Marv Smith shot this great photo of Chad Sechrest's Funny Bike nitrous explosion at SGMP today.

I received this from Terry Earwood a couple of weeks ago. I thought y'all might like to see the pics and hear about what Terry is up to these days. Terry is the Chief Instructor at the Skip Barber racing school in Florida. -David
Winding down from an awesome week at Daytona, we took over 7000 folks for a 'thrill ride' in the Vipers, Srt 10's and new Chargers over 5 days, but more importantly, here's a picture with me and Tom Hoover and Dick Landy. This was sort of a 'Hemi Reunion'. Hoover was the Godfather of the Hemi we raced, a great guy, hadn't seen him in 20 years...
Got him and Landy and Garlits and Richard Petty and Cotton Owens to all sign my Ronnie Sox Hemi hat...
the other picture is John Reep, the goofball on the Hemi commercials...he's actually a nice guy and a stand up comic in real life...
Terry

John Reep riding with Terry Earwood at Daytona.

Spiderman McBride's Top Fuel bike at SGMP's AMA/Bikeweek March 4-6, 2005. Photo taken March 4, 2005 by Marvin T. Smith.

BAZEMORE ON HIS GAME, ADVANCES TO SECOND ROUND IN PHOENIX

DON SCHUMACHER RACING
Contact: Judy Stropus

CHANDLER, Ariz. (Feb. 27, 2005) - Whit Bazemore was on his game in the first round of Funny Car eliminations at the Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals, when he sent the defending event champion and No. 3 qualifier Del Worsham home packing. In a tight wire-to-wire contest down the quarter-mile, Bazemore, who qualified 14th, nosed his Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Stratus across the line .0132 of a second ahead of Worsham with a 4.870-second elapsed time at 318.54 mph to Worsham's losing 4.876/318.69. Bazemore's reaction time of .078 outdid Worsham's .085.

Bazemore won the round but lost lane choice in his match-up against Worsham's teammate Phil Burkart Jr. in the quarterfinal. That made little difference, however, as the Matco Tools Dodge instantly veered to the right at the hit of the throttle, as the right-side cylinders self-destructed. Bazemore slowed to a 9.904-second crawl at 72.85 mph, while Burkart struck the tires, yet claimed the win with a 5.534/195.53.

"We broke something in the engine," said Bazemore. "At three-tenths of a second something broke and the engine basically quit firing on the right side, so it was a 4-cylinder Hemi. It just wasn't our day to win. It's something in the ignition. We'll figure it out, but it's definitely got a problem.

"The first round was exciting," he added. "We've got some good teammates over here, Ron Capps and Gary Scelzi, and they're awfully good. Capps was low in reaction-time average last year, I was second. Scelzi's got three (Top Fuel championship) rings weighing down his hand. My goal is to be the best driver at Schumacher Racing. That's awfully hard, because those guys are so good. To get a close win the second week in a row like that is great," he said, alluding also to his second-round win against Tony Pedregon at Pomona, "but, at the end of the day it's just your job. It's my job and we do what we do. Our lights (reaction times) are what they are. They're decent, they're not the best, but they're very, very consistent and that's the name of the game.

"It's just unfortunate we couldn't take advantage of that and the weakness that the Phil Burkart team had against us. That was frustrating."

Capps reached the final round today, but lost to John Force.

In points, Bazemore ended the day fifth in the POWERade Drag Racing Series Funny Car points, with 124.

Next up is the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., March 18-20.

FUNNY CAR POINT STANDINGS:
1. Phil Burkart Jr., 164
2. John Force, 152
3. Tommy Johnson Jr., 144
4. Ron Capps, 125
5. Whit Bazemore, 124

Schumacher, Force and Johnson Win at the NHRA POWERade Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals

Tony Schumacher won over Morgan Lucas in the Top Fuel final, 4.485 @ 329.50 to Lucas' 4.967 @ 207.53.

John Force beat Ron Capps in the Funny Car finale, 4.802 @ 324.12 to Capps' 4.856 @ 321.27.

Allen Johnson put his Dodge Stratus into the Pro Stock winner circle by defeating Ron Krisher 6.801 at 202.36 to Krisher's 6.887 at 190.65. Warren Johnson made it to the second round, but was defeated by Ron Krisher when WJ developed problems. Kurt Johnson was defeated in the first round by Jason Line.

NHRA Recap

Lloyd and Sandra Kaylor at Atlanta Dragway's Hayes Fan Fest February 26, 2005. Tim Glover photo.

