Fun Ford Weekend - Double Take

he 12th Annual Fun Ford Weekend Bristol event was well on its way to another record-breaking year, but Mother Nature had other plans. After completing the qualifying ladders and pounding through the several laps of eliminations, the rain moved in and the finals moved to the next series stop at Cordova for completion.

The typical make-up race format trades the eligible qualifying rounds for continuance race elimination rounds. This can make it tough for contenders because the usual heads-up philosophy has one leaning on parts a little harder throughout eliminations, saving the best for last. However, in this case, they need to be prepared to do battle again on Sunday after running on kill on Saturday.

Unfortunately, we can't share the actual e.t.'s as the computer wiped out the numbers when we went to print the results. But fear not, we did capture the accomplishments on film. Actually on digital, to be honest.

Bristol Stomp
In the Mr. Gasket Pro finals it was Dan Saitz's twin-turbocharged '97 Probe over Chuck Samuel's single-turbocharged millennium Mustang.

The ATI ProCharger Street Outlaw was, of course, another battle of turbochargers that resulted with Tim Lynch out gunning Brad Brand for his fourth victory of the season. Dwayne "Big Daddy" Gutridge singled for the win in the BFGoodrich Tire Drag Radial class when Randy Haywood was a no-show.

Chris Little's new found dominion, the Vortech Street Renegade class, left him alone at the lights for a solo for the Oscar with Martorella horseless. In the Edelbrock Street Bandit class both Matt Jones and Andy Law shared the misfortune of breaking in earlier qualifying rounds so they elected to split both the money and points. Tremec Transmission Street Warrior class had a late season surging Darrell Peterson over the class dominating Jeremy Martorella.

The Focus Central Focus Frenzy class paired the fastest two street legal Foci in North Carolina, Tom Lesperance took the win over Owen Spry. In the JDM Engineering Tough Truck finals it was David Gates' nitrous powered Ranger over Don Justus' '01 Lightning for his second win of the year. And finally, the Steeda/Hyland Mod Motor winner was reigning class champion Robert Hindman with Floridian Joe Parisi capturing the runner-up.

The Cordova Clash
In the Mr. Gasket Pro class the top three cars qualified between 6.607-6.614, that's within an astounding .007 seconds. Chuck Simons put together a career best 6.69 at nearly 212 mph in round one to oust class point leader Gillig who fouled due to a fuel leak at the starting line. The Chuck Samuel-piloted Kevin Marsh Motorsports 2,000hp turbo Stang got the bye in the first and outran Bill Rimmer Jr.'s Racecraft Mustang with the quickest run of eliminations, 6.62 at 214.38 mph.

The other side was the battle of the Ford Probes with the Chuck Simmons' '98 nitrous injected big block running a 6.81 against the quicker '97 twin turbo small block of the Saitz family entry who posted a 6.68 at 208 mph. This would replicate the Thunder Valley final that played out less than 24 hours earlier. However, this time it was all Samuels, as Saitz failed to make it out of the gates.

The Georgia gang must have all stopped at the same station for fuel because they all ran faster than 203mph in the ATI ProCharger Street Outlaw class--Brad Brand with a 7.196 at 203.37, Tim Lynch 7.271 at 204.57 and Mike Calvert with a 7.287 at 204.05. Dan Millen may have only run 198 mph, but he still grabbed the top qualifying spot with a 7.18.

In eliminations Tim Lynch took out Andy Collins while Brad Brand lowered the bar by running a 7.15 over a respectable 7.39 from Travis Franklin. Mike Calvert out-powered Dan Millen, who had hurt the motor in an earlier round. Cordova is the second to last race of the year and Lynch captured three Oscars to Brand's two so their meeting in the semis would see a little extra effort from both camps. However, the Atlanta Chassis Dyno entry of Brand must not have known that Lynch was ailing because he pounded out an unbelievable 7.148 at 206.51 mph. Mike and Joni Calvert's Peach Tree Siding-sponsored '01 Bullitt got a bye to the final then captured the win over Brand with a 7.31 as Brand lost a bit at the line.

Gutridge took top honors over Erica Ortiz-Lugo in the BFGoodrich Tire Drag Radial class. Gutridge qualified on top with an 8.727/164.03 and ran a 9.00 at 161 mph to Ortiz-Lugo's 9.25 at 159 mph.

Little switched the drag radials for slicks to dominate the Vortech Street Renegade class. He qualified first with an 8.574 at a mere 140.05 mph in his battle scared nitrous Stang. Manny Geno finished the upgrades to his nitrous Mustang in an attempt to compete with Little. He was rewarded with the second spot on the starting grid with an 8.772 at 158.87 mph. Dan Schoneck's holeshot advantage in eliminations, coupled with an 8.76, had Little running wide open through the traps at 165 mph in 8.67 seconds. After squeezing out a win at the stripe in the semis, Little took no chances against Geno in the final, Little breezed to an 8.41 at 164.55 as Geno was left at the starting gate.

