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May 22, 2003 Two-Time Mopar Canadian Nationals & IHRA Champion Returns to Grand Bend in Search of Third Title (photos by Guy Van Syckle and are copyright speedzonemagazine.com)
Chicago – Clay Millican of Team Werner Enterprises/Lehman Racing, the 2001 and 2002 IHRA Top Fuel Champion, will compete in the 2003 IHRA Mopar Canadian Nationals in Grand Bend, Ontario on May 30-June 1 at Grand Bend Motorplex. Millican enters the event as a two-time Mopar Canadian Nationals champion (2000 and 2002), and hopes for a third victory this year. This is the third event on the Hooters IHRA Drag Racing Series. "Oh man, I’m really excited for Grand Bend again this year," said Millican. "I love the Canadian fans and that is the place of our first-ever Top Fuel win, so it is a very special race for our team. I look forward to going back to Canada and hope to win again!" Millican’s first-ever Top Fuel victory was in Grand Bend in 2000. He has since won 20 additional Top Fuel finals in IHRA, putting him in second place on the career IHRA Top Fuel win list. Along with this accolade, Millican holds a variety of other records: All-time consecutive Top Fuel victory record with 10 straight event
wins The IHRA Mopar Parts Nationals Top Fuel schedule is as follows: Friday, May 30 Top Fuel Qualifying Session 1 – 2:00 p.m. Top Fuel Qualifying Session 2 – 7:00 p.m. Saturday, May 31 Top Fuel Qualifying Session 3 – 1:00 p.m. Top Fuel Qualifying Session 4 – 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 1 Final Eliminations – 1:00 p.m. For more information on Clay Millican and Lehman Racing, please visit www.lehmanracing.com or contact Andrea Geurin, Lehman Racing Public Relations Manager, at 312-726-5719 or ageurin@lehmanracing.com. MAy 22, 2003 Canadian Rob Atchison gets some Ink: London.Ontario, May 22, 2003
IHRA Funny Car Racer Rob Atchison gets National Exposure in Saturday
Night Magazine. IHRA Funny Car racer Rob Atchison will be in
Attn: All Lenco Customers There will be no Lenco Trailer at 4th Annual
IHRA Mopar Nationals at Grand Bend Motorplex, Grand Bend or the Inaugural
IHRA Rocky Mountain Nationals at Budweiser Motorsports Park in Edmonton.
Any racer requiring repairs or parts can see Matt from Lenco at Canadian
Lenco Distributor Rob Atchison’s Alcohol Funny Car Trailer.
Point sstandings as of May 22, 2003 after TOP FUEL Clay Millican(1) 136 John Smith 109 Bruce Litton 88 Donald Sosenka 80 Rhonda Hartman-Smith 70 PRO MODIFIED Mitch Stott(1) 115 Thomas Patterson 74 Al Billes 74 Fred Hahn 73 Mike Janis 56 FUNNY CAR Tony Bogolo(1) 112 Mark Thomas 96 Ronnie Midyette 73 Terry McMillen 55 Mike Comella 54 SUNOCO RACE FUELS PRO STOCK Rick Jones(1) 113 Brian Gahm 90 Doug Kirk 74 Steve Williford 69 Elijah Morton 52 April 17, 2003 Top Fuel added to Todd Paton's Resume. (Story courtesy Bruce Biegler and dragracecanada.com) "The hand-writing has been on the wall for a while," said Todd. "Campaigning a Nitro Funny Car out of your own pocket at the NHRA events is tough on the wallet. Without a major sponsor on our car, our future in the Funny Car class is a bit unclear. We also felt strongly about the lack of a Canadian fuel team at the IHRA national events taking place in Canada -- so we wanted to change that. Naturally, our plans are to run the Grand Bend and TMP events for sure. We'd like to also go to Edmonton, however that trip is dependent on getting some additional backing. My Dad started out his racing career in Western Canada so we would like nothing better then to go back out there with our Top Fuel car. There are a number of opportunities for us out there, and we are working hard on making them a reality." Todd revealed that the team still has tentative plans to race their nitro Funny Car operation at the next NHRA POWERade national event -- the Mac Tools Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol (Apr. 25-27th). After that the focus will be on Top Fuel, with Paton making select appearances in the Nitro Funny Car at scheduled match races throughout the season. "Immediately after Bristol we will be taking