Sparco Fall Fling – Wednesday Results

It was a long night yesterday before a winner… and a runner-up… both walked away with a new dragster in the American Race Cars/Racetech Super Tuesday Dragster Shootout, but we’re sure Thomas Bell and Corey Gulitti didn’t mind the late night as both walked away winners.

Today began with a single time trial for all competitors followed immediately by eliminations on Yukon Gear & Axle Wednesday, a day where by the end of the night one lucky, and most assuredly talented racer will walk away with $15,000 after his or her win. In addition to the win money, as is always the case at any Fling event, a fair amount of round money and prizes are given away.

One unfortunate incident reared its ugly head this morning when Delaware racer Danny Bastinelli’s tow truck was stolen from a local hotel overnight. Thankfully his trailer was safely parked at the track and racers being racers, a donation fund was set up to assist Danny with his needs. Just another fact of the Fling family helping one another.

California, Washington State, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona and others, along with obviously all places in the east, but they all came to experience the Fling. And when Friday rolls around this week and the big announcement is made as to the tenth anniversary event in 2019, there is no doubt it will be epic. But we still have a lot of racing to go this week.

When the smoke cleared after the first round of eliminations, 333 entries had made the call. As is Fling tradition, random pairings exist until 16 cars or less after which they are paired on a ladder by way of reaction time. By the time the round before the quarterfinals rolled around the remaining racers included Leon Robertson, Allen Byrd, Rocky Pintavalle, Brian Nolf, Trevor Denton, Joe Barush, John Taylor, Paul Campanella, Shane Maddox, Jeff Serra, Johnny Ezell, Bob McDonough, Tony Pruett, Chris Cadle and Ian Woods.

Round six survivors were Barush, McDonough, Serra, Campanella, Woods, Cadle, Pruett, and the lone door car of Pintavalle. Quarterfinals and Barush dispatched Serra with an .018 package; Pruett turned on the red-light to advance Cadle; McDonough used a .005 package to send Campanella packing; and finally, Pintavalle and his Duster survived over Woods.

A spot in the final for $15,000-to-win awaited the four semifinalists and it was two red-lights which decided the round with Cadle and Pintavalle surviving to battle for $15,000. Door car versus dragster, Virginia versus Kentucky for all the marbles on Yukon Gear & Axle Wednesday.

In the final, the all-conquering, all-Mopar of Pintavalle was not to be denied with a .006 reaction time and a dead-on the dial with a “0” for the win over Cadle, closing out a great day of racing.

Racepak Thursday dawns bright and early tomorrow with only new entries receiving a time run before eliminations. Thursday night will also be the site of the Hoosier Tires Door Car Shootout. MotorManiaTV.com has been streaming the entire event with sponsorship help from Mickey Thompson Tires and JEGS. Stay tuned to MotorMania.com especially on Friday morning for a very special announcement regarding the tenth anniversary edition in 2019 of the Fall Fling in Bristol.