THS Results from the BPG Nationals

Slow91z

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Aug 7, 2003
Turbo Hot Street at the Buick Performance Group Nationals

On a balmy August weekend, Turbo Hot Street was contested at the 2012 BPG Nationals in Columbus, Ohio. It was a mere three years ago that the BPG agreed to let us run a new class, which everyone now knows as Turbo Hot Street, at their national event. So for that reason Columbus is always a special place. Competitors from as far away as Delaware and as near as Englewood (Ohio not Florida) were in attendance.

John Snyder set Low ET and Top Speed during qualifying with marks of 10.09 and 136.58 respectively.

Things were pushed forward a bit with the threat of inclement weather on the radar. But once eliminations started Saturday afternoon, the event staff were accommodating with racers ensuring they had sufficient cool down time between rounds.

In round one of eliminations, Snyder was paired with Jamie Wolcott, from Michigan in her hot air car, but got the automatic win when she was unable to make the call to the lanes.

Mike Schwab, of Hamilton, Ohio piloting his “one owner” GN, faced off with Darren McKitrick from Englewood, another regular THS participant. Mike outran Darren 11.46 with a coasting 95 mph to 11.72/ 116 mph.

Ernie Young from Muncie, Indiana way was behind the tiller in his Timmy LeMay-tuned and Ronnie Sutherland-wrenched GN, lined up against the effervescent Lonnie Diers in his Turbo T from Cincinatti. Lonnie improved on his qualifying time with a 11.23/ 128 but it was not enough to catch Ernie’s 10.43/ 130.

The next round paired Ernie Young against Mike Schwab. The winner would advance to the final. Mike got a big jump on Ernie with a .028 light reaction time to a (improving) .361. Ernie was able to reel Mike in finishing with a 10.53/ 124 to Mike’s off-the-pace 11.11/ 127.

Snyder got the bye to face Ernie for the 2012 BPG Hot Street crown. Benefit of a quicker et in the semi-finals, Ernie chose the left lane for what promised to be a close final. Both cars were capable of turning impressive times perhaps turning the affair into a driver’s race. With darkening clouds on the horizon, John and Ernie rolled through the water and proceeded to boil the hides. Both racers bumped in and the tree lit up like its namesake.

Ernie reacted quicker than John (.621 versus .645) and led the charge to the checked flag. It looked like Ernie was poised to pull off the win but as the cars’ approached the 1/8 mile mark, John made his move and the “Delaware Destroyer” motored by on the big end. John turning a 10.69/ 137 to Ernie’s 10.74/ 131 (It’s a “1” or “7” but I can’t read my hand writing – Ed.). The margin of victory was .0222! It was a close race indeed.

Congratulations to John Snyder for the THS win at the 2012 BPG Nationals!

Kudos to all the THS racers and fans for supporting the class. Thank you’s go to the BPG for hosting Hot Street and to TA Performance for your support!
 
I'd like to thank Ed Mucha for the RRA duties and doing the write up, was nice to hang out with you again.
 
Thanks Kip, Collin, and Ed for the support of the class....we had a good time, looking forward to seeing you guys in BG.
 
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