The racing weekend that was - Wk 27

In Formula One, the British GP at Silverstone:
Finally, Lewis has the weekend he has been so desperately searching. He wins his home race slashing the championship gap to four points while championship leader and teammate Nico Rosberg retires with gearbox failure.

aftermath of Raikonnen's excursion

There was an incredible accident at the start of the race which caused the race to be temporarily red flagged. Ferrari's Kimi Raikonnen ran wide at Aintree but as he rejoined [with WOT] a little bump on the grass unsettled the car and sent the car fish-tailing into the Armco, collecting William's driver Felipe Massa in the process.

Though Rosberg had led from pole, around mid-race he suffered gearbox trouble and was forced to retire. Too bad for the spectators, for Hamilton was closing in fast and this could have turned out in another epic duel. The Fin Valtteri Bottas racing for Sir Frank Williams rose through the field from 14th on the grid to P2 for the second consecutive time, while Daniel Ricciardo finished P3 as he held of a charging Jenson Button.

Vettel-Alonso duel 

The best battle of the race was between Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. The Red Bull of Vettel was clearly quicker than the Ferrari and kept hustling the Spaniard, who instructed his team over the radio to launch a complaint to race officials accusing the reigning world champion of being over-aggressive. Though Alonso defended his position excellently, he could not hold off Vettel when he got his nose alongside out of Woodcote and after the pair ran inches apart towards Copse, Alonso had to yield to Vettel. Click here to see an analysis of the duel.

Bottas celebrating on the podium

Formula One standings are as follows:
1. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes, 165 points,
2. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes, 161
3. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull, 98
4. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari, 87
5. Valtteri Bottas - Williams, 72

The next race is scheduled for July 20 and will be run at Hockenheim, Germany.


In NHRA, at Norwalk, Ohio:
After a long drought, Funny car legend John Force made it to the Funny car finals and had to race long time rival Ron Capps. But after getting to the final round, the old man wasn't going to go down without a fight. In a thrilling side-by-side drag race John Force collected his first Norwalk win and his 140th career win by running a 4.113 at 317.27 mph to Capps' losing 4.134.

"It was special for me," said John Force. "I've come to this track for decades......we raced some great kids: [Ron] Capps, Cruz [Pedregon], [Tim] Wilkerson, Chad Head."

In Top Fuel, a dominant Antron Brown racing for Don Schumacher racing (DSR) collected his 5th Wally of the season and second in a row by beating his team mate Tony Schumacher in the finals.

In Pro Stock, though it might come as a surprise to some to see women excel in this male dominated sport, current points leader Erica Enders-Stevens claimed her fourth victory of 2014 and the tenth of her career by beating her old crew chief Dave Connolly in the final round. Though I always root for our friend Dave, on Sunday he just didn't have the horsepower to beat the Rick Jones built Elite Motorsports Chevy Camaro. This is becoming an all too familiar sight at many NHRA winner's circle, and the guys are not liking it, especially Summit racer Greg Anderson.

In Pro Stock bike, Matt Hines claimed his third win of the season by beating Hector Arana Sr. The Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson bikes are starting to come around.

The next race is on July 18-20 and marks the beginning of the Western Swing, which is a grueling period for NHRA drag racers. These are back-to-back races with almost no time to have parts and support material hauled in from the team's headquarters.  Always a very interesting period in the season.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Jalopnik
Photo credit: Skysports, Dailymail.co.uk, NHRA, Dragstory,

The best weekend in motorsports

For some, like us in living in sunny Curacao, the weekend has already arrived. For others, it is just a few hours away, but what an amazing weekend of racing it is going to be. The crown jewel that is the F1 Monaco GP, the Indy 500, the Coca-Cola 600, and the NHRA in Kansas, all this Sunday. And yes, even some PDRA Friday -and Saturday night. Personally I wish I could be in Monte Carlo right now with Priscilla and my mate Gege, boy we'd be enjoying the festivities. But enough about me, let's review the races.

F1 at MONTE CARLO:
As I write this most guests of the Indian Empress party have been rudely awakened by the practice sessions. The second one is underway in the principality with Alonso leading. The third and final practice session is scheduled for Saturday 11:00, followed by qualifying at 14:00. The race itself with be run on Sunday at 14:00 (local time).

A little bit about the 3.34 km Monaco GP course: it has 19 corners (7 left and 12 right), 78 race laps (260km), with just one DRS zone. The tire compounds for this race will be Soft, Supersoft, and Schumi holds the circuit lap record at 1 minute 14.439 seconds (2004).

