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MAGNOLIA DRAG STRIP May 29th, 2010 After another long, cold snowy Ohio winter it was finally here…..race day! Season opener for the UMTR North divisions fifth year of operations was here! Magnolia Dragstip, May 29th under beautiful blue skies with balmy breezes the excitement and anticipation were quite obvious! The stands were full and once again the racers of the UMTR did not disappoint the spectators. The track officials said they started out with 1,000 arm bands and by 4:00 pm all the arm bands were gone. There were drivers who traveled from around Ohio , Michigan , Pennsylvania and Kentucky to race. Tony King, UMTR South’s two time Quick Stick champion made the long haul from Kentucky to race at Magnolia. His trip paid off with Tony making it down to the last 3 cars. Many new faces were amongst the “regulars” There was newcomer Corey Scheel in his Nissan 300ZX to longtime super gas racer, Kurt Neighbor in his legendary Cobra Venom II Mustang. Also back behind the microphone was long time announcer for the UMTR Mark Koon, assisting Mark at the mic was Richard Breedlove, son of Director of Racing Operations, Dave Breedlove. I think there is definitely a future in this for Richard as he did a fantastic job of announcing. Time trials got underway and the crowd was excited to see wheel standing, gear grabbing old time drag racing! Long time UMTR racer Dave Wasson, had an unfortunate meeting with the guardrail during time trials, a first in UMTR North’s history. His crowd favorite 63 Chevy Impala was heavily damaged but Dave walked away unhurt. Dave vows to have the car repaired as soon as possible and will be back at the track. Some racers showed up with new combo’s, including Jason Moulton’s, Billy Glidden built power plant. Jason is the engineer for Mickey Thompson Tires one of the UMTR’s major sponsors. Team Pinto, or shall we change that to Team Toyota driver Don Scullin came with a daily driver to race after damaging his Pinto a few weeks back. All suited up in full race gear, helmet, collar, gloves etc., he was making sure to obtain those valuable race points. As we all know a championship can come down the final race, the final round as it did back in 2007 when Dave “DQ” Thompson won the championship, so those points are crucial. Even the woodland creatures were excited to see the UMTR! Tim O’Neal in his “Vegalicious” Vega looked over at the end of the track only to have a deer looking back at him! Guess it had been a long winter for everyone! There were 18 cars in Street Stick class and 40 cars in Quick Stick class, not to bad for a race that had been cancelled then rescheduled. The crowd loved it and the UMTR had two new winners in the winners circle. Street Stick winner was Justin Eggerton in his S10 pick-up, runner up was Jim Harty, who broke out with his mustang. . Quick stick runner up was Dave “DQ” Thompson in his Dairy Queen sponsored Mustang and the Winner of the Season opener for UMTR was Art Birchenough in his AMC Hornet Station Wagon. It was a great day for all just to be out and at the race track on a beautiful Saturday enjoying old time drag racing like it used to be! The next race is June 19th at Pacemakers Dragway, Mt. Vernon OH ; you can visit their website at www.pacemakersdragway.com. Hope to see all of you there! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMIT MOTORSPORTS PARK
SUNDAY OCTOBER 9th 2007 Lady Luck shined upon us at the rescheduled “Stick
Shift Sunday” at Norwalk . Frustrated racers five weeks previously
sat through an all-day rainout, and as the fall weather became more
unpredictable, it was a miracle that such a beautiful day appeared
in mid-October to finish out the 2007 UMTR North season.
The Weber racing equipment “Bounty” was collected in power shift by Bob Pavlov and Jeremy Murray in street stick. The Davis race cars “Clutch Artist” award went to
Jason Wyman in power shift with a .002 reaction time. In street
stick, it was Jeremy Murray with a .012 RT.
Congratulations to “Stick Shift Sunday” winners
Dave Thompson and Kyle Bishop !! The UMTR North awards banquet will be held on
Saturday, November 18th at the Hudson Holiday Inn. Last year, almost
200 racers, families, and friends attended to see the top 10
points-earners in PowerShift and StreetStick honored for their
accomplishments as well as receive thousands of dollars in racing
products from our contingency sponsors, Mickey Thompson Tires and
Wheels, Mr. Gasket Co., ACCEL, Mallory, Hurst Shifters and Jeg’s.
