The 30th running of the Northwest VW Bug Run presented by the Rose City Volksters saw massive spectator counts, shiny car shows, a wide variety of swap meet items, and thrilling drag racing competition.
Through it all, Dave Bench emerged victorious as the Cascade Kombis King of the Hill champion! His ’56 Bug defeated the ’67 Karmann Ghia of Jimmy Bowes to claim victory. Bench and Bowes were winners in the Sportsman and Pro category respectively, and Mike Canon claimed the win in the Run Tuff category.
The Sportsman category featured a pair of Woodburn residents in the final round of competition with Dave Bench and James Mott competing for top prize. Bench went through Jeff Hall, Thomas Major, Dave Wright, and a single to reach the final round of competition. With a bug he has owned for decades, Bench had lady luck on his side today when Mott went down to the finish line and broke out by .011, meaning that it was Dave Bench who would be the winner in the Sportsman category.
For the Pro category, Bowes’ dynamic Karmann Ghia was downing opponents left and right with a combination of killer runs and dynamic reaction times. Aaron Crosley, Josh Jensen, a single, and Bernd Arndt are the racers who were defeated by Bowes. In the finals, Bowes had the reaction time advantage over opponent Rocky Jennings, and he took that into the winner’s circle when he ran a 12.776 on his 12.60 dial-in.
The Run Tuff category, which pits first round losers against each other in a ‘second chance’ style of eliminations featured Mike Canon and Jerry Caddell in the finals. Off the starting line, Caddell had the reaction time advantage. Unfortunately, it was all for naught as a turbo malfunction resulted in a loss of power for the Puyallup racer, meaning that Canon streaked to victory, running a 15.091 on his 14.60 dial-in.
Final round results are listed below, in order of driver name, hometown, (vehicle make/model), [reaction time], elapsed time, miles per hour, and (dial-in).
Pro
W: Jimmy Bowes, Auburn WA (’67 Karmann Ghia) [.088] 12.776, 100.13 (12.60 dial).
R/U: Rocky Jennings, Walla Walla WA (’62 Bug) [.151] 12.133, 105.73 (11.96 dial).
Semi’s: Bernd Arndt, Tigard OR; Don Fritsche, Portland OR.
Sportsman
W: Dave Bench, Woodburn OR (’56 Bug) [.207] 14.828, 87.05 (14.68 dial).
R/U: James Mott, Woodburn OR (’93 Corrado) [.161] 13.389, 99.59 (14.40 dial).
Semi’s: Eric McKune, Sherwood OR.
Run Tuff
W: Mike Canon, Salem OR (’72 Beetle) [.291] 15.091, 72.41 (14.60 dial).
R/U: Jerry Caddell, Puyallup WA (’80 VW Caddy) [.223] 11.269, 134.20 (9.60 dial).
Semi’s: Justin Grow, Portland OR; Mike Foster, Medford OR.
– Travis Hilton
Share this article:
Discover more from Drag Racing List
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
