BlogStats

AL HOFMANN is gone...

2008-03-25T12:15:00.003-06:00

It is hard to believe Al is gone. Al was a hardcore drag racer and will be missed. Al didn't have a lot of success in the 80's, he often shored up the last qualifying position which he did at the old Montreal events, Al and his low budget car "shored up" the 15-car field in 1987 and qualified #14 (and, yes, there were only 14 cars) in the 1988 event. Those were the only events he qualified for in those two years and the 80's were low-buck/hard-luck days.

Then in 1990, things started to turn around after sponsor money started to come in and from 1987 through 2002, Al ended up with a 233-212 record, eight #1's. He qualified in 227 events, was in the top eight 127 times, 15 event wins and 17 runner-ups. Al won 19 rounds at the first Pomona event and driver-wise was most successful against Tom Hoover going 23-2 against Tom.

One trivia item...Al never beat the Bruce's (Sarver and Larson)...going 0-5 against Sarver and 0-4 against Larson.

Frank Hawley is back!

2008-03-19T16:00:00.005-06:00

Frank Hawley is back on the NHRA trail as a driver. He qualified #11 with a 4.916, lost in the first round to Jack Beckman.

I don't personally know Frank, but whenever I have ask him at a National event what is new, he patiently tells me what teams he's working for and what he is doing (but in a generic way, not to give out too much info). I put Hawley up there with Raymond Beadle, Snake, Mongoose and such, as legendary FC drivers.

Frank Hawley is most remembered for driving a Funny Car, but he last raced in NHRA in Top Fuel. Racing from 1988 to 1991. During those 4 years, Frank managed a 59% winning percent (60-41). He qualified for 43 events winning 2 of them and runner-up 4 times. He also composed a 5.3 qualifying position average, with 6 #1 qualifying positions. Frank, known for his driver teacher school compiled a 2-4 holeshot record and recorded one redlight loss in the 3rd round at Denver in 1990 to Joe Amato. Speaking of Amato, that was Frank's nemesis, going 1-9 against Joe in those 4 years.

How to use RSS feeds

2008-03-07T13:42:00.013-07:00

As some of you know I am a contributor to Drag Racing Online. DRO is the only
major drag racing site to offer RSS feeds. Below is how I set them up for myself.
This obviously works for any type of newsfeed, as long as the site offers it.

RSS feeds are a fairly new internet tool which stands for Really Simple Syndication. You need a "feed reader" or an "aggregator" to see the feeds. I use the one Yahoo offers and most sites support this “reader”. I am moving more and more to RSS feeds to stay current with news, finance and of course sports, specifically drag racing. I have found using My Yahoo and RSS feeds easier than email subscriptions and bookmarks to get the lastest articles about things I’m interested in. I have found that email updates seem to clutter my inbox and I can’t seem to get to them to stay current. I do go to my bookmarks occasionally, but don’t always have time to read everything on the page. I am keeping my bookmark pages, but with using RSS feeds, I can at a glance see the news I want to stay current with.

HOW TO GET STARTED:The first thing you want to do is get a “newsreader”. The easiest for me is just using Yahoo. First you need a “My Yahoo”. This is a personalized and customizable page on Yahoo.com. Go to Yahoo.com and create an account with an idea. Don’t worry, you won’t get spammed over this either.

Click the MyYahoo link.

After you have setup your “My Yahoo” page here is how I have setup my RSS feeds, specifically for DRO. At DRO you will see the feeds link at the end of the page. This is true with most sites. Their links for RSS feeds are on the left side or at the bottom of the home page.

After you click the link, you see lots of options (see below). Click the stories or information you want to follow. I watch the DRO feed and the 1320 notes feed.

After clicking the DRO feed, it shows up in “My Yahoo” page at the top of the page. (see below).

