Bob Woodruff had one of his racing goals come together during eliminations on Sunday. One of those goals is to earn an invite to the NHRA JEGS ­Allstar Event. Bob advanced to the third round which gave him the lead in points after trailing Brian Preszler for most of last season. Brian, who is the D6 S/C champ, lost first round giving others a chance to go to Chicago.

The race-within-a-race program for NHRA’s Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series competitors is the NHRA JEGS ­Allstars. Contested at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Chicago on June 28-30, the event is reserved for 100 of NHRA’s top ­Sportsman racers. The best racers in ten categories from each of NHRA’s seven geographic regions compete for team and individual ­honors and a share of the $119,000 purse. Racers ­accumulate points for the event at NHRA Lucas Oil divisional races prior to the competition.

Emily Williams, who stopped Bob in the third round, also had a great weekend advancing to the fourth round.

The Morris Family Racing team had four cars competing, Cheryl, Andy, and Kacee in S/C. Dustin Hentges in T/D. Cheryl took out Kacee in the second round on her way to the final for the Wally.

Randy Beck was disappointed with a first round loss in S/C. So he jumped into S/P and brought home that Wally.

Division 6 has a Super Class Shootout series (managed by Dennis Boley) that racers qualify for and compete in prior to Sundays eliminations. At Boise 17 cars entered in the SC shootout. After 2 rounds of qualifying, Dennis takes the top 8 for each class and puts them on the ladder for eliminations in Saturday afternoon’s remaining time runs. When it was all said and done I took home the big check beating Brian Preszler in the final.

Congratulations to everyone!!!

 (KENT, Wash) – Pacific Raceways has announced Ed Garfield as the new Drag Strip Manager for the Kent track.  Garfield worked at Champion Raceway in Southern Oregon for the past six years.

 Garfield replaces Jason Murray, who left as track manager earlier this year.  John Ramsey, the raceway’s Director of Marketing/Sales/Media had been interim drag manager.

 “Ed is a great addition to our drag team,” said Tracie Brandenburg, Pacific Raceways’ General Manager.  “We have a fantastic drag staff of really dedicated individuals and a large group of participants and fans.  We are very pleased to have Ed work with our staff and racers.”

 While at Champion, Garfield worked most positions from water box to the track’s computer operator.  He started at the raceway as the track announcer.  Garfield ran a successful sign/glass etching business in Oregon for several years.  He has relocated that business to Mill Creek, WA.   Garfield is also a self-taught computer programmer with a specialty of writing code in vb.net integrating order entry systems with CNC machinery in the glass fabrication industry.  In addition to his raceway experience, Garfield has promoted a bicycle racing series for 13 years at Champion.

 “I look forward to meeting and getting to know the racers,” Garfield said.  “The Pacific Raceways tem has welcomed me and I feel at home.”

Pacific Raceways is the Northwest’s only NHRA national event track, hosting the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Northwest Nationals Presented by Super Start Batteries Aug. 3-5.  The raceway’s Auto Max USA Drag Race Series draws a large number of E.T. bracket racers to its 11-race events.  Pacific Raceways will also present an NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Race Series event Aug. 17-19, as well as be the host track this year for the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Division 6 E.T. Bracket Finals over Labor Day weekend.

The PNSCA annual banquet and awards ceremony was held on January 21st at Johnny’s restaurant in Fife, Washington.  It was a very nice time and it was great to see all the PNSCA members in attendance.

Prior to the banquet the PNSCA board had a meeting, and several topics were discussed, including sponsorship promotions (more on that in a few days).  The hot topic was the schedule for 2012, and with plenty of feedback, the tentative schedule was established.  Details are still being worked out, stay tuned to this site for the full schedule when it is finalized.

Connie Woodruff also announced that she will need to scale back her involvement as Secretary/Treasurer of the association as she works with her husband Bob in his quest for a Division 6 title.  The association is actively looking for a replacement.  The duties include registering racers at the races, which has been made much easier with new web tools, and tracking the association’s bank account.  If you are interested, please let Ed Hauter know.  The entire PNSCA is deeply grateful to Connie for her years of service and wish both she and Bob luck as they shoot for the title.

Greg Pessemier's Third Place Hardware

After dinner, the PNSCA awards were handed out.  The trophies were lovingly handmade by PNSCA President Ed Hauter and are absolutely gorgeous.

The third place award went to Greg Pessemier who led the points chase for much of the season, but ended up falling back just a bit at the end.  Greg was unable to attend the awards due to a family emergency, but rest assured his trophy and check will be in his hands shortly.

Bob Woodruff, wife Connie, and PNSCA's Ed Hauter

In second place was Bob Woodruff, who fell just short of his quest to make it four PNSCA Championships in a row.  Bob made a hard charge at the end of the season, but a late round loss at the season ending double-header at Woodburn, coupled with a rainout for the last day of the year ended his reign at the top of the PNSCA leader board.  Nonetheless, it was great to see the perennial champ picking up one of the big trophies at season’s end.

Tom Gresham with the spoils of his victory

The winner and PNSCA 2011 Champion is Tom Gresham.  Tom was truly hot during the second half of the season, winning two PNSCA races, and going rounds at the divisional and national event level.  Aided by a new motor, Tom was tough to beat and is a very deserving champion.  Congrats, Tom!

