The Northwest Hitter Puts One Out Of The Park

[Mark King]

The Northwest Hitter Puts One Out Of The Park

Photos And Report Courtesy Of Staff Photographer Paul Grant

Canadian National Open July 25th Mission Raceway Park, Canada

Bucky Austin claimed the number one spot for this weekends NFCA duel north of the border.

Proceedings for the the two qualifying hits available to the nine drivers on hand got under way at around 6.00pm, with the second shot ending up in the darkness at 10pm. The opening run was for Twig Zeigler to try and get his second licensing pass done. The burnout went well, but he was shut done by the start line officials for a fuel leak, so no time could be given the this very likeable Northwest legend.

First pair out for qualifying were Mark Sanders in his 'Mr Explosive' Nova and Lee Paul Jennings in the 'Code Red' Challenger. Sanders got down the track a little untidy, but recorded a 6.39/169 to open his racing account, while Jennings had a bit more trouble keeping ride in check and put a 7.18/126 up on the board. Next up was Jay Mageau in his '57 shoebox 'The Prospector' and Kris Kabrill in 'The Pedaler'. Mageau was having troubles on the start line as he only just made the race having tested the car briefly on the Thursday. The Prospector should have had a corvette body but it wasn't ready in time and the '57 got dusted off and brought into action. Because of his issues he only got a quick burnout in as Kabrill was waiting patiently, then as they got to the line, the start line officials then shut the Pedaler down due to fluids on the track and they send Mageau on a single that he ended up aborting as he got well out of shape at 7.54/130. After some arm gesticulating, Kabrill was allowed to run, so they re-fired the Plymouth and Kris laid down a very stout 5.98! The next pair under the bridge was the two black Mustangs of Andy Beauchemin and Mike Grekul, both guys had reasonable runs with Andy posting a solid 6.19/234 in the 'The Tachman' and Mike running straight and true for a 5.88/236, that brought big smiles to his crew. The last pair was last year's big guns, they being, Terry Capp and Bucky Austin and understandably this was a great pairing, both guys laying down some nice 5 second runs. The Bubble Up Trans Am ran a 5.99/232 hurting the engine in the process and The Northwest Hitter put down a sweet 5.86/238 .

Times from the first session were as follows :

1. Bucky Austin 5.863 / 238.47
2. Mike Grekul 5.889 / 236.34
3. Kris Kabrill 5.985 / 239.17
4. Terry Capp 5.999 / 232.61
5. Andy Beauchemin 6.199 / 234.07
6. Mark Sanders 6.394 / 169.81
7. Lee Paul Jennings 7.186 / 126.63
8. Jay Mageau 7.549 / 130.73
9. Twig Zeigler - no time

Twig got out again in between the qualifying sessions as he tried to get the licensing process moving, his 'Pizza Haven' Mini Satellite behaved much better this time, but about 600ft out it started to head for the wall and Twig had to get out of it. Everybody was hoping he could get something done as his return was so very popular. In fact if you ever get chance to chat to him or his lovely wife, get them to tell you how this car came together and all the help he got from so many people, it's a great story of a good person being shown a lot of love. All the runs he has been doing to date have been on a drum of nitro purchased by friends who just wanted to help get him back on track, and the body work was done with help from a guy who was a fan when he was a lad back in the day. It's great stuff.

The second, and final qualifying session got away under darkness with fans hanging around in the hope of seeing some old school header flames. First pair in this session was Lee Paul Jennings and Mark Sanders. Sanders, having a great time at his first race, was going to be driving off into the darkness of the top end for the first time but showed no apprehension as he charged down the track to improve his time from the previous session by a couple of tenths and finished the day with a 6.20 @ 225. In the other lane Lee Paul Jennings made big improvements to put up a very respectable 5.94 / 213 pass. Next pair was Jay Mageau and Mike Grekul, with the Mustang running strong but not improving on his time from the first session and Jay got into all kinds of tire shake at about 300ft and that popped the chutes and his run was done with his time from earlier being his best at 7.54 / 130. Then we saw Terry Capp and Andy Beauchemin, both guys getting down the track, but neither improving on the runs in the afternoon session. Final pairing would be Kris Kabrill and Bucky Austin, the pair of Plymouth Arrows looking very strong. In the post burnout back up the headers on both cars had small flames dancing from one tube to another and they gave the crowd what they were waiting for with a great side by side run with all 'candles' burning, but neither improved on the first qualifying session.

To end the night Twig brought the Mini Satellite out again with the same result as before, only this time he crossed the center line and took out some timing cones. Here's hoping for better luck for the Pizza Man tomorrow when we should get to see some great Nostalgia Funny Car racing.

Final Qualifying times :

1. Bucky Austin 5.863/238.47
2. Mike Grekul 5.889/236.34
3. Lee Paul Jennings 5.941/213.42
4. Kris Krabill 5.985/239.17
5. Terry Capp 5.999/232.61
6. Andy Beauchemin 6.19/234.07
7. Mark Sanders 6.201/225.84
8. Jay Mageau 7.549/130.73
9. Twig Zeigler - no time.