PRE-STAGE
Coming into the final night, here’s how the points battles stood.
Mike Pearson held a nine-point lead in Top ET (Box) over former track champion Brent Ritter with Greg Meuth 28 points back. Jamie Longoria Jr. and Mike Atkinson rounded out the top five.
In Mod ET (No Box), Corey Weeks almost had the championship locked up with a 69-point lead over Chris Pearson. Billy Janousek, Alan Friedeck and Miguel Montoya completed the top five.
Rhett Floyd came into the final Sportsman race with a 19-point advantage over Jackie Hibbard. Harold Shimek, Ronald Gordner and Trenton Johnson held down the top-five positions.
The Junior Dragsters were really tight with Ty Janousek only three points ahead of Addysan Rogers and five ahead of Gracie O’Rourke. Reilly Garceau and Jordan Suckow completed the top five.
Former track champion Don Hrometz continued to lead in the Motorcycle class by a good margin over James Marlett, William Keele, J. Monaco and Randy Monte.
RACING ACTION
Typical of 2021, a number of problems forced the delay of racing. It included an electronics issue on the timing boards, a transmission fluid spill, Jerry Longoria breaking an axle, Jay Fitzgerald breaking a steering wheel and Wes Bendele losing his brakes on a burnout.
To top it off, there was a delay for a possum on the racing surface.
Once racing started, there was an action-packed program with David Bills squaring off with Kevin Little in the Top ET finals. Both left with .02x lights, but it was Bills in his 2004 Undercover Dragster getting the win when Little’s 1982 Camaro broke out on the big end.
Bills lost in the first round, then ran out M. Peil, Candace Ritter, Brandon Bass, Ryan McDonell and Brent Ritter. Little bettered Philip Pennington, Rodriguez, Peeps Pennington and D. Licata with a round 4 bye.
The finals were supposed to be father-son battle between former track champions Gene and Cole Herbold in a shorty dragster versus a door car. However, Cole got a competition bye in the finals and just had to break the beams to take the victory after splitting the payout.
Cole trailered Paul Schneider, Chris Pearson, Mike Zampese and M. Montoya. Gene eliminated Vince Hernandez, Corky Weeks (twice) and Bryan Littlefield.
Jackie Hibbard, driving a ’66 Chevy Nova, was .011 on the line in the Sportsman final and he needed every bit of it. Wendall Uhr, a longtime veteran in a 2007 Cadillac, nailed his dial-in with Hibbard getting a close win at the stripe.
Hibbard had wins over G. Alvin, R. Ewell Jr. and Shimek before a bye in the semifinals. Uhr lost to Jamie Longoria in round 1, but after his buy-back, took down Gordner, Nathan Ybarra and Curtis Garceau.
James Marlett rode his 2014 Kawasaki to an easy win in the Motorcycle finals when Curt Whitworth red-lighted. Marlett bested Keele in round 1, while Whitworth got around Hromtex.
The Junior Dragster finals featured a rematch of 7.90 cars driven by Reilly Garceau and Jayvan Johnson. Garceau got a slight .004 advantage at the start and took the win after both ran their numbers. Garceau beat Johnson in round 1, and scored a win over Addysan Rogers before a round 4 by to the finals. Johnson recovered from the opening-round loss to defeat Dawson Rogers, J. Bass and Janousek after the buy-back.
TRACK CHAMPIONS
Ritter overtook Pearson for the Top ET championship. Meuth was third with Kip Scharf moving up to a tie with Atkinson for fourth
Weeks held on for the Mod ET championship despite a charge by Cole Herbold and Montoya. Friedick held on to fourth with Pearson fifth.
Hibbard jumped past Floyd for the Sportsman title. Shimek and Gordner remained third and fourth, while John Villanueva, who also won the EV title, moved up to fifth.
With both eliminated in the same round, Janousek held off Addysan Rogers for the Junior Dragster championship. Garceau vaulted to third in the standings ahead of O’Rourke and Dawson Rogers.
Despite bike issues, Hrometz had built a large enough lead to win the Motorcycle title. Marlett, Keele, Monaco and Monte rounded out the top five.
