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As many of you have known since we discussed this on our Facebook page and many local forums since last week, our friend and local racer Michael Conway has passed away in a series of tragic events. Mike was very involved with the Corvette Challenge Series at Englishtown before he also stepped over to the 8.50 Index Series that we regularly cover. In his first year, he came in second place at Englishtown and took the championship at Atco Raceway. Mike’s infectious smile and big heart will be missed at the track by all of us for years to come.
We put together a photo gallery with shots we had of Mike racing and in the winner’s circle on our Facebook page. Please visit it and share your favorites with Mike’s friends in the racing community.
Viewing services and liturgy information
Calling hours at Freeman Funeral Home, 47 East Main Street, Freehold, on Tuesday, 8/9 from 4 to 8 pm. A Funeral Liturgy will be celebrated at St. Rose of Lima Church, Freehold, on Wednesday, 8/10 at a time to be announced. Interment will be at St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Pekin, IL. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation in his memory to a charity of your choice.
We returned to Englishtown Raceway Park for the second installment in their summer thrill show series. This event was dubbed the PC Richard & Sons Summer Motorsports Spectacular, and the action was spectacular indeed. We arrived early and cruised around the pits to check out the features of the event up close and personal. Considering GDR and all of our members love to see door cars, we were happy to see the Drummond Race Cars Pro-Mod team in the house, the twin turbo Mustang wheeld by the boss, Steve Drummond. Also in the house was Andy Jensen, who if you remember, made the first ever 5 second pass in a turbo powered small block at one of last summer’s thrill shows. Finishing up the turbo Pro-Mod presence for the day was Jim Bersani in the mean looking, light blue Buick.
Behind the tower, we saw a unique vehicle that we have not seen in a few years at Raceway Park – RoboSaurus!! This beast loves to rip cars in half and set them on fire, right in the middle of the drag strip! He certainly did not disappoint on Wednesday night, and did exactly that. He made quite a mess as he tore up two cars while torching them into flaming balls of metal, like they were toys. The fans certainly loved his return, as the stands were packed and they cheered him on during the destruction.
Always a crowd favorite and back for more action was the Hanna Motorsports Jet Car team, with drivers Ken Hall, Jill Canuso, and Rich Hanna. Sporting the Gojo sponsorship, the drivers were busy in the pits before, during, and after the show, signing every last autograph requested of them by the fans, and showing the fans their one of a kind rides up close and personal. The fans cheered them on as we saw a 300mph pass out of Jill’s jet powered dragster, as well as a great race between Ken Hall and Rich Hanna. Rich took the win light, but Ken gave him a run for his money as always.
Englishtown takes care of its sportsman racers, as is evident during every thrill show. Towards the beginning of the show, all points leaders in every bracket and heads-up class get to race an exhibition show for a purse. We were glad to see representation from the 10.0, 11.50, and 8.50 Index classes, as well as the Corvette Challenge series heads up classes. These racers always put on a great show for the fans and expose some fans to heads up racing who might normally not get the opportunity to see it. Finishing up the drag racing action were a handful of Nostalgia funny cars, making some mighty fast passes and getting ready for Sunday’s Nostalgia Funny Car reunion. Jon Capps was in the house, driving the Jungle Jim funny car.
The main attraction for most of the fans, the Monster Trucks, put on a great show once again. We had what seemed like an eternity of Monster Truck action, including Grave Digger, Batman, the Higher Education School Bus, Black Stallion, Spider-Man, and Superman monster trucks. These guys mashed the throttles and squished up some cars along the side of the track, and also did some sick burnouts right in the burnout box area! If you don’t believe us, check out the photo galleries and see for yourself!