I categorize my information into news (the My Front Page), Bible Study, Finances (I like to track stock news), CBS Finance (CBS MarketPlace.com has tons of RSS feeds if you are interested) and of course Sports. I want to put the DRO feed into the Sports section. The screen shot below shows how I’m dragging the DRO feed to my Sports page. You simply hold the left mouse button down in the header section and drag the module to the page you want it in. You DON’T have to do this! Your My Front Page can be your only page with whatever mix of info you like! I have so many feeds now, I categorize them.

Below is the DRO feed module after I dragged it to my Sports section. As you can see below, my Sports page is a work in progress. I have my fantasy football from CBSSports.com and Yahoo NFL news. I also have added the two DRO feeds.

Ok, after I have added the feeds to the pages, I want to take a look at what is new. I see a headline that Force is back. What is this all about? Simply put your mouse under the headline and you get a paragraph or so of what the article is about. Actually, what you get is the first few lines of the article, but any good writer will tell you what the article is about in the first few lines.

If you are interested in the article, simply click the link and boom bada bing or Bing Bada Boom you can read the whole article.

So there you have it. RSS feeds 101 and how to use them.

DRO is the only major Drag Racing site at the time of this writing to be using
them.

Good racing to you this year!

They're Backkkkkkk

2008-02-15T10:59:00.005-07:00

Johnny Gray and Bill Glidden that is, in Pro Stock...Johnny Gray has raced just about everything that goes fast, Pro Stock, altereds with a pro stock motor (Tom Snyder style), alky funny cars and nitro funny cars. Pomona was the first race Johnny qualified in pro stock. He raced nitro funny car from 2001 to 2004, last qualifying at the last Pomona 2004 event where he qualified #14 and lost to Del Worsham in the first round. His best qualifying position was #2 at the Spring Topeka race in 2002 with a 4.882. His FC record was 38-64.

Billy G. qualified for a total of 8 races in 1995 and 1996. His best being a #2 at the Atlanta event in 1995. While Bill has shown up for a few races now and again, Pomona was the first race to qualify since Indy 1996 where he qualified #13 and lost to Tom Martino in the first round.

Welcome back guys!

R.C. Sherman's Final Stats

2007-12-22T20:05:00.000-07:00

Sherman's biggest years was 1989, driving the Raybestos sponsored funny car, where he qualified for 14 of 19 events. Since 1987, he was 9-26. His best qualifying position was 6th at the Spring Houston race in 1990. His best et was 5.373 and RC cut a .401 light at the Atlanta 1989 race against Ed "the ace" McCulloch in the first round. Besides having a 1-4 record with greats "Ace" and "the Snake", RC worst nemesis was Bruce Larson where he was 0-5.
RC's last NHRA event to qualify at was Reading 1992 where he lost to Del Worsham in the first round.

My condolences to his family and thanks for the memories.

NHRA Final Countdown Points vs. New Points

2007-11-09T08:16:00.001-07:00

Here is a race by race breakdown of the old points system, starting with when the final 8 drivers. These are the stats Drag Racing Online used to award their 'Real World' champions.

The Girls are NOT alright in Vegas

2007-10-31T15:36:00.000-06:00

It wasn't a good weekend for the NHRA female drivers/riders in Las Vegas last weekend.

Every female driver lost on holeshots, except two, and they lost on mental errors.

In Top Fuel -
Melanie Troxel lost twice to quicker e.t.'s, once in the shootout and in the 2nd round to Brandon Bernstein:
B Bernstein, Right lane, (0.048) 4.566 327.43 def. M Troxel, (0.094) 4.561 326.79

In Funny Car -
Ashley Force lost in the final:
T Pedregon, Left lane, (0.070) 4.871 318.47 def. A Force, (0.130) 4.829 298.93

In Pro Stock Bike -
Karen Stoffer timed out, Angelle Sampey red lit and Peggy LLewellyn lost in the 2nd round to a holeshot:
Matt Smith, Right lane, (0.012) 7.134 184.60 def. Peggy Llewellyn, (0.080) 7.117 185.92

YIKES! The girls are not alright.

