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In 2009, a new tradition began for footbrakers... This traditional style of drag racing eliminates the use of transbrakes, which requires more skill from the driver to get the tires to hook up. The most important attribute to this type of racing is consistency. When it comes to consistency, Michael Beard has got it. It takes great skill to run fast but, it takes a different type of skill to run consistent.
Duck Tape Racings' Michael Beard
Farmington Dragway hosts an annual Champions Showdown with all of the previous Footbrake champions including anyone who has won a: "NHRA or IHRA national or divisional title, Bracket final, or summit super series championship." This year, Michael Beard won the Champions Showdown in the 1985 Duck Tape Plymouth Turismo. He managed to beat Tim Byrd in the final with a better reaction time of .015.
1985 Plymouth Turismo
Beard won a, "Champions Showdown trophy, commemorative check, a free entry into Sunday's $4,000-to-win Footbrake Nationals, a free entry into next year's Footbrake Nationals, and next year he will also receive 24 of the 2011 Champions Showdown event t-shirts, which will feature this year's winning car: the Duck Tape Turismo!"
After the Showdown Beard made his way through the rounds and somehow ended up racing Byrd for the third time of the weekend. In round three of the Footbrake Nationals Byrd took the win light against Beard, ending a successful weekend for the Duck Tape team. Beard went on his way $4000 richer, looking forward to the 2011 race season.
Now that the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle champions have been crowned, drivers and team members get only a small break in the action before preparations for 2011 continue. While the slates may be wiped clean and all teams start off as equals when the new NHRA season begins next February, the points battle in Pro Stock for the 2011 K&N Horsepower challenge is really starting to heat up and tighten up.
Allen Johnson and the Mopar Dodge Avenger
As the most prestigious race each season in all of Pro Stock, the K&N Horsepower Challenge provides eight teams the opportunity to earn the largest single day purse, a whopping $50,000 to the event champion and all the action takes place at the Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. The runner-up will earn $10,000 and two semifinalists will earn $3,000. The four first-round finishes will receive $2,500 each.
With the championship purse directly in their sites, Pro Stock teams vie for the top qualifying spot during each NHRA Full Throttle event along with the $3,000 bonus awarded by K&N Engineering for their effort.
Tennessee based competitor, Allen Johnson is quite familiar with the bonus as of late. Johnson and his Team Mopar Avenger team have pocketed all possible points in the Challenge along with the cash award for the last four consecutive NHRA events, with the most recent at the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals, in Pomona, California.
It certainly wasn't a given that Johnson would easily grab the pole during the NHRA Finals after the first qualifying session, when he had uncharacteristic problems and unable to make a clean run.
Having a single session on Thursday, gave Johnson's team all the time they needed to correct any gremlins they had the day before. When they came back on Friday to make their first pass in the left lane, Johnson blasted to the number two spot, tucking in behind then current leader, V. Gaines, buy a mere two-thousandths of a second by laying down a solid 6.553 at 211.39.
The right lane continued wreaking havoc for Johnson during session number three on Saturday morning and Johnson's Avenger immediately lost traction at the hit. Thanks to his faster mile-per-hour during his earlier effort on Friday, it would keep him in the number two spot when Jason Line tied his 6.553 elapsed time.
"The right lane here just does not like Pro Stock cars. It's really, really critical to keep lane choice. When you get out there first run and don't get down, you get a little nervous," said Johnson.
In the final session at the NHRA Finals and back in the left lane, Johnson made it to the top of the pack after sailing down the southern California track in 6.551 seconds at 211.43 and once again taking the higher position from another competitor he was tied in E.T. with, thanks to his higher mile-per-hour.
"We were able to get back in that left lane tonight and make a pretty near-perfect run. That's what it's been the last four races, we've had one really, really good run and three okay runs," confessed Johnson.
One would note the almost astonishing competitiveness in the NHRA Pro Stock Ranks, with the top four qualified positions for the final event of 2010 only separated by a minute four thousandths of a second, just less than half a blink of the eye.
The pole at the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals would be the eighth for Allen Johnson during the 2010 season and the sixth since the 2011 K&N Horsepower Challenge season began in June at Norwalk.
