Sunday, June 3, 2007

Dragway 42 announced today the formation of a "100 MPH Club" for street legal vehicles.

"There are a lot of very hot, street legal cars out there and Dragway 42 wanted a way to offer special recognition to those drivers and their machines that can achieve a 1/4 mile trap speed of 100 mph or more," stated Dragway 42's Toby Ehrmantraut.

Beginning on Tuesday, June 5, 2007 and continuing every Tuesday evening through the end of October competitors will have the 3 separate "qualifying sessions" where they can attempt to get their street legal vehicle into the Dragway 42 "100 MPH Club".

Gates open each Tuesday at 5:30 PM and racing continues until at least 10 PM. At 7 PM, 8 PM, and 9 PM drivers will be called to a specific pair of lanes to make their qualifying attempt.

"We wanted this to be a very inexpensive program for the competitors so we are only charging the participants in our Tuesday Street Race, Grudge Race, and Test & Tune events an extra $1.00 to make a qualifying attempt for our 100 MPH Club," Ehrmantraut continued.

Drivers who achieve the goal of reaching at least 100 MPH on their qualifying attempt will receive a 3 inch square "2007 Member" decal for that vehicle; listing of the driver, his (or her) hometown, and the year, make, and model of the vehicle that qualified for the Dragway 42 "100 MPH Club" in a special area of the track website; plus the opportunity to purchase exclusive "100 MPH Club" merchandise such as t-shirts and other items.

A vehicle is only eligible for the "100 MPH Club" once during the season but a driver may qualify as many different vehicles as they like into the club.

For existing 100 MPH Club members who are "overachievers", once per month Dragway 42 will offer those drivers and their machines the opportunity to qualify for the exclusive "110 MPH Club" and "120 MPH Club".

Vehicles must meet basic "street legal" requirements including but not limited to DOT tires (no race slicks allowed however DOT drag radials are accepted), full exhaust system (no open headers), lights, signals, wipers, etc. and the vehicle must have been driven to the track.

The Dragway 42 "100 MPH Club" program is presented by Akron Horsepower. Akron Horsepower is a full service, high performance center featuring an in-house chassis dyno, custom tuning, turbo and supercharger installations, engine upgrades, and so much more. Their facility is located just east of the intersection of Interstate 77 and I-277/US 224 in Akron. Visit them on the web at www.AkronHorsepower.com

Akron Horsepower is not only the sponsor of the Dragway 42 "100 MPH Club" but also the track's Tuesday Night "1/4 Mile Street Race/Grudge Race/Test and Tune" program; the Wednesday Night "Akron Horsepower" Street Trophy Class (1/4 mile class with unlimited ET's on DOT tires, 13.99 or slower on slicks); as well at the Dragway 42 / Akron Machining Institute / Summit SuperSeries "Akron Horsepower" Street Class (1/4 mile class for vehicles dialed 12.00 and up) that is contested on most weekends at Dragway 42.

Sunday, June 3, 2007 - 9:00 AM

Yes, we did manage to get in all of Saturday's event however the rain has started again, radar shows more on the way, and this afternoon's forecast is for continuing showers so we have cancelled today's scheduled event.

We will be open on Tuesday for the Akron Horsepower Street Race/Grudge Race/Test&Tune Program with the first opportunity to qualify for the new Dragway 42 "100 MPH Club" for street legal vehicles.

Do not forget that next Sunday, June 10th, in addition to our regularly scheduled Akron Machining Institute / Summit SuperSeries program of 7 classes in competition, the UMTR (United Manual Transmission Racers) will bring their nearly 100 car field of two "all-stick shift" classes to Dragway 42 to open their 2007 season. This will be the first of two scheduled appearances by the UMTR this season at Dragway 42.

Thanks for your support and we hope to see you soon.

As many of you are aware, "Little" Jack Ehrmantraut (Jack's son, Toby's brother) was involved in a very serious traffic accident more than one week ago in Mansfield.

Jack's condition has improved and his injuries are not life threatening however it is expected that he will remain hospitalized for several additional days if not longer.

We have received multiple requests for an address to send him a card or a letter (no flowers please). If you would like to send Jack some well wishes, please use the following address:

Jack Ehrmantraut
MedCenter
335 Glessner Avenue
Room 3018
Mansfield, OH 44903

The thoughts and prayers for Jack by the Dragway 42 family of racers and fans have been greatly appreciated by all of those affected by the accident.

Monday, May 28, 2007

Even though Dragway 42's track schedule features 5 day a week racing during 7 months of the year, no one could remember the last time the track held an event on a Monday. When Mother Nature's Saturday storms and marginal Sunday forecast forced the final two days of the Ohio Bracket Racing Series Memorial Day Weekend program to be pushed back one day each, that put the finale with its pair of $2,000 to win headline classes on the Monday calendar. Participants and spectators were not disappointed by the beautiful Memorial Day weather or the great racing action.

In the $2,000 to win Delay Box Class, Norton's Gus Dowdell made his second final round appearance in two days, trying to repeat his Sunday class win. Standing in the way of a "Dowdell Double" was Atwater's Albert Donell. The handicap starting system gave Donell a nearly 1 second head start and his better reaction time (.0049 to a .0159) made the difference as Dowdell's Camaro could not catch Donell's Monza which recorded a 6.4329 ET on his 6.41 dial-in.

The Delay Box Class purse was based on a 64+ car entries but the count at the end of time trials fell approximately 10 cars short of that amount. Racers cheered when Dragway 42's Toby Ehrmantraut announced before final eliminations that the track appreciated all of the competitors who battled the poor weather early in the weekend and that Dragway 42 would pay the full $2,000 to win amount, even though the box class car count was short.

In the $2,000 to win No Box Class the '75 Dodge Dart of Shelby's Nick Hastings faced off for $2,000 top prize in the class against the '74 Nova of Shiloh's Todd Crager. The handicap starting system gave Crager the head start and he took a reaction time advantage of .0180 to the .0329 of Hastings. At the finish line it was Crager there first, but he ran too quick recording a 6.9130 on his 6.93 dial-in to hand the win to Hastings who ran 6.5569 on his 6.55 dial-in to be awarded the victory.

In the Junior Dragster Combo class Millersburg's Grant Guthrie defeated Newcomerstown's Alex Nay while Keith Klosski of Doylestown took home the Street Trophy victory in his Toyota Celica over the Chevy Corvette driven by Parma's Ed Workman.

The Ohio Bracket Series holiday weekend race program will return to Dragway 42 on June 29-30, July 1 with a pair of Gambler Races with a bonus of a pair of Mickey Thompson slicks to both class winners on Friday, a pair of $1,000 to win classes on Saturday and a pair of $2,000 to win classes on Sunday for just a single $60 car and driver entry.

Dragway 42 has also announced the addition of the Independence Day IHRA Ironman Challenge offering a pair of guaranteed $1,000 to win classes (Box and No Box), a junior dragster combo, and a street trophy eliminator. This event will be held on Wednesday afternoon, July 4th with all 4 class winners receiving an IHRA Ironman Trophy in addition to the cash purse for only a $25 car and driver entry fee.