Winners Emerge from Mutt and Jeff Event

Mutt and Jeff returned to Numidia Dragway for the 2023 ninth iteration of their June race.  After selling out in a record 30 minutes single entry only, excitement was at an all time high for the event.  It would not disappoint!

Mutt & Jeff Race Results

The race kicked off on Thursday with a 250 entry sellout crowd looking to win the $20,000 main event that was moved due to weather concerns for Friday.  

Round 5 of No box pitted Kyle Kohr in his Kohr customs Dart against Best appearing door car Andy Purcell and John Binkle in his rent a ride 85 Camaro taking on Perennial contender Marty Flegal in his Nova.  Kohr used a .029 dead on zero run to eliminate Purcell and Binkle took the advantage .016 to .029 all the way to the finish to punch his ticket to the No Box final.  In the final neither driver had their best reaction times of the weekend .033 to .043 but the .010 advantage was enough for Kyle Kohr to make work at the stripe 6.307 on a 6.29 dial taking .013 picking up the bonus and moving to the main field.

Round 7 of the Class 1 Transport 20k main event left us with 6 racers searching for the big check.  Brad Doss in his 65 dart against Gavin Shoemaker in his 99 s10, Dylan Biondo’s 94 s10 taking on David Hebig in his 2021 S&W dragster, and Kyle Kohr opposite Connor Hebig in the other 06 S&W Dragster.  Doss and Shoemaker left with identical .022 reaction times, Shoemaker gets there first by .005 to breakout by .005 handing the win to Doss 7.190 on his 7.19 prediction.  Next pair David Hebig takes the starting line advantage .000 to Biondo’s .018 and gets to the stripe first by .026, only to breakout by .001, 4.719 on a 4.72 dial, sending the young Biondo to the semi-finals 6.017 on a 6.01.  The last quarterfinal matchup saw No Box winner Kohr take a .004 to .013 lead over the last remaining dragster, Connor Hebig, and turn that into a win light as both drivers go .02 over, Kyle’s 6.308 on a 6.28 getting there first. 

The semis rolled out like this, Dylan Biondo with the solo to the final and Brad Doss taking on Kyle Kohr to see who would get the shot at 20k.  In a Double breakout, Doss would use his .022 initiated 7.175 on a 7.19 to move the street driven dart to the final as Kyle’s .034 start left him no choice but to get behind, he just doesn’t get behind enough running a 6.279 on a 6.30 ending his day.  The all door car final was set with Doss and Biondo set to square off for the Main Event title.  Brad would leave first with an .025 hit and Dylan soon after with a slightly better .011 bulb giving him enough room to set the truck down to a 6.020 on his 6.01 prediction netting him a $20,000 payday.  Doss was no slouch putting it 7.181 on a 7.18 in his runner up effort.

A 64 car all run shootout for $6,000 would be contested to round out day 1.  With 4 drivers remaining we would see 2 door cars fighting it out in one pair and 2 long skinnies in the other.  The dragster pair came out first with Lin Bowie and Tom Pistole duking it out.  When the smoke cleared Bowie would get by with a .011 initiated 4.770 on a 4.75 as Pistole had the slight advantage with a .009 but dropped to get behind at the stripe.  The door car guys were a pair of Numidia hitters in Stace Shrawder and Ray Keown.  Ray would get to leave first in his Cougar but would end his hopes with a -.019 reaction time. He was going to have his hands full regardless as Stace in his Lumina was on point with a .006 5.196 on a 5.19 lap throwing down 12 total.  Stace took lane choice in the final grabbing the left lane.  After the burnout the lumina shut off and would not refire, Lin waited patiently for Shrawder to hopefully find the problem, but it was not to be as the fuel pump had seized allowing Lin to break the beams for the 6k Shootout victory.  

Friday brought a pesky rain that just wouldn’t give a window to dry the track and complete any racing, so the 12k events were combined to be a 24k to win Saturday.  Friday was not a complete waste as a great racer appreciation dinner was served along with the soothing sounds of Lou Greco and his guitar entertaining the masses.

