Lucas Oil NHRA Northwest Sport Compact Nationals - NHRA Woodburn, OR Imports Scorch Woodburn Raceway

There was a very interesting game of chess being played in Pro. It was all about traction. In talking to Manny Cruz he told us that after a few rounds he can tell where the Hot Rod cars shift into third because they lay a patch of rubber which tends to upset his Cougar. Manny and John Lingenfelter spent a good deal of their down time adjusting for traction but each had his own method. Lingenfelter used gear changes while Cruz tuned the clutch to achieve better bite. So it was no surprise that Lingenfelter's slow 8.51 was good enough for the win.

Props also go out to Ken Scheepers, who put his All Motor 13B RX-7 in the 10s at Woodburn, Jesus Padilla, who re-set his All Motor record with a 10.29 at 130 mph and Abel Ibarra, who is making some serious power with his 20B, as evidenced by his 7.35 at 184 mph in "Turbo Magazine's Timeslip of the Event" race. The K&N Filters Mazda RX-7 barely made the field, but came out swinging in the first stanza an dwe hope to see that formcarry over to the remaining 2002 NHRA race dates.

Has Abel got the three-rotor figured out for good? Will V8s run in the series in 2003? Will more come of the Cavalier Crisis in Modified? Who will be crowned champion at the next event? Will more records fall? These questions are why we are following the NHRA to its next destination: Sonoma, California.

Turbo Magazine's Timeslip Of The day
The hits keep coming. No matter the track or the class, the NHRA series always delivers the goods. In fact, there are so many door-to-door races, it's getting hard to pick the Turbo Magazine Timeslip of the Day. At Woodburn, we elected to go with the first round match-up of Manny Cruz and Abel Ibarra. This showdown pitted Manny's twin-turbo V6 Cougar against Abel's 20B three-rotor RX-7. Abel has had problems, but to his credit, he has stuck with the program and his tenaciousness is paying off. Manny carried a very slight reaction time advantage to the traps and got the nod, 7.33 to 7.35, but as the interval times illustrate, no one knew who won this war until the timeslips were handed out.