Colorado Rockies, Lodo, and Drag Racing

2007-10-15T10:09:00.000-06:00

Here are a few facts about the Rockies, Lodo and Drag Racing...
1. I work across the street Coors field at Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (see picture out my office)
2. Colorado Housing and Finance Authority funds loans to companies creating jobs in Colorado...we financed Phoenix Apparel, Bruce Bowler's company, that is the official fine threads of NHRA.
3 Lodo is "lower downtown" in Denver...in lower downton, down a street called Wazee is the headquarters of Gates Rubber. 'nuff said about them.

There you have it...your trivia for the day.

2007-09-05T11:45:00.000-06:00

What is going on in the world of NHRA drag racing, stat wise? I usually look for trends or hot topics. I can’t say there has been anything in particular to write about…everyone is interested in Countdown, even though everyone keeps calling it the Chase. The other hot topic is whether Ashley Force is better looking than Danica Patrick. Besides being better looking, Ashley has a great personality, like her dad.

So anyways, on to a few stats I thought you may be interested in as we move into the Fall and Indy and the Countdown.

Denver – “Everyone complains about it, but no one seems to do anything about the altitude” (Mark Twain, sort of). The drivers hate the event and love the facility. Is it true Denver is a smoke fest every year? Fact or Fiction:
Fact – Denver is one of two events in Top Fuel where only two cars in eliminations made down the track under full power (2001). The Spring Houston event (1999) being the other.
Fact – In Top Fuel, of all the events in the last 20 years only three events have had all but one round of racing as ‘full under power runs’. In other words, out of 15 side by side runs(number of rounds per event) 3 events, just had one round of up in smoke racing. 2 of these events where in Denver (1991, 2006).
Fact – Even though it is hot and high altitude, the rare air can act as a governor of sorts, to make for good racing on Sunday

Dave Connolly – Usually, I’m going on and on about Dave’s holeshot prowess. His holeshot record was 11-1 in 2004, 12-2 in 2005 and 13-1 in 2006. This year he is 2-3. Maybe his car is quicker this year, there is a different set-up, or whatever. What is interesting is that I spoke to Frank Hawley at Denver, and as was mentioned on this web site previously, he is working with all the Evan Knoll drivers. Dave is one of them. I hope Frank is giving him good advice.
Fast Jack Beckman…fast he his, he is ranked 3rd in mph stats, but quick on the lights he ain’t, besides quick doesn’t rhyme with Jack or Beckman. Jack is not ranked in the top 12 for reaction times and owns the distinction of having the quickest e.t. in Funny Car losing on a holeshot. A 4.662 to John Force in the final round at the last Pomona race in 2006. He’s also thrown away a 4.782 at Vegas this year to Ron Capps, a 4.783 to Force at Reading last year and a just recently a 4.786 to Kenny Bernstein at Brainerd. Fast but not quick. Hey, I just report the stats mam!
Doug Herbert qualified #1 at Somona. Just his 4th time since he came on the scene in 1991. His first time since the Fall Dallas race in 2005. Doug has qualified 268 times, in the top half 124 times and the bottom half 144. When I looked at this stat, I was surprised to find he had only 4 #1’s. Doug is one of the friendliest, down home guys on the tour.
How about Hector ‘da hammer Arana? He last qualified for an event in 2005 (just one). Before that, his last qualified event was 2000. He’s got him one of those nice Buells, dipped into the six’s, won 4 rounds of racing, one on a holeshot. Things are good for Hector this year.
Robert Hight…what a surprise he is ranked #1 (not) in average qualifying position. #2 in 2005, #1 in 2006. The Jimmy Prock tuned car does run well during qualifying. I stood in the staging lanes once and tried to count the number of times Prock went back to the clutch to make a change before a run. I couldn’t keep track.
Pomona…the first race of the season, has the quickest average elapsed time for both fuel classes, this season. I’m still trying to figure this one out…must be the weather or time of year, but you would think that the first race the teams are still working on their tune-ups??? What do you think?
Seattle…another one of those disaster qualifying sessions. Unqualified drivers qualifying, rain, drivers unhappy, and etc. At least I got a few stats out of the race. Nothing is worse, qualifying stat wise, than the Fall Dallas 2000 race, where there were NO qualifying stats!

