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We're set at Tri-State Raceway on the weekend of April 16-17....tentatively planning on the O/C race on Sunday but if enough people want to run one on Saturday and if the track can accomodate it we will run one both days. Playing it by ear there because they'll have their hands full re-certifying chassis (I think mine may be due...or it's '06...not sure) but we'll see how it pans out.


I just received a copy of the '05 CFR schedule and we are on for the weekend of June 17-18-19....
A three-day bash once again!!!
This is still pending the track owners "official" approval but I was told it looks good!
There are NO other three day test-n-tune weekends on the schedule (which our deal essentially is) so please help to spread the word on this...Mike's sticking his neck out for us once again by scheduling this weekend for us, especially being it's essentially a three day party for us Ford nuts.
We'll probably run an Open Comp race on Saturday & Sunday.


Mat has got the scoop on the Cordova event in September (24&25) and it'll be good to show some support to Scott Gardner and crew down there!! I'm not sure if we'll be able to run a O/C race both days there or just one...or if that's entirely up to us again...we'll see what pans out there too.

Keep these days open for some good ole Ford-Stang thrashing!

We have a possible October opening at CFR too....if everyone wants one more race before it's time to put the wheels away for the season once again.

Gene

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ELIMN8U.COM Open Comp Rules:

Open Comp class is designed for any year, make, and model vehicle & truck. Dragsters and roadsters prohibited. The Open Comp class will run on an Open Comp format with a 1-tenth (1/10th) breakout.

Qualifying Information, Ladder Type, & Tree
All Run, NHRA Sportsman Ladder, Pro .500 Tree, Handicap Start.

The Open Comp class with over 32 cars will be contested on a random (all run) basis until the field reaches 32 or less competitors. At the point in which 32 or less competitors is reached the field will be laddered accordingly.

The above class with over 32 cars will be contested on a random (all run) basis until the field reaches 32 or less competitors. At the point in which 32 or less competitors is reached the field will be laddered accordingly.

A 32 or less car field is laddered on a sportsman ladder using the final qualifying sheet to determine ladder positions.

A 33 or greater car field is randomly paired and run until the field reaches 32 cars or less. When the field reaches 32 or less cars a sportsman ladder for the number of cars remaining will be used to pair the cars. Car placement on this ladder will be determined based on winning ET for the last round that was randomly paired.

RULES & REGULATIONS

Any modifications, vehicle weight, or power adders permitted. Any gear change must occur as a result of an internal function of the transmission or from direct action by the driver. Pneumatic, electric, hydraulic, etc. shifters prohibited. Trans-brakes and 2-steps permitted.

RACING AIDS
Delay boxes, cross-over boxes, or any "reaction-time related" electronic bracket racing aids prohibited in this class. Throttle stops and all related throttle-stop type accessories prohibited.

ET LIMITS
The quickest qualifying ET permitted in this class is 9.100. Any qualifying pass quicker than 9.100 will be disqualified and will not be counted. The slowest qualifying time permitted will be a 15.00 flat. Competitor will be permitted to re-qualify if additional qualifying rounds are left. Competition will be regulated under standard IHRA/NHRA "First or Worst" competition policy during qualifying and eliminations.

CREDENTIALS
CREDENTIALS: See IHRA/NHRA general regulations.

DEEP STAGING
Deep staging is permitted, however not advocated. If you plan to Deep Stage it is strongly recommended that you boldly display the words DEEP on all four windows, in plain view of the starter. It is always the driver’s responsibility to stage the vehicle prior to the tree being activated. In any event, the driver must be prepared to leave as soon as the final stage light is lit.

A competitor with the words DEEP displayed on the window is not necessarily obligated to deep stage. As well, the starter is not necessarily obligated to wait on a driver to deep stage, even if the words DEEP are displayed on the vehicle. All drivers must be prepared to leave as soon as the final stage light is lit.

