2012 Run for the Championship!!

[Rob Simmons]

The 2012 Slant 6 Racing season has officially begun with the long time Killer Bees season opener at Las Vegas the weekend of 14-15 April!

Highlights gleaned from posts:

There were 9 Slant 6 racers that made the call this year. Sketchy weather reports seemed to keep some folks away.

We've already added two new racers to the "Slanted Family"!

Welcome Ken with a '65 Valiant and Jerry with a '7? Duster/Demon to the fold.

The winner of the season opener was Scott with Mike as Runner Up.

Doug "Doc" Dutra unveiled his new "K1 engine" and ran a 13.76 @ 99 MPH without his favorite beverage of choice... NOS!

Mark Etheridge tried the laughing gas for the first time at Vegas and nabbed yet another record with his '62 Valiant. He ran a 60 shot to take Doug's B/Nitrous record and reset it from 12.845 @ 103.93 set back in 2008 to 11.568 @ 116.47! Watch for him to go after the A/Nitrous ET record at Sacramento later this season.

The next race of the season will be at Mo-Kan Raceway 28 April hosted by "Team Green" Mark Goodman and Brent Laney who are coming back to Slant 6 racing after too many years away. They have teamed up once again and built a nostalgic Front Engine Dragster called "The Green Grenade". Check out the Event Calendar thread here: http://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=48512

Mark has made some interesting predictions for the 2012 season. Check it out here: http://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=48282

(I'll fill in more details and start the Points List once I get more info from the Killer Bees. )

I'm Rob "Snagglepuss" Simmons, your Slant 6 "Laff-A-Lympics" Drag Racing commentator, with the first report for our 2012 racing season.

_________________
Rob
I want to "Slant" the world!
... one vehicle at a time...

[Rob Simmons]

The full race report from Vegas is posted here: http://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=46478

We had not 2, but 4 new racers added to our ranks at Vegas! That's almost half the field!

Jerry Keltner, Kevin Esteb, Ken Kalis and Denny Buierl (driving Steve Nitti's 11 second Duster) all joined the "Slanted Family" at the first race of the season.

It was Scott Jones, a Vegas Rookie last year, that took home all the marbles. He took out two 11 second cars on his way to face Mike Keller in the finals. Way to go Scott!!

Runner Up Mike Keller was a Rookie in 2010, also starting his Slant 6 racing career at Vegas. He also won a round at Sacramento last year.

It's great to see new faces and returning Rookies going on to take home wins this early in the season!

Certainly no Rookie to Slant 6 racing and TRYING to lose a round was Doug "Doc" Dutra in his green toad '62 Lancer debuting his new race engine. Doug had to get on the road home and handed the win to Mike Keller.

So, the first race of the season is done and we set our sights toward the middle of the country this weekend where Team Green is hosting the Mo-Kan race 28 April.

They have posted some times for their new "Green Grenade" front engine dragster in the mid 10's, so they are definitely Baaaack!

Long time racer and SSRN publisher Seymour Pederson is planning to haul his record setting blue '62 Valiant to Mo-Kan to take on Team Green before he hands the keys over to Ryan Covalt at the Mason-Dixon race in May.

Hopefully someone will document this historical occasion for all of us to enjoy...

Right after the Mo-Kan race, the following weekend is a two day race in Sacramento, CA May 5th and 6th.

Team Dutra as well as last year's Champion and Runner Up typically attend this race.

Mark Etheridge has also posted his intentions of adding an eighth record to his repetoir at Sacramento as he removes a little weight in an effort to take the A/Nitrous ET record from Will Burns set back in 2002! Mark will have to run quicker than a 10.94 to do it... He was just a tad heavy at Vegas and ran an 11.14 with a 60 shot of the GoGo juice... Will a couple pounds and a bigger shot get him there? Vegas is not known for being a fast track and Mark has posted in the past that he has much bigger jets to play with. He also mentioned changing gears for a better top end charge... One thing is for sure: Mark knows what it takes to set records!

There hasn't been a roster started yet for the Sacramento race and this is the first time that it has been run this early in the season. It has only been run in September since it started in 2009. There have been 10-12 racers show up typically. Will the earlier date mean more racers for this event? Will the Spring versus Fall weather mean any changes in ET's... Tune in in a couple weeks to find out!

