Western Fuel Altereds Series 2011

WFA Season Opener Speedworld Dragstrip - March 5^th & 6^th

The WFA started out its sophomore season at Speedworld’s 50^th anniversary race in Phoenix, AZ. Twelve teams showed up to compete for the coveted 8 car field. New comers Mitch Bowen, Mark Forbes and Lawton Ferreia were quickly introduced to heads up, no breakout, true drag racing!

First round teams proved that the competition will be tough this year. Off season upgrades helped several teams set personal bests, with six of the 12 cars running 6’s. Chris Phelps showed everyone that his 8.71 blower could keep up with the big boys by ripping off a 6.62 at 215 mph. With the opportunity for a second pass on Saturday, to Chris’s demise, the racers voted to throw out the first round et’s.

Second round played in the favor of the more consistent cars. The quick 6 second cars of Phelps and Gates did not get down the track. When the smoke cleared, Dean Oberg was on top with a 6.71. With the help of Andrus Transportation and Car Quest, Becky Sylvester showed up with new slicks and ran a career best 6.81 to qualify her Chevy number two.

The third round of qualifying took place Sunday afternoon. Where Eric Gates made the quickest pass with a 6.75 followed by Oberg’s .76 and Maroney’s .77. That set up the final round between two California cars of Dean Oberg and Eric Gates. At the hit, Oberg was out front until his burst panel could take no more, and Gates flew by at 203 mph to take the win and the RBS Superchargers Low Et award with a 6.68. Although losing the race, the Freightliner Simple Pleasure altered of Dean Oberg cut a stellar .020 light in the final to take home the Torco Oil quick reaction time award.

Congratulations to Eric Gates and his team for their first win with the WFA! Next stop Barona Drag Strip, April 23.

Pictures From Speedworld:

http://s1086.photobucket.com/albums/j456/Western_Fuel_Altereds/Speedworld%202011/

Final Qualifying times:

1	Oberg	6.7133
2	Gates	6.7519
3	Maroney	6.7757
4	Sylvester	6.8117
5	Lofgreen	6.9380
6	Bowen	6.9419
7	Middlebrook	7.1582
8	Carter	7.1886
9	Winefsky	7.2608
10	Ferreia	8.3637
11	Forbes	9.1643
12	Phelps	14.3754

Points Standings:

1	7684	Oberg	146
2	7596	J. Maroney	142
3	7536	Gates	140
4	720R	Sylvester	140
5	7088	Lofgreen	139
6	7704	Bowen	136
7	7739	Middlebrook	136
8	7062	Carter	134
9	768	Winefsky	132
10	701	Forbes	130
11	713F	Ferreia	130
12	741	Phelps	120

Track Website: http://www.speedworlddragstrip.com

The first race of the season and we’re going to start off with a bang! Not only is this our first visit to the phoenix area, this event is in conjunction with the NHRA Heritage series event and will celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Speedworld Dragstrip. This will be a daytime event with runs throughout the weekend.

Paid member entry is: Free car/driver, 4 crew and 2 vehicle passes. You must be pre-entered with WFA, one week in advance, to get in free. Pre-entry deadline is February 24^th. Teams failing to pre-enter will pay event gate fees.

Friday (Optional) – Gates open at 10am. You will be able to park on Friday and set up for Saturday. They will have a Test and Tune from noon to 5pm. If you want to make a pass on Friday you will need to purchase a $40 run/tech card. Even if you’re not going to run on Friday, we highly recommend that you bring the rig in to park. We’re trying to park together as a series. However depending on heritage car count, the track may not be able to save our spots.

Saturday – Gates open at 8am. The intent is to make two passes on Saturday. The first pass will be for series points only. Every car that makes the first pass will receive 10 points regardless of ET. The second pass will be the first payout round. Everyone runs. The quick 8 cars will get paid first round money. If the track gets a high turnout of heritage cars, we will only make one pass on Saturday afternoon and it will be a payout round.

Sunday – Gates open at 8am. Everyone will make one pass around 10am. The quick 8 cars, will get paid second round money. The 2 quick ET’s of the weekend from either the first or second payout rounds will then RACE in the final.

Pre-entry is now open on the website: http://www.wfaseries.com/Speedworld2011.html

As a reminder there are a couple new rules in effect this year. A complete rule book is available for download off the website: http://www.wfaseries.com/WFA%20Rules%202011.pdf

Hotel Info: http://www.speedworlddragstrip.com/lodging.php

Pre Entry List as of 1/27/2011:

Rebecca Sylvester

Jim Maroney

Sheldon Lofgreen

Robert Winefsky

Mark Forbes

Ed Middlebrook

Dean Oberg

Eric Gates