|
June
27th, 1999 — NOPI Drag Wars
Set as a make up date for the rained out March 28th event,
we assumed this race would be much smaller than previous events.
Considering the amount of events this season in the Texas
area, combined with the fact that this date was never listed
on the original flyers we figured very few people out make
it out into the Texas summer heat. Fortunately, we assumed
wrong!
Pouring into the Texas Motorplex were 100’s of racers and
thousands of spectators making it one of the largest events
yet this year. This event was also a turning point for the
drag racing scene in Texas as we are now finally competing
with the times run on the West and East coasts. Some of those
in attendence were Jotech(Dallas) and Carboy(Houston) in their
10 second Hondas, PYR(Houston) and Hocus Pocus(Houston) with
some of the fastest NA Hondas in the country. On the RWD front
we had SGP(Houston) in their lightning fast 300ZX, Alamo Autosports(Dallas)
in thier AWD Eclipse, Flauta Racing(Dallas) in their incredible
rotary powered Starlet, Powerhouse Racing (Lufkin) with their
amazing Supra, and of course of own group of RX7.COM cars
lead by Ari’s red ’93, Brent Butcher’s Black R1, Steve Kan’s
wild Laser Red Veilside R1, Eric Michel’s Silver R1, Aaron
Imler in his trick ’94 RX-7, and Jon Drake’s rare Montego
Blue ’95.
Luckily, the weather was great for the race. With random thunderstorms
occuring the entire week before up until Friday, the make
up date for our March 28th rain out looked to be in jepoary.
With afternoon temperatures rising well into the high 90’s,
track temperatures began to rise well above 120 degrees causing
some slippery track conditions which, as we found, we get
worse as the day went on.
After a few tuning runs, everyone decided to have a go at
the Quick 8 qualifying. Unfortunately, all the previous
runs were thrown out due to some confusion by the Drag Wars
staff. We still had three RX7.COM qualify though as Brent
Butcher backed up his previous 11.5 run with another mid
11 pass to qualify in the Quick 8. Steve Kan, also in a
RP built single turbo car, ran a low 12 to qualify. The
final qualifying run paired the two fastest Import RWD Quick
8 legal cars of the day as the Powerhouse Supra lined up
against our own RX7.COM car driven by Ari. As they crossed
the finish line, the Supra prevailed but Ari was close behind
posting his fastest ever run to date and setting the stage
for an exciting Quick 8 competition!
| |
Ari’s
RX7.COM car |
Powerhouse
Supra |
| R/T |
0.983 |
0.578 |
| 60’ |
1.528 |
1.766 |
| 330’ |
4.418 |
4.636 |
| 1/8 |
6.801 |
6.928 |
| MPH |
101.35 |
108.36 |
| 1000 |
8.899 |
8.870 |
| 1/4 |
10.657 |
10.495 |
| MPH |
129.03 |
139.06 |
After the first rounds of the Import RWD Quick 8, the Powerhouse
Supra, SGP’s 300ZX, Brent’s RX7 and Ari’s RX-7 were all that
remained. In the semi-finals, the Powerhouse Supra was paired
against the SGP 300ZX. SGP had won the last event by defeating
the Powerhouse Supra who was having transmission problems
so the stage was set for a rematch. Unfortunately for SGP,
the Powerhouse Supra had no transmission problems this time
and defeated the 300ZX to advance into the finals. The second
semi-final race was RX7.COM versus RX7.COM. This race was
also a rematch as Brent’s RX7.COM car had taken the 1st place
win at the last event by beating Ari. This time, someone would
go home with a 3rd place trophy and the winner would advance
into the final round against the Powerhouse Supra. Unfortunately
for Brent, he left the line a bit early and red lighted which
gave the automatic win to Ari.
The final round matched Ari’s RX-7.COM car to the Powerhouse
Supra. With both cars running in the 10’s, this was expected
to be a close race. The Supra definitely made more power but
if the Supra were to make only the slightest mistake, Ari
would have a chance for a upset victory. Today though, was
the Powerhouse Supra’s day. Though Ari got the hole shot with
a 0.535 light versus a 0.789 light and pulled a decent 1.600
60ft time, the Supra had everything set to maximum and pulled
ahead. Traction became a problem for both cars and as the
Supra nearly crossed into Ari’s lane twice, Ari lifted the
throttle and cruised it home safely with a 11.6 @ only 100mph.
The Supra made an amazing, record breaking run with a 9.91
@ 144mph. This is with a full bodied, full interior car with
stereo, A/C, etc. Simply amazing work by the Powerhouse crew,
congratulations to them!
Thanks to everyone that helped us set up for the event.
All of our friends and customers that came to support us,
and everyone with an RX-7 that ran at the event.
 <--
back to more 1999 season coverage
|
