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What a beautiful night to go racing. Friday night was the ninth Race Your Ride Presented by O'Reilly Auto Parts of the season. There was a good variety of cars from the above Dana Kleinhoffer's Nostalgia Pontiac Firebird Funny Car to street cars. Dana was making licensing runs in the new car. There were some racers doing some testing, like John Tondola in his rebuilt Chevrolet Vega.. John is doing some tweaking to get the car where he wants it to be. Steve Narel was also out doing some testing. We even had a nitro front engine dragster. Tim Cullinan also drives Tom Motry's Fuel Altered Drastic Plastic. Tim made several runs down the track. Last weekend, at the D'Arcy Rt. 66 Classic, Tim ran against John Lawson's Runaway in the Drastic Plastic.  There was Dave and Maria Kocher out with the new Plane Insane II. After last year's crash of the original Plane Insane, they purchased the car over the off season and have slowly rebuilt the car including a new motor. The Plane Insane II will be much faster than the old Plane Insane Ford Maverick. There were some very nice and fast cars. And some street cars and motorcycles. All told, it was a pretty good night to be out at Route 66, fast cars and good people to hang with.
To see all the images from Friday night, please click here. To see all our images, please click here. If you see something you would like to purchase, please click here or on the "Ordering" tab at the top of the page.
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 There was a lot on the line for the Route 66 Raceway ET Bracket race #8. Being the final race of the season, not only were the championships up for grabs, but the spots to represent Route 66 at the Nationals in Indianapolis in September were there to be had. The competition was intense, but like everything at "66", it was friendly and family oriented. If someone was having an issue and thrashing about, folks just jumped in to help. Like a normal ET Bracket race, the day started with two rounds of Time Trials. After the completion of the Time Trials the racing started in earnest. If you are not familiar with ET Bracket racing, its a round robin race where the racers are not allowed to go faster than their stated elapsed time. If they go under their stated time they lose unless their opponent leaves the line too early and "redlights". There are some other rules, but that is it in a nutshell. The first final to be contested was High School where Connor Lawson defeated Nate Kelley, our Junior Modified Champion from Saturday. Connor's win wasn't enough to overcome Julie Nettles lead and she won the championship. This was followed by Pro Bike Bruce Damewood over Mike Krueger. Both were previous winners this year but they couldn't catch Tom Ewig for the Championship. Next up was Sportsman, where Steve Flounders Jr. beat Leland Soule when he redlighted. With this win Steve locked in his Championship. Steve's dad, was a long time member of the dragstaff. After Sportsman, it was Super Pro where John Beyer defeated Vince Mistrata. John won a Wally at Route 66 a few weeks back and was considering not coming to this race, but decided at the last minute to come. Good choice! The Season Championship went to Kenny King. In the final race of the series it was the Pro ET Class with Tony Lyons taking the win light when Bob Fitzpatrick redlighted. The Championship went to John Haut who was in a close points battle with Troy Bogner. Troy had a flat tire on the start line and had to retire from the race. Congratulations to all of today's winners! Here are our Route 66 Champions: Congratulations again to our Winners, Champions and good luck to the Route 66 Team at Nationals.
To see all the day's action, please click here. To see all our photos, please click here. If you see something you would like to purchase, please click here or on the "Ordering" link at the top of the page.  The D'Arcy Route 66 Classic has become a do not miss event of the summer. This past Saturday's event topped all the past ones. There was something for everyone. There was a craft show. There was a car show. There was a pin-up girl contest. And our winner was...  Congratulations to Tonya Winkelman, the first Rt. 66 Miss Classic! The bands were playing and everyone seemed to be having a great time The Route 66 staff was out and about mingling with the fans ensuring everyone was having fun. Oh I almost forgot, there was some classic drag racing happening! The Rt. 66 NHRA Junior Drag Racing League had its last race of the season capped with the crowning of its two champions. The JDRL program would not be the same without its sponsors and all the Juniors wanted me to ensure they got the recognition they deserve. Sportsman: John Lawson's Auto Rebuilders Stony Tire Inc. Modified sponsors: Sub-Trailer Hitch (Brian Becker) Ion Technologies #1 Qualifiers: Route 66 Food N Fuel In the Junior Sportsman Division, it was Cooper Hamelen taking the win light over Molly Lane. Molly was the #1 qualifier. Cooper had a great season and was the Champion. In the Junior Modified Division, It was Nate Kelley defeating Brandon Freis. Nate was also the #1 Qualifier and with this win Nate was crowned the season Champion. At times during the season, Nate drove in the High School Class and the Sportsman class of the ET Bracket Series. There was racing all day for the Run Tuff Eliminator Series. These cars qualified all day to get down to the final 16. In the end it was Tom Raider taking the win light. The Exhibition portion of the event was led off with the Will County vs Grundy County Grudge Match.. The is the second annual Grudge Match. The County Officials face off in equally prepared GMC pick-up trucks supplied by event sponsor Terry D'Arcy of D'Arcy Buick GMS. Last year Will County won and was hoping to repeat. However, Grundy County got really serious. States Attorney Jason Helland had been out at the Rt.66 Race Your Rides practicing.  The contestants The racing And the winner of the 2017 County Grudge Match...Grundy County! They took it handily, 5-1.  The winners flanked on the left by Terry D'Arcy of D'Arcy Buick GMC and on the right by Route 66 Track President Scott Paddock. The rest of the exhibition continued with the Midwest Super Stock Mafia, the Midwest Nostalgia Pro Stock Association, The Great Lakes Nostalgia Funny Car Association and Beat the Heat amongst the many classic cars to run. The last cars to run were Randy Adler in his 1957 Chevrolet Pro Mod.  This was followed by the Nostalgia Nitro Cars of Tom Motry's Fuel Altered Drastic Plastic and John Lawson's Runaway Funny Car. Last but not least, It was Barry Richter's Hypersonic Jet Funny Car. In keeping with the theme of the day, Rt. 66 dragstaff member Bob Norkus was dressed in the appropriate fire suit as he was preparing the waterbox. All told, this was the best Classic run to date. I can't wait to see what staff has up their sleeves for next year.
