The opening day of the 20th annual MoPower Events season began under brilliant sunshine for the first day of action on track. Racers from all over the midwest have started to converge on NTR for this great racing weekend. A gamblers race for both the Box and No Box racers was held as well as the opening round of qualifying for the Quick 16 to run on Saturday. After some great racing action, the final rounds of both classes were great to behold. Taking home the money for the day was Steve Sliger in Box and John Lawson in No Box.

Sliger and his 1970 Cuda came from Mason, Ohio advanced his way through the field of Box cars to get to the final round of racing action. In that final round, Sliger would go up against the 1972 Challenger of Utica, Ohio's Walt Bittle. Both cars had been close to the dial in each and every round of racing and this one was no exception. Sliger got a six thousandths of a second edge off the line. Bittle grabbed the finish line stripe at the top end, but broke out in doing so. Sliger ran a 10.435 on his 10.44 dial in to win over the larger break out 10.658 on a 10.68 for Bittle.

The large contingent of No Box racers battle it out for a chance at the final round. In the end, it was a family of racers that went at it as John Lawson and his 1971 Duster from Pataskala, Ohio went up against the 1971 Valiant of Rob Lawson from Olive Hill, Kentucky. The family knew that it was going to be a great win for whoever got the win, but bragging rights were on the line. John got the edge off the line with a great .017 reaction time. He used that edge to force Rob to break out at the finish line. John ran a 10.054 on a 10.04 to score the win over Rob's 10.128 on a 10.13 dial in.

The one session of Quick 16 qualifying found two quick times and cars sitting on top of their respective side of the field. On the Open side of the field, it was Mike King and his 2010 Diamond dragster sitting on the top spot. His opening salvo of 4.562 at 152.55 miles an hour allows him to sleep on the pole for tonight. The Door side of the field found the 1999 Avenger from Ludlow Falls, Ohio run by Dan Brewer on the top rung. His time of 4.813 with a speed of 146.29 allowed him to pace the field.

Racing resumes on Saturday at 9:00 AM. Scheduled for eliminations are the Quick 16, Ten O Shootout, and a special Half Price / Half Purse event for the regular bracket classes.

'atta boy Walt

Saturday's action was once again intense all day long as a special Half Price/Half Purse event was run with the traditional Quick 16 and 10.0 Shootout classes. The day had a lot of high drama throughout and the racers put on a great show. New and regular faces graced the winner circle at day's end and those not celebrating a win on this day were looking towards the final event day when the sun rose. Boomer Ellison was the big winner for the day as he took the Quick 16 title for the Open side of the field, while Eric Huppenthal was the winner in the 10.0 Shootout division. Also winning today was Linda Gibson (Super Pro), Jason Wheatcraft (Pro), Laura Lawson (Sportsman), Greag Robinson (Hemi), and Dirk Hale (Max Wedge).

Ellison, from Beavercreek, Ohio, served notice in the opening session of qualifying that he was the car to beat. His 4.449 top spot pass gave him the performance advantage on the track. After getting past yesterday's pole sitter Mike King in the Open final round, Ellison drove his 2011 Undercover dragster up against the 2002 Neon of Mark Claypoole from Harrisville, Pennsylvania. Claypoole got a slight .016 to .025 edge off the line, but the consistency of Ellison got him the win. He ran another 4.449 on a 4.44 dial in to win over the 4.830 on a 4.81 for Claypoole.

The Super Pro final round was the first gender battle final round of the night as Gibson and her 1969 Road Runner went up against he 1972 Cuda of Craig Thomas. Gibson, from Mogadore, Ohio, might have been the slower car in most of her runs, bur hitting the dial in was helpul all day. That may have played a role on Thomas in the finals. He cut a .000 reaction time to get the edge, but the Otsego, Michigan driver broke out going around Gibson at the finish line. Gibson won with a 11.002 on her 11.00, while Thomas ran a 8.692 on his 8.70.

Wheatcraft brought his stealth-like 1967 Barracuda to the line from Jamestown, Ohio to run the always tough Jeff Hoblick and his Flushing, Ohio based 1965 Belvedere in the Pro final round. Throughout the day, both drivers had mowed the tree down, and the tree once again played a role in the final. Both left the line with red lights, but it was Hoblick's -.012 bulb that first registered and handed the win to Wheatcraft. Wheatcraft ran a 10.029 on his 9.96 dial to win over the 11.113 on a 11.109 for Hoblick.

The girls made it two for two in the gender final rounds as Lawson drove her 1974 Challenger to the winner circle. The Orient, Ohio driver went up against the Bradner, Ohio runner Rob Graham and his 1967 Satellite. Like the Super Pro final round, it was once again the male driver with the better reaction time, but the female forcing their opponent to break out at the stripe. Lawson ran a dead-on 12.110 on her 12.11 to win over the game 12.251 on a 12.26 for Graham.

Robinson's 1970 Dart took the Hemi win when he defeated the 1970 Challenger of Gary Murphy in the final round. Murphy, from Parma, Ohio, gave up the edge on the line and was forced to watch Robinson take the stripe and the win. Robinson ran a 9.957 on his 9.90 dial in to win, while Murphy lifted and hoped for the breakout with a 10.061 on his 9.69 dial.

