PENNER DOUBLES AT IDALOU 

 

 

          The Southwest Superchargers had their first repeat winner July 28 at Idalou Raceway outside Lubbock, TX. Jacob Penner and his "Just for Kicks" dragster won in convincing style for the second SWSC race in a row.

 

          Starting with what may have been the best weather of the 2007 SWSC racing season, promptly at 5:pm fourteen SWSC competitors rolled through the staging lanes to the burn-out box. As a harbinger of good things to come, Jacob Penner ( BBC ) ran 7.552/181.7 vs. points leader Julian Moody's ( BB KB ) 7.539/176.9 with Moody putting up a .002 r.t.. Greg Powell ( SBC ) next ran a 7.75/172.5 alongside his former car which Jack Bartlett urged to a 7.713/175. The small block machine of Eddie Tidwell went 7.550/179.7 on a single. In Don David's ( BBC ) first SWSC appearance of 2007 his decent 7.818/177.7 was overshadowed by Sue Stringer ( BBC ) stellar 7.608/172.8. Local hero Mike Jones ( BBC ) ran  a great 7.570/183 against Gilbert Tejeda's ( BBC ) 7.535/170.4. Carl Meador ( SBC ) and owner Chris Stouffer brought their altered in from East Texas and ran 8.356/120 out of the trailer as Gary Hill ( MAX WEDGE MOPAR ) ran 7.571/174.2 in the opposite lane. Mitch Meuse ( SBC ) struggled and steered to a 9.470/151.0 vs. Bill Norman's ( HEMI ) 7.747/178.5. Finally local racer Jack Chapman's ( BBC ) "The Hoopie" blasted to a 7.508/179.8

 

          Chapman also made the arrangements for the SWSC Public Display, arguably the best attended in our history. Thanks, Jack! Good displays lead to good attendance at the races.

 

          Q-2 began with Moody vs. Powell. Moody's 7.537/176.1 out-qualified Powell's7.692/174. Likewise Penner's 7.548/179.5 outshined Bartlett's 7.691/174.7. Don David's 8.472/175.2 was underscored by Sue's 7.422/179.1. Sue's run was officially ignored as, per the SWSC rules, it was more than 1/10 sec under the 7.60 index. Even so Sue was as tickled as a little girl with a new bike at a birthday party. Eddie Tidwell went 7.732/177.9 vs. Tejeda's 7.897/131.9. Jones' "Voodoo Child" made a nice 7.560/184 when Meador's altered stepped up to 7.876/166.6. Hill's best effort was 7.572/173.1 against Chapman's 7.667/179.8. Lastly Meuse slid to a meager 14.368/56 as The Fat Boys/Norman Bros "Flashback" ran 7.698/179.3.

 

          At this point allow this scribe to remind our faithful followers of the SWSC qualifying rules. All runs on BOTH SIDES of the 7.60 index are considered when pairing up.. i.e., a 7.56 out-qualifies a 7.65, the 7.56 being .04 off index vs. the 7.65 at .05 off index. However, NO runs below 7.5000 will be recognized. Eleven cars ran within 1/10 of the SWSC 7.60. But the SWSC runs an 8-car qualified field. Three SWSC regulars, all former race winners, failed to qualify even though they all ran quicker than 7.70 on a 7.60 index. Honestly, this is the kind of field and racing we of the SWSC have been striving for.

 

         Round #1 Eliminations began with #1 Sue Stringer squaring off #8 Jack Chapman. Chapman's under-index 7.549/170 allowed Sues 7.878/149.8 to advance. #4 Eddie Tidwell then ran #5 Jacob Penner. Penner's 7.604/177 (!) was too much for Tidwell's run-under 7.521/161.3. #3 Mike Jones fired to run #6 Julian Moody. Jones also ran a "b/o" 7.596/163.2 vs. Moody's 7.614/174.9. The last pair in Rd 1 was #2 Gary Hill vs. #7 Gilbert Tejeda. In a double breakout pass where neither driver wanted to lift first and finish last, Hill advanced when Tejeda ran farther under 7.447/177 to Gary's 7.458/161, an e.t. difference of only .011 thousandths!

 

          In Round #2, #1 Sue Stringer ran the most recent race winner #5 Jacob Penner. Penner's exquisite 7.608/158 out paced Sue's 7.694/156. Next #2 Gary Hill faced #6 Julian Moody. Moody moved to the final on the merits of his spectacular 7.607/157.9 vs. Gary's under-index 7.553/161.9.

 

          Now let's review. So far we've seen 10 runs decided by less than 1/10 sec. We've already had 4 runs on the 7.60 index. And in the final we have the current points leader and the most recent winner...and both ran 7.60 in the semis! Edge of your seat!

 

          #5 Jacob Penner's "Just for Kicks" fired to face #6 Julian Moody's "Pipeliner 3". In the closest race of the night (no surprise there) Moody ran under-index 7.596/175) giving Jacob Penner his second win in as many races on another 7.605/167.9. A race decided by .009 sec. Outstanding!

 

          Our Thanks to Dennis and the Staff of Idalou Raceway and Congratulations on having hosted the Quickest/Fastest/Closest SWSC field ever!

 

            Here are the stats....

 

Runs:

7.60-7.609                     5

7.50-7.59                        16

7.60-7.70                       6

7-sec runs total            38!  Frank T would have been proud!

 

Tightest race (Final)    7.596 vs 7.605   .009

 

Dragsters                    7

Funsters                      2

Altereds                       5

 

Spread                        .132 sec.

 

Floyd Stringer