Virginia Press Release

NationalGuard.com U.S. Drags II in Richmond, Virginia Wrap up

28 July 2009 - Dinwiddie, VA

All three of Bankston Boyz Racing teams showed up to the Virginia Motorsports Park on Thursday last week in preparations for the National Guard ADRL’s sixth event on its 2009 national tour. Rolling into this event found driver Stan Allen in fourth in points; driver Tim Savell holding tenth in points; and driver John DeFlorian seventeenth in Pro-Nitrous points. It was critical that Stan hold or improve his points position and for Tim and John to make moves in order to close in on the top eight for the Speedtech Battle for the Belts later this year in Dallas.

It was absolutely amazing to see the amount of cars that showed up for this event at Virginia Motorsports Park. I have heard reports of over 150 entries for all classes, and when I asked Quick Vandever what the actual count was he stated that there was around 165 total entries! I have been to most of the ADRL’s national events since their inception in 2004 and have NEVER seen as many fans at any prior event. Friday’s announced attendance was 40,788 setting a single day record for attendance for both the ADRL and VMP. Saturday’s crowds even surpassed the previous day’s record. At the time of this report I had not heard any official numbers, but believe me that it was easily double that of Friday. As Saturday evening’s elimination rounds began there was over 600 acres of spectator cars parked with many more parked on the shoulders of the highway entering the facility. It finally got to the point that officials at VMP had to close the facility due to safety issues. When I left the track on Saturday evening it took me an hour and a half just to get out to the highway! Traffic was backed up all the way to I-85 waiting to get into the event at 8:30pm on Saturday night. This event had to break all previous records of fan attendance at any prior ADRL event.

As Friday morning rolled around cars were tuned and inspected for testing and qualifying round one later in the evening. It was discovered that Stan Allen’s ride had a front right tire with a mild leak that took crewmembers a while to locate. After close inspection by the Goodyear representative at the track it was discovered that the valve stem was leaking and was easily fixed in time for competition. Stan Allen was grateful for the expertise of the Goodyear technician and went over to thank him personally! I would like to take the time here to personally thank Carolyn Ashbee of Goodyear, director of race tire marketing, for her help and sponsorship during this racing season. In such a competitive sport every dime helps and we are very grateful for all the support.

On Friday evening we had a visit from Mike Ghiraldi who is competing in the NMCA series. Mike purchased the 68 Camaro from Michael Bankston that was piloted by Stan Allen 3 years ago in the ADRL when we were a single car team. Ghiraldi, of Chefrault Racing Engines from New York, stated he has never seen a car a clean as the one that he had purchased from Bankston Boyz Racing. He and team owner Michael Bankston, driver Stan Allen chewed the fat for a while concerning the car and the 737 Fulton power plant under the hood. We wish you the best Mike and are sure that the wins lights are soon to follow!

As Stan and his crew got his steed ready, Tim was thrashing in his pits getting the "Blue Beast" ready for another fight on the racing surface. Tim was extremely short handed in terms of crewmembers to prep the car, "Mark, my crew consisted of David Hughes and Hunter Bankston and that's it. I am having to oversee them and also service my car for this race. It is going to be alright and I want to thank them for their hard work."

Meanwhile, there was no frenzied activity in John DeFlorian's pit due to the well oiled crew who knew their assignments and handled it to perfection. Dan Helmer handled the clutch can, Mike Hodges dealt with servicing the Reher-Morrison power plant, and Jim Kelly was on hand to pitch in on whatever else needed to be done to get the Jerry Haas Corvette ready for competition.

Due to the car count all teams were limited to only one test hit and only two qualifiers. As testing began I rode through the staging lanes and personally counted 35 Pro-Nitrous entries for only 16 spots in the field, meaning that over half of the cars that showed up would be on the trailer by the time eliminations began on Saturday. Testing on Friday afternoon saw track temperatures around 135 with the density altitude coming in around 2650 feet. Stan Allen made a test run of 4.052 ET and 183.22 mph representing the best of all three cars in the test session.

