McCann Finishes On Top In Tulsa
Tulsa Raceway Park - Tulsa, Oklahoma
Event #4 of 8 - July 11th, 2009
The Southwest Junior Fuel Association reached the halfway point of the 2009 season with their fourth event held at Tulsa Raceway Park on July 11th. The SWJFA series was booked in as a feature during the Annual Nitro Nationals event held each summer in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After setting a series record at the last event with twenty one cars in attendance, another strong field of fifteen rails came to have some fun in the sun on a typical mid July summer afternoon.
Choctaw, Oklahoma based junior fuel racer Robert Donovan and Rick Huckabee of Aubrey, Texas made their first outings of the season. Huckabee debuting a brand new self built and beautifully crafted machine. Keith Breazeal of Cypress, Texas came in leading the Smiley’s Racing Products / Champion Spark Plugs points standings. Mike Millsap is coming in fresh of a strong runner-up finish at the NHRA Holley Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green, Kentucky last month where fellow SWJFA race Odie Coker took the win.
(Steve Dunkin)
Steve Dunkin and Ross Laird were also in the house and both competed in Bowling Green along with Willie Brainerd and Roy Rogers who didn’t make it to Tulsa. As the temperatures reached triple digits, the qualifying action got underway just past noon. After the conclusion of two sessions, six cars clicked off seven second passes down the Tulsa Raceway Park quarter mile. Keith Breazeal led the field with a 7.66 at 174 mph with Richard Brady hot on his heels with a 7.67 at 172 mph. Robert Donovan claimed the third spot with a nice 7.77 at 169 mph. Mike Millsap and Rick Grindstaff rounded out the top five as the heat not only started playing a toll on the teams and crews, but the racecars as well. Or at least we can blame the heat right?
Thomas Porter failed to get his “Bone Peddler” machine to fire in the pits and failed to make a run, but reports suggest the problem is fixed and he will be back in action at the next event in Wichita Falls on August 1st. Ted McCord took the green in both qualifying sessions but never made it down the track under power and hoped he could turn his luck around in first round as he would still be a part of eliminations. Rick Huckabee had issues with his car driving straight on it’s first full passes down the strip. The team elected to save their brand new racecar for another day and sat out eliminations, even after drawing the bye run for first round.
On a more positive note, Kenny Stallard, Paul McCann, Jay Briggs and Howard Tribbey all qualified for their second event in a row in their second outings of the season. Rookie Chad Daigre of Lake Charles, Louisiana kept his qualifying streak alive with his third straight trip to first round, starting from the number nine spot as Keith Breazeal led the field into eliminations for the third time this season.
(Chad Daigre)
(Jay Briggs)
Final Qualifying Order:
1) Keith Breazeal (Cypress, Texas) – 7.667 @ 174.23
2) Richard Brady (Ft. Worth, Texas) – 7.672 @ 172.04
3) Robert Donovan (Choctaw, Oklahoma) – 7.774 @ 169.36
4) Mike Millsap (Sachse, Texas) – 7.781 @ 170.34
5) Rick Grindstaff (Dickinson, Texas) – 7.794 @ 172.56
6) Kenny Stallard (Tulsa, Oklahoma) – 7.905 @ 168.68
7) Ross Laird (Ardmore, Oklahoma) – 8.024 @ 166.27
8) Paul McCann (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) – 8.050 @ 163.53
9) Chad Daigre (Lake Charles, Louisiana) – 8.082 @ 163.99
10) Steve Dunkin (Aledo, Texas) – 8.209 @ 159.83
11) Jay Briggs (Lake Charles, Louisiana) – 8.352 @ 150.53
12) Howard Tribbey (Tulsa, Oklahoma) – 9.623 @ 136.22
13) Rick Huckabee (Aubrey, Texas) – 10.273 @ 75.77
14) Ted McCord (Tulsa, Oklahoma) – No Time
15) Thomas Porter (Burleson, Texas) – No Time
The first pair out put Rick Grindstaff along side Ross Laird, with Grindstaff currently number two in points posting back to back runner-up finishes to open the season. Grindstaff cut the best light of the round (.023) and clicked off an 8.05 at 170 mph to take out Laird’s 9.64. Jay Briggs rolled out next paired with points leader Keith Breazeal. Briggs lucked out as Breazeal lost fire on the line and watched as Briggs took the win with an 8.80 at 151 mph, his first SWJFA round win. This opened the door for Grindstaff go make big ground on the points leader Breazeal.
(Rick Grindstaff vs. Ross Laird)
As first round continued, Paul McCann and Chad Daigre burned out next. Daigre over anticipated the tree with a -.042 bulb and McCann took the win with an 8.08 at 163 mph. The number two and three qualifiers, Richard Brady and Robert Donovan, lined up next in a big power match up. Donovan had an unlucky -.008 bulb and threw away a nice 7.78 at 168 mph. Brady clicked off a stout 7.71 at 171 mph to march ahead. Howard Tribbey notched his first SWJFA round win in a single pass where Thomas Porter was set to appear. Tribbey went 9.66 at 134 mph to advance. Bowling Green buddies Mike Millsap and Steve Dunkin were given the signal to fire in the next pair, but Dunkin’s car failed to respond and Millsap went on to run a 7.83 at 170 mph to take the win. In the final pair of the round, Kenny Stallard clicked off a 7.95 at 168 mph to take out Ted McCord, who’s starting line issues unfortunately were not solved as he rolled through the beams.
