MILAN DRAGWAY
July 1, 2005
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HEADS-UP NIGHT

** Points Results At Bottom Of Page**


 

                                                        

The first Friday in July brought once again the Team Z Motorsports Heads-Up excitement. The gates opened at three o’clock in the afternoon to welcome the beautiful clear blue skies, great temperatures and the line of not only racers, but also spectators flowing through the pit gate. The track crew started early in the day scrapping off excess rubber, applying the final coat of glue to the ¼ mile racing surface and making sure the racers would have the best track surface available. The steady stream of cars lined up at tech to get ready for what was to come later in the evening. This was a spectacular event with a record breaking crowd attendance filling the nearby fields with cars, stands with spectators and fan favorite drivers coming out for another event. This event saw the likes of Dan Millen, Brad Tyson, Chris White, Greg Blevins and also professional PGA golfer Kenny Perry with crew chief Billy Glidden!

Qualifying

The first round of qualifying for the Team Z Motorsports Heads Up classes came at the 4:30pm scheduled time and the Wheel to Wheel All Motor class was the first to make qualifying runs. 10 cars filled the qualifying spots in All Motor with fan favorite Butch Kemp from Washington, MI and his 1967 Chevy Nova taking the number one qualifying spot for first round with a 9.1919 at 138.37 M.P.H. Darrin Mag out of Livonia, MI had a better mile per hour than Butch, but only a 9.4000 E.T. to put him at number two in qualifying. Next class out was the Holbrook Racing Engines 10.5 Outlaw. Nine cars came up to lanes to qualify but only eight of them made the qualifying list first round. Kirk “Howdy” Ferris and his 1969 Chevy Camaro had problems with the turbo on the starting line, deciding to not make a pass down the track. Dan Millen did what he does best with his 2002 Ford Mustang, staying at the top of the qualifying list at number one with the only seven second pass in the Outlaw class first round. Millen went 7.6840 coasting through the quarter mile at 159.65 M.P.H. Followed behind Millen was Dean Parker out of Belleville, MI at 8.2598 at 166.67 M.P.H. After 10.5 Outlaw came the Street Bike Shoot-Out class. Only four came out to start filling the 16 bike field. First pair out was Bud Yoder from Flint, MI going against Ronnie Mitchell and his 04’ Suzuki Hayabusa. Next it was Richard Peppler against Mike Bayes. After first qualifying it was Ronnie Mitchell taking the number one qualifying spot with the only eight second pass 8.1150 at 178.58 M.P.H to round up first round of qualifying.

Some highlights of the second round qualifying includes Butch Kemp knocking seven hundredths off his number one qualifying spot in the All Motor class of 9.1919 to a 9.1293 at 146.47 M.P.H. Ronnie Mitchell stayed at the number one qualifying spot in the Street Bike Shoot-Out category, but slowing this pass down to 8.3998 at 169.87. In the Holbrook 10.5 Outlaw class last months winner and number one qualifier set his number one spot once again. Blevins flew down the track on a single pass, carrying it down on the wheelie bars, passing through the quarter mile at an amazing 7.2758 at 195.69 knocking Millen out of number one. Dan Millen came out this pass but came off the line smoking the tires and wasn’t able to make a full pass. The excitement came at the end of second round of qualifying when the DynoServe Run What Ya Brung came out for their first round of qualifying. Second pair into the round Rick Perlongo and his Big Block 1930 Ford Coupe came off the line in the left and at the 1000 foot side swiped the concrete guard wall, but only knocked off a window and scraped off some paint. A few pairs down, Barry Ballard, who usually prefers to run in the right F.A.S.T. lane, was put in the left lane against John Powers. Barry ran a 7.1418, but it was the fast car, John Powers that moved into the number one qualifying spot at 6.9780 at 196.46. John stayed at number one until Brian Robbins and his 72’ Olds Hurst ran an impressive 6.6219 at 211 M.P.H. to put him at the number one spot. Jimmy Detrick and his Varsity Ford sponsored 99’ Ford Probe had troubles getting off the starting line and was not able to make a full pass. Detrick was shooting all the horsepower spinning the back tires, even knocking the driver side door ajar.    

