Dateline Columbus, Ohio for another round of Turbo Hot Street at the BPG Nationals! Last weekend at the 2011 BPG Nats, several racers braved the oppressive heat and humidity for a chance of some hot track action.
David Day drove in from Illinois. Brian Berger brought up his car-show worthy GN from Riverside, Ohio. Clay Willmott came up from Cincinnati, as did Kevin Bolger and his corn-fed Turbo T. John Snyder came in from Delaware after some last minute thrashing to get his GN back together from Norwalk Buick Raceday.
There was qualifying on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And there were some serious competitors about. Clay Willmott detected some mechanical trouble on Saturday and took his car back to the shop for several hours of turning wrenches in an attempt to get things sorted out. Unfortunately when he got back to National Trails Raceway Sunday, he had uncovered another bug which took his potent hot rod out of the hunt.
When all the qualifying was said and done Kevin Bolger was number one with a 10.32 @ 132 and change. KB had no day at the park either. During one of his qualifying passes, while in the burnout box, he started chucking out windshield wipers instead of tire smoke from the slicks. The resultant carnage from the cut tire banged up the quarter panel and rendered the garden hose Kevin calls fuel line unusable. With the friendly neighborhood Jeg's store not far away, Kevin called up his posse and into town they went. A few hundred dollars later, he returned to the track, made the necessary repairs and was back in.
Not to be left out of the action, Berger did some last minute Sunday morning wrenching after some consultation with (heeee's baccckkkk!) Bobby Buick Slusser. Once Brian gets his car sorted out, he'll no doubt be another strong THS competitor!
Kevin was followed by Dave Day #2 - 10.45 @ 127, John Snyder #3 - 10.69 @134, Brian Berger #4 - 12.39 @ 120 and Clay Willmott was five.
Because Clay elected not to run due to the aforementioned mechanical maladies, the ladder was reconfigured at the request of the racers to reflect his absence.
Thus the first round looked like this; Dave Day took on John Snyder with Snyder taking the win with a strong 10.20 @ 131 to Dave's off-the-pace 10.54 @ 126. In the secong match-up, it was the Battle of the Flying B's; Berger and Bolger, with Kevin B prevailing.
So the final would be John Snyder and Kevin Bolger. This was perhaps the best race of the day! It had everything a race fan could want; smoky burnouts, two very competitve cars (and drivers) and a fantastic door-to-door finish (with some unwanted fireworks and interesting noises). It was great! Both drivers put on a great show. As the tree lit, Kevin got the jump on John and had him still at 60 feet. Then slowly John started reeling him in and the duo went side-by-side down the strip. At the big end, John took the win with a strong 10.28 @ 131 to Kevin's 10.34 @ 133.
Both drivers recieved cash and prizes from (in no particuliar order) the BPG, Precision Turbo, RJC, Custom Auto Apparel, Casper's Electronics, Turbo Tweak, and the 2012 Turbobuick.com Nationals.
All particiapnts recieved goody bags provided by NAPA St. Louis and McKay Auto Parts.
Thanks to all THS racers and fans who continue to make the class a success and fun to watch! Thanks to the BPG Nationals for hosting Turbo Hot Street!
See ya at the races!
David Day drove in from Illinois. Brian Berger brought up his car-show worthy GN from Riverside, Ohio. Clay Willmott came up from Cincinnati, as did Kevin Bolger and his corn-fed Turbo T. John Snyder came in from Delaware after some last minute thrashing to get his GN back together from Norwalk Buick Raceday.
There was qualifying on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And there were some serious competitors about. Clay Willmott detected some mechanical trouble on Saturday and took his car back to the shop for several hours of turning wrenches in an attempt to get things sorted out. Unfortunately when he got back to National Trails Raceway Sunday, he had uncovered another bug which took his potent hot rod out of the hunt.
When all the qualifying was said and done Kevin Bolger was number one with a 10.32 @ 132 and change. KB had no day at the park either. During one of his qualifying passes, while in the burnout box, he started chucking out windshield wipers instead of tire smoke from the slicks. The resultant carnage from the cut tire banged up the quarter panel and rendered the garden hose Kevin calls fuel line unusable. With the friendly neighborhood Jeg's store not far away, Kevin called up his posse and into town they went. A few hundred dollars later, he returned to the track, made the necessary repairs and was back in.
Not to be left out of the action, Berger did some last minute Sunday morning wrenching after some consultation with (heeee's baccckkkk!) Bobby Buick Slusser. Once Brian gets his car sorted out, he'll no doubt be another strong THS competitor!
Kevin was followed by Dave Day #2 - 10.45 @ 127, John Snyder #3 - 10.69 @134, Brian Berger #4 - 12.39 @ 120 and Clay Willmott was five.
Because Clay elected not to run due to the aforementioned mechanical maladies, the ladder was reconfigured at the request of the racers to reflect his absence.
Thus the first round looked like this; Dave Day took on John Snyder with Snyder taking the win with a strong 10.20 @ 131 to Dave's off-the-pace 10.54 @ 126. In the secong match-up, it was the Battle of the Flying B's; Berger and Bolger, with Kevin B prevailing.
So the final would be John Snyder and Kevin Bolger. This was perhaps the best race of the day! It had everything a race fan could want; smoky burnouts, two very competitve cars (and drivers) and a fantastic door-to-door finish (with some unwanted fireworks and interesting noises). It was great! Both drivers put on a great show. As the tree lit, Kevin got the jump on John and had him still at 60 feet. Then slowly John started reeling him in and the duo went side-by-side down the strip. At the big end, John took the win with a strong 10.28 @ 131 to Kevin's 10.34 @ 133.
Both drivers recieved cash and prizes from (in no particuliar order) the BPG, Precision Turbo, RJC, Custom Auto Apparel, Casper's Electronics, Turbo Tweak, and the 2012 Turbobuick.com Nationals.
All particiapnts recieved goody bags provided by NAPA St. Louis and McKay Auto Parts.
Thanks to all THS racers and fans who continue to make the class a success and fun to watch! Thanks to the BPG Nationals for hosting Turbo Hot Street!
See ya at the races!
