2006 Fun Ford Weekend At Norwalk Raceway Park - The FFW Buck Stops In The Buckeye State-Winner

Located in the quaint hamlet of Norwalk, Ohio, Norwalk Raceway Park is one of the cleanest dragstrips you'll ever visit. This July it played host to the 16th Annual Buckeye State FFW Nationals, and there was plenty of smoking action in all the classes-especially Muscle Mustang and Fast Fords/Tremec True Street, with three cars in the eights! When the smoke cleared, we saw some old hats in the winner's circle and a few surprises, too.

The event kicked off with Friday and Saturday qualifying, which featured extra chances for the heads-up racers to dial in their performances, along with the opportunity for the hundreds of bracket competitors to get in their practice runs. Saturday, the popular MM&FF/Tremec True Street contestants made their presence known. Nearly 70 wild machines made the 30-mile trek around the rural roads of Ohio before making the required three passes down the famed quarter-mile. True Street featured some of the nicest and quickest cars we've seen, and the MM&FF cameras were all over the action.

Elapsed times ranged from the low-16-second range to a set of blistering 8-second e.t.'s by Bill Klein, who averaged a killer 8.804 to take home the True Street championship. Greg LaPoint clocked an amazing 8.974 average for Second Place, while Marty Merillet rounded out the top three with a 9.16 average. Of note was the disqualification of John Slade, who was right on Klein's heels running high-8,s but was tossed after the second run for failing to wear fire gloves.

Sunday dawned sunny and warm, and in the heads-up classes there were some old standards and some new hats in the winner's circle. Probe Industries Pro saw David Schorr behind the wheel of his 815ci Escort run the table as he qualified number one with a 6.68, and then gunned down Erica Ortiz in the final. Schorr left first and motored away from Ortiz, eventually stopping the timers in 6.77 seconds at a flying 209 mph.

ProCharger Street Outlaw racer Dan Millen pushed his Mustang past the Stang of Tim Lynch in the money round. Millen, who was the number-one qualifier at 6.99 seconds, was just one speed mark behind the terminal velocity of David Schorr and his Pro entry as he clicked off a 209-mph pass in qualifying. In the final, Lynch, behind the wheel of a bright yellow '02 Cobra, left first, 0.044 to 0.128. At the finish line, however, Millen was able to run down Lynch and score the win with a 6.98.

Chris Little was the only one in BFGoodrich Drag Radial, but despite this he put on a show, hiking the wheels dangerously high during Friday qualifying and then ripping to a 7.96/183-mph run on Sunday. The 7.96 marked Little's first foray into the 7-second zone. In Precision Turbo Street Renegade, the car that won was the same, but the driver had longer hair and a feminine touch. Ronnie Wilson, who is on his way to locking up the Street Renegade title, stepped out of the ride for the weekend, letting Gina Munden strap into his '00 Mustang. The car, which has been unbeaten with Wilson driving, remained unbeaten as Munden took out Dan Schoneck in the final. Schoneck was the number-one qualifier with a 7.78-second pass, but he ran into engine problems on his first round single. He was able to stage the car for the final, but he had the same problems, as he couldn't get the car to the 330 mark under power. Munden took the easy win with an 8.71.

Even though the opening round of compe-tition in CFE Street Bandit saw a pair of com-petition singles for Matt Jones and Daniel Bott, the final round was by far the best race of the event. Jones was the top dog in qualifying as his 8.72 was just a bit quicker than Bott's 8.79. At the end of the day, Jones was the winner in the squeaker of a race. Both drivers had nearly identical reaction times, with the miniscule 0.001 advantage going to Jones. At the stripe, Jones' 8.823 earned him the win over Bott's 8.838 pass by a scant sixteen-thousandths of a second.

In another close final round, John Scaro and his '03 Cobra nipped Jeremy Martorella's Mustang for the Borla Street Warrior title. Scaro was the top qualifier with a 9.60, and he used a slight holeshot and a 9.63 pass to best Martorella's 9.66-second run. In Sean Hyland Motorsports Mod Comp, Paul Svinicki wheeled his '06 Mustang past Jimmy Rondello's Mustang to the win. Svinicki was slightly better on the starting line, and he used a 10.03 to take out Rondello's off-pace 11.49. Mark Anderson was the victor in Superchips Street Stang as he put John Heid on the trailer in the trophy round. Anderson was better on the Tree, and his 12.68 was more than enough to handle the 12.80 effort put forth by Heid.

JDM Engineering Tough Truck saw the Lightning of Don Justus once again take home the cash. Justus overcame final-round opponent Rogbert Chuhran's 0.026 light with a 10.77 pass to get to the stripe first without breaking out. The Ford Racing Ultra Stang win went to Jim D'Amore of JDM Engineering who was driving a 10-second Stang. D'Amore had a relatively easy win when SD Wheeler pulled the trigger too soon and red-lighted by a mere six thousandths of a second. The win put D'Amore in striking distance to Wheeler who leads the points by a slim margin. The Accufab Four-Six Frenzy trophy made its way into the hands of Josh Wells, who, like D'Amore in Ultra Stang, had an uncontested pass into the winner's circle when final-round opponent Scott Baumgartner fouled out.

With the season now at the halfway mark, the points chases are getting interesting as new winners emerge and those at the top try to stay there. This second half should be interesting!