At 7:10 P.M. it was still clear blue skies, the air was crisp and all of the grandstands were full with eager spectators awaiting to see who would be qualified to run in the Wheel to Wheel All Motor, Holbrook Racing Engines 10.5 Outlaw, Street Bike Shoot Out category and the DynoServe Run What Ya Brung class. First category in the rotation was the Wheel to Wheel All Motor. All the cars had no troubles getting off the starting line. After it was fully prepped, Butch Kemp once again knocked some time off of his last qualifying to bring the LD Motorsports low qualifying time in All Motor to a 9.1160 at a 146.11 M.P.H! At the end of qualifying there were 14 cars filling the 16 car field! At the end of qualifying for the Street Bike Shoot Out category there were 7 bikes filling the field. Ronnie Mitchell was at the number one spot at 8.1150 at 178.58 M.P.H. followed by Todd Zeller out of Milan, MI with a 8.2061 at 170.51 M.P.H. The class that followed was the Holbrook Racing Engines 10.5 Outlaw category. Howdy Ferris and JR Gibson both had single runs then it was Chris White and his Buick coming off the starting line with his wheels high in the air spooling the turbo and getting out of the run before the finish line. Dan Millen and Mark Knierim were out next and just before they staged, Mark lost power. Frantically Mark tried firing again and had problems. Finally Millen pulled forward and just before he staged Knierim was able to get it started and lined up against Millen setting their third qualifying runs. Finally PGA golfer Kenny Perry pulled the 98’ Pontiac Grand Am to the line with Billy Glidden, who is known throughout many professional racing classes, acting as crew chief. Glidden lined him up and Perry pulled off the line after the tree came down spinning the tires and shuts it off to coast down the track but still filling the open 13^th qualifying spot. To wrap up qualifying, the DynoServe Run What Ya Brung came out for their second and final qualifying run. Second pair out, Brian Robbins lined up the Olds and hooked up off the line. Robbins flew down to the quarter mile, knocking John Powers out of number one with a impressive 6.5319 at 213.31 M.P.H. To end qualifying, Jimmy Detrick who had problems getting down the track all day finally got all the bugs worked out and jumped up from the 22nd qualifying spot to number seven with a 7.2140. Qualifying came to an end and the ladders were set for eliminations.

Eliminations

At nine P.M., after the Wheel to Wheel Friday Night Street Race first round was finished, the show began when the Wheel To Wheel All Motor category pulled out for the Team Z Motorsports Heads Up Friday Night. In the All Motor category first round, number one qualifier Butch Kemp was the bye run and gave the spectators a great show. Butch made his lone pass carrying the wheels all the way out to the 330’ and came down with sparks flying taking the free entry into round two. Round two, Darrin Mag and his 1967 Ford Mustang took out Kelly Longwish but came close to running the first 8 second pass in the All Motor category with a 9.0182 at 148 M.P.H. Finally round 4 came and that meant the finals. It was Darrin Mag once again to the line going against number one qualifier Butch Kemp. Butch was the first one off the start when the tree came down and also able to hold on the lead and took the win at 9.0109 at 147.13 M.P.H.

Next in the rotation was the Street Bike Shoot Out. The first pair out in first round was Nikki Bush from Westland, MI going against Les Stimac from Mt. Morris, MI. Bush had Stimac off the line all the way down behind her taking the win. After first round it was Ronnie Mitchell, Todd Zeller, Richard Peppler and Nikki Bush advancing to the next round. Finally down to the final, it was Ronnie Mitchell and the 2004 Hayabusa going against Todd Zeller’s 92 Suzuki GSXR. Zeller had the better reaction time between the two, but Mitchell kicked it into high gear and stayed ahead of Zeller taking the win at 8.2010 at 165.89 M.P.H.

The next class was the DynoServe Run What Ya Brung category. At the end of qualifying it was a total of 24 cars that came out to the track and tried to get into the 8 car field. In the first round all the drivers made good runs. When it was time for Dave Sullivan to go against Doug Holmes, the starter noticed Sullivan leaking and had to be backed up. Holmes got the broke-single pass and advanced into the semi-finals. Second round came  the semi-finals and only two cars were able to make the round. Both Bill Rowe and Brian Robbins broke giving the DTS sponsored Doug Holmes and John Powers their ticket to meet in the finals. In the finals Doug Holmes and John Powers pulled up to the line and pre-staged. Another round of staging battles began with neither driver going in first. Finally John Powers went in first and Doug inched forward. Powers had the quicker start and kept the lead all the way down beating Doug Holmes in the final round with a 6.9179 at 200.80 M.P.H.