Great and safe racing to all.

Jim

Eric Medlen's Final Stats

2007-04-26T21:38:00.000-06:00

Let me give you a few stats to remember Eric by…first of all his last two elimination runs were against two of Funny Car’s legends. His last win was over his boss, John Force. Eric left on John and out ran him by two hundredths. His last loss was against Kenny Bernstein. Ironically, Eric tagged the wall on that run. (Interesting enough as well that Cruz Pedregon and Ashley Force were both disqualified by tagging the wall at Gainesville.)
Eric qualified at every event he entered starting in 2004, 72 to be exact…62 times qualifying in the top half of the show and 8 times #1. He had an even 5.0 qualifying average. He only had two measly redlights out of 161 elimination runs. His best win/loss record was against Gary Densham (10-1). Plenty of good things have been said about Eric that I can’t add to. His enthusiasm and the fact he came to be a driver by working on the car first, earned him respect and a lot of fans.

Holeshot Hat-tricks

2007-03-28T13:35:00.000-06:00

First of all, keep Eric Medlen's family in your prayers! God will hear your prayers!

what i'm talking about the one Karen Stoffer pulled off in Gainesville on Sunday...3 holeshots on the way to a win...if you thought this has never happened before and you'd be wrong...and you'd really be wrong if you thought one driver had NOT done this twice and/or a fuel driver had done this once...so here are the stats...in fact, i nearly didn't check the fuel classes, i thought there would be no way...BUT Jim Head pulled it off in Memphis in 1997...holeshoting Eddie Hill, big Mike Dunn and Larry Dixon on his way to winning the event. Butch Leal at Montreal in 1988 and Kurt Johnson at Memphis in 1998 got all the way to the finals on three holeshots, only to lose in the 4th round.
Now MAYBE the surprise driver holding two holeshot hat tricks AND winning the same event...this driver with a lifetime 23-23 holeshot record...is...George Marnell...Memphis 2001 and Pomona I 2002...plus marnell won from the 16th spot, like karen, at pomona in 2002

see the attached images of the events...
Interesting too, that out of the 6 hattrick holeshots mentioned, 3 occur in Memphis...it mus be the bbq!

You too can easily view and have access to this data by purchasing my DragStats software.

By clicking here:

NHRA stays in Denver, while other venues leave...

2007-02-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

The NHRA Mile High Nationals stay while we've lost the International and CHAMP Car Race, due to lack of sponsorship.

We lost Busch Cup and IRL because Pike Peak Raceway was sold. Also mentioned in the same article was Rocky Mountain Speedway, which hosted a yearly World of Outlaws event.

So, we've lost a PGA tour date and four touring major sanctioning body races, but NHRA drag racing continues to have staying power here in the West!

WinterNationals

2007-02-14T12:11:00.000-07:00

Just a few thoughts from the WinterNationals

I like the ticker floating across the top reviewing what happened in previous rounds
Way too much focus on Ashley Force and showing her dad hugging over and over again...I like her and I know it's a big story, but the first few events I want to see the new sponsors and paint schemes and this was left out
I know it's rough out there, but how do major funded teams like Kenny Bernstein, Del Worsham and Clay Millican fail to qualify?
Why did so many fuel cars go up in smoke? Was the track that green?
One thing that is cool about the first few events is that anyone can win...most teams take a few races to gel, even tho they have been together for several years...witness Tony Schu. losing in the first round...

