NHRA Pomona - 2005 Season

The guys snuck up on the record challenge in Pro RWD. Impressively, five of the seven cars in the field were in the 6s after qualifying. The grid showed Steph on top (6.617) followed by Matt Scranton (6.654), Matt Hartford (6.727), Brad Personett (6.765) and Vinny Ten (7.808) in the Performance Motorsports 350Z. No one really threatened Hartford's 6.52 record.

In the first elimination round Steph dropped an unopposed 6.591 at 212 mph, which put him in the neighborhood of the class record and set the Pomona e.t. track record.

In the semis, Personett lined up against Steph and the fireworks that ensued will be talked about for some time. Near identical reaction times saw the cars run down the track like they were attached at the door handles. In the end of the quickest-ever sport compact drag race Personett edged out Steph 6.537 to 6.604. The speeds were historical as Personett and the Titan Mail Order Scion were clocked at 216.69 mph and Steph tached out at 213.60 mph in the AEM Civic. No records here but the showdown was pure energy.

The Pro RWD final was an all Team Titan affair and Personett left no doubt as his stout 6.612 attests to. Ed Marx in the flamed Titan Celica got way out of the groove early and tagged the wall lightly. The car is fine but the trick Mike Lavallee flame job will need to be addressed in the off-season.

In Hot Rod, it was the whole 2005 season in a microcosm as woefully outgunned challengers chased Ron Lummus and the Garrett Turbo Sunfire. After blasting 7.949 and 7.821 e.t.s in qualifying Lummus was atop the grid; 0.642 seconds ahead of second-place qualifier, Stephanie Eggum. Things went as scripted as Lummus powered through the field notching 7.766, 7.794 and a 7.825 to make the money race. Eggum went as fast as 8.446 en route to the final but suffered mechanical maladies and was no match for Lummus' 7.807 at 186 mph in the final.

As familiar as Hot Rod was, was how fresh the Modified class was. Newcomer Dee Koragiannis put his Mazda FD RX-7 on the pole with an 8.165 e.t. Ken Scheepers was right on Koragiannis' tail running an 8.179 in his RX-8. These raging rotaries were on a collision course with Koragiannis emerging as the favorite based on his smooth 8.094 during eliminations. Turns out there may have been some sandbagging on Koragiannis' part as the deep blue RX-7 sailed to victory in a wicked 7.860 at 169.13 mph.

In a season of downsizing of turbos, limits on boost and other strategies to slow the evolution of some of the cars, every record in every class was broken in 2005. Four of the 10 new benchmarks were established at Pomona; that's peaking at the right time. It will be interesting to see were the teams pick up in 2006.