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Butherus Wins First Texas Blown Fuel Association Event
Text & Photos by Max Cackle Photos
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| Rich Witko |
The North Star Dragway Witko Nationals on June 5th in Denton, Texas, saw the first complete Texas Blown Fuel Association (TBFA) event enter the books. The TBFA joined the Outlaw Fuel Altereds in headlining a great show. The TBFA teams were highly anticipating their return to the strip as ten cars came to battle in the second event of the season.
With a full field and a capacity crowd at North Star Dragway the TBFA guys and gals were called to the lanes for first session of qualifying. Six teams made their TBFA debut at this event including Eddie Taylor's "Faded Memories" FED, Wes Breiton's "Bad Oman" altered, Dustin Johnson's "Fair Warning" altered, Tom Butherus' "Rude Rat" altered, Rick Grindstaff's "Quarterflash" FED and Rich Witko's blown funny car.
With a track temperature of 123 degrees and air temp at 97 degrees there was plenty of heat as the first pair fired up. L.H. Newlin in the "Cantankerous" altered clicked off a 4.79 at 147 mph with Tom Butherus along side at 5.17 in the "Rude Rat." Eighth mile burnouts by Rich Witko and Leonard Ament followed the first pair. Witko hiked the front end and clicked off a wild 4.92 at 116 after a few pedal jobs while Ament wheeled the "Black Magic" 1948 fiat to a 4.84. Dustin Johnson drove the beautiful "Fair Warning" machine to a 5.11 opening lap with Wes Breiton clicking off a 5.00 in the opposing lane.
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| LH Newlin |
TBFA President Rick Grindstaff lined up with Paul Harris in an exciting pair. Harris left and drifted to the centerline, corrected it, then Grindstaff drifted to the center as they neared the stripe. Both drivers did their best to control their mounts, as Grindstaff went 5.10 at 135 mph to Harris' 5.61. Chris Stouffer blasted to a stout 4.68 at 154 mph in the Stouffer & Meador "Defiant" front engine dragster alongside Eddie Taylor's "Faded Memories" dragster that tripped the clocks with a strong 4.71 at 148 mph although suffering some engine damage.
The second session brought some improved racing conditions to the TBFA teams, all searching for that magic 4.65 elapsed time. Wes Breiton stepped up to a 4.85 at 146 mph and Dustin Johnson improved to a 5.01 at 138 mph. Rich Witko clicked off a 4.61 at 152 mph, a career best pass, while Leonard Ament improved to a 4.81 at 142 mph. Paul Harris blasted to a 4.63 at 151 mph with Rick Grindstaff clicking off another 5.10. Chris Stouffer nailed down the number one qualifying spot with another 4.68 and claimed the JamWorks Chassis Low Qualifier bonus. Everyone advanced to the all run first round, except Eddie Taylor, whose engine damage was unfortunately too severe to make the call. When determining the qualifying order, which is used for points distribution only, a time under 4.65 is disregarded if the driver's other time trial was not under 4.65, which is the case for Rich Witko and Paul Harris. First round is an all run field with pairings and lane choice designated by "luck of the draw."
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| Rick Grindstaff |
Final Qualifying Order:
1) Chris Stouffer (Stephenville, Texas) - 4.68 @ 154
2) Eddie Taylor (Arlington, Texas) - 4.71 @ 148
3) L.H. Newlin (Tolar, Texas) - 4.79 @ 147
4) Leonard Ament (Denton, Texas) - 4.81 @ 142
5) Wes Breiton (Greenville, Texas) - 4.85 @ 146
6) Rich Witko (Denton, Texas) - 4.92 @ 116
7) Dustin Johnson (Davis, Oklahoma) - 5.01 @ 138
8) Rick Grindstaff (Dickinson, Texas) - 5.10 @ 137
9) Tom Butherus (Goddard, Kansas) - 5.17 @ 138
10) Paul Harris (Lewisville, Texas) - 5.61 @ 107
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| Wes Breiton |
Rick Grindstaff and Leonard Ament opened eliminations in a dragster vs. altered battle. Ament wheeled the "Black Magic" to the win with a 4.76 at 143 mph to Grindstaff's 5.16 at 139 mph. Rich Witko's funny car came out next against Dustin Johnson's "Fair Warning" altered. Witko laid down a 4.60 at 144 mph which broke him out by five thou, giving Johnson the win with a 4.99 at 139 mph. Wes Breiton and Tom Butherus squared off in a wild race. Breiton drifted towards the centerline as he neared the stripe and ended up tagging the finish line cone on a nice 4.79 at 145 mph pass. Tom Butherus was right alongside, taking the win in the "Rude Rat" with a 4.85 at 138 mph.
