Van Dyke/Champion shoe Adam Sorokin gauges the pressure at Pomona

November 16, 2010, Champion Speed Shop HQ, South San Francisco, CA—The 2010 AA/Fuel Dragster wars culminated in a fiery bang Sunday at Pomona’s NHRA Finals, as the postponed, deciding round of October’s California Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield—rescheduled for Pomona last weekend because of inclement weather last month—saw a see-sawing donnybrook of a drag race between Adam Sorokin at the helm of the Van Dyke Motorsports/Champion Speed Shop Top Fuel Dragster and Brett Harris’ Utah-based Nitro Thunder machine, with Harris claiming the belated CHRR Event Title against a burst-panel bursting Sorokin.

For the Van Dyke entry, the loss was disappointing yet somewhat immaterial, as the rescheduled match served as a punctuation mark to the Champion team being crowned 2010 NHRA Heritage Series Top Fuel Champions last month, by virtue of their eliminating Jim “Holy Smokes” Murphy and his WW2 dragster during CHRR’s semi-finals in Bakersfield.

In that heat, Sorokin posted a stunning 1/4-mile elapsed time of 5.63 seconds, with a fearsome terminal speed of 252 mph. Champion’s nitromaniacal braintrust of Tony Bernardini and Bob McLennan decided to keep that tune-up intact for Pomona’s postponed-Reunion final round—albeit, perhaps to their own peril…

Sorokin in a pre-race nitro bath (photo by Cole Coonce)

Moments before the season’s final customary warm-up and leak test, when asked about the specifics of the Bakersfield-cum-Pomona tune-up, McLennan replied: “98 percent”—a nitro/alcohol mixture good for then-current  atmospheric conditions of 3000′ altitude and Pomona’s superlatively-prepped race track. After the warm-up the sun set however, and temperatures cooled while the adjusted elevation dropped to 2500′.  The improved air—and increased oxygen—was tantamount to more nitromethane in the tank, all of which added up to an explosive situation—and a shorter fuse.

At the hit, Adam cut a quick-as-cat’s-feet .016 reaction time and had a wheel out on the Nitro Thunder machine. Sorokin’s stellar starting light was inspired by the ambiance and intensity of the NHRA’s season-closing race:  “The opportunity to run in front of that many people, on that caliber of race track was a very savory prospect,” he noted. “After the burnout and moving my car forward in preparation of the run, was the first time I became aware of just how many people were watching. It was a very cool sight.

“The car felt strong going down the track,” he explained. “I had strong, high header flames all the way until a rocker arm broke at around 1000′, followed by a burst-panel explosion.”

The engine damage slowed the hard-charging steed, enabling Harris to blast by Sorokin and take the event win.

“They won it with a 5.74 to our 5.88,” Sorokin concluded. “But I could not be more proud to be a part of the team—we made a valiant effort. The ride back up the return road blew me away. I could not believe the great reception we received from all the fans! It made the whole journey worthwhile.”

Perhaps the fans’ accolades were in recognition of the notion that—as the drag-racing punditocracy has already noted—Champion and Van Dyke Motorsports may have lost Pomona’s battle, but they had already won the war. They are the 2010  NHRA Heritage Series Top Fuel Champions.–Cole Coonce-

Adam Sorokin and the Champion Speed Shop launched the Van Dyke Motorsports Retroliner to the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series win over worthy opponent Jim Murphy at the California Hot Rod Rod Reunion. Sorokin clicked off an astounding 5.63 for the win, pushing the Retroliner to victory at 252 MPH. The team stepped up on the win incrementally over the weekend. Co-Crew Chief Bob McLennan thought Murphy had loaded the gun for bear at the burnout, but quickly saw Sorokin pushing straight around Murphy. Sorokin hit a quick light and was traveling 210 MPH at half track.