CLASS & SAFETY REQUIREMENTS
It is the participant’s responsibility to familiarize oneself with the safety requirements as found in the current IHRA/NHRA rulebooks.
The participant agrees that the participant bears the ultimate responsibility at all times to ensure the safety of participant’s vehicle and to ensure that participant complies with all applicable IHRA/NHRA rules. The participant agrees that participant is in the best position to know about the construction and operation of participant’s vehicle, equipment, and clothing, and whether there has been compliance with all applicable IHRA/NHRA rules.

LANE CHOICE
During qualifying lane choice is up to the drivers. For first round the quicker qualified car will have lane choice, for subsequent rounds the lane choice goes to the competitor who had the better reaction time the previous round, if both drivers had the same reaction time the driver who had it first will have lane choice.

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The Cordova dates are not yet for sure...the dates set do far are as follows:

Open Comp Races 2005:

Tri-State Raceway April 16-17
We'll have the OC Race on Sunday, they'll have their hands full on Saturday with Chassis Certification stuff and I don't think it'd be too condusive to try running a race both days...come down Saturday for some test runs and gets the bugs worked out for Sunday!!

Cedar Falls Raceway June 17-18-19
THE BIG ONE...Three Day Super Weekend.
TNT Friday Night and OC races on Saturday & Sunday.
There are NO other three day test-n-tune weekends on the schedule (which our deal essentially is) so please help to spread the word on this...Mike's sticking his neck out for us once again by scheduling this weekend for us, especially being it's essentially a three day party for us Ford nuts.

Mat's working with Cordova for a weekend there as well...


Cedar Falls Raceway October 22nd
The Finals...Last Race Before Winter Comes!!!


There are four AllNightStreetDrags on the CFR schedule too...one in May (28), two in July (2 & 23), and one in September (3)....

Gene

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Updates:

Mat's got Cordova set for the 24th and 25th of September...There's a "FreeFest" race on Saturday, race entry is covered by your spectator admission! It's 1000.00 to win...So, the gameplan is to run the FreeFest Race on Saturday and the Open Comp race on Sunday.



Gene

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We've got Kelly from DigitalRacecraft showing up at a few of the races to shoot some pics that you can purchase, she takes some great pics BTW, and she'll be donating an 11x16 and an 8x10 to our series winner and runner-up!!
More 'stuff' in the pipes...stay tuned.

Gene

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Round One.....Midwest OpenComp Series
Presented By ELIMN8U.COM & MustangCentral.Net

The weather at the first Midwest OpenComp Races wasn't all that cooperative and may have been the reason for the low turnout.
The April 16-17 event was held at Tri-State Raceway and day one turned out to be a very wet one after two qualifying sessions were held. Saturday's race was a rain-out and there are no plans to reschedule nor were any points awarded for that days participants. The weather for day two was much drier as well as warmer and the race went off without a hitch for the four entrants:

NAME.........................CAR..............Home Town.......INDEX

1...Gene Hinders.......79 Fairmont......Hudson, IA.......10.43
2...Steve Tisdale........72 Torino........Boscobel, WI....10.64
3...Mark Weerheim.....87 Mustang......Rochester, MN..11.45
4...Eric Sloan..............86 Mustang.....Boone, IA.........14.10


ROUND ONE (semi-finals)

Name....................CAR........RT....INDEX.... .ET........MPH

Gene Hinders.....79 Fairmont .042 10.43 10.489 122.48
Mark Weerheim..87 Mustang .089 11.45 11.496 114.61

Eric Sloan...........86 Mustang .196 14.10 14.100 97.65
Steve Tisdale.....72 Torino .245 10.64 10.749 124.78

FINALS

Gene Hinders.....79 Fairmont .154 10.43 10.515 115.87
Eric Sloan...........86 Mustang .195 14.10 14.208 97.36

