The DragRacingOnline AA/FC Challenge presented by Hemi Parts King at Iowa’s Cedar Fall Motorsports Park was the second of seven races that make up the 2017 series. At the end of the Night of Fire race on July 15, after the last of the clutch dust and nitro fumes cleared away, the “Man O’ War” team led by owner/driver Paul Romine and tuner Mike Cavalieri got their second win of the 2017 season with a dominating effort and left the event solidly leading the national championship points race.
Several teams at Cedar Falls were making their DRO series debut for the 2017 season. Some familiar names such as Anthony Bronge in the “Iowa Punisher” ‘Vette, Bazz Young in the “Down-Under Thunder” Camaro, and Kevin Lennon’s “Shake and Bake” Mopar joined regulars John Hale, Paul Romine, Ronny Young and Fred Farndon.
Also on hand was Jon Reich driving his “Blitz Krieg” N/FC to finish the NHRA licensing program.
Hale and tuner Guy Tipton put the “One Bad Texan” Camaro at the top of the list after one round of qualifying with a 6.049 at 220.84 mph.
The second qualifying session didn’t happen until 10:30 p.m. The air temp was a cool 61 and the dew point was 59. Normally that would mean a slick, cold track but that wasn’t the case as track operator Justin Kruze sprays the entire quarter mile with traction compound and the track and temps were right for either great performances or tire-shaking shutoffs.
Any doubt about the quality of the track was shattered when the “Man O’ War” Mustang rolled into the beams, Romine stepped on the pedal and ran an astounding 5.902/247.07. That ET was just off the track ET record of 5.890 that Shawn Bowen set in 2014 but the 247.07 was fast enough to break Ronny Young’s previous track record of 246.57 mph. Romine’s Mustang went 3.906/194.30 to the eighth mile on that pass. Romine took over the top qualifying position and kept it.
He made a first-round solo run since Reich had not been able to make a full run to qualify for the field.
In their round-one matchup, Bronge took the win with a 6.420/206 over Lennon, who is still getting his car sorted out.
Hale took the measure of Farndon, who drives the ex-Shawn Bowen “Violator” now known as “Play It Loud Again,” when Farndon spun the tires. Hale’s “One Bad Texan” ran 6.092/237.25.
It was Bazz Young and Ronny Young in the third match. Ronny’s “Blue Max” with Dennis Piranio newly on as tuner, left first and turned in a shut-off 6.185/215.50 to take the win over Bazz’s out-the-back-door 6.322/227.27.
In the semifinal, Bronge was making a race of it for 330 fett, trailing by less than a tenth of a second, when his car made a hard right and he was forced to lift. That Bronge made it to the semifinals at all was remarkable. He had match races the two previous weekends and damaged so many pistons that he ran the entire Cedar Falls qualifying and race without a spare. Romine went through the lights with a 5.964/242.67 winning pass.
In the other semifinal, it was the two Texas racers. Ronny Young put a .027 holeshot on Hale but the pair were virtually side by side at the eighth, both making half-track in just 4.00 seconds. However, not far past the half-track marker Hale, like Bronge before him, had his car make a hard right move forcing him to lift. In the other lane Ronny Young drove the car to the win at 6.092/223.54 to Hale’s shut off 6.62/160.67.
That set up a classic final match-up between a couple of “lifer” nitro racers. Unfortunately, that was not to be. Young had been having minor engine problems every lap and that included the semifinals. The damage after that lap was just too severe to repair and be ready to race in 90 minutes and he reluctantly called it a day, allowing Romine to single for his second straight DRO win of the 2017 season.
Because of the late hour and concern for the track conditions at almost Midnight, track operator Justin Kruze told Romine he did not have to make the single to win. But Romine and the “Man O’ War” crew would have none of that. They thrashed to turn the Mustang around, Romine telling the track that he wanted to give the fans their money’s worth.
The Mustang pulled into the lanes just about midnight, but when car chief John “Bull” Bullard spun the starter over, the engine backfired. Despite that Romine did his burnout, staged and launched the car with number 2 and 4 cylinders dead and labored down the track to a high 6-second lap.
Ronny Young, watching from the lanes, could only wonder what might have been if he had been able to answer the call for the final.
The next event on the schedule is the DragRacingOnline.com AA/FC Challenge presented by DMPE (www.dmpeinc.com) at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Mich., on August 11-12.
