2004 IHRA World Nationals, Part 2
By Vic Cooke
This is the second part of Draglist’s 2004 IHRA World Nationals report, covering the action in the Pro Stock and Pro Mod divisions.
For those less familiar with IHRA’s class structure, IHRA’s Top Fuel and Alky Funny Car classes are quite similar to their NHRA counterparts, differing only in certain details.
IHRA Pro Stock represents a significant differentiation. The IHRA “Mountain Motor” Pro Stockers are limited to 815 cubic inches of engine displacement, while NHRA imposes a 500 cubic inch limit. As a result, the IHRA Pro Stockers are typically about a quarter second quicker and 10 mph faster than their NHRA cousins, yet similar with the tightly bunched fields and extremely close competition.
The weather changes between the August and October timeframes of the World Nationals particularly affected the Pro Stock cars, with the cooler October air and track temperatures resulting in stepped-up performances. In fact, the Norwalk track record was re-written several times over the course of competition.
Pro-Mod is the signature class of IHRA, evolving more than a decade ago out of the also-unique IHRA “Top Sportsman” class. Although NHRA is now offering Pro Mod competitors another venue as an “exhibition class” at selected National Events, the class is a major feature of every IHRA event and heavily oversubscribed with entries. The supercharged-alky versus unblown nitrous injected technical approaches to horsepower production that the class allows, together with the extent of body modifications permitted, make this an especially interesting and exciting class of competition.
Pro Stock:
Coming into Norwalk in August, John Montecalvo enjoyed an 85 point lead over John Nobile. Nobile narrowed that gap to only four points during the interruption of the World Finals, making for a pressure-cooker situation at the rescheduled conclusion. Neither driver was able to capitalize on the situation and extend a lead, although Nobile lasted a round longer than Montecalvo and leapfrogged him in the standings into first place. A 10 point spread still separates them going into the season-final event at Rockingham. A tight battle for the #3 thru #6 positions remains with the outcome involving Morton, Gahm, Jones and Berner being another matter for resolution at Rockingham.
Pro Mod:
The only constant between Norwalk-August and Norwalk-October in Pro Mod was Mike Janis’ comfortable lead in the points standing for the season Championship. He was able to “clinch” at Norwalk by removing the mathematical possibility of Harold Martin overtaking him. The “hot” car over the interruption of the Worldfinals was Rick DiStefano’s, with Rick vaulting from sixth place to third place between Norwalk-August and Norwalk-October. Making it as far as the semi-finals at Norwalk he advanced to second place with a 13-point over Martin going into the Rockingham race. Quain Stott regained fourth place and a two round cushion in the standings at Norwalk.
PRO MOD PHOTO REVUE:
We begin with the action in the Pro Mod class:
Quain Stott only qualified a distant #14 during the August session, with a 6.457/223.73 best. Oh but the importance of just getting qualified! Come raceday in October, air and track conditions and the tune-up on the car put Stott in the thick of things with performances in the 6.20’s!
Brother Mitch Stott didn’t fare much better in qualifying, finding himself at #12 as qualifying closed with a 6.377/224.36 best attempt. Although Mitch improved a full tenth in the first round of eliminations, his 6.27 wasn’t enough to deal with Mike Janis’ 6.24, and that’s as far as Mitch went.
Side by side here, both Mike Lockwood (near lane) and David Roemer qualified for the race at the #8 and #15 positions respectively. Lockwood turned a 6.34 and Roemer a 6.52 in accomplishing that. Both lost in the first round, however.
Another example of qualifying far below his potential was the eventual winner, Pat Moore, who only mustered a best of 6.346/222.44 in qualifying for the #9 position going into eliminations.
Nobody knew this would be Fred Hahn’s last race before announcing his retirement, but the Pro Mod veteran ended his memorable career by qualifying #7 with a 6.329/228.15 in the August heat. He had to lift when the car went into violent tire shake in his Round 1 encounter against Carl Speiring.
Mike Janis came into Norwalk in August leading the Championship Points battle by a comfortable margin and qualified at #5 for eliminations with a respectable 6.317/225.41.
Janis’ closest competitor in the points chase was Harold Martin, who qualified one ahead of Janis for the World Nationals at #4 with a nice 6.282/227.15 pass.
Shannon Jenkins again demonstrated the competitiveness of his nitrous-injected racer against the supercharged cars by taking the #1 qualifying spot in August with a fine 6.249/226.92.
The first pair up for the opening round of eliminations in October was Rick DiStefano facing David Roemer. DiStefano had qualified at #2 with a 6.269/227.46, while Roemer was in the #15 stop as mentioned previously. DiStefano’s run clearly announced that conditions were much better for Pro Mod racing than they were back in August, as he reeled off a 6.193/230.29 in easily dispatching Roemer. These numbers would stand as the best performance of the event for a Pro Mod car and new Norwalk track records.