Melanie enters Colorado Sports Hall of Fame

2007-01-29T17:34:00.000-07:00

even tho she lives in the great state of Indiana

Click Here for Article

Melanie Troxel

2006-10-17T17:41:00.000-06:00

winner of Sportswoman Of Year by Women’s Sports Foundation...

The local papers still say she lives in Littleton Colorado, but she actually last lived in my home town of Parker Colorado...

Almost every news bit starts with "The Denver native (or Colorado native) now calls Avon, Ind home...Colorado must be a good place to live don't you think? Even tho it is snowing today...but rarely do you hear the Des Moines or Newark native...

Her stats thru Virginia...
Ranking Stat Number
5 Average Qualifying position 7.1
2 Average Elasped Time 4.598
4 Winning % 63.5%
2 Average Number of Rounds per event 2.5
5 % of Non-Aborted Elim Runs 81%

and here's the stat you didn't know...she's been to the final round more times than any other top fuel driver this year...8 times...but has lost 6 times..

denver notes

2006-09-13T16:53:00.000-06:00

first, more talk of moving bandimere...let's face it...it is prime property and probably will move someday. the lastest rumor is a move to a suburb named commerce city...so the teams don't like to come to the mile high city, but at least the view is good on the mountain but commerce city is as pretty as it sounds...
Rocky Mtn News - Race Track

len seroka...another racer gone...qualified twice in denver...18th one time in 1990...raced in place of jim murphy (back when NHRA allowed that sort of thing), losing in the first round to event winner, ed the "ace"...len never had a competitive car, but i always remember how he had a nice rig painted with a sponsor, usually "milk" and if i remember correctly, mike kloeber tuning the car...

Flash Gordon Mineo's Final Stats

2006-09-03T20:43:00.000-06:00

Flash Gordon Mineo's death

What a tragic way to die! Gordon had some better stats that I remembered. That's why it's good to have a program like mine to recall those stats...
In recent times he raced from 1991 - 1993. During that window, he was 22-37 , 0-2 in final rounds, thus qualifying for 37 events during that time. He loved racing at Sonoma, where he qualified #1 in 1992 and #2 in 1993. He had winning records against Mark Oswald, Jerry Caminito and Kenji Okazaki!

Holeshots in Pro Stock

2006-08-30T09:46:00.000-06:00

There have been 63 holeshots in Pro Stock so far this year, nearly 25% of all rounds. (Thru Memphis and before Indy). This is well ahead of the total from last year of 58. Greg Anderson and Jason Line have taken the brunt of them (19)...

meanwhile Dave Connolly and Allen Johnson have been the giver of 17 of those holeshots...

A few Denver notes:

2006-07-25T17:02:00.000-06:00

1. Of course that wasn't Gary Densham's first #1. During the "Force Years" he qualified #1 8 times.
2. All of the talk about six second pro stock runs, which I predicted (really the stats did), did not materialize, mainly because of the weather. But if you wanted to see a six second door slammer, why wasn't anyone watching Vinnie Deceglie's six second #1 qualifier A/A car in comp? A very stout car, but Vinnie redlit in round one.
3. Jim Jannard - stood underneath the tower watching Saturday's first round of qualifying and cheering on Scelzi. I'm very thankful for his involvement in drag racing...his stats: Forbes: #606 richest in the world and #207 in America. Thanks Jim!
4. Bud and Denver don't mix...Brandon lost to Scott Kalitta on a holeshot in 2004, in 2005 after qualifying #1, "lost" to Rob Passey, when the engine failed after the burnout, and was outrun by #14 qualifier Mike Stasburg in round 1 this year.