For the third of four races in the Ultimate Outlaw Shootout series, we arrived to Cecil County Dragway on Friday afternoon for an exclusive test session. The caliber of cars that made the trip from all over the country was impressive, and we knew we would be in for a great race come Saturday. This installment of the series was brought to us by Pritchett Controls and Racingjunk.com
26 cars were on the property to battle for the 16 car field, from Virginia to Massachusets. Mo Hall, who has been battling going A to B lately, had some suspension components repaired and it showed as he went straight down the track in all 3 qualifiers and took the #4 overall qualifier with a 4.420 @ 172mph pass. Unfortunately, on the last pass, he broke the input shaft on his transmission and had no parts for repair so he his spot went to an alternate. Tom Kasper was right behind Mo Hall with a 4.425 @ 178mph, but he also had some problems during qualifying that put him on the trailer and his spot was also taken by an alternate. Reigning champ Scotty Guadagno was in the top half of the field as usual with a 4.427 @ 166mph. Two more familiar nitrous cars made the field as well, the first was the Caldwell Motorsports Mustang driven by Charlie Dolbin with a 4.43 @ 169. Lou Sciortino, who has been steadily improving during the last few races and testing as much as possible, made a respectable 4.489 @ 161mph pass to take the #9 qualifier spot.
With Tom Kasper and Mo Hall not able to make the call, Mike Decker and Doug Harris were in the show. Decker was not able to make a pass, Tim Essick took a broke bye and had a tiny bit of trouble getting down in the twin turbo small block machine, with a 5.108 @ 155. Brad Harris went red by .079 against Richard Sexton, who went 4.384 @ 180mph. Doug Harris continued to work on the new setup, he had an aborted pass against Michael Martin who went .069 on the tree and had an elapsed time of 4.525 @ 162mph. In a broke bye, the #1 qualifier was a little off the pace but the mph was there, Billy Gordon ran a 4.488 @ 178mph. Ron Green went red against Scotty G, he had a better elapsed time but it was over at the line, SCotty going 4.491 @ 173mph to move on to the next round. Tommy Ferrick did his job at the tree against the #2 qualifier Jason Enos, Ferrick .079 to Enos’ .121. Enos was able to drive around and went a 4.382 @ 177mph for the quickest pass so far in eliminations and the win. Finishing off the Piedmont winner, Mark Swanson, was Charlie Dolbin. Both had their traction issues, Dolbin took a win with a 5.067 @ 149mph.
Air temperature and track temperature have changed vastly by now compared to earlier in the day, thanks to the sun going down. The number two and three qualifiers pulled in first – Jason Enos and Richard Sexton, in what was set to be the biggest matchup of the day yet. Sexton improved his reaction and gets the jump on Enos and was ahead of him for a good bit, but he got out of it and Jason took off past him with the fastest pass of the day yet, a 4.289 @ 184mph to Sexton’s 4.962 @ 111. Michael Martin, the lone remaining nitrous car, lined up against TJ Kasper in the Proline powered twin Precision turbo machine. Martin nails the tree with a .022 to Kasper’s .059. Martin rode the wheelie bars hard in the right lane, the front end never coming down until the car drifted towards the centerline so much that he had no choice to lift. TJ was also on the gas hard, his car drifting towards Martin, both dangerously close but Kasper recovered and took the win with a 4.390 @ 184 to Martin’s 5.226. Headed to the finals were two Proline powered, twin turbo mustangs!
Jason Enos, leader in the points at this point, was facing TJ Kasper who races quite often at Cecil and is fresh off a win from June’s makeup race. As both cars built up boost and pulled in, judging by today’s runs and also what we have all seen from both cars in the past, there was no way to predict a winner. Enos pulled in first, followed by TJ, the tree dropped and it was a race. Kasper got a huge jump on Enos, a .048 to Jason’s .124. That jump was all he needed, Enos was motoring down the track hard but could not catch Kasper, even with a 4.283 @ 184.17. TJ runs a 4.304 @ 179.68 to take the holeshot win and put Christy & Kasper motorsports in the winner’s circle for the second week in a row. 
8.50 Index is not as strong outside of the Northeast, but at Cecil County, the 8.50 Index program is strong and full of tough contenders that race weekly in the region. One of those racers is Harry Gerb from H&J, who with the help of his wife Jackie and crew chief Mike, has been very successful in the class. Today was no exception, as Harry went to the number one qualifier spot with an 8.509, only .009 seconds off the index. Another hard working racing family who supports the Ultimate Outlaw series to no end, and is also the reigning 8.50 Index Champion, is Mike Pyott. Mike took the number 5 spot with an 8.534. While we’re on the family subject, how about the Fonse Performance crew! They sponsored extra money at this race and bring quite a large extended family to the track at every race, enjoying the entire race from the fence lining the track at Cecil. Al Jr. went 8.516 to take the number three qualifier spot in his naturally aspirated Camaro. Mike Good, as the name implies, is a well experienced bracket racer who crossed over into the 8.50 Index program and has done quite well for himself. Mike took the #2 spot with a 8.513 pass. The Gallagher Brothers, who always travel far to race with us, took the number 4 spot with an 8.530. The top 10 qualifiers in the 16 car field were all in the 8.50s – making it hard for us to predict how eliminations would go!
