LIVE from the Auto Meter Northern Class Nationals!

[RonTheAnnouncer]

Originally Posted by Marty Buth

Thanks Ron, for your great job of announcing at the race. Thanks to Michael and his crew for there dedicated efforts to put on such a great event! Thanks to Nitro Joe for all his hard work, he worked his butt off, getting the ladders and getting cars paired up. I hope Michael can do this again! Congrats to Charlie Downing on his win in stock!

Most of the weekend was Mike Bassin, I just took a couple of turns on Sunday. Mike did a great job even though he was feeling a bit under the weather! I'll work with you anytime, Mr. Bassin!

[Marty Buth]

Thanks for the clarification, Ron. So, thanks to Mike for his great job of announcing!

[Mike Carr]

Total entries were 116 (actually 117 before the DQ) in Stock and 86 in S/S. 203 total.

SS/K was the biggest Class with 10 cars. Stock, the biggest class was 6 cars, I believe. F/SA and G/SA were three rounds to win.

I worked at fuel check Friday, almost everyone passed. One car missed by a hair, a few others were close/borderline but passed. It was a new experience working that all day, directing traffic to keep a lane open, helping a few newbies that had never done a fuel check before (I remember my first time).

An awesome weekend for sure. Made a LOT of new friends. Nice to put a face with a name to people I only talk to on here or Facebook. Also saw and talked to friends I hadn't seen since the 50th Indy in 2004.

Lots of FAST runs. Amazing what happens when you don't have to worry about the AHFS. "Go Fast Friday" was just that. Need a new slogan: Go -1.80 or go home. lol

Weather was not too terrible. Breezy and chilly all weekend, a few scattered rain showers Saturday. Not enough to 'lose the track', but just enough we couldn't send cars down the track. Track prep crew did a great job. Just small breaks in the action to drag between sessions, rosin/spray the bald spots, etc. I think most racers didn't mind a few minutes here and there to guarantee a great racing surface.

For those who weren't there, for whatever reason(s), you missed a hell of a show. A race, exclusively for Class Cars, with scales, fuel check, qualifying/ladder, heads-up runs and tech inspection. Put on FOR racers, BY racers. You need to make plans for the next one (if there is one).

I sincerely hope there will be a 2nd Northern Class Nationals in 2015 (or at least not a 13 year gap again).

[Mike Bassin]

Thanks for the compliment Marty! Most multi-day events need someone to give the lead announcer some breaks and I was able to have lunch and get out and stretch my legs a few times. Thanks to Danny Durham, Derrick Beach, Ron Huntley Jr. and Michael Beard, for taking a turn at the mike, all were excellent, thanks guys. Yes I did have a bit of hay fever symptoms, felt ok but sounded bad. Another thought, it was nice to meet Superfan1, Bill and Libby Seabrook from Bridgeport Conn. They are huge fans of all you S/SS racers, they attend several big Nat'l and LODRS events per year, I had them in the tower fri. and sat. They were impressed with event and loved watching the racing from the tower and checking out the Compulink timing system. Though they aren't racers, they are a part of the big S/SS family, we thank them for their support of the Auto Meter Northern Class Nationals. Danny Durham and friends made the trip from Tacoma Wash. That's a hike! Thanks for being with us.

Mike Bassin

[Ron Middleton]

Lots of kudos go out. Although I didn't make it, I did catch a lot of it on MotorManiaTV.com which was really cool. Great job to everyone and I think this goes to show that Stock/Superstock can be a show and a great race by itself. Makes me think that these racers, with the right leadership could put together their own sanctioning body and have a great series. It was also extremely interesting to see how fast these cars could run without worrying about AHFS. Thanks to everyone who worked to pull this off and to the racers who participated and those who shared all the photos.

[Michael Beard]

On behalf of my Loose Rocker partner Anthony Walton, our families, our staff, and the track staff, I would like to express a hearty thank you to all of the racers, sponsors, and fans who supported this event so passionately! It's been 13 years since the original US Class Nationals, championed by our Grand Marshal Alex Denysenko (who did indeed receive a hat, a badge, and a gun, as requested. And you're darn right it was a useless toy gun, because I knew that if I even got him a squirtgun, he would USE it!) We were honored to have you and your family join us. I admit to getting a little emotional when presenting him with his plaque of recognition, and I am again just while typing this. You can file event promotion under "You think you know, but you have no idea." -- It puts an exclamation point on just how extraordinary Alex's accomplishments are.



Mike Carr just covered the car counts. Thanks again to the one and only Buff Daddy for his extra helping hand at fuel check on Friday. Keeping the scales and fuel check running quickly and efficiently with over 200 cars without any "filler" classes inbetween Stock and Super Stock is an amazing feat! GREAT job by Jim & Connie Woods, Don Braun, and Mike Carr!

Redman and Bradley on the starting line... need anyone say more? Redman was definitely in the house -- and in his wheelhouse. While it takes time (and enough drums of VHT to surprise the track management!) to maintain the best possible conditions, particularly with the impressive number of Stick cars we had competing, it was well worth the time, effort, and expense.

Nitro Joe Jackson went above and beyond all week long, handling early parking from early morning to late at night. If you don't already subscribe to Nitro Joe's Drag Racing Stats, it'd be a nice way to thank him -- plus you would get hoards of invaluable information about the classes and runs made by virtually every Stock and Super Stock car! Check it out at http://www.nitrojoes.com/

Joe worked closely with NTR's Chris Stilwell in the tower all weekend. This dynamic duo crunched out complete ladders for EVERY class in Lucas Oil Class Eliminations on Friday -- just like it should be!