To see all the images from the day, please click here. To see all our images, please click www.flickr.com/photos/45097427@N02/collectionshere. If you see something you would like to purchase, please click here or on the "Ordering" link at the top of the page.  When you come to a Race Your Ride at Route 66, you never know who is going to show up. Above is Velocity channel's Garage Squad lead mechanic Joe Zolper driving his wife's, Jennifer, car. It seems Joe will be driving a car in next Saturday's D'Arcy Route 66 Classic and needed his NHRA license. After Joe's last full run, Jennie was seen celebrating, but it's not what you think. She was shouting,"He didn't beat me! I'm still the fastest in the house!" As I was walking through the pits, I saw a nostalgic alcohol 1978 Ponitiac Trans Am funny car. It had the name Kleinhoffer on the side and was named "Tremor". It was Dale and Dana Kleinhoffer with a new car. Dale is a long time car builder and up until recently Dana has been driving the red "Lane Runner" Corvette. Obviously, its a different car, however they stated,"Its still red!" Here is Dana in the "Lane Runner" Corvette.  Last week, John Tondola was showing me pictures of his nearly completeld rebuilt Chevrolet Vega dragster. Friday night marked its return to the track. It has been nearly a year and a half since John had the car out to race. He is ironing out the bugs and on the second pass, it looked really good! The Adler family was out in force with Randy driving his 1957 Chevrolet Pro Mod, Randy Jr. driving his Junior Modified and Alisa running the show. Randy Jr. was testing for next Saturday's final JDRL race of the season at the "Classic". In the Pro Mod, Randy ran a 5.91, 249 mph pass! Another family out in force was the Harris'. Dad, Dave, was driving his car "Hot Rodders", Kim was in hers and Leslie, who crews the Rocky Ausec Solid Rock, was crewing for both! Here are more images from Friday night. At the end of the evening, what is more fitting than to have a jet car show up to run. Oswego native Scotty "Heat" Holdridge was there to test the recently rebuilt Fifty Cal. About a month ago in Ohio, Scotty completed a 300 mph pass and then had a chute malfunction. He hit the end barrier at around 200 mph. Fortunately, Scotty was unhurt however the car was severely damaged. This was the first test of the car since its rebuild. Scotty started with his normal smoke, flames and pops. When he launched something happened with the jet engine and he couldn't get up to speed. Until that happened he was putting on a good show. All told, it was another great night at Route 66 Raceway! Next weekend is the D'Arcy Route 66 Classic with the JDRL final race of the season. On Sunday, it is the Rockett Brand Racing Fuel ET Bracket Series last race of the season. This race will determine who goes to the Div. 3 ET Finals at Indy in September. If you want to see some great competition, Be There!