All but the first pair of round one resulted in some fashion of disqualification for the loosing team, and the advancing winners hoped for a less troublesome second round of competition as the heat continued to take it’s toll in what some racers called the hottest racing conditions they had ever raced in.
First Round Results:
(W) Rick Grindstaff (.023 rt) 8.05 at 170 mph vs. (L) Ross Laird (.233 rt) 9.64 at 84 mph
(W) Jay Briggs (3.51 rt) 8.80 at 151 mph vs. (L) Keith Breazeal (Broke)
(W) Paul McCann (.081 rt) 8.08 at 163 mph vs. (L) Chad Daigre (-.042 rt) 8.09 at 165 mph
(W) Richard Brady (.067 rt) 7.71 at 171 mph vs. (L) Robert Donovan (-.008 rt) 7.78 at 168 mph
(W) Howard Tribbey (.156 rt) 9.66 at 134 mph vs. (L) Thomas Porter (Broke)
(W) Mike Millsap (.156 rt) 7.83 at 170 mph vs. (L) Steve Dunkin (Broke)
(W) Kenny Stallard (.229 rt) 7.95 at 168 mph vs. (L) Ted McCord (Foul – Deep)
(Howard Tribbey)
(Kenny Stallard)
In second round, Kenny Stallard took advantage of drawing the bye run and clicked off another 7.95 at 167 mph to advance to the semi. Mike Millsap left ahead of Briggs and never looked back taking the win light with another 7.83 at 169 mph to Briggs’ 8.19 at 162 mph. Paul McCann saw his opponent leave before green again as Richard Brady went -.002 and watched McCann streak to an 8.22 at 154 mph winning run. McCann and the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma based team were heading to their first semi-final. Brady threw away low elapsed time of the round with a 7.67 at 171 mph. Points hungry Rick Grindstaff got the nod over Howard Tribbey with a nice 7.87 at 171 mph to Tribbey’s 9.66 to close out the round.
Second Round Results:
(W) Kenny Stallard (.030 rt) 7.95 at 167 mph vs. (L) Bye Run
(W) Mike Millsap (.022 rt) 7.83 at 169 mph vs. (L) Jay Briggs (.220 rt) 8.19 at 162 mph
(W) Paul McCann (.066 rt) 8.22 at 154 mph vs. (L) Richard Brady (-.002 rt) 7.67 at 171 mph
(W) Rick Grindstaff (.159 rt) 7.87 at 171 mph vs. (L) Howard Tribbey (.348 rt) 9.66 at 135 mph
(Paul McCann)
(Mike Millsap)
Grindstaff was entering his fourth straight semi-final of the season facing off with Mike Millsap. Millsap was looking to advance to his first final round of the season and his wish came sooner than expected as Grindstaff went red by -.033 and Millsap advanced with a solid 7.79 at 170 mph. Although he lost the round, Grindstaff was able to climb past Keith Breazeal by just one point to take the overall lead for the Dickinson, Texas based “Quarterflash” team.
“I want to give special thanks the Tulsa Raceway Park track crew for giving us a safe track to run in despite the conditions. I also want to thank Tina, my son Matt, Lonnie and Don Davila for helping me with this car and being in the points lead is just icing on the cake for all of us,” said Grindstaff.
Kenny Stallard lined up next along side Paul McCann. All Stallard wanted to do was cut a legal reaction time as McCann had seen all his opponents leave too soon up to this point. Unfortunately for Stallard, the crew accidentally popped the parachute on the line and they watched as McCann took the green then clicked off an 8.18 at 157 mph to advance to his first SWJFA final to run Millsap for the money.
Semi-Final Round Results:
(W) Mike Millsap (.039 rt) 7.79 at 170 mph vs. (L) Rick Grindstaff (-.033 rt) 8.06 at 165 mph
(W) Paul McCann (.055 rt) 8.18 at 157 mph vs. (L) Kenny Stallard (DQ – Parachute)
The sun was still blazing down on Tulsa Raceway Park as the call went out to fire up the junior fuel final round. In the staging lanes, as a showing of good sportsmanship by team Millsap, the teams flipped a coin to see who would run in the preferred left lane. McCann and company made the right call and looked to have the hot hand all day long as the cars proceeded to burnout and creep into the beams. McCann jumped out with a big advantage early and Millsap ran out of racetrack at the big end as his 7.80 at 170 mph lost to McCann’s 8.01 at 163 mph. Millsap got caught sleeping on the line and the difference spelled disaster when McCann clicked off his best lap of the night in the other lane to take his first SWJFA event win!
(Special Thanks to Chris Heitfeld)
Final Round Results:
(W) Paul McCann (.068 rt) 8.01 at 163 mph vs. (L) Mike Millsap (.387 rt) 7.80 at 170 mph
“I want to thank my parents Paul and Debbie, my wife Reagan, Jennifer and Todd and David Mathis for helping me race this car. It was great to notch our first win and we hope we can keep it up next time out,” said McCann.
(Paul McCann Winner's Circle)
(Mike Millsap and Mike Mauldin)
Millsap would head back to Sachse, Texas settling for runner-up, but made a jump into fourth in the points standings behind Richard Brady in third, with Steve Dunkin rounding out the top five. There was a lot of action to keep up with in this one and hopefully the teams that had issues can bounce back in three weeks as the SWJFA series heads to Wichita Raceway Park in Wichita Falls, Texas on Saturday, August 1st for the SWJFA Heat Wave Nationals.
Click here to see photos from this event by Lisa Thomas.
