Autoclub Famoso Raceway, 3-19-2011–After two sessions of qualifying for the 53rd March Meet, the Van Dykes Motorsports/Champion Speed Shop fuelers are provisionally qualified 11th and 12th for Sunday’s 16-car eliminator, with Adam Sorokin posting an elapsed time of 6.22 seconds at a top end speed of 219 mph in his Chrysler-powered machine and Larry Gotelli residing a notch behind at 6.41, after clicking it off early in his Chevy-powered streamliner.

On the down side, during Friday’s qualifier, the Chrysler mill is completely deconstructed. The catalyst? A rod through the block.

“The first hit was real soft on the clutch, as we are trying get a baseline on (Famoso’s) new track surface,” Adam explained. “So it left soft, and never really pulled—never really got up on the tire… I kinda plugged it on through, and when I shut it off, it kicked a rod again.”

The Champion pit after first round of qualifying

He’s only had one swing of the shovel, but Sorokin said it’s been a long day in the proverbial salt mines. “The salt mines would be a step up,” he said. “This has been more like a bad day in the blood diamond mines in the heat of the day….”

On a more positive note, after a long hiatus, Larry Gotelli Jr. is playing catch-up with driving a AA/Fueler, but, according to Sorokin, is making impressive strides.

“After six years out of the saddle, Larry’s coming up to speed pretty quickly,” Adam noted. “You have to realize the small-block Chevy has a different sound and a different power band. And then you take a driver used to fresh air and stuff him into a canopy… well, SFI hasn’t made a snorkel long enough for what he’s used to.”

Qualifying resumes Saturday at noon, PST, with the first round of eliminations this evening. All the action can be streamed on bangshift.com

Larry Gotelli and Adam Soroking discuss driving a streamliner

Earlier this year The Champion Speed Shop returned to the Pebble Beach of Drag Racing for a 50th Reunion of the Half Moon Bay Dragstrip as part of the Pacific Coast Dream Machines show. A historical incarnation of the nitromethane powered and supercharged small block Chevy dragster was on deck, and the latest version of the long line of Chevy powered dragsters was fired up for the cheering crowd on the very same ground where Jim McLennan founded the Half Moon Bay dragstrip some 50 years before. The Car Guy Channel caught all the action in this video roundup of the good times at the reunion of old pals. Take a look to get some history on the Champion Speed Shop 1934 Ford pickup, the Smiling Irishman himself, and what is known as the wind.

More: The Car Guy Channel

Getting thousands of horsepower through a clutch, down through the tires, and onto the track is a precarious and explosive balancing act. Variables that make for the right combination can shift in split seconds and overpower the grip of the tires just as fast. While the Champion Speed Shop went out in the first round on Sunday with a 7.08 against Howard Haight’s winning 6.09, the racing action could not have been better for the on their feet crowd at Beech Bend Raceway Park. Adam Sorokin was in, slightly off, but never out of the throttle as he grabbed a few handfuls of the 3000 horsepower small block Chevy. Sorokin got out on Haight, lost traction, but kept the car in the lane – driving sprint car style for some flat track sideways top fuel thunder out on the drag strip. The race was over for the Champion Speed Shop, but the crew prepared the Streamliner for a return time-only run that followed Round Two of Top Fuel Eliminations. This time Sorokin ran an arrow straight 6.05 second quarter mile at 239 with-a-five miles per hour. The team was ultimately one run short the pack, but brought the combination closer to getting out in front of it. Next stop, South San Francisco, California.

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 ready for second round qualifying with Famoso raceway basking under a Bakersfield sun and cloudless sky. We figured it was a good time to deliver a warmup from yesterday and a preview of today. The launch window for top fuel action is currently scheduled for a 12:30 PM. Click over to the video for a few seconds of the small block Chevy huffing some nitro.

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.

With but a few days to go until the 51st March Meet, the Champion Speed Shop presents this prequel to the drag racing hootenanny even now descending on Bakersfield. This video was edited down from a one-day testing session at the Patch last Saturday, with a dusk run featured for wings on goodness. All systems are currently go for more nitro huffing small block Chevrolet action this weekend. Be there!