1/25/04
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Engelage/Jocham
take TRAC Openers NAS-T-JET On Sunday, January 25th, Acme Raceway
opened it’s doors, in the early AM hours, to welcome racers from all
over the Southern California region, to the first-ever NAS-T-JET
series race, and the first race of season number 2 in the Rolling
Thunder series. This day also marked the beginning of operations for
the newly formed TRAC (Thunderjet Racing Association of California). Prior to the racing, the trophies and awards for
the 2003 series, were given out. Many door prizes were also given out.
These prizes were made possible by the generosity of our sponsors,
mainly Wizzard High Performance, Inc., Scale Auto, and Rock Island
Racing. After waiting for nearly two and a half months for a club race, thirteen racers stepped up to the track with their new NAS-T-JETS, hard body 1/64 scale NASCAR bodies on Johnny Lightning chassis. The practice session, early on, showed how much fun this new type of racing was going to be. After lining the cars up for a photo-op and an examination of roof height, it was time to begin the bangin’ and bumpin’ of these widebodies. In the qualifying round robin, lap totals on the
tricky track, hovered in the neighborhood of 16-18 laps, sprinkled
with the occasional 19 and even a pair of 20’s, from MIKE ENGELAGE
(#44 Hot Wheels Grand Prix). When the round came to an end, it was
ENGELAGE atop the heap, with a slammin’ 77 laps, good for the
season’s first 5 bonus points. Running consistent, strong, and fast,
as we’ve come to expect, was MATT PAUL(#99 Exide Taurus), posting
four 18’s, for a 72 total, good for 4 bonus points. Right on
PAUL’S tail, was MICKEY HURTADO (unsponsored Monte Carlo), also with
a strong 72 laps, enough to collect 3 bonus points. Rounding out the
top 5 were SCOTT DUNLAP (#28 Texaco Taurus), with 71 laps, and FRANCIS
MCENTEE (#97 John Deere Taurus), with 70 laps, good for 2 and 1 bonus
point, respectively. The field was then cut to 8, for a Round Robin
semi. This round saw the lap totals go up a bit, as ENGELAGE continued
his dominance with a 79 lap total, and 5 more bonus points. Once
again, second place belonged to PAUL, with a 73 lap total, just ahead
of ROCKY GERMAN, who also finished with 73 laps, up 5 laps from the
qualifier. There was room for one more driver in the Final, and two of
the drivers were tied with 71 laps. DUNLAP’S 71 was just a little
closer to 72 than HURTADO’S, and so it was DUNLAP who made the jump
to the Final. BRAD BOWMAN was only a lap away from the Final, with 70
laps. GREG DAVIS, in his awesome looking, custom painted #18
Interstate Batteries Monte Carlo, finished with 69 laps, and MCENTEE,
ended with 67. The Final was an even faster paced race.Once
again, ENGELAGE leveled the field, posting an amazing 80 laps,
including a 21 lap heat on the Blue lane. The real race was for second
place, and it was within reach of all three other drivers. It turned
out to be a matter of who could post the most 19’s, and the answer
was PAUL, who posted three of them, along with an 18, for a strong 75
lap total, and second place. About two-thirds of a lap back, with 74
laps, was GERMAN, and a lap back, with 73, was DUNLAP, for a fourth
place finish. This was a great beginning to a new series of racing, and everybody, racer or spectator, had a blast with these NAS-T-JETS. It is a very different type of racing, and an enjoyable diversion from Frayjet racing. The field looked great! Several of the guys said that they’d be ready to go by the next race, even though they weren’t ready for the opener. So, I’m expecting the NAS-T-JET field to climb up toward the 20 mark, soon.
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