The food was great and the crowd entertaining. See you all there as
we reveal a glimpse of our exciting 2008 season !!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THOMPSON RACEWAY PARK SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 22nd 2007 3rd ANNUAL GEAR JAMMERS
BASH ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- QUAKER CITY RACEWAY
SATURDAY AUGUST 25th 2007
The weatherman was wrong once again ! With a 50%
chance of rain prediction, 47 stick shift racers gambled and won,
enjoying what turned out to be a very pleasant day of gear slamming
in front of an enthusiastic crowd, many of whom thought this race
would never take place. Yes, this race was not
originally on the UMTR North schedule. In the winter of 2006, it was announced by Quaker
City management that the track would not reopen for 2007. Many
UMTR members had considered Quaker City their "home track" of sorts
and the news came as a large disappointment to everyone who had
attended the successful stick shift race there in 2006. As luck
would have it, three things occurred to once again allow the stick
cars to beat up the Salem Ohio starting line: first, the 2007 UMTR
North schedule had included a race date of August 25th for
the Mansfield Motorsports Park dragstrip. When it became
apparent Mansfield would not be built, we had that "open date"
available to book another show. Next, new owners surfaced and made
Quaker City operational in early July. Shortly thereafter, an
agreement was reached to host a UMTR show at Quaker on 8/25 and
promotion of the race began. By August, however, the new owners had
disappeared and rumors flew that the track would once again be
closed. Finally, Clint Daley, new manager and Dan Swindell,
owner/operator of Quaker City for the last 5 years, re assumed
control of the track and offered to host the UMTR event as
planned. Let's recap the race starting with the quarterfinal round of PowerShift; Brooklyn OH's Don Scullin cut a .556 light in his Liberty shifted 4 speed Pinto wagon but gave the race to Pat Himes at the stripe by running under- 9.31 on a 9.32 dial. Larry Kortkamp's day ended early when the Battlestar Galactic" red lit against Gary Moore's incredible 65 'stang. The 67 camaro of PJ Ballog fell to the hard charging Liberty equipped Mustang of Brunswick OHs Troy Hrdlicka. In a heads up race, with both cars dialed at 9.92, Roger Blile's "Acme Chevelle Kit" ran under with a 9.91 trying to chase down the Jerico shifted 70 Mustang of Karl Mendenhall, who had a better RT and ran a 9.95. In Semifinal round action, East Sparta's Pat Himes would advance "Meticulous", his Nash 5 speed equipped 72 Camaro to the finals when Sandusky's Gary Moore would break out with a oh-so-close 9.33 on a 9.35 dial. The other pairing would be decided at the start line as Troy Hrdlicka redlight. Karl tuned up for the final round by laying down a fine 9.96 on a 9.93 dial. The spectators were treated to a classic Chevy vs Ford final. Both cars performed their burnouts on Quaker's infamous "hill" and crawled into the stage beams. Pat would have to cut a good light as Karl was on his game with RT's that never exceeded .551and had run very close to his dial all day. The Mustang dialed 9.96, the Camaro 10.23. With motors on the limit, each driver side stepped the clutch. RT advantage-Karl by .015. With each shift, the Mustang inched closer to the Camaro. At the stripe, it would be Karl taking home the cash as Pat ran under by .06 trying to avoid defeat. StreetStick: Semifinal action: West Chesterfield NH native Greg Lorsbach would bang his 66 Plymouth convertible to victory over the Neon of Sandusky OHs Jeremy Murray. Mandi Downing's 'stang would reach the finals for the first time this season as Bob Cassetty grew impatient and redlit his Camaro. Final round: Plymouth vs Ford. Would Lorsbach
prevent a Ford sweep of the event ? At the green, Mandi cut a
respectable light at .587 while Greg was uncharacteristically late.
His only chance to prevent defeat was to chase the 'stang and hope
for a big breakout. The win light flashed in Mandi's lane as the big
Plymouth was forced to breakout trying to catch up !