Although Mike Janis cut a .03 better light than Mitch Stott off the line in their first round encounter, Stott had already pulled ahead by the tree. Janis had the top end though, and drove around Stott to score a 6.242/6.279 win and advancement to the second round.
The closest drag race in the first round of Pro Mod was this one between Quain Stott (far lane) and Al Billes. Billes took an .032/.053 starting line advantage and coupled it to a strong 6.303/226.92 run. Stott was just quick enough with a 6.274/229.43 to beat Billes to the finish line, but with a margin of less than .01 at the top end.
In Round 2 of eliminations, Rick DiStefano singled when Speiring had difficulties starting, Pat Moore defeated Shannon Jenkins, and Quain Stott took a holeshot win over Steve Vick. Mike Janis (far lane) faced off against Harold Martin and had little trouble beating him when Martin had his hands full trying to keep the car straight on the run. The win clinched the 2004 Pro Mod Season Championship for Janis on the spot.
The semi-final round in Pro Mod pitted Mike Janis against Pat Moore. Janis shook and crossed the center line, disqualifying himself and handing the victory to Moore. The other contest, shown above, saw Quain Stott face off against Rick DiStefano. It was another very, very close drag race won on a hole shot, with Quain Stotts .050 reaction time with a 6.210 just edging DiStefano’s .069 reaction time with a 6.199.
The Pro Mod finalists came to the line at 10:45 pm, with Quain Stott having the lane choice and selecting the left lane. Pat Moore was quicker on the lights, however, with a .016 jump on Stott, and coupled it with a quicker 6.310/6.358 to take the win.
PRO STOCK PHOTO REVUE:
The last of our phot reviews deals with the Pro Stack action at Norwalk:
The surprise top qualifier in Pro Stock was Rob Mansfield (near lane), running a 6.552/212.53 to snatch the #1 spot from the usual cast of characters associated with the top starting positions. At the time, Mansfield’s performance represented a new track record at Norwalk. Mansfield’s good fortune ended right there, however, as equipment failure (a broken driveshaft) stopped him cold in the first round of eliminations.
Qualifying right behind Mansfield with a 6.560/211.63 was Brian Gahm, seen here racing with Pete Berner. Berner won the annual “Sunoco Pro Stock Shootout” for the past season’s top qualifiers, a prestigious sub-event conducted within the framework of the World Nationals, so both racers were obviously among the most favored as eliminations began.
At the opposite end of the qualifying list in the #16 position was Ron Miller. Miller faced Rob Mansfield in the first round when Mansfield experienced the driveshaft failure, and this was just the beginning of a streak of good fortune for Miller where “gifts” from opponents would see him go all the way to the finals! Once again, the importance of “just qualifying” was proven.
Steve Speiss qualified sixth with a 6.570/211.39. He would go all the way to the semi-finals in eliminations before falling to Mike Bell.
Brian Gahm raced against Dwayne Rice in the first round and dealt Rice a 6.548/6.628 defeat. Gahm’s improved performance over his qualifying time was an early indicator that the Pro Stocks liked the October conditions much better.
With the closeness of the contest between John Motecalvo and and John Nobile for the Season Championship in Pro Stock, many eyes were on these two racers. Montecalvo had out out-qualified Nobile for this event, taking the #4 spot with a 6.562. Nobile (seen here) started from #8 based on his best of 6.584 in qualifying.
The biggest upset in the first round of eliminations came when Tony Gillig (near lane) soundly defeated Montecalvo (far lane) with a 6.512/6.578 drubbing. Gillig set a new Norwalk e.t. record for Pro Stocks on this run, further indicating just how different conditions were in October compared to the August qualifying sessions. With Nobile
winning his first round matchup, Montecalvo’s loss meant the points lead was now Nobile’s!
Nobile blew a golden opportunity to extend his newfound lead over Montecalvo in the points race when he redlit against Miller in Round 2. Another gift for Miller, and the Championship standings between Nobile/Montecalvo would stay as up-for-grabs as it had been.
Another big race in the second round was the matchup between Pete Berner and Tony Gillig. This would be the quickest Pro Stock race of the event, with Gillig running a 6.475/214.62 to win and Berner a 6.490/214.76 in losing. Gillig’s new track e.t. record of the previous round was rewritten, and Berner now holds the speed record.
In the third round Steve Speiss would waste a great 6.482 pass with a slow .106 reaction time, allowing Bell’s .003/6.520 to prevail and advance Bell to the final. In the other race, Miller got his third gift of the evening when Tony Gillig encountered severe tire shake and had to lift. Miller’s incredible string of luck ran out in the final round, however, as Mike Bell (near lane) ran a 6.525 212.59 while Miller fought tire shake of his own to a 10.023. It was Bell’s first win of the season.
