Pomona Speedway, Pomona, CA Oct 26-27

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Story and Photos By: John Choi of Modified Magazine

Fires were raging all over the Los Angeles area all weekend and there was a certain sense of crisis looking in the air. Despite this gloom, the skies covered in black smoke and ash falling to the ground like snowflakes, the spirit of the racers and the fans could not be deterred. The final NHRA Sport Compact event of the season would turn out to be a memorable one, with records being broken, cars meeting their terminal fate near the end of the 1320 and an arduous racing season coming to an end.

PRO RWD Class

In the pro RWD class, Lady Luck reached out and blessed the team from the East, while she ignored the rest of the field. Qualifying featured no less than three racecars hitting the 200 mph mark, with the dynamic duo, George Ioannou and Ara Arslanian, hitting the 206.70 mph and 204.43 mph marks, respectively. Their ETs placed them first and third on the ladder, while Stephan Papadakis squeezed himself into the 2nd in qualifying with a 6.882 ET @ 204.45 mph. Rounding out the rest of the field were Matt Scranton, Abel Ibarra, Matt Hartford, Many Cruz and Hiroshi Shiobara.

The first pairing of eliminations featured Abel Ibarra's K&N-sponsored RX-7 and Matt Scranton's Turbonetics-sponsored Celica. Ibarra's RX-7 was a little squeamish at launch and pulled hard in the wrong direction, causing a redlight thus eliminating himself before the race even began. Scranton benefited from Ibarra's mishap, taking things easy with a 7.546 ET run and getting ready for the next round. The second pairing featured Ara Arslanian's StreetGlow-sponsored Solara and Matt Hartford's Summit Racing-sponsored Cavalier. Arslanian had a slightly quicker RT and Hartford drove hard to catch up, but the Cavalier got a little loose toward the end of the run and had to lift early. Arslanian took the win with a 7.290 ET. The third pairing featured Stephan Papadakis and his AEM-sponsored Civic and Manny Cruz's Cougar. Cruz spun and shook his tires at the start, so Papadakis lifted early after the halfway point cruising to an easy win. The final pairing featured Hiroshi Shiobara and the Escort Racing 300ZX and George Ioannou's StreetGlow-sponsored Solara. Ioannou experienced the gremlins right at the start, handing over the upset to Shiobara.

The semifinals went through quickly, as Shiobara was handed the win after Scranton's Celica broke at the start. One of his twin turbos decided to call it quits for the day, and a billowing cloud of smoke emanated from his engine bay, prompting a bit of panic. In the other semi, Arslanian took the lead at the start as Papadakis shook at launch. But somewhere down the line, the Solara experienced problems and Papadakis handily took the win.

In the final, Papadakis got the holeshot and was driving away from Shiobara, whose 300ZX was experiencing mechanical problems, but something went awry with the Civic forcing it out of the groove and over the centerline. With the disqualification handed to Papadakis, the Escort Racing 300ZX took home the win.

George Ioannou takes home the season championship, while his teammate Arslanian takes home the runner-up position for 2003. Congratulations to the StreetGlow / Bullish Racing team for a fantastic season.

PRO FWD Class

Lisa Kubo laid down a new record in the Pro FWD class in qualifying to start the weekend off. With an 8.046 ET @ 185.68 mph, she would eventually back up the new record with an 8.087 ET in first round eliminations. Other qualifiers included Nelson Hoyos, who was breathing down Kubo's neck with a margin of 0.10 seconds, Ed Bergenholtz, Shaun Carlson, Chris Rado, Jarrod Silvers and Jerrold Rhodes.

Kubo and her APC Saturn Motorsports got the bye in the first round of eliminations, but still gunned it to back up her aforementioned record ET. Bergenholtz' Mazda 6 also got a bye when Silvers didn't show up for the festivities. Rhodes and his CRX showed up to staging with problems and hoped for a redlight from Hoyos' Bothwell Motorsports Cavalier, but luck wasn't on his side. Hoyos cruised to an 8.664 ET and moved easily onto the next round. The final pairing was competitive, with Carlson's Mopar SRT-4 beating out Rado's World Racing Celica.

In the semis, Kubo led the race from the start and won, with Carlson experiencing traction problems. He was forced to lift off the throttle, handing the win to Lisa who ran an 8.101 ET. In the other pairing, Bergenholtz lit up too early, handing over the victory to Hoyos.

The finals brought the event class win home for Kubo and the end of a championship season for Hoyos. Congratulations to Nelson, Bothwell Motorsports and GM Racing for a tremendous season.

MODIFIED Class

Vinny Ten rocked the hosue with a 7.871 ET in qualifying @ 173.64. The rest of the qualifying field stood in the 8s, while Joel Tanzman saved himself from being booted from the bubble with a 12.849 ET @ 138.39 mph.