Unfortunately a few racers were hurt; Mike Pyott, Mike Good, and Shawn Gallagher all had singles in round 1. They all took advantage of the pass to see where their cars were – Pyott went 8.543 @ 159mph, Good goes 8.552 @ 150mph, and Gallagher an oh-so-close 8.470 running it out the back door at 167mph. Marc McCloud caught Luis Martinez at the tree, but then had issues. Luis headed down the track and went 8.538 @ 144, his signature hazard flashers coming on at the launch. Darrell Varner and Craig Cusamano left about equal, Varner dumping at just the right time and taking a win with a 8.630 to Cusamano’s 8.654. Joe Timinski caught the #1 qualifier shining his rims on the starting line again, but Harry Gerb was able to drive around him and put a much needed 8.529 on the board for the win, to Timinski’s 8.616. John Goss goes red against Al Jr. from Fonse Performance, Fonse runs a 8.626 @ 147, he’ll need the temps to continue to cool off to find some power for the next round. Finishing off the pairs was Marty Brown Jr, and Frankie Santos. Santos goes red, the kid runs a breakout 8.479 @ 159mph, just about where he wants to be.
The #1, #2, #3, and #5 qualifiers remained in the race at the semis – four very tough racers that earned it. The first pairing was Mike Good and Al Fonse. Good nails a .010 light to an also good .035 light from Fonse. All we heard from the starting line on this race was some loud race cars on and off the throttle, playing games at the top end. Fonse gave Good the stripe, Good wins with a 8.616 to Al’s 8.658. Mike Pyott leaves with an .030 advantage over Harry Gerb, Harry runs him down and goes 8.562 to Pyott’s 8.619. Pyott may have lost this round, but he has all but locked up the points championship in 8.50 Index for the second year in a row, provided he remembers to come to MIR in September! 
It doesn’t happen often, but we are left with a final in which the number one and two qualifiers made it through the extremely tough field to battle each other. Two extremely clean rides pulled into the beams, Harry Gerb’s Firebird and Mike Good’s Vette. Harry finally had a great reaction time while an uncharacteristic .078 came out of Good. Good does a great job of running down Harry but he had no chance, Harry goes 8.505 @ 157, almost dead on, to take the win with an 8.538 package. Great job to see our friends from H&J in the winner’s circle yet again!
With track temps over 125 while the sun was out, and running ridiculous horsepower on tiny tires, the X275 guys really had their work cut out for them to make it to the field and also do well during eliminations, without doing burnouts or pedaling on every pass. Cecil did a great job on the track prep and took a huge variable out of the tuning for these guys. 18 cars were on the property battling to make the show. Mike Romeo, a regular in the 10.0 Index class and also makes appearances in 8.50 Index, turned up the wick and made it into the X275 show on the bump spot, with a 5.511 @ 128mph pass. From Mike to the Top, was a .5 second difference, making a great field and show for the fans. All the way at the top was no stranger, the 2010 Ultimate Outlaws X275 champ Chris Evans in the Procharged “Big Green” Mustang with a 5.037 @ 142 pass. Another regular in the winner’s circle at Cecil County was in the #2 spot, Ron Rhodes, with a 5.094 @139 pass. Top mph in qualifying went to another supercharged ride, Rich Bruder, with a 5.110 @ 145mph pass in the #4 spot. Jon Rittenhouse came up from Virginia to take the #3 spot with a 5.103 @ 142. Take a look at the qualifying sheet just to get an appreciation of how close this field was!
