Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Earlier this week a challenge was put out to area Mustang owners to see if one of them would join Jeremy Hall as a winner of one of the highly prized "Top MPH" trophies that are awarded at each Tuesday night at Dragway 42. The trophy goes to one racer based on the three qualifying sessions for Dragway 42's 100 MPH Club presented by Akron Horsepower.

Well, Mike Martyn of Akron and his 1992 Ford Mustang GT were definitely up to the challenge, not only taking the evening's "Top MPH" trophy but also knocking Ray Litz and his Pontiac Trans Am from the top of the season long list of competitors who are battling to be the fastest member of the 100 MPH Club.

Martyn's Mustang recorded a trap speed of 153.49 MPH that was nearly 15 mph faster that Litz's run on May 13 and was over 40 mph faster than Eric Witherspoon's second place run for the evening in his Cleveland based 2009 Corvette.

Below, you will find video of Mike Martyn's first qualifying attempt of the evening... a warm up pass of ONLY 152.00 mph.



Earlier in the evening, Mark Billings of Akron and his 1971 Pontiac Firebird had the distinction of becoming the 100th member to qualify for the 2008 edition of Dragway 42's 100 MPH Club for Street Legal Cars.

The next chance for drivers to qualify for the club will be Tuesday, July 22. The program, sponsored by Akron Horsepower, continues throughout the 2008 season as part of Dragway 42's Tuesday night Street Race, Grudge Race, and Test & Tune events.

Monday, July 14, 2008

The very popular 100 MPH Club for Street Legal Cars presented by Akron Horsepower will reach a milestone on Tuesday night when the 100th member qualifies for the club.

Going into this Tuesday, 99 different driver and car combinations are on the 2008 Member list.

This year has also seen a steady escalation in the MPH needed to take home the custom trophy that is awarded each Tuesday night to the car that records the highest MPH during the 3 sessions of 100 MPH Club qualifying.

John Bradbury's run of 133.45 MPH at the July 1st event was the third straight week where the trophy went to a car running over 130 MPH.

Ray Litz and his Pontiac Trans Am still sits atop the membership list with the fastest 100 MPH Club qualifying run of 138.94 MPH. The remainder of the Top 5 is Vic Santoiemmo's 1968 Pontiac Grand Prix at 134.39; John Bradbury's previously mention run in his 2000 Ford Ranger truck; Brian Lorenz and his 1987 Buick Regal Turbo at 132.59; and Lance Panaca's 131.57 MPH run in his 2006 Ford Mustang.

For those who like to keep up with their favorite manufacturer, here is a breakdown of the number of 100 MPH Club members by brand:


For those of you who note that these numbers don't total to 99, 3 racers failed to include their vehicle information on the tech card on the evening they qualified for the 100 MPH Club.

Qualifying sessions for the 100 MPH Club are run at 7PM, 8PM, and 9PM every Tuesday night. Racers only pay an additional $1.00 to make a qualifying attempt and participants who break the 100 MPH mark during one of these sessions receive a pair of 2008 Member decals for their car and a listing on the 100 MPH Club page of Dragway42.com

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Dragway 42 is proud to have many great racers who consider our facility to be their home track.

Great racers are always chomping at the bit to show off their talent, especially when it comes to the opportunity to race at Divisional and Regional events. This weekend several Dragway 42's competitors traveled to events in Pennsylvania and Tennessee and represented themselves very well at these "away from home" events.

At the IHRA Northstar Divisional Event at Pittsburgh on Friday, Dragway 42 regular Dennis Floyd from Wakeman took the class win in Hot Rod while Sunday's action saw Bob Ciredou (winner at last month's Ohio State Championship event at Dragway 42) advance to the final round in the Top Dragster category. Unfortunately, Ciredou's .014 PACKAGE came up short to the .011 package from Brad Slaughter.

At the NHRA Junior Dragster Eastern Conference Finals in Bristol, Tennessee, Uniontown's Scott Chitty (currently tied for 2nd place in the World Cup Coffee Junior Super Stock Class at Dragway 42) advanced to the final round in 12 Year Old class. Scott's dream of a Wally came up one run short when he turned on the .001 red-light that handed the title to Nick Isenhower of Lebanon, Indiana.

At the same Junior Dragster event, North Fairfield's Spencer Lacy (currently tied for 6th place in World Cup Coffee Junior Super Stock) took home the special award for the "Coolest Car" over the field of nearly 300 cars.

Congratulations to all of our racers!