The second stop on the 2019 Best of Texas BBQ Sauce Funny Car Chaos Championship tour presented by Red Line Shirt Club brought the series back through the gates of historic Mo-Kan Dragway in Asbury, Missouri on April 26-27th. This event was presented by the new Decades of Wheels museum in Baxter Springs, Kansas. Opening in 1962, Mo-Kan Dragway's grassroots old school charisma sets the perfect stage for the Chaos series. With two days of sunshine and temps in the high 70's the racers and fans of Funny Car Chaos finally got a break from mother nature and with that, the eager fans jam packed the facility ready for Chaos action provided by the twenty two funny cars on the property. Precious championship points and a $25,000+ payout were up for grabs in the biggest Funny Car race in the four states area ever!

 
(L) The Crowd - (R) Decades of Wheels mascot meets Best of Texas Barbeque Sauce owner, John Hale

                Defending event winner Ken Singleton and the "High Risk" alcohol burning Monte Carlo hoped to repeat his efforts from 2018 and make up ground on points leader Allan Middendorf, but with plenty of stiff competition in the pits, the pressure was on to make each pass count in qualifying as teams were ready to battle for a spot in the Rodak's Custom Coffee 'A' field and AlkyDigger 'B' field. Three qualifying sessions were on tap with two Friday night and final qualifying on Saturday afternoon.

                Nick Poloson and the Doak family owned "Bucket List" nitro burner from Kerrville, Texas nabbed the top spot after the first session with a 3.91 at 191 mph. Ken Singleton joined the three second tier with a 3.96 at 166 mph with Allan Middendorf's "American Outlaw" and Ronny Young's "Blue Max" both posting 4.05 elapsed times. Things tightened up in the second qualifier and Singleton jumped around Poloson to the top of the list with a 3.86 at 198 mph. Brandon Lewis wheeled the Tulsa based "Attitude Adjuster" 69 Camaro to a 4.11 at 165 mph with Nancy Matter, Chuck Loftin and Jim Gifford rounding out the Rodak's Custom Coffee 'A' field.

Ronny Young

Ken Singleton

                Clay Cunningham's "Still Crazy" Daytona bodied alcohol burning Hemi claimed the number one spot in the AlkyDigger 'B' field with a career best 4.27 at 170 mph. Nick Johnson, Matt Nissen and Ronald Ooms rounded out the top four with Jeff Cameron going into Saturday's final qualifying session on the bump with a 5.19 at 141 mph.

                Saturday welcomed sunny skies with a firm wind from the south as tailgate spot hungry fans lined up outside the spectator gates ready to claim their territory for a full day of Chaos at Mo-Kan. Atop the Funny Car action, spectators were treated to a 20+ car field of Dirty South Gassers plus the heads up Outlaw Nostalgia Shootout featuring altereds and slingshot dragsters, the Victory Performance Nostalgia Super Stockers, nostalgia bracket racing and junior dragster racing as 100+ cars were ready to race.

 
Dirty South Gassers

 
(L) Outlaw Nostalgia Shootout - (R) Victory Performance Nostalgia Super Stock

                During final qualifying for Funny Cars, Allan Middendorf stepped up to a 3.95 to secure his spot in the 'A' field, which remained intact from the standings after Friday's sessions as seven nitro burners and the lone alcohol burning entry of Ken Singleton would pair up for first round. 'B' field action had racers biting their nails as Rick Krafft, Fred Farndon, Tod Barker, Robert Slaughter and Monte Grace hoped to get in the show. Mechanical issues sidelined Dustin Bradford and Dave Gallegos. Despite his best efforts, 2018 runner up Farndon's 5.46 came up short as did Krafft's 5.71. Monte Grace and Robert Slaughter had issues on the starting line and earned no time. Tod Barker missed both sessions Friday with a family commitment and pulled into the gates Saturday morning with just one attempt to earn a spot in the field and his 4.83 at 154 did just that as he slid into the number fourteen spot. Chris Schneider stepped up to a 4.56 at 150 mph in the John Troxel owned "Brutus" to qualify number eleven. Jordan Ballew had his hands full in the "Ballew Thunder" during the final qualifier as his best of a 5.10 at 132 mph from Friday night narrowly held onto a spot in the main event.

Daniel Butherus

                As the session neared completion, Ronald Ooms fired up in a solo pass and things quickly turned serious when the car pitched wildly sideways during the burnout, sending Ooms out of control and into the barricade in the middle of the track which protects the timing system. At first, the relatively low speed incident appeared to be a quick fix, but it was soon discovered Ooms had suffered serious injuries to his left leg. With safety personnel working quickly, Ooms was removed from the car and transported to the local hospital as reports came in that he had suffered multiple breaks in both his left leg and ankle. Everyone from the Funny Car Chaos and Mo-Kan Dragway would like to send our thoughts and prayers to Ooms and family for a speedy recovery.

Ronald Ooms

                With Ooms clearly unable to continue, Jeff Cameron's "Magnolia Missile" who had been bumped out by Tod Barker, was inserted into the field to set the ladder. The top eight qualifiers would bracket into the Rodak's Custom Coffee 'A' field and nine through sixteen qualifiers would bracket the AlkyDigger 'B' field as pairings were set and it was time to play for keeps with the first round of eliminations coming up.