Top Alcohol
With many of the other Top Alcohol regulars at this event having prior commitments on this weekend, Rod Trower ended up being the only entry in his “Thunder” BAE Hemi-powered Dragster. This gave Rod & his crew, led by Mike & Jeff Strasburg of B&J Transmissions as well as NHRA Top Fuel fame, a great opportunity to learn more about and improve the car. This is exactly what they did as they ran quicker each pass throughout the weekend culminating in an amazing 2.634 on Sunday afternoon. The 2.634 pass would be just one-thousandth (.001) of a second off of the Atoka Motorsports Park track record set by Gary Mink in 2011. This certainly gives the team great confidence heading into the remainder of the 2012 Mid-America Sand Drag Series.
Rod Trower
Top Eliminator
The Top Eliminator class at this year’s Heartland Nationals saw seven entries vying for the elusive class victory. Qualifying was brutal with Dee Trower running an amazing 2.951 (2.95 class Index) off of the trailer on Friday, which would hold up for the top spot. Courtney Stidham’s 3.05 and Robert Smith’s 3.07 would be good enough for the second and third qualifying spots respectively, however both would suffer parts breakage and not make the call for eliminations.
Round one started off with Dee Trower running a solid 2.966 in her “Fast Forward” Blown SBC-powered Dragster. Next up would be Missouri racer Terry Glasscock in his turbo Corvair-powered “Danger Zone” Dragster against Atoka local Marc Luce in his screw blown BBC-powered “Break N Luce” Dragster. Marc would take a slight starting line advantage, but at the finish line Terry ran his best ET of the weekend by far with a stellar 2.957 to defeat Marc’s 3.07. Finishing off the round would be a pair of single runs. Thunder Valley Sand Drags track operator Jeff Sieg qualified 7th with his Blown BBC-powered Dragster and ran a 3.09 on his single pass as Stidham could not make the call. The second half of the Sieg Racing team on this weekend would be Russ Payne, piloting the Dragster normally driven by Jeff’s brother Stacey. Russ would run a 3.07 to score semi-final round lane choice over his teammate.
The two cars that had run closest to the Index over the course of the weekend paired off the start the semi-final round as Trower and Glasscock pulled to the line. Glasscock would pull out a psychic .426 RT to Trower’s solid .502, and at the stripe it would be all Corvair as Terry’s 2.97 covered Dee’s 3.02. This would set up an all-Missouri final round. The Missouri-based Blown BBC-powered Dragsters of Sieg and Payne lined up for their match up. There certainly were no team orders here as they put on the closest race of eliminations with Sieg taking a 3.04 to 3.03 hole shot win by just .035 at the stripe. This was simply a great race for the Oklahoma crowd.
This would set up a rematch of the 2009 Heartland Nationals final round between Glasscock and Sieg. In racing, nothing is predictable, and this final round certainly was not. When the tree dropped, Sieg was gone and the red light was on while Glasscock got out of shape and had to lift early as he headed towards the win with a 3.59. Glasscock takes the early season MASD point series lead in TE with Sieg, Trower, and Payne right behind him heading into race two.
Terry Glasscock
Jeff Sieg
Dee Trower
Russ Payne
Pro Bracket Classes
The Pro 1 Cars class was solid all day long on Sunday with most races decided by just mere thousandths of a second. Friday night’s Quick 16 winner Texas racer John Acker lined up for the final round against Atoka regular Ethan Fomby in the final round. Acker his streak of hot RT’s continued with a .439 and forced Fomby into a 3.798 (3.85) break out. Acker’s win gives him the early MASD points lead over Fomby & Tim Feuerhelm heading into Race 2.
John Acker
Another Texas racer topped the field in the Pro 1 Quads class as Luke Martin had the hot hand during Sunday’s eliminations. Martin would line up against Danny Travis in the final round. Martin would leave first, and force a 4.245 (4.28) break out on Travis. Luke’s win puts him atop the early season MASD standings in Pro 1 Quads ahead of Travis and semi-finalist Nick Allen.
