In The Winners Circle...
Clermont, Indiana – The VIPsports.com/Allstar Performance Dodge Stratus Top Alcohol Funny Car, driven by Danny Townsend, chalked up a dominating win at Indianapolis Raceway Park, April 17. After only two qualifying runs, the car had a padlock on top qualifier honors, low elapsed time and top speed at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series North Central Division event. On Sunday evening, Frank Parker, team owner, was answering his cell phone "Winners Circle, how may I help you?"
This was a complete turn-around from the car’s NHRA season debut, a month earlier, where it went out in the first round. Parker commented on that... "We were really excited about VIPsports.com joining our team and were looking forward to making a good first impression. But the car still had some wrapping paper on it and we had no time for testing." The three runs in Gainesville were enough to steer Parker's crew in the right direction.
The VIPsports.com Dodge Stratus is the first in TAFC to use a true "nitro" body, not an adaptation, and a McKinney alcohol chassis, purpose-built for the body. "I was disappointed, in Gainesville," said Townsend, "but I could feel potential in the car. Here, our second qualifying run was right down Broadway, in the heat of the day, at a 5.708 and 253.99." With that, Townsend strapped in, put a huge chunk of that potential on the pavement and ran away with the first round – in spite of the engine shutting down just before the lights. A piston and bent valve were changed and the car moved back into the staging lanes. Round two was a repeat – advantage, engine problem, win – but this time the engine problem was terminal.
With time till the final round winding down, Mick Snyder’s Torco Fuels crew pitched in to help get the VIPsports.com Dodge Stratus up and running. Watching a complete engine rebuild, between the semi and final rounds, is a bit like watching a movie of feasting Piranhas, but with the film running backwards so there’s a happy ending. Throw in a second school of Piranhas and you have the scene in the VIPsports.com pit. The two teams got the car together, never once bit one another, and made the final. Townsend laid down another Broadway run for the win, with a 5.746 at 253.66 – only 4/100 of a second and 3/10 of a mile per hour slower than his qualifying run. Townsend is now leading Chuck Cheeseman by 42 points in Division 3.
The ParkerTech Racing Services team will next take the VIPsports.com/Allstar Performance Dodge Stratus to the 25th Annual NHRA Southern Nationals, May 12-15, in Atlanta, Georgia.
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