Congrats to Ernie Price, winner of the Yoe's
Cylinder Head Specialties "Low Qualifier" cash with a 9.55 ET in his
G Force 5 speed Baretta. The Davis Race Cars "Clutch Artist" cash went to
UMTR racer, Mike Wolfe in PowerShift with a .510 light and to Jeremy
Murray in StreetStick, with a .506 RT. The Weber Racing Equipment "Bounty" race was won
in Adam Edgington in StreetStick. No bounty was collected in
PowerShift. ****Congratulations to Jerry Dick the 2007 UMTR North StreetStick Champion !!! The next race is September 9th at Norwalk "Stick Shift Sunday" ONLY stick cars ALL DAY LONG !!!!!!! It's our LAST points race of the season and no less than nine racers have a legitimate shot at being champion in PowerShift!!! DON'T MISS THIS ONE !!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NATIONAL TRAIL RACEWAY
SATURDAY AUGUST 18th 2007 UMTR NORTH vs SOUTH STICK SHIFT WAR !!!! The race in a word ? WOW !!!! A record
breaking 94 stick shift racers from the UMTR chapters, North and
South, met in Columbus to do battle under beautiful sunny skies.
When was the last time 94 stick shift cars assembled at one track ?
Jim Layton, track manager, and his crew had the starting line
prepped to kill and boy, the stick cars LOVED it !!!
Incredible wheel stands were the order of the day, thrilling
spectators and giving them something to talk about for months. Would
the South rise again ? Would the North take home the victory flag ?
Read on... Let's jump to the 4th round in PowerShift: Great North vs South match-ups ! Dave Stehlin of Harrison OH in his red, Jerico
equipped 79 Camaro pulled a hole-shot and then ran right on his 9.78
dial to defeat Mike Wolfe of Canton OH in his Nash equipped 88
T-bird, who ran a respectable10.66 on his 10.63 dial. Next, Dave Thompson of Canton OH rammed his
Jerico powered 87 Mustang to victory over Harrison OH's Jack Detzel
in 4 speed 68 Camaro. RT was the difference as both cars ran
just .04 off their respective dials. Jack's brother Jay Detzel, driving his Nash
equipped modified production 68 Camaro, would fall to Brunswick
OH's Troy Hrdlicka, who rowed his Liberty powered 90 'Stang to a 10
flat on a 9.94 dial. Jay was closer to his 10.76 dial, running a
10.78, but was late on the tree. Randy Dingler from Dellroy OH took an easy bye in
his " Heartbreaker" 67 Chevelle. Looked like the North had the upper hand in that
round. Would the streak continue ? Semifinal round PowerShift: Dave Stehlin would advance to the finals as his
opponent, Dave Thompson drew big red. This assured a PowerShift North vs South final-
just as it should be ! In a very close drag race, Randy Dingler cut a
.015 light and ran a 11.92 on a 11.91 dial to nip Troy Hrdlicka, who
broke out, 9.93 on a 9.94 dial, trying to run down
Dingler. PowerShift final:
This would be a good one ! Two heavy hitters. Dave Stehlin would represent the South well- he had just won the Stick Shift Nationals in Cinci. Randy Dingler won the last UMTR North race at Magnolia. Dave would be the chaser, dialing in at 9.77. Randy, with a 11.91 shoe polished on his window. The cars completed their smokey burnouts and staged. Randy brought the revs up and dumped the clutch on the last yellow- RT .064. Dave readied himself, 2.2 seconds later, his lights came down. RT .002 !!! Dave had saved the best for last !! Randy was gonna have a tough go of it as both cars had varied little from their dial all day. He had to hope for a missed gear or breakout by Stehlin to bring home the PowerShift victory for the North. Dave charged on, closing the gap. Suddenly,
Randy's Chevelle slowed at the 1000ft mark- he missed 5th gear!
Dave blew past for the hard earned South victory !!! Why are stick shift cars so much fun to watch ?
