The Last Ride...at least for 2016

Friday night was the last Race Your Ride of the 2016 season. The Route 66 season went by so quickly! Being that this was the last night, I had no expectations and was pleasantly surprised, when the first thing I saw, was the Chi-Town Hustler. As the gates opened, it continued to get better with arrival of Brian Beck's rig, Steve Flounders, with a car I didn't even know he had, the Top Alcohol Dragster of Marina Anderson and the nostalgic funny car Roadshow of Bill Anderson.

More and more cars were pouring through the gates, and thoughts were that this was going to be a very good night of racing. Unfortunately,  the night was marred by two crashes, one of which was very serious. Dave and Maria Kocher have been long time Route 66 racers with their Ford Maverick "Plane Insane".

Maria was driving tonight, when she lost control of the car hitting the Toyota side wall, careening across the track striking the O'Reilly side wall nearly head-on, coming back across the track striking the Toyota wall again and finally coming to a stop. Maria was assisted from the car and was seen walking around. She was transported to the hospital and at this time I do not have an update on her condition.

​There were numerous starts and stops for broken cars and oil downs. Just as things were getting better a red and black Cheverolet  Camaro Z28  brushed the wall on the Toyota side bringing the action to a halt again. The driver seemed to be okay, but was attended to by emergency personnel. Unfortunately, I was unable to ascertain his name.

​After this incident, the racing continued with several more broken cars with starts and stops. As the night wore on, things improved and the racing was non-stop. Because of the two crashes and this being the last Race Your Ride of the season, it was decided to extend the night past the advertised 9:00 pm stop.

​On the positive side of the night, TJ Trench made some licensing runs in the his father's, Todd, dragster. TJ is a graduate of the Junior Dragsters and this year drove a Camaro in Super Pro of the ET Bracket Series at 66. In his second pass he cut a perfect .000 light. Not bad for the first time in the car.

We had the triple turbo diesel dragster Hypermax tonight also. While it broke on the starting line both times it attempted to run, it put on a great, smoky show.

Here are some more images from the night's action.

While we could have done without the crashes, it was beautiful night for racing. I want to wish my best to Maria Kocher and the other driver who crashed tonight. If someone knows his name, please contact me and I will correct this post.. Thank you.

​To see all the images from Friday night's event, please click here.

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