Paul Harris unexpectedly had battery problems firing up for first round, which gave Chris Stouffer the automatic win. Stouffer had put down two straight 4.68 passes in qualifying and blasted to a magical 4.65 at 156 mph to ensure a spot in the semi-final. The luck of the draw prior to first round gave L.H. Newlin the bye run in the nine car first round. Newlin needed to run better than Dustin Johnson's 4.99 to advance to the semi-final, as one of the four quickest winners. Newlin launched hard, blipped the throttle once and laid down a 5.20 at 141 mph to take the round win, but didn't advance to the semis.
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| Eddie Taylor |
First Round Results:
(W) Leonard Ament (4.76 @ 143 mph) vs. (L) Rick Grindstaff (5.17 @ 139 mph)
(W) Dustin Johnson (4.99 @ 139mph) vs. (L) Rich Witko (4.60 @ 144 mph)
(W) Tom Butherus (4.85 @ 138 mph) vs. (L) Wes Breiton (4.79 @ 145 mph)(Centerline foul)
(W) Chris Stouffer (4.65 @ 156 mph) vs. (L) Paul Harris (Broke)
(W) L.H. Newlin (5.20 @ 141 mph) vs. (L) Bye Run
The semi-finals paired Tom Butherus against Leonard Ament and Chris Stouffer versus Dustin Johnson. The "Rude Rat" team of Tom and Phyllis Butherus made the tow from Goddard, Kansas, to race with the TBFA series. It was sure worth the trip, as Butherus took the win in an extremely close race with a 4.75 at 148 mph to Ament's 4.78 at 142 mph. Chris Stouffer was the man to beat on paper as he lined up with Dustin Johnson. Stouffer's streak of high 4.60s continued as he advanced with a 4.67 @ 146 mph over Dustin Johnson's 4.98 at 139 mph.
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| Leonard Ament |
Semi-Final Results:
(W) Tom Butherus (4.75 at 148 mph) vs. (L) Leonard Ament (4.78 at 142 mph)
(W) Chris Stouffer (4.67 at 146 mph) vs. (L) Dustin Johnson (4.98 at 139 mph)
With the track temperature still in the low 90s as the clock neared midnight, the TBFA finalists pulled up behind the Outlaw Fuel Altered final, which was won by Nick Poloson over Donny McSwain. Butherus and Stouffer did their burnouts and crept into the beams. They left the line together and Stouffer steadily crept ahead, tripping the clocks with a 4.61 at 148 mph, a little too quick, giving the win to Butherus who went 4.95 at 144 mph to take the win!
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| Chris Stouffer |
Final Round Results:
(W) Tom Butherus (4.95 at 144 mph) vs. (L) Chris Stouffer (4.61 at 148 mph)
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| Dustin Johnson |
Butherus took home the first official TBFA event win in history back home to Kansas and the first complete race is in the books. Rich Witko, owner of North Star Dragway and TBFA racer, shared his thoughts on the Witko Nationals.
"Wow, this was the best race I've ever participated in and I had more fun that I ever have racing. It was an honor to race with the Texas Blown Fuel Association -- great people and great racers. I want to thank Rick Grindstaff for his efforts in putting together such an innovative, fun, and fresh group to race with. I also want to thank all the fans for their enthusiastic support. I must give credit to Dennis Piranio and Leonard Ament for their help getting my funny car to go fast! I also want to thank Chris Graves for his hard work and awesome coverage of the TBFA. The Witko Nationals was a great success and I look forward to more," said Witko.
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| Tom Butherus vs. Leonard Ament |
Rick Grindstaff shared his thoughts both as a racer and president of TBFA, "I had the unique perspective from two sides of our first complete race. First, from the promotion side, our competitors moved through the qualification and race procedures flawlessly. The cars went down side by side in both the burnouts and eliminations. We had no lapses in the action. Great Job! As a competitor, I gotta pick it up, a bunch!"
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| Event winner, Tom Butherus |
With the runner-up finish, Chris Stouffer took over the points lead with Leonard Ament and L.H. Newlin rounding out the top three. The next event for the Texas Blown Fuel Association is July 17th at Ben Bruce Raceway in Evadale, Texas. The TBFA opened their season in Evadale in early March, but the event was called due to un-related oil downs and unfavorable track conditions. The TBFA will have another chance to put on a show for some of the most dedicated fans in the state of Texas. Don't miss it! For more information on the TBFA, please visit www.texasblownfuel.com
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Max Cackle Photography Best Burnout - Rich Witko
JamWorks Chassis Low Qualifier Bonus - Chris Stouffer
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