Thanks also to Robert Kinton, Donnie Crowder, Gary Murph, and Stan Carpenter in Tech and Staging, as well as Mike Bassin for lending his knowledgeable voice to the Auto Meter Northern Class Nationals. Bryan Epps and the BME Photography crew did a great job as always, and pitched in to organize the Best Appearing/Engineered award presentations and more to free us up to handle other areas of the event. Everyone knew their jobs, and just DID it. Their passion for what we do shines through. Thanks to all of our contributing photographers, videographers, and "LIVE from" reporters, and special thanks also to the NHRA Div. 3 management for their support of the event.

Thanks to Larry Hill for organizing cake & ice cream for Saturday night's Racer Appreciation Party that doubled as a surprise birthday party for Patsy!

Thanks to Dave Turner and Briane Philbrick for bringing me hard-to-find cookies from Canada. I paid Dave in giant Snyder's pretzels. Briane surprised me with his contribution, so I still owe him some unidentified slice of Americana!

There's plenty more thanks to go around... if I missed you and you're reading this: THANK YOU!


Complete results are available on MotorManiaTV's sister site, DragStory, at http://dragstory.com/forum/index.php/board,129.0.html Don't forget that the entire event is archived on www.motormaniatv.com, so if you missed the LIVE broadcast, you can still watch it online any time! The coverage includes round-by-round of Class Eliminations. I'll go back through and consolidate the list of Class winners to post here.

Don't forget to check out highlight videos of massive wheelstands, the SS/K Shootout, and more over at Rob Jackson's RobzNeed4Speed Videos on YouTube and at https://www.facebook.com/robzneed4speed and LIKE his page!

[Don Fardie]

Michael just wanted to say thanks for a great time. You and the entire staff went over and above in making this a successful event and I’m glad I was able to be part of it. And being able to meet some of the greatest Stock and Super Stock drivers from around the country was the icing on the cake.
Thanks for all your effort in putting this together. …..Great Job

[Larry Hill]

It was our own Class Racer's Ken Miele and myself doing the surprise party for Patsy! Just goes to show ya that no good deed goes unpunished.

And a good time was had by all !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[John Dinkel]

Thanks to everyone that worked so hard to put on such a great weekend.

Michael (Duck Tape) What a super job.

[Michael Beard]

2014 Auto Meter Northern Class Nationals
Lucas Oil Class Eliminations - STOCK
Class.... Winner ....E.T. ....MPH
B/S....Johnny Diekema ....10.429 ....127.25
C/S.... Tom Russell ....10.461 ....125.31
D/S.... John Duzac ....10.434 ....125.61
E/S.... Gary Russell ....10.759 ....121.61
F/S.... Don Fardie ....11.129 ....118.06
G/FX ....Charley Downing ....10.566 ....125.69
G/S.... Donnie Beeler ....10.829 ....120.06
K/S.... Bill Sempsrott ....11.609 ....113.68
L/S.... Lewis Conkey ....12.015 ....109.02
M/S.... Jimmy Gower ....12.539 ....104.71
T/S.... Paul Wong ....12.933 ....103.54
AAA/FXA.... Kevin Skinner ....8.729 ....155.08
BB/FXA.... Dan Sayres ....10.115 ....137.19
BB/SA.... Gene Jordan ....10.281 ....128.19
CC/FXA.... Jim Borburka ....9.358 ....142.45
CC/SA.... Mike Delahanty ....10.372 ....127.64
A/FXA.... Steve Novosel ....10.048 ....131.10
A/SA.... Larry Hill ....10.087 ....127.31
B/SA ....Jack Zimmerman ....10.337 ....126.58
C/FXA.... Randy Eakins ....10.268 ....129.47
C/SA ....Wallace Dent ....10.566 ....125.32
D/FXA.... Larry DeForrest ....10.131 ....129.97
D/SA.... Nick Reiter ....20.859 ....37.61
E/SA.... Andrew Hill ....10.611 ....122.76
F/SA.... Tim Gillespie ....11.032 ....119.82
G/SA.... Tom Rambo ....11.033 ....117.20
H/SA.... George Antrobius ....11.283 ....115.94
I/SA.... Rick Winchester ....11.518 ....112.78
J/SA.... Rob Holmes ....11.755 ....114.81
K/SA.... Rachelle Thibert ....11.811 ....110.33
L/SA.... Joe Belanger ....11.991 ....107.50
M/SA.... Wade Owens ....11.737 ....109.42
N/SA.... Bob Michael ....11.958 ....109.99
O/SA.... Patrick Downing ....12.149 ....106.66
P/SA.... Tom Reese ....12.828 ....101.99
Q/SA.... Marty Buth ....12.038 ....107.22
R/SA.... Dave Campolito ....13.152 ....102.66
T/SA.... Brian Seibenick ....13.649 ....95.12
U/SA.... Bob Shaw ....13.053 ....100.27
W/SA.... Mike Warren ....16.237 ....80.51
DF/S.... Bill McCarty ....14.917 ....86.77
EF/S.... Ron Seibenick ....16.369 ....82.00
A/CM.... Ronnie Traupman ....9.800 ....135.24
D/CM.... Dave Erny ....10.436 ....123.84
G/CM.... Mark Marshburn, Jr ....11.445 ....111.66
I/CM.... Don Dimeler ....11.453 ....114.76
J/CM.... Myron Piatek ....11.389 ....115.66
A/FCM.... Zac Ross ....10.341 ....127.55
A/PS.... Bob Karakashian ....11.295 ....118.77
B/PS.... Paul Petcock ....11.925 ....113.98
D/PS.... Brent Darroch ....12.873 ....103.75
F/PS.... Mike Taylor ....12.939 ....96.07
G/PS.... Dan Fahey ....13.531 ....98.32
I/PS.... Daryl Summerton ....13.730 ....98.39
S/GTF.... Bob Shieff ....12.350 ....107.44