our running gear out of the Funny Car and fitting it to the dragster," he affirmed. "Then in early May I will begin cross-grading my competition license, which should prove interesting. I started driving funny cars when I was 16, and I've never been down a drag strip in anything else. Hopefully, everything will come together in time. Our objective is to be ready for the IHRA Mopar Canadian Nationals at Grand Bend." The Paton's new machine is a McKinney chassis which has been completely upgraded. Todd expects the car will be capable of eventual 4.7 secs elapsed times. Todd is also looking forward to returning to competition on the IHRA trail where he has achieved great success, winning the Alcohol Funny Car World titles there in both 1993 and 1995. "It will be great to be back and see a lot of familiar faces," he added. "I've been back as an observer on a fairly regular basis. We really look forward to racing at the Canadian events for the Canadian fans. That is really why we are doing this. Canadian racing fans deserve a competitive Top Fuel team from the homeland that they can cheer for, and I hope to give them just that." (Check out Bruce Biegler's DragRaceCanada.com web site)
Rain washes out the finals at Rockingham. It will be rescheduled for the same weekend as their Fall "World Finals" event. To to Drag Race Central for the details March 29, 2003 "33rd Spring Nationals presented by Castrol"(Photos by Guy Van Syckle and Gerry Frechette and are copyright speedzonemagazine.com) "The Night of Fire" at the IHRA national events is one of the most exciting things about the IHRA. When the weather cooperates, or at the right time of the year. When it isn't the right time, it can be a downright waste of effort by the teams and by the time spent in the stands by the fans. By the looks of Saturday's result (now I'm not there but from reports), this was one of the bad days for "Night of Fire'". According to Larry Sullivan at Drag Race Central, the race gods played a huge joke on the track surface tonight. The track appeared good, but most cars were slipping and sliding all over the place to the point where, the decision was made for single runs to be run by the pros. In Top Fuel, Only Rhonda Hartman got down the track and she did in pretty fine fashion, as she jumped into the #2 slot with a 4.77 at 308 mph. Only here husband John Smith ran within a 1/2 second of her lap. John ran 5.23 at 278 to move into the # 5 spot. Tim Cullinan ran a 5.50 to squeak into the #8 position. The other four cars, including Millican who qualified earlier with a great 4.69 and Litton (who ended up not qualified), could not get past the 60 marker, before going up in smoke. In Pro Stock, 11 cars tried to get down the track (all singles), and only one ran in the 6's, as Jerry Haas ran a 6.73, but could not go quicker than the 6.63 necessary to get in the field. In Funny Car, it got even worse, when one (yes 1) tried in vain, to get into the pretty quick field. Number 19 qualifier Bobby Martindale could not get past 200 feet and failed to top the 6.09 bump. Pro Modified saw 18 of the 46 cars entered try and navigate the 1320, all running singles again, but no one bumped into the field or made improvements in their positions. Mike Lockwood and Thomas Patterson both ran in the 6.30's but could reach the 6.306 mark necessary. Notable was Mike Janis' failure to bump into the field. Tomorrow should be a much better day as they have 12 hours to rework the track and then run in sunlight and warm temperatures. Go to Drag Race Central for all the numbers and ladders for Sunday's eliminations March 28, 2003 Rockingham, North Carolina Preview. After the inaugural and rain delayed, but successful Texas Nationals
in San Antonio, the IHRA tour headed east for the 33rd running of
the Spring Nationals hosted by Rockingham Raceway. This is the longest
running National event in the other sanctioning body and has always
had a large car count in good crowds. This year, the Top Fuel fields
look to be as strong as they have been in years, with the crossover