“To have the car run that hard in the round that decided the championship was pretty cool. The thing was a rocket ship, and pulled all the way to the lights”, said Sorokin

With the points win in the bag the team was ready to reload and come back out for the final event battle. The weather had other ideas. A raindrop decision on Sunday postponed the racing action until Monday. The new day brought more rain, and the event was called once more. The remaining top fuel racers decided to pick things up again in Pomona, California at the 2010 NHRA World Finals on November 11-14th. Adam Sorokin will go up against Brett Harris in a race to decide the winner of the rained-out California Hot Rod Reunion. The team is back in South San Francisco preparing the launch vehicle for the final round, less than a month away in Southern California.

Photo Sean Work of the Bakersfield Californian. Click here for tickets and information on the upcoming 2010 NHRA World Finals

The Champion Speed Shop has grabbed the Governor’s Cup victory at Sacramento Raceway in the Van Dyke Motorsports hemi-powered AA/Fuel dragster. The stunning Retroliner is back in South San Francisco getting set up with the accumulated wisdom of an impressive top fuel season – and it’s not over yet. The team is honing in on the last runs of 2010 at the 19th NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion. Adam Sorokin and the Champion Speed Shop team are heading into the AA/FD points race finals with a number two slot against Jim Murphy’s number one standing.

Grabbing the Governor’s Cup at Sacramento Raceway quickly overshadowed the mechanical mayhem that plagued the car at the 2010 Nightfire Nationals in Boise, Idaho. Chicago Style drag racing action dispensed with the usual qualifying runs in Sacramento, and put Adam Sorokin up against Rick White for the final round. By the time the header flames went dark and the smoke cleared, it was Sorokin who took the win along with the elusive Governor’s Cup.

The team is staged for the launch sequence to begin again at the California Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield, on the same track that Sorokin marked the debut of the race car by winning the 2010 March Meet with a 5.76-second at 241 MPH run against Howard Haight just slightly over six months ago. Sorokin feels confident that lessons learned over the course of a half year of racing with the new machine have already begun the countdown to fierce competition for the win out on the legendary 1320 feet of the patch.

“We’re trying to start the win happening at the shop”, said Sorokin.

Co-crew chiefs Bob McLennan and Anthony Bernardini have come to the same consensus. The last race of 2010 will be counted, and the South San Francisco crew are making sure of that reality with just days before the big drag race.

“We’ve got six passes left in the year, and we’re going to make the absolute best of those six”, said Bob Mclennan of the upcoming 200-plus mile per hour quarter mile nitromethane confrontation.

MORE INFORMATION:

As hard as it is to believe, 2010 marks the 19th running of the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield. Top fuel action starts Friday October 15th, and wraps up about five seconds after they fire the last pair on Sunday the 17th. For more pics and a roundup of all the action at the Governor’s Cup head on over to All American Fuel Dragsters Inc. For more information on the 19th California Hot Rod Reunion consult with the NHRA Druids. Photo by Steven Wallace – courtesy of AA/FD INC.

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.

Become a fan of the Champion Speed Shop on Facebook for quick updates from the free Monday session of the March Meet at Famoso Raceway.

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.

More: Champion Speed Shop YouTube Channel

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.

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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.

Information on the 52nd running of the legendary March Meet March 5th, 6th, and 7th at the Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield can be found here: Be There!

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Photos Dennis Barraza, Adam Sorokin and the Champion Speed Shop lens crew.

Famoso Raceway, Bakersfield - Despite a hard charge out of the gate and a stout one flat sixty-foot time by Adam Sorokin, Rick McGee made it over the stripe first and took the win light in round two eliminations top fuel eliminations at the California Hot Rod Reunion. McGee said he watched Sorokin get out on him at the green, but then kept his eye on the stripe and his foot in the throttle of his hemi-powered top fuel entry in the attempt to catch up to the Chevrolet. Sorokin was out keeping his own eyes on the finish, but heard the the high unmistakeable sound of a high winding top fuel engine at maximum volume off to his right on the top end of the racetrack, and watched as McGee crossed the stripe just ahead of him for the win. In the end Sorokin’s 5.93 ET at 209 miles per hour was not enough for McGee’s 5.81 ET and 249 mile per charge in this battle of top fuel hot rods.

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.

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