Brainerd Recap

The last race before “The Big Go” at Indy landed us in Brainerd, MN for the Lucas Oil Nationals. This event is one that some drivers could use to blow off some mid season steam with the ever so popular “zoo”. But with the biggest race all year coming up in a few weeks, drivers also use this event to test and see how their cars fare compared to others in their classes because by this time most cars have already been out a few times. This 3 day event hosted 65 cars in each class with the Stock quota being at 75, and no surprise here, it was full. The NHRA staff was great as usual and things were completed as scheduled on Sunday with 5 out of the 6 sportsman winners being first timers.

Super Stock: Eric Bell over Darrell Dietz

Bell qualifies #1 and finished #1 as he holds up his 1st ever Wally. After going -.996 (9.104) under the GT/EA index in qualifying, earning him the #1 spot, Bell had the car backed down a little for the final dialed in at 9.22 and left just .007 from perfect. Dietz was giving chase dialed in at 8.77, but was a tad too eager leaving -.008 too soon, giving Bell the automatic win.

Stock: Ben Line over Bill Feist

Line knocks the tree down to be double ‘o’ the last 4 rounds in competition and collects his 1st ever win. In the first all D5 match up of the weekend, Line pulled his C/SA Mustang up with a 10.52 dial to the Mustang of Feist and his 10.08 dial. And again, Line was near perfect on the tree with a .005 reaction time and ran 10.533 at 118.45 to have a .018 total package. Feist just wasn’t as sharp on the tree with a .048 tree and ran farther off the 10.08 dial at 10.101.

Super Comp: Trevor Larson over Jeremy Demers

Veteran driver Larson gets his 2nd ever win in Super Comp and 6th overall. No new winner in this final as we have 2 guys that finished in the top 10 in the 2016 points, but when you give Trevor Larson a 3 hun advantage at the starting line, that is usually going to turn into a win for him. Larson was away first with his .018 light and Demers just missed the tree with a .048 light. At the end both drivers ran too quick but it was Larson running closer to the 8.90 index at 8.891 opposed to Demers at 8.886.

Super Gas: Jim Davis over Ken Griffiths

Davis takes his 1st win in the next all D5 match up. It was Griffiths who was ahead at the starting line with a .021 reaction time to Davis and his .040 reaction time, but both drivers run way off the 9.90 index. With Davis running 9.971 and Griffiths running 9.995, when all the little numbers were worked out, it was Davis ahead by just a .005 MOV and taking the home division win.

Top Sportsman: Brian Heath over Joseph Mohana

Heath takes down his home division 2016 champion, Mohana, in route to his 1st ever National event win. Heath was away first after his 7.13 dial with a stellar .004 reaction time, Mohana was not far behind with a .017 reaction time and a 6.77 dial. Unfortunately, Mohana slowed off his dial running 6.841, which gave Heath enough room to stay ahead and take the win, while running 7.152.

Top Dragster: Bob Fischer over Michael Kritzky

Fischer takes the win in the last all D5 match up of the weekend, which happens to be his 1st one ever. In a fast and great bracket race, Fischer was out of the gate first with a 7.37 dial and a .012 light, just about a second later Kritzky was away with a 6.38 dial and a .023 light. With both drivers running 3 hun over their dials, Fischer was able to get to the finish line first by .009 with his 7.4

Photos By – Auto Imagery