Mopar win
Charlie Reay won the US 36 Raceway final against Craig Hejda around 1:00 AM Sunday morning. The win is possibly a double first. First win for Reay, and possibly a first Mopar win. But what else is expected after looking back on the Super Shifter 2009 Season. Chuck Evans wins first at Havana, Jerry McMains wins at Cordova for first win, and Ron Nance nearly wins his first race at Cedar Falls by losing to Shafer in the final. It has been a crazy year but there is now only one race remaining. Shafer and Hardin are separated by only one round coming into Cordova where Hardin nearly won earlier this year.
Shafer wins back to back
Troy Shafer put together back to back Super Shifter wins at Eddyville’s and Cedar Falls’ Night of Fires this past month. His amazing streak of wins put him at the top of the Super Shifter points. At Eddyville, Shafer was able to chase down Jim Hardin in the Super Shifter final round for his first win of the year. But Shafer’s hot streak would continue. Going into Cedar Falls he was chasing point’s leader Jim Hardin by one round. But at Cedar Falls, Hardin fell in the first round to Ron Nance’s Ford Maverick. Shafer took full advantage by once again taking a win at his second Night of Fire of the year in front of thousands and thousands of spectators. He truly can be called “on fire at the Night of Fire”. Shafer leaves Cedar Falls with the points lead and a lengthy win streak. He will be looking to continue this streak August 8th at US 36 Raceway with a different car. The Shafer team is expected to bring their ex- AHRA Pro Stock Mustang II instead of the ex-IHRA Pro Stock Ford Probe. The Super Shifters have two races remaining in the 2009 Season and all racers still know anything can happen.
Curfew ends NostalgiaFest
Racing at Cordova, Illinois started at 2:00PM with temperatures over 90 degrees. But just before the first round the sirens sounded as the storm came. The rain delay lasted two hours. When they returned to racing the weather had drastically changed; temperatures had dropped nearly 20 degrees. Racing continued to leave six cars in the third round. Hejda and Neldner was the race of the third round but not in the traditional way. Hejda left first and broke at about 100 feet. Neldner ran down the track to his victory, lifted through the finish, pulled the chute, looked for his win light but it was not on. Despite lifting, Neldner had managed to break out by a tenth of a second. All Hejda has to do is cross the finish and he is in the semi final. But as every watched the Ford Maverick coast slowly down the track, it became clear that Hejda had not noticed that Neldner had broke out. As he approached the finish line he swung wide into Neldner's right lane to make the first turn off, disqualifying him and giving Neldner the official win. Neldner's win paired him up with Hardin and gave McMains a bye to the final round. Neldner red lit giving Hardin the win and McMains excited the crowd in his bye with a 179 MPH pass. Unfortunately racing had to come to an end without a Super Shifter final because of a track curfew. Hardin and McMains will race their final next weekend at Eddyville's Night of Fire.
Evans wins at home!
Chuck Evans' Chevy Vega defeated Jim Landis' AMC in the Super Shifter final round on Sunday at Mid-State Raceway in Havana, Illinois. This Super Shifter win is the first for Evans' Hilborn injected small block Chevy Vega. He was able to take home his first victory at his home track. Evans had less than a hour drive to Mid-State Raceway. Congratulations to Chuck and his family. But this was not the only victory this weekend, W.R. Buck was crowned burnout king by Mid-State Raceway. This crowning came after Buck made a 100+ mph burnout the full length of the eighth mile drag strip. Super Shifters next stop is at Cordova Dragway's 2009 NostalgiaFest. News on this event will be coming soon.