In Edelbrock Street Bandit, Rod Houck was numero uno with a 9.027 at 148.36 and Ken Compton, at 9.037 at 154.03, was close on his tail. When it mattered, Compton ousted the entry of J.R. Heuring, 9.14 to 9.31 respectively. The semis pitted long-time Fox Lake hot-shoe Cory Roth against the Houck, with Roth taking a hole-shot victory at 9.40 to Houck's quicker 9.38. Compton's Glidden powered coupe made a 9.10 bye run lap then saddled up for another unexpected solo pass for the gold at 9.07 seconds at 150.36 mph when Roth's car froze in the lights. The Tremec Street Warrior class qualifying was headed-up by Jeremy Martorella in the top spot with a 10.196 at 132.54. Right behind was John Scaro at 10.377 at 129.70, followed by Jeff Chambers at 10.743, 129.78 and Darrell Peterson who was recuperating from conquering Bristol but made the field with an 11.10. By the time the semis rolled around, Peterson got his second wind with a 10.39 at 131.68 but lost to a quicker 10.29 posted by Scaro. Martorella's 10.31 at 131.68, trailered Chambers to set-up the final round.

Scaro pounded out a stout 10.35 in the final while also holeshotting the all-conquering UPR-sponsored Martorella '94 Stang .045 to .107 seconds. However, the big Crawford horsepower propelled Martorella to a quicker 10.28 at 132.17 mph to squeak out a .014 margin of victory.

William Murray's '03 Stang used a reaction time advantage and a 14.35 to outrace Christopher Lacey's 14.28 in his '01 Bullitt to capture the gold in Steet Stang. The Focus Central Focus Frenzy class has gotten quite competitive, so the racers must rely on great reaction times. Justin Salmon thought he would send the standard with a .010 bulb to oust top qualifying Tom Lesperance. Later that round, Judy Station cut a perfect light but couldn't run the number against Mark Atkins. Adkins then broke-out at 17.37 on his 17.40 against Bob Potter and nearly missed the finale. Salmon picked up the win over Potter by breaking out the least.

Adding to the variety of JDM Tough Truck was Scott Sexton's '83 Ranger, who qualified number one with a 10.252/135.35, and Bob Schully's '55 F-100 at number two with a close 10.31. In the final round of eliminations, Jody North cut a respectable .113 bulb, then Charles Crawford's '02 Harley F-150 then took an early advantage with a better .060 launch followed by a 12.84 on his 12.77 dial. At the stripe it was North by a hair when he posted a nearly perfect 13.79 on 13.78 for the trophy.

The Steeda/Hyland Mod Motor Madness class served up 29 hungry Mod Motor entrants. Reggie Burnette Sr. led off qualifying with an 8.919, 135.04. When it came time for the finals, he had been eliminated, however. Going for the trophy were Shane Williams and Steve Ferguson. Williams cut the Tree a little too close, knowing that Ferguson had a .039 average bulb for the weekend. Ferguson took the win and the big check in the Steeda/Hyland Mod Motor Madness.

The typical street crazies lined up on Saturday for the MM&FF True Street competition. There were 61 entries going out for a 30-mile cruise and three rounds of nonstop racing upon return. In first place and the quickest Mustang was John Burton with an average of 9.646. Close behind in second (and the quickest 10-second average winner) was Judd Knudsen with a 10.128. The 11-second winner was Scott Kositzky with an 11.087. The 12-second trophy went to Dave Patterson with a 12.011. The 13-second money went to Jason Lestarge at 13.004. The 14-second winner was Chad Moorman with a 14.046 and the 15-second winner was Kevin Pauletti with a 15.005. The Muscle Mustang & Fast Fords Editors Choice went to the trick pony of Tom Wisner.

All the winners of both the Saturday and the Sunday bracket classes were allowed to participate in the Special Bracket Run-off "Mustang Challenge" sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, Mustang Brand team and Lindquist Ford from nearby Bettendorf, Iowa. The Mustang Challenge included a free two-year lease on a brand new '04 Mustang GT with leather interior. The winner was Pat McGlynn over runner-up Jim Winters, Jr.

In the Classic Design Concepts All-Ford Car Show, the MM&FF Editors Choice award (1903-78) went to Perry Hahn with his '69 Shelby GT 500. The MM&FF Editors Choice award for the '79-03 Fords went to Bob Millen and his '85 Mustang (it also competed in True Street).