Hayes Fan Fest Opening Day Event at Atlanta Dragway in 2005

by Tim Glover

HUNDREDS OF RACERS ENJOY HAYES FAN FEST AT ATLANTA DRAGWAY

(Commerce, GA - February 26) Although it was a bit on the chilly side, the sun was out, and hundreds of racers came to enjoy their first day at the track in 2005 during the Hayes Fan Fest. The gates opened at 10am, and the racing action continued until late in the afternoon. Because of a couple of delays during the day due to cars breaking on the track, the hours were extended to 6:00pm from the originally scheduled 5:00pm to allow racers several shots at the track.

Defending 2004 Super Pro champion Lloyd Kaylor brought a new machine to the track, his first non-Buick race car. Rather than continue with his trusty '87 Regal for 2005, Kaylor bought a 1994 Suncoast dragster chassis from Super Comp racer Nicky Ewing, and added new running gear to it during the winter. The dragster weighs 1850 lb with the driver, 1500 pounds lighter than the Regal. Kaylor made several short "hops" (60 foot passes), which are part of the steps required to earn his NHRA competition license. After his first pass in the dragster, Kaylor said, "That was fun! I could feel it digging."

Many racers brought new cars to the track to test, including 20 year old Jeremy "Hollywood" Hancock. Since moving up to Super Pro from the Jr. Dragster ranks, Hancock has competed in a 1967 Camaro, an older dragster, and now has a brand new 2005 M&M dragster, which he and his father finished preparing a few hours before the event, late Friday evening.

Christian Vidal from Lawrenceville, GA brought his highly modified daily driver 1999 Honda Civic to the track to see what it would do. His turbocharged four cylinder mount ran in the low 12 second range, faster than most of the V-8 equipped cars on the grounds. Although many parts were aftermarket on his car, he did add that it at least had a factory suspension.

Jeremy Hayes brought two of his machines to the track, a D/SA '98 Dakota and a factory equipped 2004 Stage III, SRT-4 Dodge Neon. People not familiar with the Neon were quite surprised with the 12.40 second 100 plus mph passes the machine turned in. The 360 inch V-8 equipped Dakota, with more than twice the cubic inches, turned in a respectable 12.20 second performance. "The track worked well," added Hayes.

Chris Carlile, the defending 2004 Sportsman champion, also brought a new race car to try out. He actually built the 1969 Camaro for a family member six years ago, but ended up trading for it over the winter. He then removed the engine from his championship car and put it into the '69 Camaro. The car immediately responded with a 10.20 pass. Carlile said he has a little more tweaking to do, which will put it into the 10.0 second range.

A large group of Motorcycle racers turned out to prepare for the new season. A Motorcycle points race will be held monthly for the 2005 season at Atlanta Dragway.

In addition to test and tune action, the NHRA certification team was on the grounds, allowing racers with fast car to get their car's chassis inspected. For safety reasons, an NHRA certification is required for cars that run quicker than 9.99 seconds in the quarter mile.

Photos

1962 photo of Bill Tanner accepting another trophy for winning with his '62 Dodge 413 "Ramcharger". From the Bill Tanner Collection.

A 1970 photo of Bill Tanner's Pro Stock Challenger. From the Bill Tanner Collection.

A Few of My Thoughts About The Main Man, Bill Tanner by Randy Scott

I had seen Bill at several tracks around the north Georgia area but had never really gotten to know him till one day at Dallas Dragway when he had the '65 Dodge he was running along with Larry Lawrence. He was having a devil of a time with the Hilborn injectors. The car would start and then immediately go dead. I walked up and watched him for a while and offered a suggestion that the supply and return lines to the main injector block were crossed. (I was about 19 or 20 years old at the time) he immediately told me that there was no @$#%&* way and how the Hell would I know that anyway. I told him that I tuned Bunky Bobo's A Gasser, The Hemi Hurricane and I was very familiar with those particular injectors. I said "humor me Bill, you've tried everything else". I was right of course and I think that for all the years after that, it may have been the only time that I was right.

I worked for Bill Tanner along with Terry Earwood in 1970 on his "BILL TANNER"S DODGE Safety and Performance Clinic team". I can honestly say that I learned more about racing cars, engines, transmissions and everything else during that short time.

Bill had a way of unique way of looking at things. I mean everything, not just racing related things but life in general. I truly believe he was a mechanical genius. He just saw things more clearly than most folks and he could convey that knowledge to others (my dumb ass, for instance) and make it understandable.

I did call him on the phone last year and had a long conversation with him. I think he was glad to hear from me and I got a chance to thank him for everything he taught me.I was truly priveledged to know him.

Thanks for everything Bill.
Randy Scott