The Semi-Finals pitted the 2004 OpenComp Champion, Mark Weerheim, against the 2003 Champion, Gene Hinders, and it was another classic close race between these two and this time around it was Hinders who took the win.
After a weekend of thrashing on the big Torino Steve was welcomed into O/C racing by Eric Sloan (Top Twenty Finisher in '04) and his RIGHT-ON 14.100 on a 14.10 Index!! This was a first in Midwest OpenComp race history I believe...a perfect run!
If Eric could have duplicated this feat in the finals he may well have had the "upset" of the day...neither Eric or Gene had a very good reation time in th finals and it came down to Gene and his "FlashBack" Fairmont being able to run closer to the index that was the deciding factor in Gene taking the win for the first race of the season.
One more "shout-out" to Matt Connelly who was running qualifying with us on Saturday but couldn't stick around for Sundays race...He had just gotten back from a year in Iraq and his buddies had finished getting his Mustang running for him while he was defending our freedoms. Nice to meet ya man!!! Hope you'll get some more opportunities to race with us in the future!

Next Event......June 17-18-19 at Cedar Falls Raceway.

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Cedar Falls Raceway June 17-19

Talked to the Track Manager and he set up a 3-Day discount:
$50 for three day test and tune $20 for three day spectator.

Gates are at 6:00pm Friday June 17
Gates are at 1:00pm Saturday June 18
Gates are at 9:00am Sunday June 19

OpenComp Race Fee is 15.00 for each days race...10.00 each goes into the payout and 5.00 of each entry goes into the season end points fund.

See ya there!

Gene


ps...weather forecast looks perfect for all three days!!!!

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Round Two & Three.....Midwest OpenComp Series


The turnout for round three and four of the Midwest OpenComp Series was fantastic the weekend of June 18-19 at Cedar Falls Rcaeway.
With well over 100 cars in attendance for the Ford Shotout Weekend we had sixtenn entries for the Saturday OpenComp race...Sunday's attendance was about half of that...I don't know if that's because it was Father's Day or if alot of folks just don't want to stick it out for a two day race?

Saturday's field was led by the fast and beuatiful 87 T-Bird of Mike Hinsch at a 8.90 and bookended by the equally beautiful but not quite as fast 95 Mustang that belonged to Lori Simpson at a 15.07 index.

Name..........................Car............Homet own...................Index
1. Mike Hinsch..........87 T-Bird......??????????......................8.90
2. Josh Knudsen......79 Stang......Itontenac,MN...................9.50
3. Steve Olson.........79 Stang......New Richmond,WI...........9.82
4. Bill Lehman..........68 Stang......Boone,IA..........................9.83
5. Paul Burkland......88 Stang......InnerGroveHeights,MN...10.43
6. Gene Hinders......79 Fairmont..Hudson,IA......................10.50
7. Phil Tenney..........62 Fairlane..???????????....................10.68
8. Tim Kroneman......72 Pinto.......Austin,MN.......................10.74
9. Jason Neshiem.....70 Mach 1....Mazeppa,MN..................11.45
10. Mark Weerheim..88 Stang......Rochester,MN................11.65
11. Jeff Biddle...........89 Stang......???????????..................11.74
12. Jim Winters Sr.....65 Falcon.....ClearLake,IA.................12.41
13. Erik Lawson.........81 280ZX.....Winona,MN...................12.53
14. Eric Sloan.............86 Stang......Boone,IA......................14.30
15. Frank Haaland......95 Stang.....???????????..................14.39
16. Lori Simpson.........95 Stang.....???????????..................15.07

ROUND ONE

NAME.....................RT..........INDEX........ ...ET............MPH

Steve Olson-------.067---------9.82-------9.910------127.39
Jeff Biddle---------.155---------11.74-----12.318------114.98

Phil Tenney-------.087---------10.68------11.168-------97.71
Frank Haaland-----.640---------14.39------14.591-------97.86

Josh Knudsen----.054-----------9.50-------9.528------145.44
Mark Weerheim--.053----------11.65------11.620------109.59

