IHRA Tournament of Champions

[Lew Silverman]

More pictures from Friday's qualifying -

[Lew Silverman]

A few more from VMP!

Had a great time, just too bad it had to end! See you all at the drags!

Lew

[danny waters sr]

Thanks ,Lew and Kevin for the pics.......

[Michael Beard]

Congratulations to Stock World Champion, "Philbilly" Phil Combs, Super Stock World Champion Gianni Cantusci, Stock racer Matt Hawk who won the IHRA Summit No-Box World Championship with his bracket car, and Sportsman Spectacular winners Anthony Bertozzi (SS), and the big bear Brandon Peterson (Stock). Special tip o' the cap to The Legend Chip Johnson for winning the Hot Rod World Championship, and Myron Piatek for the honor of being named IHRA Sportsman of the Year!

Thanks once again to Terry Knott for letting me shoe his Dart Sport (and lettering it up with Duck Tape once again!), and for providing 'food and shelter'. Terry was a great crew chief as normal, taking care of all the little details so I could hop back and forth between the two cars. Sorry for no Live From updates this weekend... with two cars, barely had time to do the logbook, let alone much else. But what a great weekend! Semis in Super Stock, and a Runner-Up and a Semi in Stock.

This entire weekend was blessed with some great weather, albeit tricky conditions with wind gusts over 20mph, and a barometer that moved from 29.30 to 29.80 in the three days. What a great run event, and a good crowd on hand to enjoy some incredible sportsman racing. Anybody that missed this one REALLY missed out! Thank you IHRA, and particularly Summit Racing Equipment for stepping up in a very big way, and for being such an integral part of the event. Summit didn't just send banners and say 'we're sponsoring the race'... they had a pretty sizable STAFF there, and treated everyone like royalty. We're all grateful for your kindness and generosity.


Pics...
- Terry Knott's freshly Ducked-up H/CM Dart Sport
- eventual Sportsman Spectacular Stock champion Brandon Peterson
- Moser Axle Mania and Div. 1 Stock Champ Lisa Bolton
- Duck Tape pits
- Johnny Fisher's K/SA Mirada
- Freshly crowed IHRA Summit No-Box World Champ Matt Hawk's Stocker
- Freshly married Hillarey Sloan-Leggette, G/CM Camaro
- Super Stockers ready to roll
- IHRA Div. 9 Pro-Am Starter Josh Peake

[Michael Beard]

More pics....

- Yup. Myron Piatek's carrying a spare bullet.
- Brandon Peterson winner's circle
- Getting ready to make a TOC Qualifying pass Saturday night with Philbilly.
- Meeting of the mind. (Myron Piatek, and Brien Radley on his cool "restified" 1969 Sears bike)
- Lisa Bolton had the worst luck. Broke a rear, they thrashed to change the trans and rear, and two runs later, broke it again.
- Good crowd on-hand for championship Sunday
- Stock finals, Philbilly vs Brent Darroch (driving A/CM rent-a-ride courtesy Ronnie Traupman)
- Super Stock World Champion, Gianni Cantusci
- Hot Rod World Champion, "The Legend" Chip Johnson

[Michael Beard]

And BTW, they did a great job promoting ClassRacer.com all weekend long, with naming rights on both Stock and Super Stock. Thumbs up to Kenny and IHRA for hooking up on the deal.


Pics...

- No-Box World Champion, Matt Hawk. He takes home a brand new enclosed trailer, custom golf cart, and $10K! That'll pay for gas on the trip back to Arizona!
- Box World Champion JP Schuster got the bucket of water..., but also won $10,000 and a new dragster powered by a Super Cobra Jet. Any bets on how fast that motor will go in a DRAGSTER???
- What do you get when you mix a Canadian, a couple of beers, and an Ironman?
- Philbilly, Stock World Champion
- more Philbilly
- Philbilly's much better half, Amie
- Hickmon's Duck Tape purse
- Super Rod World Champion Steve Furr
- Top Dragster World Champion, JB Donati

[Michael Beard]

Need to say thanks to God Speed Ministries, Summit and all their supporting sponsors as well for an AWESOME spaghetti dinner they hosted for everyone, and all the great desserts people brought. And to top it off, a night of bingo with a bunch of great prizes. You think double-entering is bad? Steve Witherow was deca-entered with 10 bingo cards. The furrowed brow of concentration was priceless. He gave up on trying to keep up with all of them and gave me two of his (loser!) cards. LOL Seth Phillips' fiance Kate won the grand prize, a $600 vaccuum pump. I think Witherow might've struck a deal to go home with that, afterall!

[X-TECH MAN]

Very cool. Congratulations to all of the racers who qualified and a big CONGRATULATIONS to all of the winners and runner ups.
A special congratulations to Myron for being sportsman racer of the year.

[Dave Turner]

Originally Posted by Michael Beard

More pics....

- Yup. Myron Piatek's carrying a spare bullet.
- Brandon Peterson winner's circle
- Getting ready to make a TOC Qualifying pass Saturday night with Philbilly.
- Meeting of the mind. (Myron Piatek, and Brien Radley on his cool "restified" 1969 Sears bike)
- Lisa Bolton had the worst luck. Broke a rear, they thrashed to change the trans and rear, and two runs later, broke it again.
- Good crowd on-hand for championship Sunday
- Stock finals, Philbilly vs Brent Darroch (driving A/CM rent-a-ride courtesy Ronnie Traupman)
- Super Stock World Champion, Gianni Cantusci
- Hot Rod World Champion, "The Legend" Chip Johnson

Take a look at Cantusci's shoes - that's the Canadian driving secret...we wear 'em loose!!

[davidhuff]

Great pictures!