Geico Commercial shoot at SGMP

Karen Stoffer and Morgan Lucas visited South Georgia Motorsports Park in Cecil Georgia on March 2 and 3 to film a new Geico television commercial. Watch for it on a NHRA telecast near you. Karen Stoffer is sporting wild new yellow colors this year. Look for her debut at the Gatornationals.

Marvin T. Smith

Photo by Phil Hubbard

Records shattered at ESTN

For immediate Release March 1, 2009

South Georgia Motorsports Park presented the Eastern Spring Test Nationals February 25-28. This event is designed to allow racers from all series to test on a quality track prior to the big national events in the eastern United States. With the NHRA limitations on nitro testing this year, the ESTN became a big doorslammer event, although alky dragsters and one funny car participated. Quarter-mile and eighth-mile Pro Mods, Outlaw 10.5s, Drag Radial cars, Pro Mod cycles, snowmobiles, and sportsman cars provided thrills for four days on the SGMP all-concrete quarter mile.

A few racers took advantage of the early Wednesday start this year. Most cars were having trouble navigating the track on the first day. Tim O'Hare ran a 4.14 at 174 and Brad Personett ran a 4.11 at 185 in his turbo Pro Mod Camaro. The big surprise of the day was the appearance of Josh Hernandez with the ADRL Red Team Camaro. This was Josh's first outing with a screw blower in the Camaro. After a troubled first pass, Josh ripped off an effortless 3.95 at 192 for the best run of the day.

By Thursday, many more cars had arrived. Tom Carter's Jawbreaker Alky FC ripped off a nice 5.81 at only 209 for the quickest pass of the day. Dan Kracht made a few hits in Randy Meyers' A/FD. The highlight of Thursday's action was the record-shattering run by Jim Halsey in his nitrous Pro Mod. Halsey obliterated the SGMP track records with a fine 3.84 at 196 to become the quickest and fastest eighth-mile nitrous Pro Mod in the country. Josh Hernandez made another fine pass at 3.865 at 195. Ed Hoover arrived and ran a nice 3.91 at 192, and Tim O'Hare ran a 3.99 and a 3.98. John Montecalvo ran a great 6.281 at 223 mph quarter mile pass in his Pro Stock machine.

The car count increased again on Friday. Over 80 cars and bikes would eventually participate in the event. The big news on Friday was a track-record smashing 3.738 at 198.85 by Jason Scruggs at high noon in the blazing sun. Jason had formerly held the track records at 3.80, 198.67. Jim Halsey backed up his Thursday 3.84 with another fine run of 3.87. Scott Canon ran a 3.89 at 192, Bennie McDonald ran 3.90 and 3.91, and Ed Hoover was right behind with a 3.92. Steve Vick posted a fine 3.97 at 187 mph in his nitrous Pro Mod. This would have been a fine run anywhere else, but was a tenth of a second behind Halsey. Tyler Jenkins in the Eagle Racing Automatic Pro Mod ran a great 4.04 at 180.77, Ronnie Davis ran a 4.13 at 179 in his Automatic, and Brad Personett continued to improve with a 4.07 at 190 in the turbo car. Thomas Carter ran a nice 5.75 at 249 in his Alky Funny Car. Harold Martin debuted his Martin M4, a wildly futuristic automobile. He has constructed the outlaw Pro Mod version first, and hopes to put a
street version in production soon.

Saturday was the final day of the event. Many racers opted to skip the Saturday race due to threatened severe weather, but a few new cars arrived to change the complexion of the event. The plan was to run two time trials, and then have a Chicago-style run-off between the quickest two cars in each class while other cars continued open testing. High winds and the threat of tornadoes shortened the event, and "winners" were crowned in the classes based on low elapsed time for the first two rounds. Brian Markiewicz won the 10.5 trophy with a fine 4.356 at 175.71 mph. John Kolivas won Drag Radial with a 4.88 at 155.58. Scott Cannon, Jr. won the quarter-mile Pro Mod class with a run of 6.022 at 244.56 mph. Mike Janis won the eighth-mile supercharged Pro Mod class with a fine 3.801 at 198.73 backed up with a 3.85 at 196 mph earlier in the day. Steve Vick won Nitrous eighth-mile Pro Mod with a 3.96 at 186 when Jim Halsey had problems. Thomas Carter won Alky Funny Car with a 5.76 at 243. In other action, Mike Moran attempted to collect a $10,000 bounty for becoming the first Turbo Pro Mod in the five second zone in the quarter mile. He made numerous laps including a fine 6.17 at 244.87 mph, but failed to collect the bounty. Other good hits in Nitrous Pro Mod included Burton Auxier at 4.008 182, Brandon Switzer in Mike Castellana's car at 3.972 at 176, and Ronnie Davis in his automatic Pro Mod at 4.23 174. Dan Kracht ran an early shut-off 5.70 at only 216 mph for his best effort of the week in Randy Meyer's A/FD.

Marvin T. Smith

Track Reporter, SGMP

Photos by Marvin T. Smith