Because the race ain't over till it's over !!!! StreetStick: Would the North manage a split ? or
would the South win by a landslide ? 4th round action: Stoneboro PA's Jerry Dick, current SS North
points leader killed the tree in his 72 Maverick Toploader with a
.002 RT in his win over the 88 Mustang of Batavia OH's John
Fay. A heads-up race between Rick Davis of Morrow OH
in his 92 'stang and Don Hayward of West Chester OH and his 302ci
pony. Both dialed in at 12.82. Both ran a 12.87. Davis took the
stripe based on his .013 RT. Milford OH's Kathy Powell took an easy bye in her
86 Mustang to advance to the semi's. Semifinals: In a double breakout race, Jerry Dick would
triumph over Kathy Powell's 5 speed Tremec to assure a North
car in the StreetStick final. Rick Davis tuned up for the
final with a .009RT and 12.79 on a 12.80 dial. Final round: All ford final. Jerry Dick would not
be denied as he rowed his Maverick past the slowing Mustang of Rick
Davis. The first UMTR North vs South race ended in a
draw ! that's the perfect setup for next year ! Congrats to Don Scullin, winner of the Yoe's
Cylinder Head Specialties "Low Qualifier" cash with a 9.17 ET in his
Liberty 4 speed 79 Pinto wagon. The Davis Race Cars "Clutch Artist" cash went to
UMTR South racer, Kris Rachford in PowerShift with a PERFECT .000
light and to UMTR North member Jerry Dick in StreetStick, who cut a
.001green. The Weber Racing Equipment "Bounty" race was won
in PowerShift when Dave Thompson treed and beat Kris Rachford. In
StreetStick, Jerry Dick picked up the bounty money against Kathy
Powell. A special thanks to www.xraceparts.com, who put up 100.00 for any stick shift racer that could cut a perfect light AND defeat their opponent. Kris Rachford did just that to collect the prize. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MAGNOLIA
DRAGSTRIP SATURDAY JULY 28th 2007 The weather curse reared it's ugly head for the
UMTR North stick shift event at Magnolia dragstrip. 47 brave
UMTR racers traveled several hours through rain storms only to
discover that it had not rained at the track ! Under threatening
skies, those racers thrilled the largest crowd at Magnolia in
atleast 5 years (according to track personnel). Yes, the gear banger
circus was in town and inspite of a mid-day shower, die-hard stick
shift fans were treated to quite a show ! The best time trial run in
recent memory has to go to Mike and Ernie Price, father and son,
whose small blocks had a combined 20,000+ rpms screaming
on the line ! Everyone was grinning and holding their ears
! A special thanks goes out the Magnolia regulars,
who helped get the race back on track after the rain storm. Without
their efforts, the race would have been a certain rainout. OK, let's
get to the action ! PowerShift quarterfinals: Ken Dvorak's
"Buckwheat" 67 Fairlane advanced when Pat Himes' "Meticulous" 72
Camaro drew a redlight. Dellroy OH's Randy Dingler in his
"Heartbreaker" 67 Chevelle got the win after newcomer Tom Davis
broke the clutch linkage of his 69 Camaro in the water box. Larry
Kortkamp's "Battlestar Galactic" 64 galaxie wagon bested Dave
Baker's "Mini Mopar" 68 Dart by .012 ET. Roger Blile, in his 69
"ACME Chevelle Kit" pounded down the 1/8 mile to tune up for the
semi's to the delight of the crowd. PowerShift semi-finals: This round would see two
"clutch artists" at their best, but only one would emerge
victorious. Larry Kortkamp would cut a PERFECT .500 light only to be
chased down and caught by Ken Dvorak, who punched out a .502 light.