Johnson, now forty points in first place over K&N's Mike Edwards, will get to briefly enjoy his lead in the K&N Challenge for a few months, before hitting the trail again in February when the 2011 NHRA season kicks off with the Kragen O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals.
There are only nine events remaining in which Pro Stock teams can earn qualifying points for the 2011 K&N Horsepower Challenge and a very tight race at the top with Johnson, Edwards and Jason Line all just fifty points apart.
2011 K&N Horsepower Challenge Point Standings are as follows:
Jerry Coons Jr. came into the 70th running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix in second place in the USAC National Midget Car standings. He had no chance of catching Bryan Clauson, the leader in the National Midget standings, but Coons said he didn't want to lose hold of second place either.
Jerry Coons Jr. grabs second place in the USAC National Midget Car standings.
He accomplished his goal with a 14th-place finish in the Turkey Night Grand Prix race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. It wasn't exactly how he wanted to end his season, but it was enough to keep Tracy Hines in third place in the final National Midget Car standings.
"We're sitting second in points. The big thing is to keep second when we could fall back to third," Coons said before the race. "We want to stay second in points even though the championship is out of reach. The way the season started, the first half of the season, I didn't even think we'd be in the top three."
Coons needed a surge in the second half of the season to crack the top-five in the National Midget standings. That he was in second place at the end of the season was a bit surprising.
"We've been out of the top five for most of the season," said Coons, a driver for Wilke-Pak Motorsports with support from K&N Engineering. "I don't think the season went nearly as well as what we would have liked. I've only had one win. We've run second a ton of times. We've had a couple races we were leading and fell out of. To be honest, it's been a little bit of a disappointing season.
This field's so competitive, you've got to finish races if you want to have a chance at the points."
Coons was the seventh-fastest qualifier in a field of 37 cars for the Midget race at Toyota Speedway. He qualified seven spots ahead of Hines, but was 0.164 seconds off the pace of Kody Swanson's top qualifying speed.
Coons was never much of a factor in the race, falling out of the top 10. But his 14th-place finish was seven spots better than Hines and secured a runner-up finish in the National Midget standings.
Coons has raced in his share of Turkey Night Grand Prix races, but this was his first visit to the traditional Thanksgiving night races in two years.
"I haven't been here in the last two years at Irwindale," said Coons, a driver from Tucson, Ariz. "I went back and ran the last Turkey Night at Ascot. It's kind of a hit and miss. I know we ran it at Ventura and Bakersfield once. I wouldn't even know if it was five or 10."
The Turkey Night Grand Prix has attracted some of the top open-wheel racers over the past 70 years. Clauson won the Midget race and became the first driver to win it in consecutive years since Billy Boat from 1995 to 1997.
"It's certainly one of the biggest races of the year for us," Coons said. "I certainly liked this better when it was on dirt. It's a very prestigious race. It certainly would be one we'd like to add my name to it."
Coons said K&N has supplied him with great products.
"In this sport, you gotta have a good product or we're not going to use it," Coons said. "We certainly appreciate everything K&N does."
The drivers for Western Speed Racing came away with mixed results at the 70th running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
Western Speed Racing at Turkey Night Grand Prix at Toyota Speedway
Michael J. Lewis, making only his fourth start of the season for the team, finished second in the USAC Ford Focus Midgets race of the Turkey Night Grand Prix.
Cody Gerhardt was involved in a three-car crash on lap 8 and ended up in 25th place in the Ford Focus Midgets race.
Despite the poor finish, Gerhardt won the USAC Western Pavement, California North and California South Ford Focus Midgets championships. He also ended up as the runner up in the Western Ford Focus Series standings.
Michael J. Lewis of Western Speed Racing
Gerhardt is the grandson of Fred Gerhardt, a USAC Midget and Indy car owner who produced and maintained cars for Bill Vukovich, Johnnie Parsons and Gary Bettenhausen. Fred Gerhardt was inducted into the USAC Midget Racing Hall of Fame in 2007.
Cody Gerhardt said before the race he was going to take a conservative approach and try to end the season on a high note.
"I'm just going to treat this like any other race, take it easy, don't force the issue, hopefully I finish the race," said Gerhardt, who added that K&N has provided him with the support he needed to have a successful season.