Luke Martin
Thunder Valley Sand Drags regular Bill White showed no mercy on the Atoka regulars in the Pro 2 Cars category on Sunday. Bill ran ultra consistent all day long culminating with a 4.479 (4.43) to defeat the Firebird of local racer Timmy Hamer in the final round.
Bill White
Saturday bracket class winners included Kevin Self (Pro 2 Quads), Cody Ford (Pro 3 Quads), Chloe Cooper (Pro 4 Quads), and Cody Reeves (Peewees).
Kevin Self
Quick 16 Classes
The Friday night Quick 16 classes always put on a great show for the traditionally strong Friday night Atoka crowd. Texas racer John Acker had his Dragster dialed in on Friday night with some great Reaction Times en route to a final round victory over Tim Feuerhelm. Acker would cut a .460RT and run 4.293 (4.27) for his first win of the weekend as he would go on to win Sunday’s Pro 1 Cars as well. The Motorcycle side of the Quick 16’s was dominated by Phoenix AZ’s Keith Ahart. He would face off with fellow veteran racer Kevin Self for all of the marbles on Friday night. Self would inadvertently stage too deep handing Ahart the win with a 4.450 (4.40).
John Acker
Keith Ahart
Photos Courtesy:
Lonestar Graphics - www.LoneStarGraphics.com.
Lonestar Graphics Photo Gallery
- Keith Ahart Keith Ahart
- Nick Allen Nick Allen
- Amie Wilson Amie Wilson
- Les Steelmon Les Steelmon
- Tim Hatfield Tim Hatfield
- Keith Ahart Keith Ahart
- Tim Hatfield Tim Hatfield
- Rod Trower Rod Trower
- Mike Smith Mike Smith
- Marc Luce Marc Luce
- Nick Allen Nick Allen
- Terry Glasscock Terry Glasscock
- Dee Trower Dee Trower
- Bill White Bill White
- Ashley Ralston Ashley Ralston
- Robert Smith Robert Smith
- Marc Luce Marc Luce
- Randy Kimbley Randy Kimbley
- Mitchell Harper Mitchell Harper
- James Martin James Martin
- Mollie Eades Mollie Eades
- Harold Fomby Harold Fomby
- Mike Moore Mike Moore
- John Acker John Acker
- Joseph Evans Joseph Evans
- Gage Moore Gage Moore
- Russ Bailey Russ Bailey
- Darwin Beck Darwin Beck
- David Risher David Risher
- Larry Holt Larry Holt
- Dylan Williams Dylan Williams
- Jimmy Evans Jimmy Evans
- Ethan Fomby Ethan Fomby
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- Joseph Evans Joseph Evans
- Ed Bunch v. David Risher Ed Bunch v. David Risher
- Keith Ahart v. John Acker Keith Ahart v. John Acker
- Mike Smith Mike Smith
- Gage Moore Gage Moore
- Courtney Stidham Courtney Stidham
- Bill White Bill White
- Fomby Racing Fomby Racing
- Tim Hatfield v. Keith Ahart Tim Hatfield v. Keith Ahart
- David Risher David Risher
- Russ Bailey v. Tim Hatfield Russ Bailey v. Tim Hatfield
- Keith Ahart v. John Acker Keith Ahart v. John Acker
- Kevin Self Kevin Self
- Pro 1 Final Round Pro 1 Final Round
- Timmy Hamer Timmy Hamer
- John Acker John Acker
- Pro 1 Semi-Finals Pro 1 Semi-Finals
- Luke Martin Luke Martin
- Luke Martin Luke Martin
- Pro 1 Quads Pro 1 Quads
- John Acker John Acker
- Bill White Bill White
- Kenny Kapple Kenny Kapple
- Pro 1 Cars Pro 1 Cars
- David Collins David Collins
- Risher-Nash Motorsports Risher-Nash Motorsports
- Pro 1 Cars Pro 1 Cars
- David Risher David Risher
- Pro 1 Cars Pro 1 Cars
- Pro 1 Cars Pro 1 Cars
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