Scott Jones................41
Mike Keller .................31
Doug Dutra................21
Ken Kalis (Rookie)......11
Denny Buierl (Rookie).11
Mark Etheridge.............6
Allen Dutra...................1
Jerry Keltner (Rookie)...1
Kevin Esleb (Rookie).....1


I'm Rob "Snagglepuss" Simmons, your Slant 6 "Laff-A-Lympics" Drag Racing commentator, bringing you the initial reports as we start our 2012 racing season.

_________________
Rob
I want to "Slant" the world!
... one vehicle at a time...

[Rob Simmons]

Word has it that there were seven cars at Mo-Kan this weekend.

Seymour Pederson won the race.

More to follow...

_________________
Rob
I want to "Slant" the world!
... one vehicle at a time...

[Rob Simmons]

Scott Jones............................41
Seymour Pederson.................31
Mike Keller ............................31
Doug Dutra............................21
Mike Evans............................21
A. Spiva (Rookie)...................11
Emily Booker (Rookie)............11
Ken Kalis (Rookie)..................11
Denny Buierl (Rookie) .............11
Mark Etheridge.........................6
Allen Dutra...............................1
Brent Laney..............................1
Haliegh Laney (Rookie)..............1
Austin Goodman (Rookie)..........1
Jerry Keltner (Rookie) ...............1
Kevin Esleb (Rookie).................1

The Mo-Kan results were posted in the Event Calendar thread for that race.

It looks like Team Green is back in full force! It would appear from the photos posted that they have re-acquired BOTH of their former Team Green cars in addition to building their new Green Grenade FED!

Four of the seven racers at Mo-Kan were first time Slant 6 Rookies! This brings our total Rookie count up to an even half of the 16 racers participating so far.

Brent Laney was back with Team Green's infamous '62 Lancer that has been in long term storage with Bob Stepp for almost a decade! Brent was low qualifier running 11.20s after not having raced with us since 2003. The Lancer now sports the moniker "Terrible Toad".

Rookies Haliegh Laney and Austin Goodman rounded out the Team Green contingent with the new "Green Grenade" FED and their old '62 Valiant respectively. It's great to see Team Green racing in our series again, and introducing a new generation of Slant 6 Racers!

Two other Rookies, Emily Booker and A. Spiva showed up to try their hands at Slant 6 racing and both advanced to Round Two. (If anyone knows A. Spiva's first name, please let me know. )

Veteran racers Seymour Pederson and Mike Evans were on hand to round out the field. They whittled their way through the Rookies and Brent Laney to meet in the final round with Seymour taking the win.

If Haliegh Laney submits her timeslips and sets a record in the open AA/Gas class she will be awarded the additional 5 points to tie with Mark Etheridge who set his 7th Slant 6 record at Vegas. Rules were adjusted this year to award 5 points to anyone that sets a record at a Slant 6 event.

[Dart270]

So, the Lancer is now on gas, not alky? Great to see all those Goodman/Laney vehicles on a track!

Lou

_________________
Balancing out the driver's weight for more than 50 yrs

[Rob Simmons]

The Sacramento results are posted and the father/son team of Doug and Allen Dutra are our new points leaders!

Doug won Sunday's race to add 31 points to his 21 Semi Finals points from Vegas while Allen was Runner Up both days. Very cool father/son Finals on Sunday with the "old man" showing the "kid" that he still has what it takes.

Last year's National Champion Wendy Pine and Runner Up PJ Jesiolowski were both on hand at Sacramento, but Wendy let Bruce have the fun while PJ won on Saturday with a loaner car from Sergio Gonzales. PJ's beautiful red Demon wasn't ready for the race. Her win on Saturday put her in 3rd place behind the Dutra Dynamic Duo.

Another points leader from last year was having fun and winning rounds at Sacramento. Andrew Howard won two rounds on Saturday and a round on Sunday to put himself in 5th place, which is where he finished last year. Andrew has finished well in National Points since his Rookie year in 2007, regularly attending races at Vegas, Northern California and Oregon. Look for him to maintain his high standing throughout the season with races at Woodburn, Eureka and Redding.

Rookie Ken Kalis raced with us again at Sacramento and won another round, putting himself in the lead for Rookie of the Year. Unfortunately, Ken was the only Rookie at Sacramento.

"Record Collector" Mark Guzzi Etheridge racked up two more records at Sacramento by increasing his nitrous shot from 60 to 90 to take the A/Nitrous ET record from Will Burns with a 10.57 and re-set his own B/Nitrous record from Vegas with a 10.59! He posted his desire to take the A/Nitrous MPH record from Will by swapping gears from 4.10s to 3.91s. Will set that record in 2002 at 125.53 MPH! Mark's best top end charge was a 123.996 with the 4.10s.