All-in-all it was a great evening, and so good to get us all together in the dead of winter.  We’ve had a variety of feedback on the location, but the PNSCA board was generally pleased, especially with the location right off I-5 and convenient to so many PNSCA racers.  If you have feedback, positive or negative, on the location or the event, please post it in the forum where there is a thread asking for input.  We have a reservation there for next year, but are very interested in your feedback.

Thanks again to everyone who attended, and I’m sure we all look forward to a great 2012 of racing.

 The 2011 PNSCA Points Chase is complete. Going into the Final double header at Woodburn, five racers could still win the PNSCA Championship. Greg Pessimer has lead the points all season, with a runner-up at Bremerton 1 and Woodburn 7. Dale Hrenko was in second place for most of the season with a runner-up finish at Woodburn 4. Ed Hauter was in third place all season with runner-up finishes at Bremerton 2,10, and 11. Bob Woodruff, with only 9 races, moved up to second place in August after a win at Bremerton 10. Tom Gresham, who has been in the top ten all year, came alive with a win at Bremerton 11. Tom has had an amazing second half of the season in NHRA National and Divisional events!! Earl Cunningham, also with only 9 races has been steady all year long winning rounds.

Our Champ!

At the final PNSCA event in Woodburn the weather forecast was a big concern. After an early qualifying round with the biggest car count we have had in over 5 years 33 racers were standing around watching it rain. Ross Souza was number one qualifier with a 8:901 and Emily Williams was number 33 with a 8:52 (Lowest ET of the event in SC). Finally at almost 5:00 pm we started first round and by 7:30 pm we were down to Tom Gresham and Kurt Gross when Jay pulled the plug for the day.

During eliminations Tom got the win light in first round racing Marsha Miller, second round Michael Dalrymple, third round Brandon Yoder, fourth round Jim Glenn, with a single into the Final with Kurt. On the other side of the eliminations ladder Kurt got the win light in first round racing Natalie Peck, second round Frank Serdar, third round Earl Cunningham, fourth round single, with a win over Emily Williams into the Final with Tom. Emily Williams got to the semi’s getting the win light in the first round racing Rick Dearinger, second round Emmett McKillop, third round Tom Bayer, and in the fourth round beat Bob Woodruff driving Chris’s Brand New EFI equipped Monden dragster. After it was all said and done PNSCA awarded almost $2000 to the final three racers.

We want to THANK all the first time PNSCA racers!!

 PNSCA regulars take 4 of the top 5 spots in the final points tally. Dale Hrenko, from Port Orchard, is the Champ after good finishes at Bremerton and Mission. Rick Dearinger was the Runner-up (8 points behind Dale) with only 3 events! Rick won at Mission and went 3 rounds at both Portland races. Rick was also the point’s runner-up last year. Tom Gresham finished third, again with only 3 events! Tom was in both finals in Portland, winning on Sunday! Chuck Linne with one round win in five races finished fifth. Chuck was the SC champ last year. Bob Woodruff, ninth, and Earl Cunningham, eleventh, each won at Bremerton. CONGRATS to everyone!!!

Brad Plourd, who started his now professional racing career at Pacific Raceways in Junior Dragsters, WINS S/C at the Seattle National Event with a .009 light in the final! Brad was doing a great job all weekend with average RT of .015 in eliminations.

Tom Gresham was also on fire after two great National event outings in two weeks. At Sonoma Tom went SIX rounds, followed up with FIVE rounds at Seattle this last weekend!!

Dale Green, DG Machine, was able to survive into the 4 th. Round.

Derek McMasters from Edgewood Wa., Newcomer to SC, who has purchased Howard Johnson’s old car, also made it to the 4 th round.

Congrats to all 62 Super Comp Racers at the National Event.

See the Article in the Maple Valley Reporter

The PNSCA’s own Bob Woodruff is the subject of a wonderful article in the Maple Valley Reporter.  You can read the article here, or click on the picture at left.

Our thanks to Kris Hill who wrote the great article, and to Bob and Connie for putting such a great face on Super Comp racing.

Mike Seekins Gets the Green

Good weather finally shows up in the Pacific Northwest and with the heat came some great racing.  At Mission Raceway, for PNSCA’s only one-day race of the year,Mike Seekins came out on top, besting Emmett McKillop in the final round.

Emmett McKillop takes on Dale Hrenko

In the morning 14 cars made two qualifying runs to set the ladder. We had 8 cars from Washington, 3 from BC, 2 from Alberta, One from Saskatchewan. Dale Hrenko, number two in points, was number one qualifier, with a 8.908. After four rounds of racing it was Mike Seekins and Emmett McKillop in the final. Mike’s .018 rt and 8.978 to Emmett’s .108 rt and 8.942, with Mike getting the WIN!!

After this event the only real change in the top ten in points was Rick Dearinger moving up to the Ten spot. Greg Pessimer stretched his lead over Dale by 64 points.  Make plans to join us in Bremerton for the next PNSCA race, neatly sandwiched between the Seattle National event and the Division Six Race at Pacific Raceways.  See you there!

This weekend’s National open race at Mission Raceway will include a Single PNSCA race on Saturday. Also the track will host a Test and tune on Friday. This has traditionally been our biggest car count race.

Our next PNSCA race at Bremerton, (Aug. 13 and 14)  is strategically scheduled between Seattle National event and the Seattle Divisional Race.

Breaking news from Woodburn Dragstrip, WOW, three races in three days!!! The rained out D6 race will be completed on Friday September 16 just prior to the final 2011 PNSCA double header, September 17 and 18.