Sunday, April 20, 2008 - 9 AM Update

The rains of last night and this morning combined with today's forecast has forced the postponement of Sunday's action at Dragway 42.

The IHRA Ironman Classic presented by Drag Review Magazine as well as Dragway 42's Annual Racer Appreciation Event has been rescheduled for Saturday, May 10th.

For this upcoming week, the Dragway 42 schedule looks like this:

Tuesday, April 22 1/4 Mile Test & Tune, Street and Grudge Race program with 3 qualifying sessions for the Dragway 42 100 MPH Club for street legal cars presented by Akron Horsepower.

Friday, April 25 1/4 Mile Test & Tune, Street and Grudge Race program with 1/8th mile Gambler Race sponsored by Big 3 Racing of Hinckley, Ohio.

Saturday, April 26 Return of the very popular Dragway 42 Box / No Box Combo Event on the 1/8th mile plus 1/4 mile Street Trophy. The combo pays a minimum, guaranteed purse of $700 to win and $600 to runner-up with the purse jumping to $1,200 to win and $1,000 to runner-up with 128 or more entries. $30 Car and Driver entry fee for the combo and $15 Car and Driver entry fee for street trophy. Gates open at 4 PM, time trials begin at 4:30, and eliminations begin at 7:30 PM

Sunday, April 27 First Summit SuperSeries Event of the season. You do NOT have to be a member of IHRA or Dragway 42 points program to participate. Seven classes in competition with Top (0-7.99 Dial-In, Delay Box OK, 1/8th mile), Wind-It-Tight Engines Mod Class (0-9.49 Dial-In, No Delay Box, 1/8th mile), Akron Horsepower Street Class (12.00-17.99 Dial-In, Footbrake Only, 1/4 mile), Vanson Leathers Pro Bike (0-9.50 Dial-In, No Delay Box, 1/8th mile), plus the 3 junior dragster classes of Pat Catan's Craft Centers Junior Fuel, World Cup Coffee Junior Super Stock, and World Cup Coffee Junior Stock. The maximum purses have increased in 3 classes this year (Top, Mod, and Junior Super Stock). Gates open at 9 AM, first of 3 Junior Dragster time trial sessions at 10 AM, big car time trials beginning at 11 AM, and big car and bike eliminations at 2 PM. More details are available by clicking .

Sunday's action at Dragway 42 will feature the rescheduled IHRA Ironman Classic presented by Drag Review Magazine as well as Dragway 42's Annual Racer Appreciation Event.

Participants will enjoy free race entry fee to their choice of 4 different classes in competition on Sunday with the purchase of a regularly priced $10 general admission ticket.

Sunday's classes include:

Delay Box (0-7.99 Dial-In; 1/8th Mile) paying $1,000 to win / $300 to runner-up
No Delay Box (0-11.99 Dial-In; 1/8th Mile) paying $1,000 to win / $300 to runner-up
Street Trophy (12.00-up Dial-In; 1/4 Mile; DOT Tires Only; Footbrake Only)
Junior Dragster (Minimum Dial-In based on competitor's license)

In addition to any cash purse, all 4 class winners will also be awarded an IHRA Ironman trophy.

Buybacks into the 2nd round of eliminations will be offered in all 4 classes. The buyback fees are just $20 for the Delay Box and No Delay Box classes and $10 for the Street Trophy and Junior Dragster classes.

Gates will open Sunday morning at 9:30 AM. The first session of Junior Dragster time trials will begin at 10:30 AM with big car (and motorcycle) time trials beginning at 11 AM. A minimum of two time trial sessions will be offered with big car eliminations scheduled to begin at 2:30 PM.

Friday, April 18, 2007

Well over 100 racers tried out Friday night to be a part of the group of 8 competitors who would face off in the first of Dragway 42's new, monthly "ALL OUT" eliminator programs.

The tightly matched group featured the 8 closest matched vehicles from qualifying. Five Mustangs and one Corvette, Camaro, and S-10 truck were part of a group of 12 second cars whose best elapsed times fell within 2/10ths of a second of each other.

In the first round of the Akron Horsepower sponsored "ALL OUT" eliminations, Avon's Jay Williams in a 1992 Mustang defeated the 2007 Corvette of Wadsworth's Rodney Leffect. Mansfield's Mike Downs took a holeshot victory in his 1990 Mustang GT against the quicker but losing 2001 Camaro SS of Parma Heights' Jeff Phillips. In the first of several Mustang vs. Mustang battles, Polk's Mike Imhoff defeated the 1994 Mustang of Wellington's Johnnie Kinter while Parma Heights' Rodney Albering completed the Mustang sweep when his 2006 model took the round 1 win over the S-10 truck of Oakwood Village's Tim Shaver.

The semi-finals saw Jay Williams take a 12.28 to a 12.31 win over Rodney Alberino while Mike Downs took a 12.27 to a 12.46 win over Mike Imhoff.

There was final round drama as the two cars were separated by less 1/100th of a second in performance but one of the finalists had recorded the best reaction time to the "pro" Christmas Tree in both of previous rounds of eliminations. Knowing that Mike Downs was likely to be first off the starting line, Jay Williams attempted to anticipate the green light but instead left the starting line before the Christmas Tree was activated, handing the automatic win and the $200 cash prize to Mike Downs.

In the evening's other eliminator class, Parma's Ed Workman and his 1991 "Hot Rod" Lincoln took the final round victory in the Big 3 Racing sponsored Gambler Race over Akron's Mike Greathouse and his 1975 Dodge Dart.

For 2008, each Friday night Street Race, Grudge Race, and Test & Tune event will feature a Big 3 Racing gambler race and the first Friday night event of each month will also feature the Dragway 42 "ALL OUT" program presented by Akron Horsepower.