Adam Sorokin has taken the Champion Speed Shop Van Dyke Motorsports hemi-powered dragster to victory at the 2010 Bakersfield March Meet with a 5.76-second at 241 MPH run. Sorokin charged on Howard Haight’s 5.93-second 246 MPH challenge, and tripped the win light for the first ever March Meet win for the South San Francisco crew. Co-crew Chief Bob McLennan was wearing a smile in the staging lanes, as the team waited to roll the car into the Winner’s Circle at Famoso Raceway.
“We haven’t been in the Winner’s Circle for so long, our Champagne has aged”, said McLennan jokingly of the win.
The triumph has been a long time coming for the team, who brought the all-new hemi-powered dragster to the March Meet with but a single test run completed only one week before the race. Once at the March Meet the car went quicker and faster with each pass.
Winning the March Meet is the realization of a dream for driver Adam Sorokin, who said he has always wanted to follow on the legendary lines of his own father Mike Sorokin, who took the 1966 March Meet win in The Surfers hemi-powered AA/Fuel dragster.
“It is almost too big of a dream to actually realize”, said Sorokin fresh from the winning charge that brought his longtime dream into reality.
With Sunday running out of daylight and the heat wicking out of the drag strip, the decision was made to carry the 52nd Annual March Meet one more day onto Monday at Famoso Raceway. Driver Adam Sorokin was suited up and in the lanes ready go up against Brad Thompson when the loudspeakers crackled with the news that there was no more nitro drag cars running on Sunday, but that there would be free drag racing for all comers on Monday when the gates re-opened at 8AM. Top fuel semi-final eliminations are scheduled to get going a few hours later at 10AM. While the day may have ended on an unfinished note, the good news is Sorokin and the Champion Speed Shop took the new Van Dyke Motorsports hemi-powered dragster into the semi-finals with two successively quicker runs. A 6.03 ET with a 230 mph trap speed in round one against Mike McLennan was followed up by a 5.85 blast at 218 mph in the second round of eliminations at the March Meet. Sorokin grabbed the second round win light with a hole shot against Rick White, and feels the new car has strong potential.
“This thing pulled as hard as anything I’ve ever driven”, said Sorokin of the new dragster.
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Actually there’s about twenty or so seconds of video with the team handing over the car to Adam Sorokin for the second full qualifying pass on the hemi-powered dragster. For the second time in as many rounds, the car in the other lane suffered mechanical breakage, handing Sorokin a second single qualifying pass at Famoso. While these occurrences may give rise to unsubstantiated rumors of some sort of mechanically disruptive secret weapon hidden under the carbon-fiber body panels, the new car may in fact be so incredible that it simply disables worthy opponents before they even get a chance to run. What really happened though, is what you see here. Sorokin took the car down track and into the show with a 7.63 second ET pass at 207 mph. Click on the video above or head on over to the Champion Speed Shop YouTube channel for more videos.
Round one of top fuel qualifying at the 52nd running of March Meet at Famoso is a wrap. With the track temperature dropping quickly as the day wore on, Adam Sorokin joined the majority of the AA/FD field in a struggle to find traction in the late afternoon top fuel session. After a broken reverser stalled the Birky Bunch entry on the backup, Sorokin took a single run - in and then out of the throttle of the hemi out of the gate in an attempt to grab some of the chilly tarmac. With one rear tire out of the groove, Sorokin got back on and out the throttle and at least five times, flat tracking the car into a nine-something second run in the first official pass on the all-new ride. The second round of top fuel qualifying is scheduled for Saturday at high noon at the March Meet.
The Champion Speed Shop has gone out of the running with a blazing 240 mile per hour blast in eliminations at the March Meet. “It hooked up and went, but we didn’t have enough for him”, said driver Adam Sorokin of his 6.12 second run against opponent Shannon Stuart. The loss followed a valiant effort in which the team brought the completely new streamlined Special from testing to first round eliminations with methodical precision, only three days after landing on the hallowed ground of Famoso Raceway. The South San Francisco crew will certainly refine the small block Chevy combination in the coming racing season. While the weekend may be over, the saga of the Champion Speed Shop has clearly begun again.