To see all the images from Friday night, please click here. To see all our images, please click here. If you see something you would like to purchase, please click here or on the "Ordering" tab at the top of the page.  All day Saturday, there were weather warnings that were foreboding as to any racing happening on Sunday! Again, other than a very light sprinkle during JDRL time trials, the weather forecasters were wrong. As a precaution, it was decided that there would only be one Time Trial instead of the customary two. In the Time Trials, two racers blew motors. The first was Joe Malfeo in his Nova and the other on the start line, a red C-10 truck. Because it was in the O'Reilly lane, I wasn't able to get a picture, so I'm not sure who drives it. Joe's motor let go as he crossed the finish line. He stated he had been a little worried about the motor because of tuning problems earlier in the year. Fortunately, Joe had a motor diaper that caught most of the oil, preventing a major spill. Here is the last launch with that motor.  After the clean for the second blown motor at the start line, the Time Trial went pretty smoothly. After the Rockett Brand Racing Fuel ET Bracket Series cars completed their time trial, it was time for the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Junior Drag Racing League cars to hit the track. There are two classes in the JDRL. The first is the Junior Modified's, usually driven by the older kids and are a little faster and the Junior Sportsman class for the younger kids and are a little slower. To run, all the kids must go through a program to be licensed by NHRA. For the Route 66 JDRL racers, this was their Big Money race of the season with $500 going to the Modified winner and $200 to the Sportsman winner. I want to thank the following sponsors for their support of the Route 66 JDRL program. Today’s #1 Qualifier was sponsored by Route 66 Food N Fuel Today's Modified and Sportsman Classes are sponsored by the following: Ingalls Park Athletic Club Practice Tree Nationals Winning Colors Powder and Header Coating Crash Champions Collision Repair Team Airy’s Inc. Steve Speiss Farms Allied Landscaping John Romo/Joliet Area Community Hospice Remax 1st Service In addition, the Route 66 JDRL Program collected and donated $300 for the Joliet Area Community Hospice. In the time trials, Zack Manaseri cut a perfect light, .000, to claim the #1 Qualifier position and it was Cooper Hamelen's .004 light for the Sportsman class. At the conclusion of the Time trials, the racing started in earnest with the first round eliminations. The JDRL eliminations were up next. The first Eliminations final to be contested was High School with Julie Nettles against Connor Lawson. Julie got the win and with the win maintained her season points lead. Next up was Junior Sportsman. It was Cooper Hamelen taking the win when Ruby Zolper redlighted. This was followed by the Pro Bike final and it was Tom Ewig returning to the Winner's Circle by defeating Jonathan Vickers. From here to the end of the event, it was rapid fire racing of finals. First was Junior Modifieds, where Tori Trench defeated Zach Manaseri. This was Tori's first win at Route 66 in her new car. Also this was Tori's second win in a row over Zach as they had recently raced into the finals at US 41. Spoiler Alert: There is a rumor, that a 2015 Miller dragster may be up for sale. Watch out guys Tori's coming for you! Following Junior Modifieds, it was the Sportsman class. Jack Larsen's Underdog got the win over Tony Lyons when Tony redlighted. Next up was Super Pro, where it was Mike Murray vs Kenny King in the dragsters. I was really looking forward to this race. However, during his burnout, something broke in Kenny's transmission giving the win to Mike. A win is a win, no matter how you get it. The last final of the day was Pro, where it was Warren Strum defeating Mike Heden. This was Warren's first win at Route 66 since 2014. Warren has been racing at different tracks, but is happy to be back at 66. He stated that it is a beautiful facility and with all the video and pictures it is a fun place to win. For a day that many were predicting would be rained on, it was a spectacular day of racing. Congratulations to all our winners. See you next Friday for Race Your Ride #2 make-up. And don't forget the upcoming Route 66 Classic on Saturday, August 19th followed on Sunday by the last ET Bracket race of the season.
To see all of Sunday's action, please click here. To see all our images, please click here. If you see something you would like to order, please click here or on the "Ordering" tab at the top of the page.  It had been two weeks since I had been to a racetrack and to say I was a little antsy would be an understatement. Friday, was the O'Reilly Auto Parts, Race Your Ride at Route 66. On the drive to the track, the weather looked a little iffy, but as I arrived at the track the weather cleared. Within a few minutes the clouds returned with a light mist. And just as quickly the clouds blew through and it was a beautiful night for racing! The car count was normal with some really nice nostalgic dragsters. Above is Bob King's 1956 Chevrolet Gasser that was built on the Velocity TV show, Garage Squad. Bob stated that the experience of working with the Garage Squad was one of the best times of his life. He stated, "I already won the lottery!" In addition to Bob's gasser, Rocky Ausec had the "Solid Rock", One Evil Mach 1, on track with a run of over 190 mph and ET of 7.15. I believe that is a record for the "Solid Rock". Bob Malloy brought the Beedy & Malloy Nitro powered front end dragster driven by Dave Brown. In its second pass of the evening it went over 200 mph.  Bill Anderson had his Nostalgic Chevy Camaro Funny Car on track with some impressive passes. And there was Mike Taylor with his Nostalgic front engine slingshot dragster.  Our NHRA Summit Racing JDRL racers were out testing for Sunday's race. A cute story from the night, was when I saw the Churchill Motorsports Junior Modified War Wagon approach the line. This car is normally driven by Bobby Churchill. Then I saw the second Churchill War Wagon approaching. I was confused. I looked down at the driver of the first War Wagon and realized it was Ruby Zolper. Ruby is a Junior Sportsman driver. I then talked to her dad, Joe Zolper and he explained that Bobby's birthday gift to Ruby, was driving his Junior Modified car. Happy Birthday, Ruby!  In addition to the above, there were street cars and dragsters of all types. Here is sample of the rest. |
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