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.
South San Francisco, California USA – More nitromethane through the pipes is always a good thing. Just ask the Champion Speed Shop, who will field not one but two supercharged front engine top fuel dragsters for the 2010 drag racing season. The South San Francisco crew will run with an all-new Van Dyke Motorsports hemi-powered Retroliner entry in the NHRA Heritage Series points battle, and retain the Chevrolet-powered flip-top canopy Special for select vintage drag racing events. This unique situation makes driver Adam Sorokin the only man in drag racing to have a choice between a top fuel Chevy or nitro-huffing hemi to hammer down the full 1320 feet of the quarter mile.
The latest Champion Speed Shop creation features a Rodeck hemi engine between the Neil and Parks frame rails. The Guy Ruchonnet body panels wear a paint treatment that only Art Himsl himself could create. The car is ready to put the twist to the Hoosier tires, and driver Adam Sorokin is ready for twice nitromethane behind the wheel of a machine that hearkens back to the late sixties while running quicker, faster, and safer than ever before.
“This thing is really beautiful”, said Sorokin of the new hemi-powered car.
The psychedelic-era Art Himsl paintwork was still curing on the panels when the team rolled up to Sacramento Raceway for testing just one Sunday before from the final round of top fuel eliminations at the 52nd running of the Bakersfield March Meet. The team and car will descend onto the legendary patch this weekend March 5th, 6th, and 7th 2010.
Bakersfield, California. Adam Sorokin and the Champion Speed Shop Special came out of the gate wheels up and on a charge in first round qualifying at the 18th running of the NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion. Getting through some tire shake was only half the battle, as the horrors of nitromethane took hold of connecting rod number seven. Half of the rod ended up in the oil pan while the other half did its best destruction derby impression – while still attached to the crankshaft of the small block Chevy. Adam took the Special safely down the track and lifted the oily canopy to see through to the turnout road. Nitromethane is the only fuel that can turn a qualifying run into a complete teardown and engine replacement, and the only fuel that can power the team to spend Friday night getting the car ready for Saturday action. Today’s top fuel qualifying session is scheduled for 1:30 PM, followed by first round of Eliminations at 4PM.
South San Francisco, CA – After a stout runner up finish in the race for the Governor’s Cup, the Champion Speed Shop is ready to launch the small block Chevrolet powered entry into the 16-car front engine top fuel dragster battle at the 18th Annual California Hot Rod Reunion at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, California. The 402-cubic inch small block Chevy powered Special clocked its best numbers ever in the State Capitol as the team brought the all-new combination in top fuel drag racing into ever quicker and faster runs down the quarter mile.
“We’ve been trying to get our 60-foot and half-track times down. In Sacramento it started to come around. That’s what we were looking for”, said Bob McLennan of the combination hitting a quick step at Sacramento Raceway.
With the car back at the South San Francisco base after the mid night grab for the Governor’s Cup, data and engine component analysis has yielded a plan to match out of the gate performance with a top end charge for lower elapsed times and higher top speeds from the Chevy-powered digger. Driver Adam Sorokin agrees the potential for maximum velocity is in order for the California Hot Rod Reunion – a fantastic place to witness drag racing history in motion and in the making on the very same weekend.
Sorokin clearly felt the car coming into line at Sacramento, and has confidence the team has learned what it takes to run nitromethane with success through the unprecedented engine setup. While the venerable Chrysler hemi has huffed nitro through thousands upon thousands of runs down the dragstrip, the small block Chevrolet nitromethane formula is the sole provenance of the Champion Speed Shop.
“I really think we have a car that can win. We’ve got some of the best people on the team you can possibly have”, said Sorokin mere days before the season finale of the 2009 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage series points battle finale.
The 18th Annual California Hot Rod Reunion takes place at Famoso Raceway on October Oct. 16-18, 2009. For event information please visit the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion. For race track information visit the Famoso Raceway.
The Champion Speed Shop is rolling up the barrels of nitromethane and the small block Chevrolet powered AA/Fuel Special into the truck, and heading to Sacramento Raceway for the Governor’s Cup on Saturday September 19th. The team is prepared to put everything into the eight car nitro battle and wrap up the summer. Top Fuel hot shoe Adam Sorokin is looking forward to a return to his alcohol Funny Car stomping grounds, and collecting another Governor’s Cup to stand next to the one he already has.
An eight-car field of AA/Fuel dragsters will join fearsome Outlaw Pro Mods, a grip of CIFCA Alcohol Funny Cars, and four afterburner-equipped Jet Cars for some drag racing action in the sun and under the lights in the California State Capitol. Qualifying action will run on the Friday night preceding the event, for not one but two evenings of header flames lighting up the night sky on the last few Summer nights of the 2009 season.
The legend behind the 40th Annual running of the Governors Cup is somewhat hazy. In an effort to make the drag race more official, promoter Jumpin’ John Durbin sent out an invitation to the Governor himself to cut the ribbon at the track. The Lieutenant Governor showed up instead, and there has been a Governors Cup every year since. The top fuel dragster battle is the last of the summer before fall beckons the vintage drag racing gang south to Bakersfield for the 18th NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion.
WHO: Champion Speed Shop
WHAT: Supercharged Small Block Chevy on Nitromethane
WHEN: Saturday, September 19th 2009
WHERE Sacramento Raceway Park. 5305 Excelsior Road Sacramento, CA 95827
WHY: Nitromethane Under the Lights
HOW: Get to Sacramento Raceway Park
Thanks to the miracle of modern technology we’re able to present this inside the cockpit video of driver Adam Sorokin on a complete run in the Champion Speed Shop small block Chevy front engine Top Fuel dragster at the 2009 Rod and Kulture Dragfest. Seeing is very much believing. This short movie occurs in real time, and covers the entire run. First comes engine start to burn out, backup, and staging into the lights. Once the bulb goes green, Adam puts the screws to the Chevy for the run. 5.99 seconds later he hits the parachutes, and puts on the whoa from 235 miles per hour to make the turnout road.
The Champion Speed Shop is rolling up the barrels of nitromethane and the small block Chevrolet powered AA/Fuel Special into the truck, and heading to Sacramento Raceway for the Governor’s Cup on Saturday September 19th. The team is prepared to put everything into the eight car nitro battle and wrap up the summer. Top Fuel hot shoe Adam Sorokin is looking forward to a return to his alcohol Funny Car stomping grounds, and collecting another Governor’s Cup to stand next to the one he already has.