Race Updates

NHRA / D1GP at Las Vegas

July 14-15, 2006

LAS VEGAS, NV - "At least it's a dry heat." At temperatures hovering around 120 degrees F, one stops caring about the humidity levels and starts worrying more about hydration levels. Drinking several gallons of water over the Friday and Saturday NHRA Sport Compact/D1GP event in Las Vegas, NV was not uncommon; neither was the appearance of team members going from pit-to-pit asking if anyone had any ice that hadn't melted yet, more for their intercoolers than their beverages.

The high temperatures (even for the middle of the desert) did not keep away the spectators, show cars, drag and drift teams. The seventh event of the NHRA season was peppered with many firsts. Kenny Tran showed off, but did not compete in, his brand spankin' new Garrett-powered Scion tC Hot Rod car. (Check out the photos section for some shots of this great-looking race car!) Abel Ibarra made his return to the Pro RWD class with his familiar and much-missed Mazda RX8. Abel is such a great guy and it was awesome to see him back in the pits and on the track! Matt Scranton became the winningest driver in NHRA Sport Compact history with his 15th Wally. However, the biggest first of the weekend was the combination of drifting with drag racing at an event of this size.

The NHRA has teamed up with the D1GP to present two days of racing jam-packed with events that had the hoards of spectators traveling constantly back-and-forth between the grandstands to watch monster horsepower speed down the 1320 and the impromptu drift course in the middle of the parking lot to see some of America and Japan's finest automotive control artists go slideways. Friday and Saturday nights were filled with events for everyone.

The Hot Rod class has emerged as a points battle that is among the fiercest in the series. The NHRA rules governing turbo size and weight has penalized the Garrett-powered Ecotecs that dominated last year's fight for Wallys. Turbo By Garrett driver Ron Lummus sits atop the ladder again this year, though only by 46 points. He was looking to extend that lead in Vegas, but would have a set of strong competitors to go through in order to do it. Stephane "Frenchy" Beauregard took top qualifying honors while Ron would hold second position. The top four qualifiers would knock out the bottom four in the first round, including Stephanie Eggum's win over Bandimere winner Chuck Seitsinger's Garrett-powered Civic.

Round two would see Ron cut a near-perfect light (0.009 sec.) to defeat Mike Crawford's Dodge SRT4 utilizing Garrett turbos provided through distributor Precision Turbo & Engine. Eggum's Honda Civic has become more consistent and quicker at each race. Knocking out top qualifier Beauregard placed her one step closer to her second Wally, but she still had to get past Lummus' formidable Pontiac Sunfire. Eggum held the advantage going into the finals with a nearly 0.2 seconds quicker ET than the Turbo By Garrett/Bothwell team. The Garrett team knew that they would need to squeeze every ounce of power out of the car in order to win. The race was over as soon as it began. Eggum's Honda broke about a foot past the start beam and Lummus was posting a time of 8.418 sec. at 173.34 mph as the Honda was pushed off the track. Congratulations to Ron as he takes home another Wally for the Turbo By Garrett team!

The Modified class had a 10-car field taking to the lanes with several familiar faces taking their RWD monsters down the track. Garrett-sponsored drivers Ken Scheepers and Justin Humphreys qualified fifth and sixth respectively. Scheepers' bright yellow Mazda RX8 would be packing up early after an uncharacteristic first round defeat. A serious problem with the car caused a slow pass down the lane and difficulty turning off the end of the track. Hopefully everything will be sorted out by Moroso. Humphreys' Lexus GS300 was sporting brand new custom turbos and out-powered Mike Lowe's Mazda RX7 in the first round. With fine tuning still taking place, Humphreys' would fall to eventual winner and long-time friend Paul Efantis in the next round. Humphreys says that there is still more power left in the setup that they hope to tap into before the next event.

A good turnout for Pro FWD has been standard this season. Bothwell Motorsports and Garrett-sponsored driver Ron Townsend had an unfortunate beginning to the Saturday eliminations. After fighting hard to tweak the engine until after dawn earlier in the morning, a problem with the brakes kept the car rolling straight through the beams, resulting in a red-light in round one. Marty Ladwig posted good times all weekend in his Lucas Oil/Turbo By Garrett Cobalt running consistently in the mid-eights. Garrett-sponsored driver Ed Bergenholtz pushed his Mazda 6 to the second qualifying position and raced around competitors into the final round. Something must have happened between the second and third round because he was unable to show for the finals and forfeited the win to Jason Hunt.

Pro RWD was sizzling in the Nevada heat. There was nothing surprising about Brad Personett and Matt Scranton holding down the top two spots. These two have fought it out all season. Abel Ibarra was a surprise, swinging into the third spot in his first race of the season just ahead of Gary White's Titan Celica. All four drivers were powered by Garrett turbochargers, but only the top two had times in the mid 6's. The final round seemed decided before the cars lined up for the first pass of Saturday night. Matt Scranton's Ride Revolution/Turbo By Garrett Toyota Solara disposed of Abel's much improved RX8 by a one second margin. However, for everyone thinking it would be a Scranton/Personett final, huge upset! Personett uncharacteristically red lighted by 0.009 seconds, to give teammate White the pass into the finals. Scranton lined up against White. White got the holeshot, but was unable to control his bucking Celica and had to pull up as Scranton flew by around the 660 ft mark. Scranton would take home his record 15th win with another sub 7-second pass!

Across the parking lot, the D1GP pros filled the night air with the smell of burning rubber and tire smoke. Some of Japan's finest made the trip to compete with America's best drifters. Garrett-sponsored driver Tanner Foust drew huge raves from the full-house crowd as he had great speed and angle in the qualifying sessions in his AEM 350Z, resulting in the top seed for competition on Saturday. His first round of eliminations would prove problematic, however, and he would be knocked of the tree. The final round came down to two of Japan's finest, Nobushige Kumakubo and Toshiki Yoshioka. Though Kumakubo held the advantage in nearly every category including power, size of his team, budget and reputation, it would be Yoshioka who would take his naturally aspirated Toyota Trueno to the winner's circle.

Congratulations to all of the night's winners! Thanks go out to the many, many, many people who came out and braved the heat to watch some of the best racers in the world! This was surely one of the best events put on by both the NHRA Sport Compact and D1GP.