of rules to match the NHRA. Pro Mod will be a very tough field with close to 40 cars entered. The big question is whether or not nitrous guru Shannon Jenkins can recapture his 2002 dominant form or if the likes of the "cocky" Radiac Maniac Mitch Stott, Fred Hahn, Mike Janis or Canadian Al Billes in the blown cars can be as dominant as Jenkins was in 2002. The departure of Nitro Harley is going to leave a huge void in their "Night of Fire" Pro shows in my opinion, as I can't understand why the powers that be did not keep the class and finance in themselves. The Entry fees that the "I" charges would have covered part of the prize money and I bet the tracks would be willing of putting up a bit more of the money anyway. Don't they pay the purses anyway. Not being a East Coast guy I am a bit out of the loop so to speak. Funny car is without Jimmy Rector and Laurie Cannister this year (two of the top five points earners from 2002). But there should be enough others to pull up the slack. Pro Stock is a bitchin class if for no other reason, than it is a class dominated by Fords. And the cars are fast 6.50's at over 210 mph. After the first day Pro Mod was awesome though. 46 cars are on the premises, and
the bump is already close to an all time record. Mitch Scott leads
with a 6.156 Funny Car has Canadian Rob Atchison, from London Ontario,
Pro Stock has 25 cars attempting to qualify and so far it
is all Fords on top, as the top 7 are all under the Blue Oval banner.
Pete Berner leads so far, after running his best ever, a great 6.538
at 211 mph. Just behind is Carl Baker with a 6.552, and
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the
next issue of Saturday Night Magazine. The magazine will be in the
May 24th National Post and hit the newsstands Monday. The article
written by Matt Duggan was done at last years inaugural AC Delco Nationals
at Toronto Motorsports Park. Though much of the article was shortened
by the editors it still has good content. Rob will also be on the
London Televison station the New PL Morning Show live Friday, May
23 at 7.00 am promoting the upcoming 4th Annual IHRA Mopar Nationals
at Grand Bend Motorplex. He will be featured in three minute segments
three times throughout the show viewed throughout Western Ontario.
Rob and the Atchison Racing Team are hoping to build on their #1 qualifying
spot at the rain delayed IHRA Spring Nationals at Rockingham for the
hometown fans. The Atchison Racing Website is www.atchisonracing.com
.
NHRA
competitors, the Hartman-Smith team as well as the Carrier Boyz (who
were set to compete until the unfortunate accident by driver Andrew
Cowin) Top Fuel team are just a couple that will make the odd stint
to the "I". Of course with defending series champ Clay Millican
and past champ Bruce Litton regulars on the tour and a handful of
other regulars that are slowly working their way up in performance,
the field could be close to a 4 second bump.
of
qualifying under overcast skies and the odd shower throughout the
day, Top Fuel ended up the way it is almost every weekend,
with Clay Millican on top after running a great 4.69 at only 295 mph.
Three tenths behind him (with a 4.97) was Ken Zeal in the Paul Smith
school car. Danny Dunn was third with a 5.07, and the rest of the
field struggled with tire smoke and boomers. 
and
Canuck Al Billes is just a couple ticks back with a great 6.190. Shannon
Jenkinsmade the quickest pass ever for a nitrous car as he ran a great
6.209 to put him in fourth place, with just the mph being slower than
Fred Hahn's identical et. Paul Athey is anchoring the field so fat
with a 6.306. The lone West Coast competitor Dennis Radford is well
back after running mid 6.30's on both his passes.
on
top after the first two sessions, with a great 5.83 at 238 mph. 2003
favorite Mark Thomas is in the two hole after a 5.87, and John Vouros
is #3 after a 5.90. Of Note, Von Smith is back in a roots car as he
returned to the "I", and ran a 5.95 at only 222 mph. 
Charlie
Peppers is #3 after running a 6.554. Chassis Builder Jerry Haas is
#16 right now with a respectable 6.638. Stay tuned tomorrow for the
final qualifying a pit notes. Go to