Tommy Lee Stats

2006-07-14T11:13:00.000-06:00

First, why does drag racing have so many names we joke around that they are someone else...
Tommy Lee - Motley Crue
Luigi - Mario Bros.
Melanie - I've got a brand new pair of roller skates...(ok, maybe not too many think about the last one)

Anyway - Tommy Lee mostly has raced in IHRA, but he raced one season, in 2002, in NHRA. We qualified for 11 events, going 3-11. His be qualifying position being 7th at the second Pomona event. Two of Tommy's wins were on holeshots. At the same time, he has lost on 2 holeshots and lost on 2 redlights.

perfect light axiom #49

2006-05-30T15:00:00.000-06:00

states that after a perfect light, you'll be late on your next run...i.e. Karen Stoffer at Columbus. Karen had her first NHRA national event perfect light in round one against Shawn Gann...next round cut an uncharacteristic .088 light and lost on her first NHRA national event holeshot 7.112 to Matt Guidera's 7.125. BTW, Karen is 5-1 in the holeshot w/l category.

Bazemore v. Capps

2006-05-15T16:08:00.000-06:00

Couldn't resist some stats on the matchup...
Bazemore is ahead in the overall matchup (racing funny cars I mean). They have raced each other 35 times since 1997. Whit leads with a win/loss record of 20-15. Whit also leads in first round wins with a 11-4 record. In final round matchups they are even 2-2. Whit has won in the finals over Capps at ETOWN 2003 and Seattle in 2001. Ron's 2 wins over Whit in the finals came at Memphis in 2000 and Brainerd in 2001. Capps owns a quicker et and mph against Bazemore, his best are a 4.743 and 323.66 to Whit's best of 4.780 321.42.
Jim

Scott Geoffrion Final Stats and Bob Glidden

2006-05-11T14:40:00.001-06:00

Bob Glidden has never beaten Bill Glidden, Mike Edwards and Dester Cambron. His next worst record was against Scott. Out of 56 unique drivers since 1987, Bob has only losing records to 10 different drivers. As noted in my previous post, Bob was 4-13 versus Scott.

Scott Geoffrion Final Stats

2006-05-10T12:05:00.000-06:00

Very Sad!
W/L - 174-135 56% Win pct
Qualified at 144 events, best NHRA et 6.728 and best mph 204.82, both numbers recorded at ETOWN in 2003.
19 #1's
Won 9 events and runner-upped at 19
One of Scott's best winning percentages was a 13-4 record against Bob Glidden!
I'm sorry for the loss.

Melanie...lucky or not?

2006-04-20T10:11:00.000-06:00

A recent Sunday morning, front page article in the motorsports challenged Denver Post sports section,
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_3716024
featured our(Denver's) favorite drag racing son, I mean daughter, Melanie Troxel. It was good article. The print copy had a good picture of the Skull car. In the article, as always, the writer had to quote "The First Lady of Drag Racing" Shirley Muldowney. (Who else are they going to quote?) Shirley, in her usual non-complimentary, no quarter given tone said "It's hard to tell somebody that I'm not rooting for Melanie, because I'm not, I have to look at her as just a competitor. She's done a good job in the car, but she's had a lot of luck, too. But you take it any way you can get it."

What is luck in drag racing anyway? Driving for your rich dad, not blowing up parts, winning because the guy in the other lane aborted the run, redlit or was horribly late? I don't know. So what to do if you're a drag racing statistician? You go look at the database and see if the observed and perceived results are THE results.

Melanie so far:
Win/Loss 17-3, nine more round wins than the next guy Dave Grubnic
Average Qualifying position 7.0
How is Mel winning, I mean Melanie, (only Tommy can call her Mel).
Lucky?
For Melanie and the Richard Hogan tuned car, no wins on opponent redlights or late lights. She has won 65% of her rounds because the opponent aborted their run, but Grubnic has won 63% and Kalitta 60% that way. Melanie has outrun her opponents 6 times (most in TF) and only been outrun twice by Brandon Bernstein and Rod Fuller each time in the final round. Melanie also leads top fuel with only going up in smoke in eliminations 20% of the time. She's made 20 elimination runs and only went up in smoke 4 times. In those 4 runs where the opponent had an aborted run as well, she won 3 times!

Lucky, with all due respect, NOT!