15th Annual Funny Car Nationals Also Features Jets, Nitro Ninja Top Fuel Dragster~
This week Friday and Saturday (Sept. 6-7), get ready to step back in time, to the days of “Sunday, Sunday, Sunday” radio ads when a race car’s personality was as important as its performance, to an era in which it actually was possible to tell a Ford from a Chevrolet, to a time when Pontiacs and Plymouths and Oldsmobiles had not yet been rendered extinct.
It’s time, once again, to rock, roll and remember as US 131 Motorsports Park presents the 15th renewal of the Funny Car Nationals featuring not one, but two separate eight-car events in the wildly-popular Funny Car Chaos series plus the Lagana brothers’ “Nitro Ninja” Top Fuel dragster plus the amazing altereds, roadsters and early model muscle cars of the Nostalgia Drag Racing League.
As if that isn’t enough, two-time IHRA Jet Dragster Champion and Michigan native Elaine Larsen returns with the Larsen Motorsports jets, Canadian “Nitro Mike” Kunz will try to duplicate his Guinness World Record at the controls of his wheelstanding PT Cruiser and 75-year-old Bob Motz will do what he does best at the controls of “The Original Jet Truck.”
Adult day-of-the-event tickets are $15 Friday and $25 Saturday but discounted tickets are available on-line at www.us131msp.com at a substantial discount – only $12 on Friday and $19 on Saturday. Daily tickets for kids 6-12 are $7 at the gate or $5 in advance. Kids under six are free when accompanied by a ticketed adult.
Funny Car Chaos qualifying featuring Michigan’s own Mark McElwee in the ”Buzzy’s Bomb” Chevy II and Steve Timoszyk in the “Detroit Tiger” Chevy Monza is scheduled at 7 and 9 p.m. Friday with a “last chance” qualifier at 10:30 Saturday morning. Eliminations begin Saturday at 2:30 with final rounds at 9:30 p.m.
Among the other Funny Cars expected to compete are the “Blue Max” Dodge Omni driven by Ronnie Young of Dallas, Texas; the “High Risk” Chevy Monte Carlo of point leader Ken Singleton of Chickasha, Okla., the “Attitude Adjuster” 1969 Camaro of two-time 2019 winner Brandon Lewis of Broken Arrow, Okla., the “American Outlaw” Dodge of Allen Middendorf of Columbia, Ill.; and the “Nimrod” Ford Mustang driven by Joey Haas of Pleasant View, Tenn.
Among those vying for cash and points in the Nostalgia Drag Racing League portion of the program will be defending event champion “Rocketman” Robbie Freels of Island, Ky., who has a new look having traded in his distinctive ’41 Willys for a front-engine dragster.
NDRL As part of its 15th annual Funny Car Nationals, “The Fastest Track in Michigan” will feature the cars and drivers of the Nostalgia Drag Racing League including defending event champion “Rocketman” Robbie Freels of Island, Ky., who has traded his venerable 1941 Willys for a dragster and Michigan’s own Sal Petrulis.
NDRL qualifying rounds in the 7.0, 7.5, Pro Comp and Pro Gas classes are scheduled to coincide with Funny Car qualifying at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday with eliminations in all four classes on Saturday.
-www.us131msp.com-
