Funny Car Chaos at Amarillo

The second Funny Car Chaos event of 2018 was held at historic Amarillo Dragway on the High Plains of the Texas Panhandle. Seventeen funny cars made the tow from six different states to race at the Chris Graves-promoted event. This was the first funny car race at Amarillo in almost 30 years. The first day of the event proved brutal to the racers and spectators alike with the mercury hitting 107 along with 40 MPH winds to boot. Racers wisely stayed in the pits and waited until sundown to try the track out in qualifying. The air was said to be at 7,800 feet, not to mention the track being sandblasted by winds and by 100-plus degree temps.

Ken Singleton, fresh off of his victory at the first Funny Car Chaos at Mo-Kan, made the best run on Friday night with a good 4.18. The High Risk team has made a good transfer into funny car racing. The Little City Cuda of Chris Morel ran a 4.31 for the number two spot. The rest of the cars struggled with the track with troubled runs on the tricky surface.

The third session on Saturday was held under better conditions with lower temps. The field tightened up with Singelton staying on top of the A field with Andy Mears landing on the bump.

A Field
4.186 149.44 Ken Singelton
4.317 169.69 Chris Morel
4.349 152.03 Mike Newkirk
4.809 142.02 Chris Cunningham
4.890 142.18 Robert Ballew
4.910 143.85 Lyle Greenberg
4.993 141.27 Ray Stringer
4.996 137.41 Andy Mears

B Field
5.014 169.16 Nick Poloson
5.063 101.74 Charles Ware
5.127 130.19 Larry Bradford
5.491 101.55 Dave Gallegos
5.647 137.26 Tom Furches
5.776 125.55 Mike Buchanan
5.841 136 17 Ray Stringer
5.859 111.79 Robert Slaughter

A Field

OFAA racer Ken Singelton mastered the surface of Amarillo Dragway at Funny Car Chaos. Singelton qualified number one and set low E.T. of 4.01 in the semis. The blown alcohol “High Risk” Monte Carlo backed with a Lencodrive proved to be the best combo for adverse conditions.

In his first race with the “Cone Hunter” Corvette was Lyle Greenberg. The former alcohol racer struggled in qualifying landing in the sixth spot. Greenberg got the combo together with a 4.31, 4.26, and a 4.14 to garner the runner-up spot.

Mike Newkirk made his return to funny car racing in the Newkirk Racing. Mike showed the crowd he had not forgotten how to drive the funny car winning the burnout contest at Amarillo. Newkirk ran 4.30’s to get to the semi-finals, falling to Lyle Greenberg.

Chris Cunningham made a great showing in the transformer “Still Crazy” Daytona. Cunningham ran 4.80 for the fourth spot and took down rival Andy Mears in the first round. In the semis, Cunningham fell gallantly to Singelton.

The metalflake green “Little City Cuda” from Nevada made the trip to Texas. Morel qualified number two with the 4.31 on Friday night. On Saturday, Chris Morel fell to Lyle Greenberg when Morel had troubles getting down the track.

The low-buck team of the Ballews brought the “Ballew Thunder” Nova from Oklahoma. Jordan Ballew drove the iron block Chevy into the A field but fell to the 4.03 of Ken Singelton in the first round.

New Mexico racer brought two funny cars to Funny Car Chaos to race. The “Wayne’s World” Mustang and the “Blown Centless” Cutlass. The “Wayne’s World” Mustang made the A field with Chevy power. Stringer lost to Newkirk in the first round.

Mazda dealer Andy Mears came from nearby Lubbock to race at Funny Car Chaos with his stunning “Dragon Slayer” 57 Chevrolet. The Chevy-powered car fell with an improving high four-run to rival Chris Cunningham in the first round.

B Field

Fuel Altered racer Nick Poloson drove Gary Doak’s “Bucket List” Avenger to the B Field winners circle. In the team’s first real race with the Avenger, they tamed the nitro-powered machine to get down the track with mid-fours. Polson took down Ray Stringer in the final.

Ray Stringer made it to the B Finals in his nitro Chevy-powered “Blown Centless” Cutlass. Stringer took a single when his first-round opponent Larry Bradford broke, defeated the “Hombre” of Mike Buchanan, and lost to Poloson in the B finals.

Lt. Robert Slaughter had troubles all weekend in Amarillo with the “Smokey Bear” Daytona. The one-of-a-kind funny car ended up number sixteen in the field. Slaughter got a solo run when Dave Gallegos could not run. The Bear lost to Polson in the B Semis.

Mike Buchanan made it to the B Semis in the “Hombre” Vega at Funny Car Chaos. Buchanan struggled to get down the track like the others and also had transmission issues.

Hometown racer just could not catch a break in the beautiful “Juggling Rubbies” Plymouth Horizon. Ware ran a best of 5.06 to land in the B field. Ware redlighted in the first round to Mke Buchanan.

Funny car newcomer Larry Bradford showed up at Funny Car Chaos with a Dodge Challenger body mounted over a 23T body to make the race. The San Antonio-based team ran a 5.127 130.19 with the Hemi-powered “American Dream”. The team broke on the burnout in the first round.

The “Made in America” Firebird came down from Colorado to race Funny Car Chaos. The team struggled in qualifying and fell in the first round of the B field to Poloson. Funches later came back to make a 4.80 test run.

The “Nitro Clown” Camaro of Dave Gallegos did not have a great weekend at Amarillo. The team car struggled to run 5.49 Friday night and broke on its burnout in the last qualifying round.

Steve Northrop made his debut in his “Pop Bang Boom” Mustang II B/FC at Funny Car Chaos in Amarillo. The New Mexico-based team made shakedown runs all weekend with the Arias-powered Ford.

In wrapping up, the Funny Car Chaos event was successful in terms of the fans and racers. The race went off without a hitch despite the weather under the direction of Chris and Tara Graves, along with Bubba and Letha Corzine. The next Funny Car Chaos event will be held in Havana, Illinois.