Damn, that's good racin'. Randy Dingler would then cut a .508
light for a win as his opponent, Roger Blile grew impatient and
redlit. PowerShift final:
Randy and Ken were both knocking down the tree all day. Randy dialed in at 7.69, Ken a much quicker 6.12. The cars completed their burnouts and staged. This was no time to be sleeping at the line. The tree began it's count down. Randy dumped the clutch- RT .563- not bad. Ken patiently waited his turn. Green ! The Fairlane launched off with a .514 RT. The chase began. Who dialed correctly ? The finish was gonna be close. Ken blew past the Chevelle at the stripe - winner? NO !! Break out !! Dingler takes the win light !!! StreetStick semifinals: Stoneboro PA's Jerry
Dick banged his top-loader equipped red 72 Maverick to a 7.86 on a
7.85 dial to advance to the finals with a victory over Jack
Hailstone's 68 Camaro. Justin Eggerton in his 95 S10 pickup
treed Roseann Powell with a .005 RT to earn his first trip to the
finals. StreetStick final: Chevy vs Ford
! Justin Eggerton broke out by .05 handing the win to Jerry
Dick, who laid down a nice .015 RT for the class winning
run. Congrats to Don Scullin, winner of the Yoe's
Nursuries/Yoe's Cylinder Head Specialties "Low Qualifier" cash with
a 6.09 ET in his G Force 4 speed 79 Pinto wagon. The Davis Race Cars "Clutch Artist" award went to
Larry Kortkamp in PowerShift with a PERFECT .000 light and to Jerry
Dick in StreetStick, who cut a .014 green. The Weber Racing Equipment "Bounty" race was won
in PowerShift only when Randy Dingler treed and beat Dave thompson
to take home the cash. Next race is the "UMTR North vs South STICK SHIFT
WAR" at National Trail Raceway, Columbus OH
Saturday August 18th. Gates open at 800am, TT at 900, show at
3pm. This will be a great event with 100+ stick cars
expected as well as 2000+ spectators. See you There
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DRAGWAY 42 SATURDAY JULY
14th 2007 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PACEMAKERS
DRAGWAY SATURDAY JUNE 23rd 2007 The UMTR North stick shift show traveled to
Mt Vernon OH for the second race of the season. Warm, sunny
skies greeted the 57 racers, many of whom had never been
to the all concrete 1/8 mile track before. They were treated
to unsurpassed hospitality by the Pacemaker staff and thrilled
spectators, who in turn were treated to a wild. high winding stick
shift race that exceeded all expectations. An interesting note about
the spectators at Pacemakers - admission is ordinarily free !
In spite of the fact that the UMTR race carried an admission fee of
5.00, the attendance was 10 times the normal spectator count
according to the track manager, Chris Stilwell ! Every race
has an unexpected twist. this week it would involve a father's
day gift. Read on... PowerShift round 3 : 16 year old Miles Reese of
Canal Fulton OH would advance his 85 Mustang to the next round by
trailering Brecksville OH's Mike Loboda. Keep an eye on that young
gun. The immaculate 57 Chevy convertible of Poland OH's Bob
Pavlov shutdown Jackson MI's Jason Wyman in his 5 speed Mustang. The
beautiful 56 Chevy of Lorain OH's Jim Edwards fell to Larry
Kortkamp's 64 Galaxie wagon "Battlestar Galactic" inspite of the
fact that Jim slammed his Jerico to a 8.05 on a 8.04 dial in.
Reaction time was the deciding factor. The "Bionic Bird" of Frank
Jessick jr's would advance when N. Ridgeville OH's Anthony
Canitano encounterd engine trouble in his 78 Cutlass. The "Acme
Chevelle Kit" of Roger Blile would get the bye but that didn't stop
him from pounding gears all the way through the
traps. PowerShift quarterfinals: Bob Pavlov continued
his march, getting by the redlighting Roger Blile, as would Frank
Jessick jr, who would benefit from Miles Reese' big red, as the
young gun was abit to fast on the trigger. Larry Kortkamp tuned
up for the next round by rowing his 5 speed Nash wagon wide open to
the delight of the crowd. PowerShift semi-finals: This round it would be
Larry's turn to draw the red bulb as Frank's 68 Firebird would
advance.The Lenco-equipped 57 Chevy of Bob Pavlov would take
an easy bye. PowerShift final: A father-son PowerShift final
that was not supposed to happen at all ! Yes, some of you may
not realize that Frank is Bob's step-father. Now here's the
twist- Two weeks ago Bob told me that due to the high cost of
fuel, that he and Frank would not be making the haul to Pacemakers.