Mercedes will be looking to extend their lead in the Championship whilst Ferrari and Red Bull hope to have the power and a lot of luck to triumph over the competition. For more, click here. To watch an awesome video review of last years race, click here.

The INDIANAPOLIS 500:
In what is one of the most storied motor race in the US, it has always been held on the last Sunday in May with the winner being giving a bottle of milk after the 500 mile long race. Tradition.


Come Sunday at 12:12 pm, the green flag will be dropped and drivers will carefully race each other maintaining speeds in excess of 200 mph for 200 laps on the 2.5 mile long oval, in the hopes to win the 98th running of the very special race and have their face eternalized on the Borg-Warner trophy (pictured right).Tony Kanaan leads final practice. For more info, click here and for a spotter's guide, click here.

The COCA COLA 600:
Only second to the Indy 500, this race is considered to be the biggest and most important in NASCAR. There has been a build up of activities for more than a week, with qualifying held last weekend. Of course, parties and events are a common sight around the Charlotte Motor Speedway, but it will all culminate at 6:00 in the afternoon, when some 66 drivers will race for 400 laps (600 miles) in the big race. For more info, click here.

NHRA KANSAS NATIONALS:
For drag racing fans in the heartland of America, the baddest nitro drag racers have come to town. As is usually the case, race Sunday will be hot, placing even more pressure on drivers and crew to perform well on Friday night during qualifying. Saturday qualifying will then be left for the race set up of the cars. For a couple of races already, the women have been knocking at the door, that is of the 100th win by a female racer in NHRA. The loudest banging has come from Erica Enders-Stevens who drives the technically difficult Pro Stock cars. But then again, many top drivers, such as Dave Connolly, Jason Line and especially Greg Anderson will try to win the Wally themselves. It is gonna be great!
Fore more information, click here.

PDRA's MEMPHIS DRAGS:
One of the best drag racing series is in Millington, Tennessee this weekend. The big budget teams were Thursday on the track testing, for on Friday night the qualifying will begin. The live stream via MotorMania challenges ESPN's coverage of NHRA, so be sure to tune in for the best door slammer show this weekend. And if you are in the area, do visit for entry is free of charge. To my friends Lizzy Musi (Frank Brandao), Jeff Dobbins and Trevor Eman, good luck you guys and give them hell!
Fore more info, click here.

2014 FIA Drag Racing at SANTA POD:
This weekend kicks of the FIA drag racing series at the historic drag racing strip in the UK. Be sure to check it out.

Hope you enjoy your weekend as much as I shall mine. Thanks for reading.

Source: Formula1.com, Indianapolis motor speedway, NASCAR, ESPN, PDRA660,
Photo credit: Formula1.com, Guyrhodes.com

First female Pro Stock winner

Erica soaking it all in

Erica Enders made history last Sunday when she became the first female to win an NHRA Pro Stock race, regardless of sanction. This also marks the 12th time a female has won an NHRA Pro category race. She follows in the footsteps of, amongst others, Shirley Muldowney,  Shelly Anderson-Payne, Angele Sampey, and Ashley Force-Hood.

In getting to her seventh career final, Erica beat Kurt Johnson, Vincent Nobile and V. Gaines at the O'Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 Nationals. In the final round, she led points leader Greg Anderson all the way down the track to win with a e.t. of 6.627 seconds at 207.40 mph.

side-by-side racing doorslammers

The fact that it took longer than we all had hoped made it all the sweeter, for she had been banging on the door for a while now. And to win against none other than Greg Anderson, the man who didn't want to be "the one" to go down in history as loosing to a female for the first time.
Personally, I don't believe there's anything wrong with that, seeing that hard working women have made it to the top of their "game", be it in business, government or sports.

"It's awesome," said Enders. "I think that if I could have planned it, I would have asked to run Greg in the final. You know that he made it very clear he didn't want to lose to me. He's a very competitive guy, and I love him to death, but I couldn't wait to beat him."

FulTrot's followers will attest that I have been predicting that Erica's day would soon come. And there were many others who did so too, for her crew went nuts back at the starting line, as they screamed in the team's headsets. Crew chief Dave Connolly gave a great interview as well, saying that this win as crew chief was more gratifying than a win as a driver. Coming from Dave, one of the sharpest driver's in the Pro Stock category, says a lot about the win.

The video below shows the match up, race, celebrations and subsequent interviews:



The 28-year-old Houston-native and started driving in the Pro Stock category back in 2005, when car owner Victor Cagnazzi gave her the opportunity to drive a Pro Stock car, knowing that she had never let out the clutch of a race car before. Her rise as a youthful drag racer was portrayed in a Disney original movie "Right On Track".

