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This past weekend a handful of our members attended the world famous Haltech World Cup Finals at MIR. This is the largest Import vs Domestic race on the planet.
The 3rd and final race for the Rancho Transaxles I/GAS class was in attedance at the V-Dub Drag Fest at Numidia Dragway on September 28th. This yearly event is promoted by Misty and Dennis Miller of the V-Dub Store. The event also donates a majority of the proceeds to the Austism Awareness program. We want to thank Misty and Dennis for putting together such a wonderful program to not only give us drag racers a place to race but to also help out the Autism Community.
Coming into our final race of the season Bruce Ridgeway was sitting at the #1 spot after a win at Mason Dixon back in August. Unfortunately for Bruce he suffered a transmission failure during the qualifying sessions and was unable to finish the race. This opened up the field to many racers to not only chase down the championship but to also go for the win at Numidia and get on the yearly shirt as well.
After Round 1 we saw some of our regulars advancing such as Gene Ulrich (last years winner), Eric Hengstenberger, Michael Hall, Eric Hellmuth, Dennis Miller and part time racer Mike Axalaris.
In Round 2 the winners were Michael Hall, Gene Ulrich, Eric Hellmuth and Eric Hengstenberger. The semi finals paired Gene Ulrich against Eric Hengstenberger with Gene taking the win and Eric Hellmuth against Michael Hall and Eric taking the win. The final round was a rematch from the 2018 race where Gene Ulrich took the win. However this year redemption was on Eric Hellmuths side as he took the win with a 7.57 on a 7.52 dial in. Gene fell off with a 7.50 on a 7.36 dial in.
Thank you again to Sam at Rancho Transaxles for their 2019 sponsorship. And congratulations again to Eric and his family on taking the win at Numidia.
Our final Island Dub A/GAS Points race of the season brought us back to Atco Dragway in New Jersey. It was sunny with 85 degree temps and 9 cars showed up to compete for the purse and championship. Heading into the final race Stephen Hawes was just one point ahead of last year's champion Ricardo Tolay. In order for Stephen to win the championship he would need to qualify #1, win the race and Ricardo would have to be eliminated by Round #2. It was a large hurdle to overcome but he was trying to accomplish it none the less.
After Q1 Ricard was sitting on top of the field with a 5.77 at a blistering 134mph. Austin Johnson III was #2 with a 6.16 and Stephen Hawes missed 3rd gear and posted a 6.21. In Q2 Stephen fixed his shifting issues and posted a 5.682 @ 127mph to take the #1 spot away from Ricardo. Once the ladder was posted Stephen had a bye run into Round 1 and Ricardo had to face off against Orlando Millan. Unfortunately Orlando was having injector issues and couldn't make the call and Ricardo had the broke bye run and in Round #2 he had a competition bye which gave him the championship for the 2019 Season. Congratulations to Ricardo and his entire crew for winning the championship 2 years in a row.