Saturday would be a full slate of racing with the ATI Performance/Altronics $24000 to win race and another 6k to win shoot out.

No Box Semis saw Dylan Moore in his 84 Mustang knock off the 67 nova of Ian Young when Ian turned the red bulb on.  Dylan would be .010 and 1 above headed to the final.  On the other side of the ladder Jesse Alberts in his 95 Firebird would get the nod as Mike Fornwalt kicked it red in his 67 camaro.  Jesse moved on with a .020 and 4 under 5.67 on a 5.71.  In the final another great display of bracket racer sportsmanship was displayed as Dylan’s mustang mysteriously shut off making his turn into the lanes.  Alberts wanted to race for it and gave Moore all the time he needed to change several items before finally discovering a bad pickup in the distributor.  Jesse may have been kind in waiting but out on the race track he was flat out brutal using a .008 and dead on 5.683 eleven total run to make Dylan mathematically ineligible with his .031 at the hit.

The No box addition to the quarterfinals left us 6 cars, 3 with doors and 3 without, 1 of each in every pair.  Jay Ralston in his pro charged entry would use a .007 initiated 4.382 on a 4.37 to dispatch Jason Lawrence in his 84 camaro.  Jason would have the edge with a .002 reaction time but runs under trying to hold off the big top end charge of Ralston.  Next pair saw the Legend Sal Biondo in his gorgeous 67 firebird square off with yet another pro charged dragster, this one belonging to Bobby Spence.  Spence would have the advantage .008 to .012 but doesn’t get to the stripe first with his 4.369 on a 4.36.  Sal goes dead on with a 2 to make 14 total taking out Bobby’s 17  total.  Final pairing of the round No Box winner Jesse Alberts had the task of Frank Mark in his high gear only Racetech.  Mark would grab the advantage at the start .015-.017 of Alberts but as was every pair this round the starting line advantage didn’t turn on the win light.  Jesse would go dead on 3 for .020 total leaving Frank .017 behind at the stripe.  With 3 left Sal was sitting on the bye only 1 more win light from matching his son Dylan’s Thursday win, and Jay and Jesse left to battle it out for the right to stop him.  Jay used a .008 starting line advantage to carry his 4.382 on a 4.37 sending him to a final round showdown with Biondo.  Jesse had .004 to work with but couldn’t make it stick on the 164 mph charge of Ralston. 

On his Solo Biondo would throw down a .002 reaction time to give him lane choice.  Final round would be one of sentimental value to both racers.  On one side you have the legendary Sal Biondo looking to pull off the father/son big check sweep, and on the other you have Jay Ralston looking for his first ever win in 11 years of racing.  Sal would get a full tree head start and leave with an .028 bulb, shortly behind him Jay would have his first miss of the day with an .041 light.  At the stripe though in a double break out it would be Ralston netting his first win and $24,000 pay day with a 4.366 on a 4.37 as Sal would go under by .001 more.  

One shoot out left to end the weekend.  With 6k on the line and 3 drivers left we would see Shawn “EZ Go” Barrett in his square body s-10 and Mike Rogers weekend in his 05 racetech.  Mike had issues when the car rolled the beams, but Barrett was a stout .003 and 1 above in the win.  On the other side we saw Steve Sisko in his 70 Nova let go .004 and run 6.388 on his 6.38 prediction to set up a killer final.  Sisko would leave with a slight .005 to .010 advantage and peddle his way to the final win light of the weekend 6.385 on a 6.37 leaving Barrett .008 behind at the stripe.  

Best appearing open body belonged to Tim Markoglou in his good looking dragster and Andy Purcell in his S&W backed street driven Willy’s.

Even with a little rain it was a great weekend at a great facility and we look to see everyone in the Fall at US13 Dragway for the Mutt & Jeff Fall Brawl.