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AHRA's Twilight Years, Part Three
by David Hapgood
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| Wyatt Radke didn't run Spokane often, but he left an impression in 2000 by qualifying #1 and advancing to the final round. |
It has been said that all good things must come to an end, and not far into the present decade the Spokane scene began to exhibit the symptoms of decline. NHRA headline acts had been absent for several years but now even the number of 'mom and pop' fuel entries were down. Still, the event had energy for several last gasps: 2002 was a prime year for the alcohol fields, with seventeen entries in both alky funny car and alky dragster, led by Mike Cofini's blistering 5.558 (an impressive feat considering that SRP lacked a cement launch pad). Yet, from 2003 on, the downward slide in the alky fields seemed irreversible as well. Oddly enough, the TF and FC fields staged a brief resurgence in 2003 and 2004, the strongest in years. It might well have been a calculated political move in the chess game foreshadowing the eventual downfall of SRP's 'old guard,' but I'll leave the speculating to others.
By 2004 the SRP management team had split into opposing camps, and some of their best and brightest jumped ship. Court proceedings over the track's future ensued. My annual pilgrimage to Spokane came to a screeching halt in 2004 when, after four years of providing the only national coverage of the event, my press credentials were denied for no particularly good reason -- at least as far as I could determine. Having seen firsthand how the track was now operating, it was no surprise to me that the AHRA name lasted just one more year.
The 'World Finals' was a mighty event, having endured for thirty editions (or forty, depending on who is counting), but now it had vanished, almost overnight.
Here is the final installment of photographs. Thanks again to Nolan Hibbard and SRP track Photographer Jim Burke for permission to use their images, as well as Greg Harvey for his shot of the Omlin and Alexander crew.
David Hapgood
hapgood_d@hotmail.com
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| Bobby Baldwin was one of the marquee performers in the later years of AHRA Spokane, with TF wins in 1998 and 1999. He always qualified near the top of the field. This photo is from the 2001 event, where he scored a runner up finish. Tragically, he would die several weeks later after suffering a brain aneurysm. |
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| A few AHRA souvenirs. |
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| The beginning of the end: Dan Horan's Mustang morph at the 2003 World Finals. Horan's was one of two nostalgia FCs at this event. More would follow. |
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| No frills in this pit area: Ron Smith and crew, well after midnight in 2003. Note the tiny awning. Smith financed his racing habit with an engineering job at Boeing. He won TF at Spokane in 1987, 1994, and 1997, and was runner up in 2002. |
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| Arley Langlo and Jay Roach's 'Titan Xpress' was always a shining star at the AHRA World Finals. They ran the occasional NHRA event, but by the late '90s Spokane was their main venue. Their car was possibly the most entertaining (and frightening) top fueler I ever spent time around, but I always admired their spirit of innovation. |
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| Mike Grekul disposes of Don Sosenka in this first round battle from 2001. Grekul was running a big block Chevy and went to the final round. |
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| A photograph that shows the proximity of the fans to the racing surface at Spokane. This is round one action from the 2000 event, with Australia's Peter Russo leading Canada's Charlie McIntosh. It was undoubtedly the only time these two drivers ever met. |
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| David Grubnic's career was on thin ice when car owner John Mitchell pulled into the 2002 World Finals. NHRA had just severely penalized Mitchell for a few too many oildowns and now he was going home. He had stopped off at Spokane along the way to make a few last bucks -- it was the end of the line for his TF operation. After losing in the semifinals, Grubnic seemed a bit lost. I did my best to reassure him that everything was going to work out, but he had a classic case of 'thousand mile stare.' |
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| Marc Sievers in the 'Impulse!' Firebird, mid nineties. Photo by Jim Burke. |
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| Joe Clement's fuel FC in 2003. Clement was a veteran driver from the 1970s making a comeback after a long hiatus. "I only wish I'd returned to the sport sooner," he told me. Sadly, he was killed in a highway accident six months later. |
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| Jerry Toliver was the headline act in FC at the 1999 World Finals. He qualified #1 and won the event. |
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| What a beautiful afternoon! This is Spokane's TF pit area, with a gravel bed (left side of photo) as backdrop. The lineup here goes (left to right) Arley Langlo, Rob Passey, Bobby Baldwin, and Chris Karamesines. |
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| Vinny Arcadi arrived on the AHRA Spokane scene in 2002 and returned for four consecutive events. He was runner up in 2003. |
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| Terry Haddock's final round burnout at the 2002 World Finals. |
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| Here's the Dean Alexander/Gary Omlin team at the very last AHRA World Finals in 2005, where they qualified #1. The next year -- at the re-named 'Nitro Extravaganza' they ran a 4.98 to become the first (and only) four second pass in the history of Spokane -- quite a feat considering the track's high altitude and all-asphalt starting line pad. |
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| One of the track's scrap yards. |
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| You couldn't have a 'World Finals' without Jack Wyatt. A friend of mine had attended the race in the mid nineties and I asked him about the experience. "I was not impressed," he replied, "Jack Wyatt came by us at half track and blew up in a huge fireball, right in our faces. Then it took them almost two hours to clean the oil off the track." I just looked at him and laughed. "You saw Jack Wyatt on fire and you're complaining???" |
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| This is the 1999 TF final round, with Bobby Baldwin (far lane) defeating Craig Smith, 5.44 to 5.63. Note the spectator in the lower left corner of the photo, 'cheering' the fuelers on with a plastic cup of beer. |
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| Final Shot: Neil Hansen in the near lane. He was essentially the in-house jet car, and others came to race him at the 'World Finals.' AHRA Spokane was a blast. Even the oildowns. I already miss it. |
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