ICEMAN COOLS OFF THE
COMPETITION WITH BACK-TO-BACK WINS IN TOPEKA
Shannon Jenkins takes out Pilcher
in rain-delayed Martin final, sweeps Topeka
event with No. 1 qualifying effort and the win;
K.A. Balooshi earns semi-final round finish.
(7-6-2009)
TOPEKA, Kansas – The landscape
of Pro Nitrous officially changed Friday afternoon
when Shannon “Iceman” Jenkins made
his triumphant return to the National Guard
American Drag Racing League winner circle not
once, but twice over the course of the July
4th holiday weekend in Topeka, Kansas.
In a feat of drag racing brilliance rarely
seen in the National Guard ADRL, home of the
world’s quickest, fastest and most volatile
doorslammers, “Iceman” made a string
of seven consecutive 3-second runs in his David
Janes Race Cars-built Pro Nitrous ’68
Camaro. The incredible drive to victory included
a 3.918-second, 190.43mph blast in the quarterfinal
round on Saturday afternoon, followed by a 3.919-second,
190.08mph in the semis before a final round
meeting with Pat Stoken, who unfortunately was
unable to fire his racecar, awarding Jenkins
with a solo-run to the title under the lights
in Topeka.
The action, though, actually began a day prior
to the elimination rounds of the National Guard
ADRL Hardee’s Independence Drags III as
the final rounds of the rain shortened Summer
Drags from Martin, Michigan were to be completed
during Friday’s qualifying.
Having already been 3.880/192.66 in the opening
round up in Michigan, Jenkins was an odds-on
favorite to take the win, but would have to
make his way through Ed Burnley and current
Pro Nitrous points leader Jim Halsey to get
a spot in the money round.
Considered
to be one of the biggest matchups this year,
Jenkins and Halsey met in the semifinal round
of the Martin rain-out on Friday; the race was
somewhat uneventful, though, as Jenkins blasted
down the 1/8th mile to the tune of 3.932-seconds
at 189.90mph while Halsey was forced to lift
early. Jenkins would then have to meet fellow
Alabama-native Johnny Pilcher in the final.
Pilcher snagged a thousandth-of-a-second advantage
on the starting line, but couldn’t hold
off the big SPEEDTECH Nitrous/Reher-Morrison
Racing Engines horsepower – powering Jenkins
to the win with a 3.926/190.03mph.
“It really doesn’t get any better
than this,” said Jenkins, from the winner’s
circle at Heartland Park Topeka. “We’ve
been working hard for this for a long time,
and it’s all paid off here in Topeka –
getting two wins in one weekend.”
Jenkins continued, “The car worked perfectly
all weekend, the guys did their job and we did
exactly what we set out to do with this Al-Anabi/Speedtech
team. Having the confidence going into race
day that Friday’s race gave us, being
able to run within a hundredth of our last run
– that makes a lot of difference. I hate
that happened to Pat [Stoken]; you always like
to race for these things, but sometimes it’s
even better to be lucky. This was just one of
those times.”
Doha, Qatar’s K.A. Balooshi, driving
the Tim McAmis-built Al-Anabi Racing ’68
Camaro also in Pro Nitrous, bowed out in the
quarterfinals of the Martin make-up race in
a rather unusual race against Pat Stoken. The
two cars left almost identically, Balooshi with
a two-thousandths-of-a-second advantage, but
an error with the timing system prevented any
believable numbers from being posted on the
scoreboards, only a win-light, unfortunately,
in Stoken’s lane.
Balooshi,
who qualified second with a 3.942/189.02mph
blast for the Independence Drags III, met Ed
Burnley in the opening round and quickly dismissed
him with an impressive 3.93/189.44mph pass and
received a competition single in the quarterfinals
before meeting Pat Stoken in the semis. The
two cars left together, but Balooshi’s
Al-Anabi hot rod got out of shape in the right
lane, which had been marginal all weekend, and
was forced to lift – sending Stoken on
to the final round.
The Al-Anabi Racing Pro Nitrous team couldn’t
have asked for much better of a weekend, but
will still continue their efforts to stage an
all Al-Anabi Racing final at the upcoming ADRL
NATIONALGUARD.com U.S. Drags II in Dinwiddie,
Virginia at Virginia Motorsports Park.
Visit Al Anabi AWESOME Motorsports Sponsors:
www.speedtechnitrous.com , www.redlineoil.com,
www.msdignition.com, www.braswell.com, www.vistafood.com,
www.westernbeef.com, www.aeromotiveinc.com,
www.rehermorrison.com, www. spaghettimenders.com
Photos courtesy of Roger Richards