First round featured Paul Efantis' Supra and Rene Franco's RX-3. The new school Supra fell behind at the start against the old school Mazda, but Franco got a little loose at the halfway mark, allowing the Supra's horsepower edge to take the win. The second pairing was a little unusual, as Ari Yallon was DQ'd after he took too much time in the burnout box, effectively giving a bye to Ray Lochhead's RX-7. Ten was supposed to take on Tanzman's Supra, but Tanzman was a no-show handing over the win. In the final pairing, Jimmy O'Connor's Supra met Jose Vidal's R-100. With a run befitting the Venom name, O'Connor bit off an 8.003 ET @ 167.53 mph, smoking Vidal's old school Mazda.

In the semis, Lochhead's Mazda had an easy time over the Venom Supra, edging out a 1.4 second margin of victory. In the other semi, Ten and Efantis definitely won the gross display of horsepower contest with fuming burnouts that blanketed the track. Eventually, Ten took the victory over Efantis with a 7.833 ET.

In the finals, the Beast from the East took the victory before Lochhead could even get his RX-7 restarted. The New York Yankees may have lost the World Series, but Vinny took home a victory for the Big Apple.

HOT ROD Class

With the season championship on the line for Marty Ladwig and his Bothwell Motorsports Pontiac Sunfire, the Hot Rod class was the most competitive of the weekend. Ladwig took top honors in the qualifying rounds with an 8.648 ET @ 167.50 mph, while Mike Crawford and his Mopar SRT-4 was a close second with an 8.764 ET @ 166.72 mph. The usual cast of players followed, all piloting Hondas or Acuras.

In the first round, Saverio Leone and Andrew Tran, both in Civics, squared off. With problems plaguing his car, Tran shut down early handing the win to Leone. Crawford met Eric Del Rosario's Integra in the second pairing, with the SRT-4 driver taking a near 2-second win. Bruce Mortensen took the win over Angela Proudfoot's Civic when Proudfoot's racecar caught on fire near the shutdown area. Angela was able to escape without injury, but the weekend was definitely something to forget for the lady racer from the East.

Ladwig moved to the second round when his pairing, Mike Laskey, redlit. Andrew Bermea and his Arospeed Civic broke at the line giving J.J. Olson's Civic the win. Kenny Tran's Quaker State Civic got out of the groove and couldn't recover in time to chase down Ricky Dela Cruz. Myles Bautista and his RevHard Civic got a second life, after Gary Gardella crashed during the qualifying rounds, and came in as an alternate against Bryan Bridges. Bautista was able to pull off the win. In the final pairing, Jojo Callos and his Castrol Syntec Integra had to work hard to catch Joe Demaree's Civic in the last 320 feet of the track, edging out the Civic by half a car length.

In the quaterfinals, Bautista gave it his all despite an ailing transmission, but Mortensen pulled out the victory. Ladwig pulled out a strong 8.780 victory over Dela Cruz, while Leone also advanced to the semis by edging out Olson. Crawford also advanced to the semis, keeping his title hopes alive.

In the semis, Ladwig continued his winning ways by edging out Mortensen, despite both cars limping to the finish. Ladwig also wrapped up the season championship with this victory. In the other semi, Leone's Civic stalled at the line and Crawford took it easy for the win.

Considering that Ladwig and Crawford have been battling each other for the championship all season long, it was only fitting that they square off for the final event victory. Crawford took the holeshot, but stopped all of a sudden and jumped out of his car, which was showing small flames under the chassis. Although it was a bittersweet victory, Ladwig cruised for the event win and the season championship. Congrats!

ALL MOTOR

The All-Motor class wrapped up the 2003 season with the holy grail of sport compact racing acquired and done with - the single digit ET. Leslie Durst qualified number one with a 10.001 ET, which Jack Sacchette next with a 10.111 ET. Eleven cars qualified with ETs in the 10-second range, while the rest of the field were in the low 11-second range. Needless to say, these times were typical of Hot Rod class cars only a few years ago. Progress made indeed!

The first round of eliminations saw Durst, Sacchette, Ken Scheepers, Bisi Ezerioha, Scott Mohler, Eric Darby, Jeremy Lookofsky and Norris Prayoonto all moving onto the next round. Although Durst failed to back up her previous best ET of 10.001, surprises were in store for the next round.

In the quarterfinals, Durst laid down the first ever single digit ET by an All Motor in the NHRA with a 9.934 ET @ 134.99 mph against Prayoonto. By the virtue of her qualifying time, the record will stand! Well, Erick Aguilar sitting with the NDRA's All-Motor record of 9.99 has to be a bit concerned. Sacchette, Mohler and Scheepers also moved onto the semis.

In the semis, Durst pulled out a 10.011 against Mohler's 10.310, giving herself a berth in the finals. Sacchette's super old school Beetle edged out Scheepers to also move into the finals.

In the finals, Sachette took a little long to launch, giving Durst the weekend's victory. Considering that all-motor is a legitimate 9-second class, it will be exciting to watch what develops in 2004.