Mr. Murphy was practicing law at Heartland Park Topeka this past Saturday as pretty much anything that could have gone wrong, did. The first time trial session was interrupted by Mother Nature as she decided the track needed to be moistened. After 4 hours of constant watering, the weather broke, allowing the HPT track crew to hustle and get the track back into racing condition. Time trials resumed and were nearly completed when the wet stuff came down again. Dang! Anyway, we tried it again and had the track dried out enough to finish time trials around 10:00 pm when the skies threatened once again with tornado warnings to the west of Topeka so the plug was pulled and the event postponed until Sunday morning.

Father’s Day broke with plenty of sunshine, but as a result of the previous day’s weather, it was sticky. Hot and sticky. Very hot and very sticky. Yep, good ol’ Kansas summertime weather and it met the racers with tough racing conditions. Everyone was allowed a single time trial with the first round of eliminations immediately following time trials in an effort to save time to get two races in on Father’s Day. The results proved to make for a quick paced and exciting event.

Thirty-seven cars showed up for round one to battle it out for the money, trophy and bragging rights in the Super Pro Category. After three rounds, the quarter finals found Marv Gaither, of Troy, KS, returning in a sweet looking 1996 Neil & Parks dragster with a big block Chevy paired up with Wakarusa’s Landon Stallbaumer of the Stallbaumer Family Racing Team in his 2003 big block equipped dragster. Stallbaumer fouled at the starting line by leaving before the third amber light and Gaither was handed the win. Todd Piper of Wamego was able to get his dragster around Jackie Cravers stunning, black with green lightning accents, 2008 Neil & Parks dragster as the young lady left the starting line one one-thousandth of a second too soon. Bobby Mount from Milton, KS was on hand with his Hocus Pocus Ford Maverick and put down Larry Piper’s dragster from Wamego when Piper broke out by running quicker than his dial-in. Mark Grame, after having run the quickest and fastest passes of the event in time trials (6.97 @ 187!!!) did his job on the starting line and blew away Todd Stallbaumer’s Seneca, KS based 1990 Camaro with an excellent 0.020-second reaction time.

In the semifinals, Todd Piper narrowly defeated Gaither as he ran a 7.960 on his 7.93 dial-in compared to Gaither’s 8.092 against his 8.06 dial-in. Piper’s .015 reaction time was just enough to hold off Gaither’s stout .019 reaction to green. Grame blasted the Christmas tree with a .007-second light after Mount red-lit. Grame went on to post a 7.091 on his 7.06 dial-in to head to the final.

Grame, of Overland Park was set on kill and uncorked another brilliant light but it really wasn’t needed as Piper, in an effort to beat Grame off the starting line, foul-started by .003-seconds, handing the win to Grame. Grame posted a 7.082 on his 7.09 dial in as he ran it out the back door.

In the Pro category, the action was hotter than the weather, as 36 cars rumbled into the staging lanes for round one of eliminations. The quarter finals were comprised of 6 tough entries. Chris Livingood of Olathe dispatched Doug Baumgardner, driving Jason Novacek’s 1965 Barracuda as Baumgardner turned on the red bulb at the bottom of the tree by .030-seconds. TJ Tobler in the Leawood-based Allegro Brothers Racing sponsored 1970 Camaro duked it out with George Taylor, Jr. in his bright orange 1957 Chevy. Taylor, of Seneca, slowed down at the big end of the race track and allowed Tobler the room needed to take the finish line first. Darrell Gear, after having pounded the Christmas tree through the first three rounds, continued his assault on Rocky Akins of Haysville and rolled into the semifinals.

In the semi’s, Gear, of Raytown, MO, staged his familiar white 1964 Plymouth Savoy against Tobler and the duel was started. Gear slapped down a 0.018-second reaction time and Tobler popped open a 0.019 RT. With things heating up at the finish line, Gear took the stripe first with a 12.533 against his 12.52 dial-in and Tobler fell just short with a 10.364 against his 10.34 dial-in. Livingood, behind the wheel of his sharp, blue 1971 Chevy Nova had a great view of the pair in front of him as he sat in the water box waiting for his bye run into the finals and took the green light to advance.

Gear was sharp in the finals and had a big advantage over Livingood with a better reaction time, but Gear’s Plymouth ran too quick by 0.002-seconds and he disqualified himself by running too quickly. Livingood, a seasoned veteran to racing at Heartland Park, ran his car to near perfection with a 10.876 on a 10.86 dial in for the win.

There were twenty-seven drivers that entered the Sportsman category and in the quarter finals, Luke Seibert, driving his 1999 Pontiac Formula knocked off Topeka racer, Alex Hefner and his Mustang for the win. Christopher Deetjen of Randolph piloted his 1978 Camaro past the large-by-huge Dodge pickup of Jeff Faulkner for the trip to the semifinals. Ian Leach of Topeka ended Allan Butler’s run in a battle of the Camaros to advance and Bob Lash at the wheel of the “Nuclear Lemon” enjoyed a bye run into the next round.

In the semi’s, Leach was face with another Camaro as Deetjen pulled up along side him at the starting line. Leach ran solidly as he posted a 0.025 reaction time and put down a 12.883 on his 12.86 dial-in. Deetjen tried to run him down but ran too quickly and broke out by .040-second. Siebert battled it out with Lash’s Nova in a double-breakout and came out on top as he ran closer to his dial-in.

As the final pair pulled out of the water box, Leach must have had the jitters as when he left the starting line, he jumped the gun by .063-second and gave the overall win to Seibert, who was ready for just about anything with a 13.917 on his 13.90 dial.

Fifteen cars entered the street class and the quarter-finals found Jeff “The Big Deal” Faulkner paired with D.J. Wilson’s 1969 Camaro. Faulkner cut down the Camaro and moved on to the next round. In typical Father’s Day fashion, Tammy Okonek of Topeka gave her dad a gift as she was paired with him and managed to break out by just .007-second to give dear old dad the win in his Cadillac CTS B. Topeka racer, Martin Ranker, pushed his 1965 Mustang past Lindsay Lippert’s 1988 Trans Am.

In the semifinals, Okonek drove past “The Big Deal” for the win and Ranker took the bye run into the final.

The stage was set for some serious action as Ranker, an electrician by trade, flipped the switch on his Mustang. Okonek, a nurse anesthetist, apparently passed a bit of gas on the starting line and fell asleep with a .664-second reaction time as he watched Ranker streak to the finish unabated for the win.

The Motorcycle class was championed by Jimmy Hubbard on his Honda CBR 600 as he beat Paul Mustain’s Suzuki for the win.