Traction is the name of the game here, conditions from qualifying have changed a little bit. Craig Walls nails the tree with a .028 light and never looks back on Mike Cerminaro who spun, Walls going 5.249 @ 136 for the first round win. Glennie Buckler goes red on our friend Jeff Moyer, Moyer makes a nice wheels up 5.245 @ 132mph pass after making sure the light went green. #3 qualifier Jon Rittenhouse does his job at the tree but spins, Willie Jimenez takes advantage and makes a clean 5.442 @ 135 pass. Ron Rhodes was dead late against Kyle Buonocory, lucky for Rhodes he has the nitrous blasting and was able to drive around Kyle. Ron goes 5.126 @ 139 to Kyle’s 5.697 pass. Ken Ewer gets a great jump on Rich Bruder but is not able to hold off the power, Bruder goes right down broadway with a round fast 4.996 @ 145mph pass. Mike Romeo gets going but spins, Chris Evans is able to go around and run a 5.091 @ 141mph pass. Larry Rhodes is not able to take the tree, Rob Falcone goes 5.935 with some traction problems. Finishing up the round was John Ashnault and Dan Whetstine. Ashnault has been steadily improving and always has the DiSomma crew around. In a huge upset, he leaves Whetstine when the yellows drop, Whetstine runs a 5.191 but it is wasted, Ashnault takes the holeshot win with a 5.275.
Ron Rhodes is back in the semis again, on his quest to go back to the Cecil County Winner’s circle. He does it, catching a dead late Rob Falcone and wins with a 5.227 to Falcone’s 5.367. Craig Walls does his job on the line and gets out first, runs an awesome 5.148 pass, but Rich Bruder outpowers him and goes 4.998 @ 145 for the win. Bruder and Rhodes back in the finals!
By now, it has cooled off quite a bit at Cecil, and we were fixing to see quite a good race from the #2 and #4 qualifiers. Both cars light their bulbs, and as the tree dropped, Rhodes took off early and went .160 red, wasting a 5.053 pass. Bruder goes .034 green and runs a 5.002, a 5.036 package, to take the win for the night. Bruder’s car has some serious power, but in the season finale, we will be headed to X275’s favorite track, Maryland International Raceway. We’ll see if he can run two in a row or if one of the other teams will challenge the twins!
The Ultimate Outlaw Shootout series always draws racers from near and far. Today, we definitely hit the nail on the head with the far part in ODR! Kevin Fiscus, a loyal racer with the series, made the trip up from Florida for the test session on Friday. Abdullah Al-Shatti was also in the house, along with his race team all the way from Kuwait! Dave Hinzman aka Hooker, made the trip from Ohio along with his buddy Tommy from Mickey Thompson. Hooker took the #1 qualifier spot with a 4.647 @ 162mph pass. Don Burton, running twin Prochargers, took the #2 spot with a 4.721 @157 pass. Kevin Fiscus was in the number 3 spot with a 4.736 pass, but at a blistering 171.75mph! Ricky Fox in the Fulton powered Mustang goes #4 with a 4.766. Abdullah Al-Shatti and team continue to work on the Radial setup, going #5 with a 4.786. Rounding up the bottom half of the field are Scott Bitzer (4.920 @ 157), John Carter (5.029 @ 170 Proline Powered), Wild Bill Dutka (5.161 154 J&E Powered), Paul Major (5.666 @ 152), Kevin Fourtner (5.684 @ 126), and Toby Chapman (8.961 @ 56). 
Kevin Fiscus spins a bit against Kevin Fourtner but is able to recover and take the win, running a 5.026 @ 144 to Kevin’s 5.849. John Carter leaves with a slight advantage on Scott Bitzer, you know Steve Petty has the boost turned up on the Precision Turbo / Proline powered machine. It was not enough, Carter spun and Bitzer was able to get around him with a 4.862 to Carter’s losing 4.921. Paul Major timed out against Ricky Fox, not getting fully staged fast enough. Ricky takes the freebie and makes a nice 4.746 @ 158 pass. Bill Dutka and Abdullah Al-Shatti took their jolly old time getting going, Dutka .131 to Al-Shatti’s .199 light. Dutka spins and gets back in it, but Al-Shatti gets around him and wins with a 4.730 @ 161 to Dutka’s 4.838 @ 162. Finishing up the round were the top qualifiers who earned competition singles. Don Burton runs a nice 4.748 @ 159. Hinzman’s single was not as smooth, though. About 100 feet out, his rear tires completely locked up, and he did an amazing job, somehow bringing the car to a stop on the track without nailing the wall. He was off to the pits for a grind to see if they could fix the car for the next round.
