacted with a .017 light and posted a 4.936 pass on his 4.93 dial to force Tharpe under his 4.83 marker.

In the polar-opposite final the door car of Stan Crum was victorious to score another point for the door car contingent. Crum, with help from his partners Roger Blankbeckler and Robert Crist, hand-built the beautiful 1968 from the ground up to 25.1E specs in a 1.5 garage in their home town of Crawfordsville, IN. The project took nearly three years to complete and Sunday's win was a pretty emotional time for the three. Crum stated, "We are so pleased that the door cars were not left out in the series and our win was a dream come true." Crum's Shelby features an all-aluminum 632" Ford power plant from Woody's Automotive and puts out over 1100 horsepower with no power adders. Crum wished to thank his partners Roger and Robert as well as Kenny Blankenbeckler and Jon Crist who joined him in the winner's circle (below).

CRICK PARLAYS STEADY CONSISTENCY TO VP QUICK 32 EVENT #5 WIN

One of the key visions in the development of the VP Racing Fuels Quick 32 Series was to provide the door car racer an opportunity to compete against his own kind as long as possible deep into eliminations. As many know, the unique format of this popular series pits the 16 quickest door cars on the same side of the ladder to do battle for the rights to face the dragster winner at the conclusion of the evening. In the first three events of the inaugural season the dragster had came out victorious in the anticipated evening showdown. All that changed on Sunday at Lyons Raceway Park in Southern Indiana as Stan Crum and Mike Crick posted event wins for the "doors and hoods" to close out the season with the final two event wins.

An unseasonably cool weather pattern kept the track temperatures in the mid-forty’s as 51 competitors tried their hand at qualifying for Event #5. After the smoke had cleared Brian Buch picked up his third Ron's Fuel Injection Dragster Low Qualifier $200 with a 4.182 at over 163 MPH with his quickest pass of the year. The dragster bump spot was a solid 4.615 held down by first-time competitor Jim "Shorty" Rader of Martinsville, IN. On the door car side Reed Hughes, driving his unique twin-turbocharged Camaro, garnered his second Woodruff Automotive Door Car Low Qualifier $200 with a 4.749 at over 150 MPH. This earned Hughes the round one bye as only 15 door cars staged-up in the opening stanza. The Nitroplate First Round was highlighted by Hughes improving his performance to a 4.60 at 156 MPH. Also in that round Bud Tharpe (below) collected the Nitroplate "Step Up to the 'Plate" Award with his .012 package defeat of local ace Bill McCarty. On the dragster side Brian Buch lit up the boards with another 4.18; this time "with an 8" to end Rader's evening and cash in on his second Nitroplate header coating of the season and keep the bounty on his head. Also in that first round Phillip Oakley began to make a championship a reality as he edged Christopher Carrico by .009 at the stripe. Both drivers came into this match-up in the top two points spots and Oakley came away with a two round lead after his win.

In the Tuff Paw Aluminum Products Second Round an unlucky lucky racer receives a free log book/dial-in marker holder from this great company for the best losing package. Tough conditions coupled with the setting sun made for red lights in four of the eight pairs. The best losing package of the "stripe races" was laid down by Kentuckian Scott Carman with a .058 package that was only .005 behind Oakley's on-the-brakes .053 package. Carman took the knowledge from that loss and turned in the winner card in Super Pro later that evening (below). Also in the second round Brain Buch advanced to keep the "Fastenal Bounty Hunter Award" noose around his neck.

With four door cars remaining Mike Crick began to flex his muscles with an .018 package win over Terre Haute, Indiana's wheel standing Gil Hudgens. In the other door car pairing Bud Tharpe was the beneficiary of a Bill Little red light. In the dragster foursome Buch continued his impressive outing by taking out Oakley with a .004 light and a .025 over 4.205 pass and Al Peavler (below), from Olney, IL, drove his new American Race Cars dragster prepared by series sponsor DragstersForSale.Com to the win over Fastenal Racing's Nick Fair to end the KillerRONS.COM Quarterfinals.

In the dragster half of the Steve Schmidt Competition Engines Semifinals Peavler utilized a deathblow .000 light on Buch to earn his spot into the dragster/door car final and pick-up his second "Fastenal Bounty Hunter" $100 award of 2009. In the door car final Crick was .017 on the tree and 5.200 on his 5.19 dial for another solid package win. Due to the drastically cooling temperatures, and the need to finish the rain delayed Event #4 later that evening, Crick and Peavler were turned around quickly for the final. In that final pairing Crick continued his impressive debut with a .004 initiated and on the brakes 5.219 on his 5.19 dial-in for the event win. Peavler was quoted as saying that he "Loaded up the box a little too much after the perfect light and you cannot do that against someone the caliber of Mike." Crick (below) uses a 622" Big Block Mopar power plant in his unique 1965 Belvedere was on dead-on a 5.20 dial-in all night. Crick was quoted as saying, "My Terminator was pretty nasty all day and I appreciate Ron's Fuel Injection's support of this series". In addition to his $2,000 winner's check Crick will receive $100 in cash from Ron's and a $100 gift certificate from RPM Performance Data Loggers.

In the eight car "consy" race Josh Rogers (below) from Brazil, IN outlasted Dennis Ridgeway for the $500 winner's take. Rogers moved out of the beams with a great .008 light and lifted early as Ridgeway broke an input shaft. Ridgeway, the owner of series contingency sponsor DRE, Inc. Engine Diapers, was very impressed with the series as he debuted his new dragster cockpit cover at this race.