Dirt
Thinking Inside the Box
E
ric Tenney was perfectly happy
running his ’69 Dodge Dart in foot-
brake events along the East Coast
when one of his local tracks, Capitol
Raceway, decided to combine their footbrake
class with Top ET going into the 2017 season.
The move, similar to the class structure changes
recently implemented by the IHRA, could have
thrown off some racers, but Tenney embraced the
challenge of disrupting a discipline he’d devel-
oped over years in the driver’s seat.
“Over the winter going into
2017 I decided to get a Powerglide
and a transbrake and do some
top bulb racing. I figured there
was no better time to make the
switch since I’d be running against
dragsters and door cars with delay
boxes,” says Tenney, a 31-year-old
former Jr. Dragster standout.
With a new transmission and
converter from BTE installed in the Dart, Tenney
found success nearly immediately in Top ET. He
won several races and finished in the Top 5 at all
the tracks he raced at for points before experienc-
ing an incredible weekend at the IHRA Bracket
Finals at Maryland International Raceway. He
lost to a dragster in the final round of the Top
ET gambler’s race, then used a combination of
luck and skill to pull off the all-important Bracket
Finals Top ET championship.
“Racing the last door car in the
race in the fourth round, I was .001
on the tree, he was .002 on the tree,”
Tenney remembers. “He went dead-
on with a zero and I went dead-on
with a zero. My one-pack beat his
two-pack. That was crazy. I was
like, ‘Well, there’s my luck for the
race.’ I ended up going a few more
rounds and got down to three cars.
I had the bye. All my lights were
good all we ekend and the car was running the
same number. I ended up winning the race with
a .004 light and dead-on in the final. To win the
Bracket Finals in Top ET my first year running
with a box was pretty cool.”
Looking ahead to this season, Tenney envi-
sions a similar schedule of mixed events with the
Dart and his second car, a ’64 Plymouth Valiant.
With a new sponsorship from BTE, coupled with
continued support from his wife, Andrea, and his
parents, David and Shiela, as well as sponsors
like CAS Structural Engineering, CLK Kustoms,
Maryland Performance Specialties, Shady Dell
Speed Shop and Interstate Racing Fuels, Ten-
ney is ready for a big year, both at the racetrack
and at home.
“I have high expectations for this year,” asserts
Tenney, a senior software developer. “As soon as
the rain goes away and the weather improves
I’ll start racing more. There’s a lot of big-money
bracket races out there now. I’m going to do a
lot of those races, then I’ll still try to chase the
points series for IHRA at Capitol and NHRA at
Cecil County.
“Plus, I got married over the summer last year
and we have a baby on the way, due at the end
of August, so this year’s going to be pretty fun.”
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
38 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 133
Eric Tenney seamlessly makes the switch to Top ET
By Nate Van Wagnen