8 NHRA National Records Crushed In Jersey

On the craps tables in Vegas the best odds are on 6 and 8. For Pro and Hot Rod competitors, 6s and 8s are the gateway to import immortality.

At the Fall Sport Compact Nationals at Englishtown, the gateway was straight-up stampeded as sport compact drag racing continued to blaze new trails in import performance. The excitement extended into Modified, where rolling a 7 put you in elite company. Yet again the NHRA provided record-setting thrills, and yet again it all went down on the grippiest surface in sport compact racing-legendary Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J.

In Hot Rod, Lance Ho Lung and the HP Racing Civic (Turbo, Dec. 2002 issue) served notice. They were indeed a force. Right off the trailer, Lance power-shifted the Honda to a wicked 8.73, just a thousandth off the class record, and giving Team HP a chance to set a record at the event.

Lined up next to Lance was Jojo Callos and the Castrol Integra, who proved he was back on the attack after a mid-season slump by registering an 8.81 in the first side-by-side 8-second run in unibody Honda history. True, there was no elimination at stake, but it was a first nonetheless.

The 8-second barrier was again crushed by Marty Ladwig, who continued to improve with the GM Racing/Bothwell MS Sunfire. An 8.868 put him third on the grid while Kenny Tran made a 9.06 pass in the first qualifying round.

The big news was Venom Racing's Civic going down with a broken ring and pinion gear. Would they be back? Was the door open to tighten up the points race? The answer was yes and no. The Venom Civic unleashed an 8.656 in round two to take the top spot. Hot Rod was so off-the-chain, it was hard to keep track of the 8s as they came at us rapid-fire style (see accompanying chart), with eight 8-second runs from five different cars.

It got crazier in eliminations as the barrage kept coming. In the first stanza, Lance Ho Lung laid down an 8.593 and was poised to set a new record. Going into the second round he needed an 8.678 to be within the 1 percent mandated by the NHRA to officially set a record. His best qualifying effort of 7.727 was 1.56 percent of the 8.593. The HP Racing Civic's engine stuttered in the burnout box. Then, according to Lance, the Honda hooked so hard it bogged, even on the rev-limiter. The Civic stalled and Lance had to re-fire the engine to complete his run. "This had to be the best hookin' track I have ever seen," says Lance.

This sentiment was shared by many. Bruce's second-round 8.750 was not enough to back up his 8.65-he needed an 8.742 or better. In the semis, he blasted an 8.725 for the e.t. record, and in the finals, his 168.11 trap speed was enough to reset that record as well. The points Bruce earned as top qualifier, the records he set and the event win gave him a stranglehold on the NHRA season championship.

In Pro, all the big dogs were looking to take a bite out of the 6-second barrier. The Venom Racing Tundra ran a 6.95 at Route 66 Raceway in a race a week or two before E-Town, so everyone knew the chase was on to get in the NHRA record books at E-Town.

Ara Arslanian fired first with a 6.984 at 196.22 in the first round of qualifications. John Lingenfelter put his hat in the ring with a 7.088, which would be enough to support a high 6 but he dropped a valve in his Ecotec powerplant. It was the second engine failure of the event and put his Pro class Cav on the trailer for Sunday.

The second round of qualifying saw Ara's stablemate George Ioannou move to the head of the class with a 6.969. Another longshot with a chance was Manny Cruz, who gear-slammed a 7.001 and 195.48 in the final qualifying round.

In eliminations, Ara came up short with a 7.15 and Manny Cruz did not initiate the Auto Start system in time and was DQ'd. Round two saw Ara make a 7.16 pass. Then it happened. George Ioannou pulled a 6.939 at 195.76 to set the record in the 6s and also grab the mph record.