Most of the late round pairs in Max Wedge seemed to pair MW/AA against MW/B cars for the win. In the end, the MW/B cars rose to the occasion as Hale's 1965 Plymouth went up against the 1964 Savoy of Hilliard, Ohio's Jim Guy. Hale, from Trenton, Ohio was pumped for the final round as his .010 reaction time proved. He used the edge to squeeze out a holeshot win over Guy at the stripe. Hale's 10.537 on a 10.50 dial in won the race over the closer 10.529 on a 10.50 for Guy.

Finally, in the 10.0 Shootout, #11 qualifier Huppenthal came from Sewickley, Pennsylvania to score the win with his 1970 Duster. In the final round, it was Kevin Friess and his 1975 Dart from Adrian, Michigan the competition. Huppenthal got a slight .055 to .079 advantage on the .500 Pro Tree and needed it all to get another holeshot win. His 10.058 on the 10.00 index won the race over the 10.045 for Friess.

The final day of the MoPower Events at NTR begins Sunday at 8:45 AM with the final time trial session before eliminations. The Rob Teeters Memorial Car Show is also slated for Sunday as well.

Thanks for the update on the race results. Great job.

yes, thank much for letting us know how things are going! also kudo's to walt biddle and linda gibson on the finishes they produced in the fri and sat super pro races!!! dave

SUNDAY

The final day of the 20th annual MoPower Event here at NTR was another fantastic day of racing. Racers and fans alike could not have asked for a better weekend to race and enjoy a great time at the track. Like it was throughout the Friday and Saturday racing action, the power and close side by side action made it exciting and nerve-racking at the same time. Dirk Hale had a great weekend in the Max Wedge division as he made his second final round in a row. However, his win of Saturday would have to be matched with a runner up on this day as Casey Fauss-Johnson got the win. Other winners for the day included Richard Staats (Super Pro), Vince Butler (Pro), Dustin Goodin (Sportsman), and Jack Moore (Hemi).

Staats, a regular at NTR, took his trusty 1970 Road Runner from Marietta, Ohio to the Super Pro win as he defeated the 1971 Scamp of Canton, Michigan's Ray Waack. The final was intriguing event before the tree dropped as Waack had the car back out of the stage beam when setting the transbrake. Quickly, Waack was able to get the car into the beams and even got the edge off the line with a .011 to Staats' .023 reaction time. Staats was able to stay out in front throughout the entire pass and scored the win with a 10.295 on a 10.28 dial in. Waack was game, but his 9.415 on a 9.37 couldn't get it done.

Butler was very consistent on his reaction times all day long and took his 1971 Duster to the always tough Pro eliminator field. The Maniton Beach, Michigan runner was up against Rob Lawson, making his second final round of the weekend with his Olive Hill, Kentucky based 1971 Valiant. Butler found his groove in the middle rounds on the tree and was around a .040 light the rest of the day. In the final, Butler's .047 light got the edge off the line and he forced Lawson to breakout downtrack. A 10.060 on a 10.00 dial in was enough for Butler to win over the too quick 10.154 on a 10.16 for Lawson.

At last week's JEGS ET Series points race, Goodin was the victor in Sportsman and was ready for the MoPower Weekend. He must have been telling the truth as he worked his way through the field to score the win with his 1979 Aspen from Newark, Ohio. His final round opponent, Terry McGee from Newark in his 1965 Satellite, made it a great matchup. Goodin got the edge off the line by a couple of hundreths and used all of it to get the tight win. McGee took the stripe by mere thousandths, but his 11.839 on a 11.85 dial in was too quick. Goodin won with a 12.364 on his 12.36 dial in.

Another racer dialed into the tree all day was the runner from Columbus, Ohio Jack Moore. In the final of Hemi, Moore and his 1968 Barracuda was along side the 1970 Challenger of Gary Murphy in his second final in a row. The Parma, Ohio runner wanted to go one round further than Saturday, but Moore's lights of .000 and .001 in the previous two rounds posed a tough task. Moore got the jump with a "safe" .023 to Murphy's game .032. But at the stripe, both were two off the dial and the win light shined for Moore. His 9.421 on a 9.40 dial in won the race over the 9.657 on a 9.63 for Murphy.

Fauss-Johnson was one of the quicker cars in the Max Wedge category with his Etna, Ohio based 1965 Coronet. In the final round againt Fauss-Johnson was last night's winner Hale and his 1965 Plymouth from Trenton, Ohio. Hale was looking to get a good light in the final round of action, but was too eager off the line and red lighted his chances away. Fauss-Johnson took the win with a 9.646 on his 9.75 index.

After a great weekend of racing action, the racers following the MoPower Series will move to Kil-Kare Dragway in Xenia, Ohio in late July.

Thanks to everyone that was in attendance here at NTR this weekend. Hope to see many of you back throughout the year and at the Mopar Nationals in August.

Thank you for posting the results. Also thanks to entire NTR staff for the hard work the entire weekend.

Jack Moore

Thanks for the detailed results, keep up the good work!