A week later, Bob called me to retract that statement. He told me he had bought Frank the gas to tow
down to Pacemakers as a father's day gift and the two would indeed
be there. What a gift that turned out to be ! Both Lenco-equipped cars did there signature
funny car burnouts and rolled into the lights. The revs came up as
the tree came down. Frank would have to cut a close ligtht as Bob
was nailing the tree all day was the faster car. Frank dumped the
clutch- no redlight- this one was gonna have to be decided at the
finishline. Bob followed suit with a excellent RT of .526. That
would be an advantage that the Firebird could not overcome, as Bob
would cross the stripe first and bring home the bacon ! StreetStick semifinals: The 68 Nova of Heath OH's
Ken Lemmon took out the 95 Camaro of Avon Lake OH's Ron Brown.
Stoneboro PA's Jerry Dick took a bye and tuned up for the final by
rowing his top-loader 4 speed to a 7.77 on a 7.73 dial. StreetStick final: Heads up final ! Chevy
vs Ford ! Ken dialed at 7.75, Jerry at 7.73. Both cars at the line, tached up for the launch.
Yellow, Yellow, Red, Green ! Ken dumped the clutch too soon, drawing the red
eye. Unfazed, Jerry laid down a full pass- another 7.77 on the 7.73
dial ! Congrats to Al Covey, who grabbed the Yoe's
Nursuries/Yoe's Cylinder Head Specialties "Low Qualifier" cash with
a 5.78 ET in his 5 speed 68 Mustang. The Davis Race Cars "Clutch
Artist" awards went to Larry Kortkamp in PowerShift with a .048
light and to Mark Maag in StreetStick, who cut a .130 green.
The Weber Racing Equipment "Bounty" race was won in StreetStick only
when Brad Urban treed Bob Cassetty to take home the
cash. Next race is the "INDEPENDENCE EXPLOSION" at
Thompson Raceway Park Tuesday July 3rd. Gates open at NOON, TT at
130, show at 7pm. This is thompson's biggest event of the year
and often draws 1000+ spectators. Includes fireworks show, the
"Supercharger Warriors", 2 Alcohol funny Cars and a "Wheelie"
contest. See you There !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DRAGWAY 42 SUNDAY JUNE 10th 2007
In StreetStick semifinal action, Bob Cassetty of
Alliance OH rowed his 67 Camaro 8.18 on a 8.17 dial to put the 98
Neon of Norwalk OH's Jeremy Murray on the trailer. Jeremy's RT
was understandably abit slow as he had traveled through the night up
from Cinci, having won UMTR South Streetstick class there
! Grafton's Brad Urban advanced his Neon to the final by downing Norwalk OH's Chad Pocock. StreetStick finals: Earlier it was mentioned that the M/T trailer would play a deciding role in the StreetStick finals. And now for the rest of the story... Bob Cassetty had just purchased 2 M/T slicks at the trailer during time trials. Because of a shock adjustment mishap, soon one of the new slicks had a sidewall tear. Usually that ends the day for a racer. Thankfully, Ben Anderson, of the M/T race track support team, had a extra slick of the same size. Cassetty took a gamble and bought a third tire which the M/T trailer mounted and balanced right then and there. That gamble paid off for Cassetty, who scored a triple play by winning not only the Weber Racing Equipment sponsored "Bounty Race" and the Davis Race Cars sponsored "Clutch Artist" award, but also defeated Brad for the StreetStick win !!! Congrats also goes to Bob Pavlov, who picked up the Yoe's Nurseries/ Yoe's Cylinder Head Specialties "Low Qualifier" award as he drove his beautiful 57 Chevy Convertible to a 5.78 ET and to Bill Baumgartner, who picked up the Davis Race Cars "Clutch Artist" cash in PowerShift by cutting a .0002 light ! Next race is a new track on the UMTR North schedule; Pacemakers Dragway Saturday June 23rd. It's all concrete 1/8 and has a reputation for a real "hookin" track Be There !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 55 persistant UMTR racers from both north and
south chapters were rewarded with a beautiful, brisk sunny fall day
in NE Ohio. Thoughts of the two previous rainouts for the Bash were
quickly forgotten. This non-points race was for bragging
rights only- all champions had already been crowned. Jim Curtis,