Number four qualifier but local legend Ricky Fox upsets the powerful Kevin Fiscus on the first pair, Ricky getting out first with a .013 advantage and never looking back. Fox goes 4.647 to Fiscus’ 4.723. Fiscus is still high up in the points, after a win at Milan. Don Burton takes out Abdullah Al-Shatti, both racers leaving quite late but don going 4.673 for the win. Dave Hinzman has a great team behind him, made some parts changes, and made the call for the second round. He made a great pass in the left lane, a 4.697 @ 161. Unfortunately in the right lane, Scott Bitzer’s car made a sharp turn and went through the 1/8th mile blocks sideways, and made a huge impact with the retaining wall. Scott was OK, but his car is hurt pretty bad. Please be sure to see the threads on YellowBullet.com to get Scott some help to make it back to the track. Scott has worked tirelessly on his new setup and we were devastated to see what unfolded on the track, if you can bear to watch, 
Another race with #1 and #2 qualifiers facing each other, just like the 8.50 Index class. Two supercharged Mustangs pulled to the beams. Hinzman murders the tree with a .001 light but spins, Burndown Don takes advantage and shoots down the track running a 4.699 to take the win for the day.
Compared to last year’s 12.0 Index class, we have a lot of new faces in 11.50 Index. The racers in this class are continuing to get dialed in on the index, the hot weather didn’t seem to phase them on Saturday. The story of the day in 11.50 was Keith Huffman, who qualified second with a 11.520 pass, and continued on to take his first ever win in the class! Keith ran 11.580, 11.509, 11.557, and 11.539 passes on his way to victory. With those kind of runs, we are sure this will not be the first time we see Keith in the winner’s circle before the season ends!
Top qualifier Christian Benedict had a great day during eliminations, making it all the way to the semi-finals, where he tossed it away with a .037 red light to Nicole Worthington. Nicole also unfortunately lit the reds in the finals against Mike Romeo, going red by .002 on a 10.001 pass – that was probably the only way that Mike could take the win against a pass like that! Mike Colo also had a great day, making it to the semis where Romeo caught him sleepin at the tree, Colo had a nice 10.012 pass but lost on a holeshot. Romeo also took the chance to display his gratitude with a contingency sponsor from last season, while in the winner’s circle. Some day, he might get his winnings?
Just to show that #1 qualifier means nothing once eliminations start, Mike O’Sullivan caught Harry Gerb polishing up his wheels at the starting line and beat Harry’s perfect 8.500 with a 8.527, due to Gerb’s .097 reaction time versus Mike’s .036. Lil’ man Marty Brown Jr. was very consistent on the tree, making it to round 2 where he broke out and lost to the Fonse Performance racing team. The naturally aspirated Fonse car was strong throughout the day even in the heat, putting up 8.514 and 8.501 passes. Team Fonse made it all the way to the finals to line up against the still undefeated Adam Sailor. Guppy took Fonse at the tree with an .013 advantage, the two played some pedal games at the top end and the win light came on in Guppy’s lane. Gup goes a breakout 8.496 to Fonse’s 8.489, in an amazingly close race.
In a huge upset, Abdullah Alshatti took out Don Burton in the first round of eliminations, on a holeshot win. Abdullah had a .032 light and put up a 4.807 pass for the first round win, Burton tried to run him down but had to pedal it as he got close to the center line. Abdullah went on to take out Matt Butrim in the semis, continuing to get quicker with a 4.711 @ 162mph pass. In the finals, Frank Soldridge from PSI motorsports took his turn against Abdullah and went A to B to take the win. We thought we would see Abdullah go .60s, as they didn’t touch the car between rounds, but he smoked the tires at the hit and Frank was off with no chance to catch him.
