Fun Ford Weekend - Norwalk Ohio - The Buckeye Beating

Fun Ford's return to Norwalk, Ohio, was well received as usual, with a bumper crop of cool cars and crafty competitors. The excitement began on Friday during the first qualifying session when the Aruba-based Pro car of Bert Kelkboom ventured into the sand at the end of the track; the culprit--a self-admitted brain fade. Neither the car nor the driver were hurt, and the team returned on Saturday to qualify well.

Nick Yarber of Abingdon, Virginia, set a new standard in Tremec True Street by averaging 8.73 seconds over three passes. His Cobra features a 9.5-inch-deck Dart block that's poked and stroked to a massive 460 ci, Yates cylinder heads, and 275 hp worth of nitrous oxide optimized by an Edelbrock progressive nitrous controller.

Three cars showed up to contest the Edelbrock Street Bandit class, but it was points leader Matt Jones of Austin, Texas, who had the field covered by almost half a second and would take the win. Jones has won every race this year.

Marshallville, Ohio's Cory Roth entered his Hot Street-spec '89 Mustang in Street Bandit. He was off the pace of pole sitter Matt Jones, but won a tight contest against Max Gross in the semis. In the final, Roth cut the better light, but his milder combination just didn't have it at the top end.

The '04 Street Warrior champion, Darrell Peterson, found himself elbow deep in an engine swap on Saturday as an engine failure forced him to borrow one from Jeff Chambers, a fellow Street Warrior competitor and, thankfully, a native to the parts near Norwalk.

In Tough Truck, one of the racers showed up with a transbrake installed in his ride. Starting line devices such as these are prohibited in the class, and the decision by the event staff to let him run after disconnecting it divided the class.

Whiteland, Indiana's Bill Glidden tightened his grip on the ProCharger Street Outlaw stranglehold by taking out Ed Imhoff and Dearborn, Michigan's Dan Millen. Glidden's GT features a Yates-headed small-block with a heaping helping of the giggle gas.

Hot on the Tree all weekend, John Gullett found himself up to his elbows in Lenco five-speed parts midround in eliminations...

...He got it together, though, and drove his turbocharged small-block Mustang past points leader Chuck Samuel in what may be the quickest Mr. Gasket Pro race to date, a 6.47 to 6.49.

The bracket classes in Norwalk were off the hook as usual for this event, and since the Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords True Street class had "only" 98 cars, they were able to run three passes instead of the frequently abbreviated two-run format.

Fun Ford Norwalk is one event you don't want to miss. The competition is great, and the track staff are some of the friendliest around.

Fun Ford Norwalk saw points leader Ronnie Wilson take his nitrous oxide-injected Mustang into the 7-second club, but it was Mapleton, Minnesota's Dan Schoneck who cleaned up in Borla Street Renegade this weekend. The two paired up in the final and Wilson went 0.001-second red on the Tree. The Mustangs raced regardless, with Schoneck ahead at the end with a 7.77 to Wilson's 8.09 effort.	Adam Louramore pretty much has the BFGoodrich Drag Radial title wrapped up at this point, but he found stiff competition in Norwalk from Trace Meyer. Though Meyer took the number-one qualifying spot on Saturday, he broke before the final round, handing an easy win to Louramore.	In order to run in Fun Ford Drag Radial, Holland, Ohio's Trace Meyer swapped out his NMRA-spec F-1 ProCharger for a larger F-2, and traded in his BFGoodrich tires for Mickey Thompson drag radials. The changes worked out well as Meyer put his Mike Curcio-built, 352ci-powered Pony in the number-one qualifying spot on Saturday with an 8.21.