When qualifying round one started on Friday night began Tim Savell was first out and when the "Blue Beast" left the line it drifted right near the centerline before he brought it back into the groove. When all was said and done he had recorded a pass of 4.107ET and 173.05 mph. After bringing the car back to the pits it was discovered that he had hurt the motor on the run and was up late Friday night replacing 4 pistons. Crew members from both Stan Allen’s and John DeFlorian’s teams assisted him in getting the car ready for Saturday’s second qualifier. Next out for round one of qualifying was John in the left lane and when the tree dropped the Jerry Haas Z06 Corvette struck the wheelie bars hard and caused the car to go right near the centerline forcing John to counter steer the car back across the groove to the left. This caused him to abort the run with an ET of 4.393 and a slow mph of 129.40. Finally, it was Stan Allen who was up in his Tim McAmis 69 Camaro in the right lane. He made a pass that was straight down the middle of the groove and when he had gone out the top had recorded an ET of 3.969 at 188.44 mph placing him solidly in the 16 car field. With that Michael Bankston put the cars to bed for the night.

Fans in attendance on Saturday witnessed extraordinary racing in hot temperatures in all classes. As far as the Pro-Nitrous class was concerned, the second and final round of qualifying was crucial for those teams who were unable to get into the 16 car field on Friday night. With the bump set at 4.06 John DeFlorian was first of the Bankston Boyz Racing stable out in the right lane. He methodically staged his car and after all was said and done he had recorded a 4.013 ET and 186.61 mph placing him in the field and lowered the bump to a 4.04. Tim Savell followed John out in the right lane and his run was less than stellar with a recorded pass of 4.269 ET and a mph of 170.30 forcing him to watch the race later in the day from the sidelines. Finally it was Stan out in the left lane for his last qualifying attempt. It was decided that with him solidly in the race that he was going to test a tune up combination and run only to the 330 marker. His second qualifying pass was much slower at 4.144 ET.

While the cars remaining in competition were being prepped for the race the ADRL invited all of our drivers to the National Guard’s first ever autograph session. The fans were great and the personal interaction between the drivers during this was unbelievable! With fans lined up to meet drivers the session began while their cars were rolled into the staging lanes for round one to begin. All of our drivers were more than happy to sign autographs and have pictures taken with fans and would like to thank the ADRL for this wonderful chance to represent the best racing league in America, and their sponsors who make it possible for them to compete at this level.

After completion of the autograph session the drivers ran over to their steeds in the staging lanes and began suiting up for racing to begin. Round one of eliminations began on time and witnessed track temperatures around 135 with the density altitude coming in at 2900 feet.

First out was Stan Allen who was matched up against veteran Pro-Nitrous driver Tom “Slick” Meyers from Grandberry, TX. Stan had lane choice and took the right lane over Slick. With Johnny Pilcher having a DNQ it was a perfect opportunity for him to make a move in the points. When the tree dropped Stan left on Meyers on a .046 reaction time as compared to a .092 and when Slick’s 63 split window Corvette got out of shape the race was over. Stan Allen recorded a 4.019 ET at 187.78 mph to Slick’s losing 5.0285 ET at 94.99 mph to go to the second round of eliminations. Next out for the Bankston Boyz was John DeFlorian who was matched up with Freddy Scriba who qualified 5th in his “Sourcerer” 63 split window Corvette in the right lane. John won this round over Scriba on a holeshot run of 4.049 ET and a mph of 184.70, whereas Freddy recorded a quicker ET of 3.985 and 188.52 mph. His reaction time at the drop won this round for him with a RT of .037 as compared to Scriba’s .108 RT. This is what makes 1/8 mile racing so much fun. It is a game where driver ability is factored in allowing a slower car to win due to another driver’s inability to react as quick another.

Second round of eliminations began at dusk and track temperatures had dropped significantly to 108 degrees and corrected air had also changed accordingly. First out in this round was John DeFlorian against Jim Halsey, the eventual winner, who had lane choice over DeFlorian and put him in the right lane. As the tree dropped John had cut a .009 light over Halsey on a losing run of 4.626 ET to Halsey’s run of 3.906 putting him “on the trailer” for the remainder of the event. Next out was Stan Allen who was matched up against Khalid Al-Balooshi of Qatar the number 3 qualifier. They left the line with practically identical reaction times with Stan being quicker on the tree by .004 seconds. After they had completed their runs it was Al-Balooshi with the win light over Stan on a 3.941 ET and 190.14 mph as compared to Allen’s losing 4.011 ET and 186.54 mph.

With the cars on the trailer we find Stan Allen holding in fourth place in the points, Tim Savell falling into tenth place, and John DeFlorian moving up into fourteenth. With that we move on to the next race in two weeks at St. Louis, MO for the seventh event of the 2009 National Guard ADRL racing season. We look forward to seeing you there! We would like to thank our sponsors: Mississippi Foundation Repair, TeaCo Geophysical, UDT, Speedtech, Reher-Morrison, and Goodyear for their continued support.

Regards,

Mark Teague