The other two competitors at Sacramento this year were Bruce Pine mentioned earlier who won a round on Saturday and Frank Wright.

Even though he is a long time drag racer, Bruce was a Rookie Slant 6 racer last year. We'll have to wait and see who gets the keys throughout the rest of the season between Wendy and Bruce.

Frank Wright has raced with us since 2009, attending races in Northern California and Oregon.

Doug Dutra..................53
Allen Dutra...................53
PJ Jesiolowski...............42
Scott Jones...................41
Andrew Howard.............32
Seymour Pederson........31
Mike Keller ...................31
Ken Kalis (Rookie)........22
Mike Evans...................21
Mark Etheridge.............18
Bruce Pine...................12
A. Spiva (Rookie).........11
Emily Booker (Rookie)..11
Denny Buierl (Rookie) ..11
Frank Wright..................2
Brent Laney...................1
Haliegh Laney (Rookie)...1
Austin Goodman (Rookie).1
Jerry Keltner (Rookie) .....1
Kevin Esleb (Rookie).......1

Next up is the East Coast's biggest race for the last two years at Mason-Dixon Raceway in Hagerstown, MD scheduled for 19-20 May. This is planned for a two day race like Sacramento, so this will give some of the "East Coasters" a chance to get their names on the Leader Board with the Killer Bees. So far the car count is looking good for this race with potentially 18 or more cars on the tentative attendance list.

Team Covalt runs this race and has six of the anticipated names on the list. Charlie Schmid plans to tow way up there from Florida with two cars!

Will Burns plans to attend as well with his "Oh So Low" Barracuda. We'll see if Will plans to take back his A/Nitrous record that Guzzi Mark just took away.

Another highlight planned for the Mason-Dixon race is Seymour Pederson bringing his record setting blue '62 Valiant race car and handing the keys over to Ryan Covalt! Seymour made this emotional announcement at the East Coast awards banquet in February.

Following the Mason-Dixon race we will have a little bit of a lull in the action until late June with the Killer Bees race at Woodburn, Oregon the weekend of 23-24 June.

I'm Rob "Snagglepuss" Simmons, your Slant 6 "Laff-A-Lympics" Drag Racing commentator, bringing you the latest report in our 2012 racing season.

_________________
Rob
I want to "Slant" the world!
... one vehicle at a time...

[Rob Simmons]

It looks like I jumped the gun a little bit in posting the Sacramento results...

It's a small change. I'm waiting on clarification...

Mark Etheridge's points may be adjusted a little and there was another racer at Sacramento not yet accounted for.

I'll post the updated list as soon as I get the clarification.

Sorry.

_________________
Rob
I want to "Slant" the world!
... one vehicle at a time...

[Rob Simmons]

Doug Dutra - 53
Allen Dutra - 53
PJ Jesiolowski - 42
Scott Jones - 41
Andrew Howard - 32
Seymour Pederson 31
Mike Keller 31
Ken Kalis (Rookie) - 22
Mike Evans - 21
Bruce Pine - 12
David Endres - 12
A. Spiva (Rookie) - 11
Emily Booker (Rookie) - 11
Denny Buierl (Rookie) - 11
Mark Etheridge - 8
Frank Wright - 2
Brent Laney - 1
Haliegh Laney (Rookie) - 1
Austin Goodman (Rookie) - 1
Jerry Keltner (Rookie) - 1
Kevin Esleb (Rookie) - 1

I got clarification on the points for the Sacramento race.

Mark Etheridge has 8 points rather than 18.

David Endres was the other racer at Sacramento and he won a round on Sunday. David has raced with us since 2009 when he jumped in with both feet and attended races at Infineon, Samoa, Sacramento and Redding.

_________________
Rob
I want to "Slant" the world!
... one vehicle at a time...

[Rob Simmons]

Can you smell it...? It's comin'... ......

The smell of high octane racin' fuel!

The East Coasters are making their way to Hagerstown, Maryland for their first and biggest race of the season at Mason-Dixon Raceway.