TWENTY, count them, TWENTY Outlaw 10.5 cars were on the property Saturday to bring the fans quite a show. There are no slouches in the Northeast, either, we are talking about 20 of the best performing (and best looking) Outlaw 10.5 cars in the entire country right in our own back yard. Outside looking in was a surprise to see Shawn Zubler, Joe Newsham, and Brad Harris, just barely missing the field. John Cheman also did not make the field, having a slight mishap in the first qualifier and unable to get down quick enough on the second. With the summer heat, both in the air and on the track, qualifying during the afternoon was tough for all of the teams. Mo Hall, who has been doing quite a bit of testing as of late, was in the middle of the field in the #7 spot with a 4.616. Steve Gorman, May’s winner, was in the #9 position with a 4.685 pass. Lou Sciortino continued to improve on previous races with a #5 spot and a 4.540 pass. Larry Wood, K&K built and Proline powered, took the number four spot with a 4.509 @ 177mph. Number two and three were taken up by the Gil Christy Motorsports team of TJ Kasper and father Tom Kasper, TJ with a 4.434 and Tommy with a 4.435. Topping off the field with over a tenth advantage on everyone was Richard Sexton’s C-rotor GTO, running a 4.319 @ 181mph.
Mo Hall was upset by another nitrous car, Brian Penna, in round #1, when Penna went 4.509 to Mo’s 4.504 to take a holeshot win. The Chrisy and Kasper Racing team, earning their spots at the top of the field, continued with their success as the day went on. TJ took out Buck Jarvis in the first round, and Brian Penna in the second, until his old man Tommy took advantage of TJ’s tire smoke in the Semis to earn a spot in the finals. Larry Wood’s Corvette was doing great in the first round, putting up a 4.466 @ 179mph pass. He continued to do well, making it all the way into the finals against Tommy Kasper. Both cars spooled up their 670ci Proline, Precision Turbo powered motors and waited for the tree to drop. As Tommy pushed his transbrake button in, it never engaged, and his car rocketed down the track before the tree activated. It looked like a great pass, but we’ll never know the time – Larry Wood took advantage and took home his first win of the season at Cecil.
Rich Bruder made easy work of his opponents during eliminations, taking out Bob Clayton, John Ashnault, and Chris Wilkinson to earn his way in the finals. He would meet Ron Rhodes in the finals, who also made it through some tough racers to get there – Willie Jimenez, Kyle Buonocory, and a familiar face, Larry Rhodes. Rhodes went in the 5.0’s in the first round, but in the second and third he slowed up a little bit. In the finals, he brought ou the 5.0 tune at just the right time, to take out Rich Bruder. Both racers within .001 seconds of each other, but Rhodes made it A to B with a 5.091 to Bruder’s 5.397. 
As Atco Raceway was kicking off a big weekend for the Summer Series, we had our latest installment of heads up racing. In 10.0 Index, our friend Mark Plucinski was dialed in as usual, taking the number one qualifying spot with a 10.010 pass. Mike Colo and Lee Grinnell were right behind Mark, taking the #2 and #3 spots, respectively. Mark made his way through a tough field to the finals, where he faced many-time champion Mike Romeo. Mike threw away the race with a red light, but he had no chance on the planet to beat Mark, who earned his win for the day with a dead on reaction time and a 10.005 pass – probably the best 10.0 Index package we have seen in quite a long time!
In 11.50 Index, 15 cars battled for top qualifying spots and the coveted first round bye. Today, those honors went to Barb Lutz, who went an amazing 11.501 pass. Keith Reis and Nick Berty were right behind her in the #2 and #3 spots. Towards the top of the field were a few Harvey’s as usual, always around ready to take home some round wins. Barb had a great pass in the first round, but was off the pace and knocked out in round #2. Nick Berti was only on the positive side of the index once during eliminations, but his breakouts were always closer to the Index than his opponents’. In the final, Berti eliminated Keith Reis to take home the win for the day.
PC Richard & Sons along with Englishtown Raceway Park packed the house on Saturday night with their first installment of the 2011 season thrill shows! These shows are insanely fun, where diehard race fans come to enjoy exhibition passes from many racing classes, as well as some awesome monster truck action!
Benny the Bomb was back, blowing himself up in a Pontiac Grand Am this time. We’re not sure how old Benny is, but hope he keeps his act up for another 100 years as it is pretty exciting to watch!