The collective force of the Champion Speed Shop has motored the small block Chevy powered Streamliner through first round qualifying at the March Meet. Driver Adam Sorokin reports the car got out of the gate and delivered a stout midrange hit. Sorokin hung with the Chevrolet all the way out for a clean run. While the incremental numbers for the run look good, a no time condition resulted when Brett Harris drifted across the centerline and tripped up the clocks. A post-run teardown of the Chevrolet revealed a healthy engine, and the team is now preparing the car for the first session of Saturday qualifying.
Bakersfield, California – The Champion Speed Shop is here at Famoso Raceway. The Special is on the ground and the crew are ready for racing action to commence in the morning. The 1972-vintage transport hauled along 65 gallons of nitromethane, a ton of tools, 60 gallons of oil, two small block Chevy engine blocks, three superchargers, two sets of tires, and a triple set of cylinder heads for the ride. If you’re at the March Meet come on by and say hello. If you can’t make it down to Bakersfield, then follow along here for updates from the 51st running of the March Meet. We’ll do our best to keep the tin cans and string connected to the internet and deliver the good stuff over the next few days.
After a morning that started well before sunrise, the Champion Speed Shop made it down to Bakersfield and clicked off a successful launch. A subsequent pit side teardown of the small block Chevy revealed everything was go for a second test pass in late afternoon. Bobby McLennan reports the car ran straight down the quarter mile with driver Adam Sorokin shutting off early for a smooth 6.42-second ride through the lights at 224 mph. Next stop South San Francisco, and a return to the March Meet to put the coals to it. Photos by way of Cole Coonce and the Top Fuel Wormhole
With the 1-Shot pinstripe enamel still curing on the freshly painted scallops, the Champion Speed Shop Special is on the ground and ready for testing runs in Bakersfield, California. All roads of nostalgia drag racing led this morning to Famoso Raceway for a testing session less than a full week ahead of the official running of the 51st March Meet. Bobby McLennan, driver Adam Sorokin, Crew Chief Tony Bernardini, Dave Carkuff, Dennis Barazza, Tom Homer, and Sparky are heating up the oil and ready to put some nitromethane into the holes of the small block Chevrolet. A few shots of Rory Pentecost laying down the pinstripes on the Special from the top secret South San Francisco Champion Speed Shop location after the jump. (more…)
Adam Sorokin has taken the Champion Speed Shop Van Dyke Motorsports hemi-powered dragster to victory at the 2010 Bakersfield March Meet with a 5.76-second at 241 MPH run. Sorokin charged on Howard Haight’s 5.93-second 246 MPH challenge, and tripped the win light for the first ever March Meet win for the South San Francisco crew. Co-crew Chief Bob McLennan was wearing a smile in the staging lanes, as the team waited to roll the car into the Winner’s Circle at Famoso Raceway.
The collective force of the Champion Speed Shop has motored the small block Chevy powered Streamliner through first round qualifying at the March Meet. Driver Adam Sorokin reports the car got out of the gate and delivered a stout midrange hit. Sorokin hung with the Chevrolet all the way out for a clean run. While the incremental numbers for the run look good, a no time condition resulted when Brett Harris drifted across the centerline and tripped up the clocks. A post-run teardown of the Chevrolet revealed a healthy engine, and the team is now preparing the car for the first session of Saturday qualifying.
Bakersfield, California – The Champion Speed Shop is here at Famoso Raceway. The Special is on the ground and the crew are ready for racing action to commence in the morning. The 1972-vintage transport hauled along 65 gallons of nitromethane, a ton of tools, 60 gallons of oil, two small block Chevy engine blocks, three superchargers, two sets of tires, and a triple set of cylinder heads for the ride. If you’re at the March Meet come on by and say hello. If you can’t make it down to Bakersfield, then follow along here for updates from the 51st running of the March Meet. We’ll do our best to keep the tin cans and string connected to the internet and deliver the good stuff over the next few days.
With the 1-Shot pinstripe enamel still curing on the freshly painted scallops, the Champion Speed Shop Special is on the ground and ready for testing runs in Bakersfield, California. All roads of nostalgia drag racing led this morning to Famoso Raceway for a testing session less than a full week ahead of the official running of the 51st March Meet. Bobby McLennan, driver Adam Sorokin, Crew Chief Tony Bernardini, Dave Carkuff, Dennis Barazza, Tom Homer, and Sparky are heating up the oil and ready to put some nitromethane into the holes of the small block Chevrolet. A few shots of Rory Pentecost laying down the pinstripes on the Special from the top secret South San Francisco Champion Speed Shop location after the jump.