By JM Hallas
MARION – San Antonio Raceway hosted another round of IHRA Summit Super Series bracket racing, the fourth of the season, on the 1/8 mile track outside San Antonio. Despite gray drizzly skies, a good field of Electronics (Box) and Foot Brake (No-box) racers singed in along with the Jr Dragsters and Street Class.
Track crews had the surface ready for racing, but after one round of time trials for Junior Dragsters and Foot Brakers, Mother Nature had other ideas. A heavy drizzle/light rain fell for nearly an hour delaying practice runs, but crews held the track and as the sun broke through it was quickly ready for action again.
Heavy air and changing conditions made for some tricky tuning throughout the day. When the sun was on the track temperatures were over 135, while under cloud cover they would drop to below 125. Other than a couple drivetrain failures, there were no incidents during the event.
Bills Best in Box
Hometown driver, David Bills (Marion) took home the honors in the Electronics (Box) finals over Greg Meuth (Boerne). Meuth, in the Quality Care Automotive, 2008 TNT Dragster, had a slight edge on the tree (3/1000th), but Bills in his Mission Racing, 2004 Undercover Dragster ran a 4.60 on a 4.59 dial-in to get the victory on the top end.
David Bills, (4.59) 4.607 @ 149.25 defeats Greg Meuth (4.76) 4.781 @ 143.91
Bills took out Bobby Mendez, defending champ Brent Ritter, Todd Robinson, and Jeff Rabedeau, with a round 4 bye to make the finals. Meuth bested Leroy O’Bryant, David Johns, Scott Ball, Carlos Carrasco Sr. and had a round 2 bye.
Foot Brake Finals to Zampese
Former San Antonio Raceway promoter, Todd Zampese (Universal City) made his way to the Foot Brake (No-box) finals against Walter Dyrenfurth (Austin). Giving up over a second on dial-ins, Dyrenfurth, in his Austin Mobile Marinre, 69 Pontiac Firebird tried to cut a light on Zampese in the Fox Chassis Dragster but went .0016 red giving the win to Zampese, who also went red.
Todd Zampese (5.56) 5.914 @ 92.50 defeats Walter Dyrenfurth (7.00) 7.015 @ 97.51(red)
Zampese, the current points leader, also got red light wins over Randy Monte, Rhett Floyd and Josh Gaspard, plus wins over Dennis Soefje, David Bixler and Mac Garcia. Dyrenfurth beat Bob Grudle, Vic DeIorio, Stephanie Rocha, Ely Trevino and Dale Rutledge plus a round 6 bye.
Turman Tops in Street
Michael Wayne Turman made the trip down for Thorndale pay off against Sylvia Zemgals (San Antonio) in the Street class finals. Zemgals in her 70 Dodge Challenger had a two second leave on Turman riding his Total Performance Cycles, Suzuki Hayabusa. Both had nearly identical reaction times, but Turman nailed his dial-in going around Zemgals who broke out on the top end.
Michael Wayne Turman (5.69) 5.698 @ 122.12 defeats Sylvia Zemgals (7.58) 7.556 @ 90.69(broke out)
Turman had a round 1 bye then beat Rhett Floyd in the semis. Zemgals bested Floyd in round 1, then Patrick Borroum in the semis.
Ball Bounces to Jr. Dragster win
Now I don’t have official records, but I’m guessing history was made in the Jr. Dragster final with two San Antonio sisters going for the win. The daughters of former track champ Scott Ball, Emily and Haily went head to head for the family bragging rights. Emily, the eldest, hit a .005 on the lights and needed it run down her sister, Haily, who ran closer to her dial-in, on the big end.
Emily Ball (8.07) 8.182 @ 74.32 defeats Haily Ball (9.06) 9.120 @ 69.91
Ball got by Matthew Keylich (twice), Jr Dragster World Champ Kenneth Hillin, with a round 2 bye. H. Ball lost in round 1, bought back in, then out ran Kathrine Keylich and got a round 3 bye.