Long haulers from as far away as Florida and Minnesota are on the road as I type this! They've been watchin' the Killer Bees rack up points at Vegas, Mo-Kan and Sacramento and now it's their turn to burn some rubber and get their names up in lights... (well, posted here anyway... )

Rick and the rest of the Covalt Clan have been beatin' the bushes and thrashin' on their own fleet of vehicles in hopes of getting enough cars for a 50 point race! Will they make it? It looks like there are 18 confirmed names to attend with a couple others listed as maybes... 17 cars is the "magic number" to make it a 50 point race... They missed it by just one car last year!

Stay tuned for the results of the first 2012 East Coast Slant 6 drag race!

_________________
Rob
I want to "Slant" the world!
... one vehicle at a time...

[Rob Simmons]

The Mason-Dixon results are in and a first time drag racer is our points leader!!

That's right! Frank Funk had never even drag raced before this weekend! He borrowed "Slantkota" from the Covalt Clan and proceeded to win three rounds on Saturday and all the marbles on Sunday!

Not only that, but he beat veteran racers like Will Burns and Charlie Schmid along with Saturday's winner Phil Stoneback to do it!

I'd say Frank stands a pretty good chance in the Rookie of the Year competition for 2012.

There were two other Rookies at Mason-Dixon this year. Kevin Bradford and Steve Adams. Steve came up from Florida with Charlie Schmid and raced Charlie's green '66 Valiant. Steve is considered a Rookie this year because he has only entered one other Slant 6 race at South Georgia in 2010.

Killer Bees Rookie Kevin Esteb (Kesteb) also fits in this category as he has only entered one other race in 2010.

[Dart270]

Thanks for the update, Snagglepuss.

Will Burns, Charlie Schmid, and Lou Madsen all set records at Mason-Dixon. Anyone I missed? So, 5 pts will be tacked on (one time only in 2012) to each of our totals. Need to send forms to Seymour...

Frank definitely put on an impressive show on both days - unbelievable!

See y'all at the track,

Lou

_________________
Balancing out the driver's weight for more than 50 yrs

[Rob Simmons]

I'll make sure I add the 5 points to everyone as soon as they're confirmed.

I'm glad everyone decided to limit the extra points to 5 per year instead of some of the other ideas discussed. Keeping track will be a lot easier this way!

_________________
Rob
I want to "Slant" the world!
... one vehicle at a time...

[Rob Simmons]

I adjusted Charlie Schmid's points from 62 to 67 to account for his 5 points earned for setting a record at Mason Dixon.

No other records have been posted yet. I will add points for them as the "Records Thread" is updated.

http://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41510

_________________
Rob
I want to "Slant" the world!
... one vehicle at a time...

[Rob Simmons]

Sorry for the late update on the Woodburn race.

I was off galavantin' around the country with Chase.

Andrew Howard is our new National Points Leader! He went to the finals on Saturday against CJ and won a round on Sunday to add another 42 points to his total. He is now 2 points ahead of Rookie Frank Funk.

There were 3 Rookies on hand at Woodburn to bring our total Rookie Count to 14 so far.

Walt Skoczylas participated in just one race last year, so still qualifies as a Rookie this year. He raced with us on Sunday in his ultra cool HAMB style dragster. He also went several rounds in the Inliner/Flathead class both days running in the 12's.

The second Rookie racing at Woodburn was Darrin Marrion in Althea Mueller's beautiful baby blue '64 Valiant. Althea couldn't make the race, so Darrin took the wheel and raced in the Inliner/Flathead class for her.

And lastly,... but not leastly... Chase Simmons rounded out the Rookie contingent in his newly acquired '74 Duster. You can check out the story of how Chase got there all the way from Kentucky here:
http://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=48776

Last year's National Champion, Wendy Pine, was there driving a pristine '63 Valiant convertible and won Sunday's race. Her race car was having transmission troubles, so her crew chief Bruce loaded up the Valiant for her to play with.

Last year's Runner-Up in National Points, PJ Jesiolowski, was not able to make the race at Woodburn. Her Demon was also having tranny troubles and her crew chief, Edd, was off fishin' someplace...

CJ Stoakes had his Hooptie at Woodburn and won Saturday's race to up his standings in National Points. He currently sits in 8th place.

The Father/Son Team of Richard and Mike Bjerklund battled back and forth all weekend. Dad beat son on Saturday, but it was "pay backs" on Sunday with Mike putting Richard (Fopar) on the trailer. (They actually drive their cars to the track, so there wasn't any trailer involved... )

My Battle Buddy from a tour in Iraq a few years back was there and we got to catch up (and go out for pizza ). DusterIdiot had his HyperPak Feather Duster there bangin' gears with his 4 speed. He swapped his street tires to Drag Radials and got his car into the low 15's I believe.

