FUNNY CAR CHAOS CLASSIC

‘ A’ Field win this season.

“ The team is proud of our strong start this year,” said Zimmerer.“ Our sight is set on the Funny Car Chaos championship, and back-to-back wins at Tulsa and Ennis is a great start.”

The AlkyDigger‘ B’ Field found Joe Pirrone’ s“ Screamin Eagle” entry advancing past Daniel Butherus and Bobby Toth to meet Wayne Hofmann in the final round. Hofmann defeated top qualifier Mary Reep and Casey Geeslin on his way to the finals. In the final, Pirrone’ s 3.94 at 184 mph took the win over Hofmann’ s 4.06 at 172.

Wulff Pumps‘ C’ Field eliminations came down to Jordan Ballew in his“ Ballew Thunder” Camaro versus Steve Vang. Vang took the starting line advantage, but Ballew had the horsepower at the big end and his 4.35 at 162 mph drove around Vang’ s 4.74 at 143.

In Nitro Chaos action, the RBS Superchargers‘ A’ Field final round was set to see Jake Sanders in“ The Menace” do battle with Garry Wheeler Jr.’ s“ Grand Prix Racing” team in a battle of outlaw front-engine nitro dragsters. Wheeler’ s car suffered race-ending damage in the semis, giving Sanders a solo pass, but Sanders had issues himself during the burnout and elected to stage and take the tree to ensure the win.

CP-Carrillo‘ B’ Field action welcomed Joe Kostelecky’ s nostalgia Top Fueler and Brian Kohlmann’ s steel-bodied,’ 31 Chrysler“ Street Fuel Coupe” to the line for the last Chaos final round of the night. The cars left the line together and immediately Kohlmann’ s car was smoking heavily. As they reached the stripe Kohlmann took the win, then lost control in his own fluid and ended up with the car on its side and on fire at the quarter-mile mark. Thankfully, Chaos top-end safety director Brad Thompson was perfectly positioned to extinguish the flames within seconds and Kohlmann was able to walk away.

“ I did a longer burnout in the final round, and it just built the pressure up inside the converter,” Kohlmann recalled.“ I whacked the gas, and it took the front seal out from all that pressure and heat. The fluid starts flying out, I’ m on and off the gas trying to get the thing down the track, and I’ m like,‘ Where is this guy? That dragster should have me covered by seven tenths.’ I see the orange [ finish line ] cone, and the car just veered off to the left in its own oil. It bumps the wall and flips on its side.

“ I’ m on my side with all my weight on the seatbelt, and I look towards the windshield and all I saw was the entire windshield glowing red and orange,” added Kohlmann.“ I’ m trying to get myself out, and I heard the fire extinguishers going off. Brad was right there, suited up, ready to go. It only took 11 seconds from the time the car burst into flames to the time he got a fire extinguisher on it. It’ s unbelievable.”

The Nitro Chaos victory was the third in a row for Kohlmann dating back to last season, and while he admits it may not look the prettiest right away, the plan is to have the car back at the next Chaos event as he pursues a series championship. DI

Joe Pironne

Jordan Ballew

Keith Zimmerer

44 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 200