Finally it was the Holbrook Racing Engines 10.5 Outlaw category. Round one showed eleven out of the thirteen cars that qualified paired up. Greg Blevins, the LD Motorsports number one qualifier with a 7.2758, just coasted to the top end automatically advancing into next round. After round one it seemed as if Greg Blevins and Dan Millen were having a war of the E.T. time. Round two, Millen ran a 7.42 and Blevins ran a 7.24. Next round Millen stepped up to the plate and broke the 200 M.P.H. barrier for him and the Outlaw class running a 7.2013 at 201.45 M.P.H!   Next up it was the battle between Greg Blevins 2002 Ford Mustang against Mark Knierims’s 67’ Chevy Camaro. Cars took off, both carrying out the wheels past the 330’. At the eighth mile smoke came out of Blevins mustang. Track officials went down to go check it out and Blevins turbo propeller ripped out of the car shooting shreds of metal on the track. If it weren’t for that it would have been a battle of the mustangs with Dan Millen and Greg Blevins in the final round. When the finals came, there were 15 minutes left to go for the night. At 11:45 P.M. both teams looked over their vehicles and Chris White and Dan Millen came out to the line. Millen pre-staged and White followed but that’s as far as they moved! Both cars sat there on the line awaiting their opponent to stage in a staging battle! Announcer let them know they still had 10 minutes until curfew so the burn down continued. Chris White is no stranger to waiting for his opponent to stage first so he wasn’t going in; Millen sat there also not inching forward. Finally with 5 minutes to go, Dan Millen bumped in first and Chris followed in. Tree came down and Chris had Millen all the way down until the incident happened at the 1/8^th mile. Off the line, White had problems staying in the groove and just past the 1/8^th mile Chris White brushed against the left concrete guard wall. The impact made Chris try to keep control of the car, but that wasn’t enough. The car swerved to the right lane, just barely missing Millen and cut back into the left lane ending against the left guard wall. Luckily Chris was able to get out of the car himself and was unharmed. According to the White Racing group, it was a faulty oil fitting that leaked oil onto the back tires. In the end Dan Millen took the win and Chris reassured everybody he would be back for next month’s race!

Final Qualifying

Wheel To Wheel All Motor

CLASS	HOMETOWN	CAR or BIKE	REACTION TIME	E.T. SPEED (MPH)	SEMI FINALIST
HOLBROOK RACING ENGINES 10.5 OUTLAW WINNER Dan Millin	Dearborn Hts., MI	02' Ford Mustang	+.1038	8.2030 145.26	Howdy Ferris
HOLBROOK RACING ENGINES 10.5 OUTLAW RUNNER UP Chris White	Warren, MI	87 Buick	+.0802	8.8419 87.54	Greg Blevins Jr.
WHEEL TO WHEEL ALL MOTOR WINNER Butch Kemp	Washington, MI	67' Chevy Nova	+.0210	9.0109 147.13	Bill Adamski
WHEEL TO WHEEL ALL MOTOR RUNNER UP Darrin Mag	Livonia, MI	67' Ford Mustang	+.0661	9.2158 150.06	Lane Lambert
DYNOSERVE RUN WHAT YA BRUNG WINNER John Powers	Ypsilanti, MI	94' Chevy Lumina	+.1001	6.9179 200.80	Bye
DYNOSERVE RUN WHAT YA BRUNG RUNNER UP Doug Holmes	Holly, MI	70' Chevy Chevelle	+.2880	6.8768 211.26	Single
STREET BIKE SHOOT - OUT WINNER Todd Zeller	Milan, MI	97' Suzuki	+.0781	8.2010 165.89	Richard Peppler
STREET BIKE SHOOT - OUT RUNNER UP Ronnie Mitchell	Belleville, MI	04' Hayabusa	+.0489	8.7049 141.07	Nikki Bush

HEADS UP POINT STANDINGS
** Make Sure To Use The Same Number Each Race To Receive Points**

DynoServe Run What Ya Brung

10.5 Outlaw Class

All Motor Class

Extreme Street Bike Shoot - Out
 

HOW THE POINTS ARE SCORED
At the end of each race the points are totaled and posted. If you lose first round you receive 50 points. For each round you win
you will receive 100 points. For example if you lose first round you will have 50 points. If you lose second round you will receive
100 points. Third round loser 200 points. In the event of a tie at the end of the points, the racer with the most wins will be crowned champion!  If you have any questions feel free to email Matt at matt@milandragway.com