Tag: brainerd (Page 2 of 2)

TAFC – BRAINERD 2015

August 25, 2015 / Todd Veney

At Brainerd Int’l Raceway, where three years ago Annie Whiteley faced off against The Man himself, Frank Manzo, in the first national event final of her career, her YNot/J&A Service team had its first off weekend after months and months of one great outing after another.

Hot off back-to-back victories in Woodburn, where she annihilated both ends of the track record, and Seattle, where a dominant performance ended in the third national event title of her career, Whiteley qualified fifth in the Top Alcohol Funny Car field. The weekend began with promise when she ran a 5.68 at 261.17 mph Friday followed by a strong 5.61/261.62 later that afternoon that slotted her third in the field at the time. “We were behind on the track all weekend,” she said. “It just kept sticking the tire every time we went up there.”

Whiteley, who qualified No. 1 in five of her last seven starts (including the Jegs Allstars race), shook on her final attempt and qualified outside the top three for the first time since the West Region season opener at Phoenix way back in February. That that was no problem, though – she still landed in the fast half of the field and has won races already this year from three different rungs on the eliminator ladder.

The problem came when Whiteley’s jet-black Camaro fought for traction again in the first round of eliminations against a much tougher opponent than the No. 5 qualifier usually gets: many-time national event champ Jay Payne. In that round, which was postponed by rain from late Saturday afternoon until Sunday, Whiteley, who arrived in Minnesota ranked number 1 in the national standings, left on the eventual runner-up but slowed to an 8.59 while Payne advanced with a 5.55.

“That was a bummer, definitely,” Whiteley said. “On the first qualifier, it shook the tires almost right at the hit – I don’t know how it made it – and every time we went up there after that the car made it a little further, but we never did catch up to the track.”

Despite the unexpected early exit, Whiteley’s YNot/J&A Service team enters the U.S. Nationals, the biggest race of the season, still solidly atop the Top Alcohol Funny Car standings, with almost a full-race lead (82 points) on second-place Doug Gordon.

TAFC – BRAINERD 2014

August 19, 2014 / Todd Veney

After running not just low e.t. of the meet but low e.t. of all three qualifying sessions at the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, Annie Whiteley was upset in the second round of eliminations when her car got loose and drifted over the centerline. It was the fifth time in her career that she’s qualified No. 1 at a national event and the third time already this season.

“Somewhere before half-track, the car decided to make a left turn,” said Whiteley, who reached the first national final event of her career at this event in 2012, her rookie season in Top Alcohol Funny Car. “I have no idea why – it left hard and until that point was running just like it had all weekend.”

Whiteley wheeled her J&A Service/YNot Racing Mustang to a 5.61 at 257.63 mph to pace the field and clocked a 5.67 and a 5.64 in the other two qualifying sessions. She earned a first-round bye for being No. 1 in the short field, but following a solid 5.67 on a single that was within .01-second of low e.t. of the round, the car veered toward the centerline in round two not long after she swapped feet.

“Shane Westerfield’s car broke the rear end in the pair ahead of us,” Whiteley said. “I don’t know if that had anything to do with it or if it was because it was misting when I staged – the conditions weren’t ideal for any of us – but the car turned left right where his rear end broke. When [crew chief Roger Bateman] looked at the computer, he saw right on the G meter where something upset the tires.”

The Brainerd event was the first of back-to-back-to-back events for the busy YNot team. This weekend is the Central Regional at Heartland Park Topeka, and next weekend is the most prestigious event of every season, the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, where last year Whiteley fell just short of victory in a close final-round match with Frank Manzo.

TAD/TAFC – BRAINERD 2013

August 21, 2013 / Todd Veney

Reigning national champion Jim Whiteley reached the final round of the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, Minn., strengthening his bid for a second straight Top Alcohol Dragster championship, and wife Annie Whiteley missed making a second straight Brainerd final when she fouled in the Top Alcohol Funny Car quarterfinals by the smallest possible amount – one-thousandth of a second.

Jim lost Top Alcohol Dragster by the same frustratingly small margin – a thousandth of a second – to first-time winner Gord Gingles, 5.313 to 5.314. “It shook the tires, and that was it,” said Whiteley, who beat Robin Samsel and Alan Bradshaw en route to the final. “He was going 224 mph at half-track and I saw the nose of his car. I was catching him toward the end, but not fast enough. We should have run about a 5.25 that time – that’s what we were shooting for. We changed the timing and the clutch, but the track turned out to be better than we thought it was going to be.”

Whiteley qualified No. 1 with a 5.283, reset his own low e.t. during eliminations with a 5.277, and also walked away with top speed of the meet, 272.83 mph. The loss was just the sixth in 26 career national event finals for the reigning national champ, who also finished second at Houston. He won the season-opening Winternationals, and while he’s second to Chris Demke in the current national standings, he’s actually in a better position because he’s been to fewer races. “This really helps us,” Whiteley said. “People are running out of races, and I still feel really strong about our chances at another championship.”

Annie qualified a strong fifth with a 5.60, the same e.t. she ran to win her most recent national event start, in Chicago, and dispatched Andy Bohl in the first round with a 5.64. Against 15-time national champ Frank Manzo in the quarterfinals, she moved too soon by just a thousandth of a second for an automatic loss. Manzo would have been unstoppable regardless, running a 5.55, low e.t. of the meet, on his way to his 101^st career win.

“I guess I was a little too anxious that time, too amped up,” she said. “I wish I had staged a tiny bit shallower – I would have looked a lot better having a .000 light – but even that wouldn’t have been enough because he got to the finish line first anyway. After the run I told him, ‘One of these days, I’ll stop being intimidating by you.’ ”

The quarterfinal finish has Annie in fifth place in the national standings – one point behind Jay Payne and one position back from where she finished her rookie season in 2012. “The car ran good, but it could have run better,” she said. “We were behind in the clutch department all weekend. Every time [crew chief] Roger [Bateman] made a change, the car didn’t respond as much as he thought it would. The track kept getting better, and he kept adding clutch, but not enough.”