TOPMA: Dallas Raceway, September 2009

Text by Celeste Smith ~ Photo by Chris Graves

Well unfortunately mother nature wasn't a drag racing fan for Friday night at Kennedale, but she did let us race on Saturday at Dallas Raceway in Crandall, Texas, and 20 Pro Mod teams came from all around to compete. After 2 rounds of qualifying, here's how everything unfolded at the Concrete Palace.

#1 Ken Thomas - 3.976 at 183 mph
#2 Wes Johnston - 4.040 at 182 mph
#3 Frankie Taylor - 4.106 at 181 mph
#4 Thomas Myers - 4.151 at 180 mph
#5 Perry Dunn Racing - 4.186 at 176 mph
#6 Gaylen Smith - 4.191 at 160 mph
#7 Doug Riesterer - 4.223 at 176 mph
#8 Steve Wiley - 4.289 at 178 mph
#9 Jackie Deaver - 4.294 at 167 mph
#10 Shawn Jones - 4.352 at 166 mph (First time racing with us! Welcome New Mexico!!!)
#11 Barry Wade - 4.691 at 154 mph
#12 John Sheffield - 4.766 at 156 mph
#13 Ronnie Niswanger - 4.803 at 131 mph (Welcome Back Ronnie)
#14 Michelle Wilson - 5.336 at 108 mph
#15 Clayton Pool- 5.798 at 77 mph
#16 Nick Williams - 6.730 at 91 mph
#17 HT Wilson - 7.376 at 90 mph
#18 Gene Hector - 7.980 at 60 mph
#19 Steve Wheeler - 9.361 at 45 mph

First Round:

Ken Thomas (W) 4.007 at 181 mph (.024 RT)
Steve Wiley (RU) 4.169 at 182 mph (.018 RT)

Both cars were on a nice run. Wiley made a test lap earlier in the day and ran a personal best of 4.02 but could not repeat it when it counted.

Thomas Myers (W) 4.042 at 183 mph (.141 RT)
Jeremy Brown (Perry Dunn Racing) (RU) 4.137 at 175 mph (-.030 Red light)

Again, both cars on a nice run but Jeremy Brown left a little too soon.

Frankie Taylor (W) 3.809 at 195 mph (.285 RT)
Gaylen Smith (RU) No Time

After Gaylen did his burn out he left a trail of fuel that was evaporating almost as quickly as it hit the track but the fitting had broke off going to the fuel pump and it was pumping out into a large puddle under the car so Brandon wisely shut him off. Meanwhile, Frankie reset the ET record with that 3.80 run. Gaylen still has the speed record with 201 mph from earlier in the year.

Wes Johnston (W) 3.914 at 187 mph (.020 RT)
Doug Riesterer (RU) 6.208 at 80 mph (.113 RT)

After talking with Doug later in the night, he said the track was hooking so good that he had a hard time getting any wheel speed. Wes meant business as he chopped the tree down and then had a great run on top of that.

Semi Finals:

Ken Thomas (W) 4.025 at 178 mph (.090 RT)
Thomas Myers (RU) No time

Thomas Myers rolled thru the beam and therefore got no time. Ken Thomas on another consistent run captures the automatic win.

Wes Johnston (W) 4.841 at 112 mph (.067 RT)
Frankie Taylor (RU) 5.277 at 92 mph (.071 RT)

I didn't see this run but it doesn't look pretty on paper and I bet it looked ugly in person too. I overheard Paul talking later in the evening and said he was trying something different (it didn't work Paul, throw that idea out! LOL!)

Final round:

Ken Thomas (W) 3.984 at 179 mph (.058 RT)
Wes Johnston (RU) 4.018 at 170 mph (.032 RT)

Wes had the light but Ken was able to overcome the holeshot and grab the win. Congratulations to Ken Thomas and the LenMar/Thomas Motorsports team for your win and to Wes Johnston and Hanning Racing for you runner-up finish as well.