"Twenty years, from the time I was eight years old in the Junior Dragster this has been a dream of mine and I have worked my butt off to get here," Enders said of the historical victory. "For all the kids (and forty-year-olds) who were told they couldn't do it. You CAN do it."

Erica and Team in the winner's circle

One of the first persons to congratulate Erica was the godfather of Pro Stock, Bob Glidden, who called her on her cell right after ESPN's interview.

Congratulations to Erica, her crew and team owner Victor Cagnazzy on the historical win. Great job Dave, although I'd rather see you behind a steering wheel though. That's where you belong.

Thanks for reading.

Source: NHRA, CompetitionPlus, Wikipedia.
Photo credit: NHRA, Mark J. Rebilas.

The racing weekend that was-UPDATED

NHRA, at Route 66, Chicago:
The heat proved to be a very hot challenge for the crew chiefs on Friday. And then come Sunday, the race had to be delayed due to rain. All in all, a difficult race for both tuners and racers.

In Top Fuel, Antron Brown beat steve Torrence when he red lighted at the start. This is the second victory for Brown in his Matco Tools sponsored dragster.

In Funny Car, Jeff Arend defeated the 24-year-old Courtney Force (rookie), who made it all the way to the final. She did a great job, even though her 4.454 could not best the 4.131 of Arend. To get to the final, Arend defeated Tony Pedregon, Tim Wilkerson and Jack Beckman, all very good drivers.

In Pro Stock, Erica Enders became the first woman ever to win, and it came on the back of the man who didn't want to go down in history as "that guy", four-time world champion Greg Anderson. She drove a marvelous race and was sure not to let history repeat itself. Her GK Motorsports Chevy Cobalt muscled her way into the lead and won off Anderson with a 6.627 at 207.4 mph. A shout out to her crew chief, Dave Connolly, who is a great pro stock driver as well.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Three-time world champ Matt Hines claimed his second win of the season when he defeated L.E. Tonglet, who red lighted. Hines' Screaming Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson won over Scotty Pollacheck, Chip Ellis and Hector Arana Jr. to reach the finals.

Check again soon for an extensive piece of Erica winning in Pro Stock.

The next race will be on July 8, at the Summit Motorsports Park, in Norwalk, Ohio. For more info, please click here.


MotoGP, at Assen:
Last weekend the fastest riders met up at the TT Circuit Assen, in Holland. The track was built in 1955 and is considered "The Cathedral" of motorcycling by the fans.

Lorenzo (R) was furious after the incident

Heading into the first corner Alvaro Bautista (P8) attacked hard and way too early into the race. Bautista lunged for the inside at turn one, fell when he lost the front of his Gresini Honda and then wiped out the unsuspecting third on the grid Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha factory) ahead of him. Both out of the race, Lorenzo was left with a "big bruise" on his leg and lost the lead of the championship.

At the restart of the race, the first and second on the grid machines of Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa seemed to be in a class of their own. Both Yamaha riders pulled away from the pack and the still sore Stoner (from a crash in Friday's practice) calmly put a move on Pedrosa with ten laps to go.

At the checkered flag it was Casey Stoner (Australia), trailed by Dani Pedrosa (Spain) and Andrea Dovizioso riding for Monster Yamaha Tech 3, who passed Ben Spies on the last lap.

Now, the championship is heating up with Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo in a tie. For more info about this race, please click here.

The next race will be the Eni Motorad GP in Germany, on July 8 next. For more info, please click here.


NASCAR, at the Kentucky Speedway:
The Quaker State 400 would prove to be a highly contested race. The heat was on from the practice sessions on Friday, with Juan Pablo Montoya and Brad Keselowski getting into clash that saw Keselowski end up in the wall with his primary car. They were supposed to be practicing, not racing. Pole position went to Jimmie Johnson, his first since 2010.

Keselowski's Penske team battled 100 degrees heat to prepare his back-up car for the race on Saturday night. And the fact that their driver was a bit ticked off, meant that he'd be pushing even harder, which he did. There were the usual wrecks and periods of trying to save fuel.

The video below shows the finish and some close racing:

In the end, Brad Keselowski took the checkered flag, his third this year, followed by Kasey Kahne (2), Denny Hamlin (3), Dale Earnhardt Jr (4), and Jeff Gordon (5). For the entire race recap, please click here.

The next race is at Daytona, the Coke Zero 400, on July 7. For more info, please click here.


Thanks for reading.

Source: NHRA, Crash.net, MotoGP, Wikipedia, NARCAR/Youtube
Photo credit: Courtney Enders/Facebook, Crash.net

Farewell to the grumpy one!