But his night ended early when he was collected in a three-car crash that stopped the race. He crashed with Taylor Ferns and Garrett Peterson. Gerhardt was running in eighth place at the time of the crash. Peterson was in seventh. It was the second red flag of the Ford Focus Midgets race.
Two laps prior, Michael Steele, Winn Frazin and Guy Sainsbury crashed in Turn 3. Frazin's car ended upside down and Sainsbury's car landed on its side.
Lewis was able to avoid both crashes. He had the second-fastest time in qualifying, 0.004 seconds off the pace of Dylan Capello, the fastest qualifier at 14.262 seconds.
Lewis, a driver from Laguna Beach, Calif., has been splitting his time racing in the Formula BMW Series and for Western Speed Racing in the Ford Focus Midgets. He won Ford Focus Midget races at The Orange Show in San Bernardino and All American Speedway in Roseville.
"When you win it's real good," Lewis said. "It's never easy. We had to work very hard for both those races to win. It's been going well with Western Speed."
Jake Blackhurst won the Ford Focus Midgets race. Nick Drake led the first 18 laps of the race. Blackhurst took the lead on lap 19 and held it for the remaining 11 laps of the 30-lap race.
Lewis said being able to race in the Formula BMW series and USAC Ford Focus Midgets has been valuable in his development as a driver.
"Any car you drive, it relates to any other car," Lewis said. "If you're driving a Sprint car, Midget, Formula car, whatever, it's all going to translate. It's never wasted experience. With me that's how I look at it. It has directly helped me in my approach to racing."
Bryan Clauson was going to be tough to beat in the USAC Midget race of the 70th running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
Bryan Clauson became the first driver to win consecutive Turkey Night Grand Prix races since Billy Boat from 1995 to 1997.
He had little to lose. He came into the race with the USAC National Midget championship wrapped up. Clauson admitted after the race he probably made some decisions that he might not have made if the national championship wasn't up for grabs.
"The pressure's kind of off once the points are thrown out the window," said Clauson of Noblesville, Indiana. "We were able to make some three-wide moves there and thread the needle a couple of times. Maybe if you're in a points championship battle, you don't do it."
Bryan Clauson at Turkey Night Grand Prix at Toyota Speedway
But the race ended with some uncertainty. Clauson said the right front tire on his car was going flat with about 20 laps to go in the 98-lap race. He said he thinks he ran over some debris in the waning laps of the race and it affected the handling on his car.
Luckily for Clauson, he built up a substantial lead on the Armstrongs, Caleb and Dalton, and was able to cruise to his second Turkey Night Grand Prix win in a row.
Clauson became the first driver to win consecutive Turkey Night Grand Prix races since Billy Boat from 1995 to 1997. He is one of only five drivers to win Turkey Night Grand Prix races in consecutive years and the only the second driver to do it at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers Jason Leffler is the other.
"It's pretty special," said Clauson, who races for Corey Tucker Racing-Keith Kunz Motorsports with support from K&N. "A guy like Billy Boat is synonymous with Midget racing. The things he did in Midget racing were unbelievable."
Clauson took the lead on lap 9 from Cole Whitt and held it for the remainder of the race. Kody Swanson started on the pole and led the first lap. Dakoda Armstrong took over the lead on lap 2 and held it for two laps. Whitt passed Armstrong on lap 4 and was out front until lap 8.
Clauson pulled away from the rest of the field and had little trouble maintaining his lead.
"It's so hard to race yourself," Clauson said. "You're just trying to keep a pace your car can hold for 98 laps and hope it's fast enough to hold off the rest of them."
Clauson started the race in fourth and quickly made his way to the front. Racing with the National Midget championship already won didn't factor into Clauson's approach in the opening laps of the race.
"I don't think it really would have made a difference," Clauson said. "We had such a good car the first half of the race, we would have found our way to the front no problem. We were able to keep it close and not use up our tires too much working through the field."
Part of winning the USAC National Midget championship includes a scholarship to race in the Firestone Indy Lights season. Indy Lights team owner Sam Schmidt and Izod IndyCar Series chief executive officer Randy Bernard were in attendance at the track to watch Clauson race.
"It's been a great year," Clauson said. "We've won a lot of big events. We've had five USAC wins and some other special victories. It's a special year for us."