Jason Neshiem---.064---------11.45------11.471-------118.28
Mike Hinsch------.032----------8.90-------8.979-------153.33

Tim Kroneman----.060----------10.74------10.938------102.28
Lori Simpson------.696----------15.07------15.054-------90.55

Bill Lehman-------.037-----------9.83---------9.893----135.50
Jim Winters Sr----foul-(-.001)---12.41--------12.450----105.41

Gene Hinders----.189-----------10.50-------10.524------123.01
Eric Sloan---------.300-----------14.30-------14.166-----96.78

Erik Lawson------.084-----------12.53-------12.586------111.45
Paul Burkland------BROKE---------------------------------BROKE


ROUND TWO

Phil Tenney-------.008-----------10.68----10.801-----120.77
Steve Olson------.096-------------9.82-----9.911-----137.37

Jason Neshiem---.117------------11.45----11.575-----109.20
Erik Lawson-------.069-----------12.53----12.836-----106.79

Bill Lehman--------.040------------9.83-----9.955-----130.89
Tim Kroneman----.111------------10.74----10.820-----122.98

Josh Knudsen-----.004------------9.50-----9.658-----129.93
Gene Hinders-----.153-----------10.50----10.487-----128.73

Semi-Finals

Jason Neshiem-----.083---------11.45------11.491-----118.14
Phil Tenney---------.086--------10.68------10.806-----126.58

Josh Knudsen------.235---------9.50--------9.951-----111.94
Bill Lehman---------foul-(-.025)-9.83--------9.927------135.40

FINAL ROUND

Josh Knudsen-----.006----------9.50--------9.665------129.13
Jason Neshiem----.230---------11.45-------11.486------118.19




Sundays's event wasn't quite as large but the racing was no less intense as Bill Lehman's 68 Mustang led the way with a 9.72 and Ed Stettin brought up the rear in his "back-up" Mercury Sable at a 16.04 (the new transmission for his 'lil coupe was stuck at a UPS depot).


NAME.....................CAR..............HOEMTOWN .................INDEX

1. Bill Lehman.........68 Stang.........Boone,IA.......................9.72
2. Gene Hinders.....79 Fairmont.....Hudson,IA...................10.41
3. Jason Neshiem...70 Mach 1........Mazeppa,MN...............11.35
4. Mark Weerheim..87 Stang..........Rochester,MN.............11.50
5. Wade Poyner.....80 Firebird........Waterloo,IA................11.91
6. Jim Winters Sr....65 Falcon..........ClearLake,IA...............12.29
7. Mat Peirce.........03 Lincoln..........Davenport,IA..............15.44
8. Ed Stettin..........03 Sable............Ames,IA......................16.0 4


Round One

NAME..........................RT.............INDEX ........ET............MPH

Mark Weerheim---------.071---------11.50-----11.810-----92.23
Ed Stettin--------------.418---------16.04-----16.180-----86.35

Jason Neshiem----------.112--------11.35------11.626----103.22
Mat Peirce--------------.708--------15.44------15.647-----89.96

Bill Lehman-------------.078--------9.72--------9.873-----136.48
Wade Poyner-----------foul(-.004)-11.91-------11.879-----114.13

Jim Winters Sr--------.017---------12.29-------12.378-----104.81
Gene Hinders---------.178---------10.41-------10.365-----129.98

Semi-Finals

Mark Weerheim-------.073---------11.50------11.497-----115.17
Jim Winters Sr--------foul(-.022)---12.29------12.433-----106.59

Jason Neshiem------.065-----------11.35------11.461-----118.25
Bill Lehman-----------.032-----------9.72-------9.909-----135.93

FINALS

Mark Weerheim-----.038-----------11.50-------11.535-----107.19
Jason Neshiem------.186-----------11.35------11.448-----119.26



A few words of thanks to the staff at Cedar Falls Raceway for hosting the event, to Tags-N-More for the racer awards, to Mat of MustangCentral.Net and to everyone who showed up to race or just to spectate.