The sport of drag racing lost last month a very special driver and innovator in Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins. NHRA called him a master of the internal combustion engine and a legend among the Chevrolet faithful. He was 81.

Bill Jenkins (1930-2012)

Grumpy played a leading role in lifting drag racing to the level of a sanctioned sport from its "dirty finger-nails" street racing days, according to Ron Watson, President of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, into which Jenkins was inducted in 1996.

Back in 2001, the NHRA conducted a poll of experts and ranked Bill Jenkins no. 8 among the nation's 50 top racers, even though he only won 13 NHRA events while behind the wheel. He earned that position because no other individual has contributed more to improving engines that made the straight-line, quarter mile racing from a standing start more popular. 

Grumpy's innovations included a front-suspension system that improved performance of a stock car by transferring weight to the rear tires, and a "slick-shift manual transmission" that allowed the driver to shift gears without lifting a foot from the gas pedal (clutchless, planetary gears transmission). He also installed a so-called cool can, containing ice, along the fuel line to lower gasoline temperature, hereby increasing horsepower. I actually remember my father running a Moroso built cool can on his Chevelle Malibu called "Whathehell".

Bill Jenkins rose to prominence in 1966 when his 327 ci, 350 horsepower Chevy II outran most 426 ci, 424 horsepower Dodge and Plymouth Street Hemis in dozens of local races around the country. And then in 1972, he exploited the "giant killer" approach when he won 6 of 8 national events with his 331 ci small-block Pro Stock Vega called "Grumpy's Toy".

He later opened an engine-building shop in his hometown of Malvern, PA, and dozens of top professional drivers took advantage of his technical skills.

About his nickname "Grumpy", he knew that almost everyone knew that his gruff front was just that. He relished the name.

Grumpy helped Dave win his 1st Wally

I never got to know him, but Dave Connolly did, as he was Dave's engine builder in 2005, the same year he won the WinterNationals and briefly led the "Powerade" point's series.

In Dave's own words on Facebook:
"... Lost one of the greats today. Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins was one of a kind. He was one of the funniest and smartest guys I know. And I'm honored not only to have known him but got the pleasure to race with him. I'll never forget those times or the things he thought me..."

Personally, I remember him from his days with Dave, standing behind the rookie at the starting line whilst listening to his engine's performance. 

The short, stocky, gravelly-voiced man who often chomped cigars will be missed. Godspeed Grumpy, the father of Pro Stock.

For more information please click here. If you're a drag racing fan, please check out NHRA's Dragster Insider for numerous great short stories and anecdotes on Grumpy. They're great fun. Click here.

Thanks for reading.

Source: New York Times, NHRA, Wikipedia

Ashley's win ranks in the top 10 in NHRA history

On September 6th last I included Ashley's first win in Funny Car to my personal picks of NHRA greatest moments. Well, this win has been picked by the fans to be the 8th greatest moment in NHRA history. It had been more than 30 years since Shirley Muldowney (oh that pink pioneer rail) recorded the first win by a woman in Top Fuel dragster, a woman had yet to win in NHRA's Funny Car class.
On April 27, 2008, NHRA reached another milestone when Ashley Force Hood became the first woman to win in a Funny Car. The gorgeous daughter of Funny Car legend John Force had knocked on the door three times before banging it down a-la-force. And this landmark victory came, ironically enough, against her father, who was seeking to achieve a milestone of his own.

Shirley Muldowney

Thanks to people like Shirley and Lynn St. James (Indy Car driver) that nowadays we have female competitors in motorsports. I remember Pro Bike sensation Angele Savoy, who later became Sampey. She dominated and won the Pro Bike class three times (2000, 2001, 2002) and is the win-ingest female pro with 41 wins. And Melanie Troxel can be seen steering her In-N-Out Burger sponsored Funny Car down the track at the last races for 2011. She's a proven winner in the jaw-dropping Pro Mod class as well. Also from this category is Leah Pruet-Leduc who has just moved up to Funny Car. In the Pro Stock class Erica Enders will soon collect her first Wally. Crew chief Dave Connolly consistently gives her a car that has the potential to win in the final round. She's got the competition "sweating bullets". Greg Andersen in his own words, "I don't want to go down in history as the first to lose to Erica." Greg, it is just a matter of time!

Getting back to Shirley, in September she was honored as the 2011 recipient of the Mildred Marcum Pioneer Award. Other notable women in drag racing are Karen Stoffer (pro bike), Shelly Anderson (top fuel), Peggy Llewellyn (pro bike) and Hillary Will (top Fuel).

One of these days I have to write one about local women in drag racing. I think I will start with Berginie "Busa girl" Naar and work my way backward.

Thanks for reading