Thompson track manager was also having his annual charity race for
Rainbow Babies and Children's hospital that day and the many
spectators in attendance were treated to some great stick shift
racing ! Low qualifier in Powershift was once again Bob
Pavlov in his gorgeous 57 Chevy convertible, who laid down a
blistering 9.14 at 148. In Streetstick, low qualifier honors went
that dedicated UMTR racer from West Chesterfield NH, Greg Lorsbach,
tripping the lights in his 66 Satellite convertible with a 11.58 at
117mph. Quarter finalist action in Powershift saw only 6
of 8 cars make the call to staging as both Larry Altmeyer and Gary
Russell were no-shows. The first pairing was Mike Price and his crowd-pleasing mouse-motored 69 Camaro
from Navarre OH and low qualifier Bob Pavlov from Poland OH. Price,
who had just survived the wildest run of the night would not be
denied as he cut a super .513 light and Pavlov just couldn't hold
the big block back, resulting in a redlight. Next, Mike Wolfe, in
his deceptively stock appearing 5 speed Nash T-bird took on Atwater
OH's Ken Dvorak in his "Buckwheat" Fairlane. Mike treed Ken but
couldn't run the number as the hard charging Jerico equipped Ford
ran a 9.41 on a 9.35 dial to put Wolfe on the trailer. Last race of
the round featured Sandusky OH's Gary Moore in his awesome Liberty 5
speed 65 Mustang against newly crowned UMTR South Powershift champ
Larry Dickey, who towed in from Hartford City IN. Larry left first
in his G-force 5-speed Camaro and Gary tried to cut the light abit
too close and drew big red in the process. Semi-finals paired up Dvorak's 67 Fairlane
against Price's 69 Camaro. Ken got a freebie as Price, who had been
knocking down the tree all night, left too early and ended his march
for the money. Ken tuned up for the final with a .531 light and 9.36
on a 9.37 dial. Dickey let it all hang out with a 11.85 on a 11.87
during bye run. The final would be a good one. Dvorak, appearing
in his first UMTR final had been running close to his dial all
night. Dickey, who is no stranger to the final round, having been
winner twice and r/u once during the regular season alsohad his
Camaro dialed in. At stake was not just the $ 1000 first prize as
well as a free HURST shifter gift certificate from Mr. Gasket.
Once again a UMTR South car was in the final. Would Larry claim
another Bash title for the south or would Ken reclaim the title for
the north ? The cool night air had chased many of the
spectators home and also made the track tricky. Who had dialed there
car correctly ? Both cars jumped in the bleach box and heated
the tires. Every spectator remaining at the track were at the fences
as the Ford and Chevy staged. Larry left first, cutting a
respectable .557. Ken followed shortly after but with a
uncharacteristically late .626. His only hope was to chase that
Camaro down and hope for a breakout or finishline mistake by his
opponent. Well, that's just what he got as he rowed his way to a
fantastic 9.355 on a 9.35 dial. Larry had to back pedal to avoid a breakout and
could just watch helplessly as the big ford blew past for the win
! In Streetstick, semifinal action featured
Brookpark OH's Art Birchenough in his 4speed 55 Chevy, defeated by
newcomer Jim Harty in his 5speed 97 'Stang. Jerry Dick, #2 man
in UMTR North Streetstick points took on long haul king Greg
Lorsbach. Jerry ran a 12.11 on a 12.10 dial to advance to the final.
The final would be all Ford and almost headsup.
Dick dialed at 12.10, Harty at 12.20. Jerry would collect that
guaranteed $ 300 and HURST shifter gift certificate by rowing his
top-loader equipped 72 Maverick to the winners circle. Congratulations Ken Dvorak and Jerry Dick
! Many UMTR North racers are planning on getting
one last stick shift race in by attending the 4th Annual Stick shift
Nationals at Edgewater Raceway in Cinci on October 21st. Let's all
go down and have a great time before the snow flies ! Thanks again to all the UMTR racers and UMTR fans
for making this first North season such a incredible success !
Next year will be even better ! See you at the banquet November 18th.
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