Rounding out the list of racers on Saturday was the crew from Spokane, Washington; Dave Mueller, Doug Powers and the aforementioned Darrin Marrion. They raced with us on Saturday, but focused on the Inliner/Flathead race on Sunday.

Okay, enough chatter... Here's the new points following Woodburn:

Andrew Howard - 74
Frank Funk (Rookie) - 72
Charlie Schmid - 67
Doug Dutra - 53
Allen Dutra - 53
Phil Stoneback - 52
PJ Jesiolowski - 42
CJ Stoakes - 42
Scott Jones - 41
Will Burns - 37
Wendy Pine - 32
Seymour Pederson - 31
Mike Keller - 31
Ken Kalis (Rookie) - 22
Brian Mimken - 22
Denny Covalt - 22
Richard Bjerklund - 22
Mike Evans - 21
Ryan Covalt - 21
Ken Anderson - 21
Whitney Covalt - 21
Walt Skoczylas (Rookie) - 21
Bruce Pine - 12
David Endres - 12
Lou Madsen - 12
Brian Droschak - 12
Romeo Furio - 12
Mike Bjerklund - 12
Rob Armstrong - 12
A. Spiva (Rookie) - 11
Emily Booker (Rookie) - 11
Denny Buierl (Rookie) - 11
Greg Ondayko - 11
Dave Mueller - 11
Mark Etheridge - 8
Frank Wright - 2
Rick Covalt - 2
Micah Covalt - 2
Aaron Heath - 2
Steve Adams (Rookie) - 2
Chase Simmons (Rookie) - 2
Brent Laney - 1
Haliegh Laney (Rookie) - 1
Austin Goodman (Rookie) - 1
Jerry Keltner (Rookie) - 1
Kevin Esteb (Rookie) - 1
Charles Brooks Jr. - 1
Kevin Bradford (Rookie) - 1
Doug Powers - 1
Darrin Marrion (Rookie) - 1

The Slant 6 Drag Racing action heads back East to Elk Creek, VA on 13-14 July. Time for the East Coasters to bring a few more Rookies out and see if they can take back that #1 spot from Killer Bee Andrew Howard.

But wait! That same weekend (14th-15th) there is a Killer Bees race at Eureka, CA! The two-day race format seems to be working well for the Killer Bees this year as well.

Lots of exciting Slant 6 drag racing coming your way in just a couple weeks! Stay tuned here for the latest updates.

I'm Rob "Snagglepuss" Simmons, your Slant 6 "Laff-A-Lympics" Drag Racing commentator, bringing you the blow by blow results in our 2012 racing season.

_________________
Rob
I want to "Slant" the world!
... one vehicle at a time...

[Rob Simmons]

We're just a week away from the next Slant 6 drag races!

Both Killer Bees and East Coasters are gearin' up for their respective races at Eureka (Samoa), CA and Elk Creek, VA...

As of today car counts are right about at 10 each.

Our 2012 National Points leader, Andrew Howard, is hosting the Samoa race, so he will be upping the ante for anyone wanting to catch him. Other top ranking Killer Bees will "bee" there as well...

Over on the East Coast we have our CAREER National Points leader and Three Time National Champion, Ron Hamby, hosting the event. Ron and Kay didn't make it to the first East Coast race at Mason-Dixon in May, so they will be hoping for some round wins next weekend.

The 2012 East Coast points leader, Charlie Schmid, will not be at Elk Creek. He will be concentrating on Knoxville as his next race.

That leaves it up to the next folks down the East Coast ladder to step up and try to take the lead from Killer Bee Andrew Howard.

Brian Mimken in his recently resitfied and rear-turboed "Sixy Beast" Duster is on the list of attendees with 22 points.

The husband and wife team of Ryan and Whitney Covalt will be towing down from PA with the original "Slantkota" and Seymour Pederson's famous blue Valiant. They both sit at 21 points apiece. Seymour handed the keys of the Valiant over to Ryan at Mason-Dixon in May.

After seeing Andrew "Kidd" Howard race at Woodburn a couple weeks ago, I think the East Coasters and other Killer Bees will have their hands full trying to catch him this weekend.

_________________
Rob
I want to "Slant" the world!
... one vehicle at a time...