Wendland-Graves, Godwin, Johnson, Baughan & Dollar
Win in Wichita Falls
by SHRA Media
The 2014 MalloryPrint.com Southwest Heritage Racing Association's second of eight events brought the tour to Wichita Raceway Park in Wichita Falls, Texas on Saturday, April 19th. This was the first time the SHRA series has visited WRP and a solid field of racecars made the tow to enjoy a fun day of old school drag racing on a pleasant eighty degree, partly cloudy spring day in North Texas.
The SHRA would like to give special thanks to local sponsors Royal Tire & Brake, Dyer Brothers Race Fuel & Oil, Steve's Transmission and Thompson Brothers Construction for their involvement in bringing this event to Wichita Raceway Park. After a drivers meeting around lunch time the call went out from series announcer Charles Faulkner to get the racing action underway with the first of two time trials for the five SHRA classes in action.
Nostalgia Eliminator 1 Results:
After two qualifying sessions, the 4.65 index NE 1 field was led by Tera Wendland-Graves who wheeled her Walden Power Equipment blown front engine dragster to the top spot with a 4.84 at 145 mph, putting her in a commanding lead in the Good Vibrations Motorsports NE1 Shootout points. Steve Matthews secured the number two spot with a nice 4.87 at 143 mph. Gary Ballard made his SHRA debut in his green injected front engine dragster and qualified third with a 4.88 at 140 mph.
Robert Lee and the "Texas T" blown altered team from Montgomery, Texas also made their SHRA debut with their beautiful machine, but had ignition issues during qualifying and were unable to make the call for first round as the remaining seven cars were paired up for eliminations. Wes Breiten, Dale McKee, Jason ONeill and Chris Graves rounded out the field and hope to get a handle on the tricky racetrack as it was now time to play for keeps.
NE 1 Final Qualifying Order:
1. Tera Wendland-Graves (Commerce, Tx) - 4.84 @ 145 mph
2. Steve Matthews (Marietta, Ok) - 4.87 @ 143 mph
3. Gary Ballard (Wichita Falls, Tx) - 4.88 @ 140 mph
4. Wes Breiten (Wolfe City, Tx) - 4.96 @ 135 mph
5. Dale McKee (Heath, Tx) - 5.07 @ 137 mph
6. Jason O'Neill (Mesquite, Tx) - 5.13 @ 132 mph
7. Robert Lee (Montgomery, Tx) - 5.25 @ 118 mph
8. Chris Graves (Carrollton, Tx) - 5.64 @ 98 mph
(L-R) NE1 Dale McKee - NE1 Wes Breiten; photos by MaxCacklePhotos.com
(L-R) NE1 Gary Ballard - NE1 Steve Mathews; photos by MaxCacklePhotos.com
In the first pair of round one, Tera Wendland-Graves brought her blown front engine dragster to the line to take on Dale McKee's blown altered. McKee and company were in only their second race ever with this car and look to be making big strides as they get a handle on the tune up. McKee was off the line first but his 5.30 at 141 mph was no match for Wendland-Graves' 4.86 at 133 mph. Wes Breiten's "Bad O'Man" blown altered was out next ready to tango with Chris Graves' "Blown Inheritance" slingshot dragster. Graves jumped the gun on the starting line and fouled out as Breiten clicked off a 4.90 at 141 mph to advance. Jason O'Neill rolled out next in the "Bad Behavior" blown altered lined up with Steve Matthews. O'Neill was unable to get his car into reverse and idled down the track as Matthews' moved on with the quickest pass of the round with a 4.82 at 144 mph. Gary Ballard, unopposed after Robert Lee was unable to make the call, moved into the semi-finals on a wild pass as he got very closed to the wall and pedaled his way to a 5.41 at 136 mph.
In the semi-final, Wendland-Graves and Ballard lined up their sharp looking dragsters to start off the round. Wendland-Graves never trailed as she was off the line first and posted a 4.75 at 146 mph to Ballard's close 4.88 at 141 mph. Breiten and Matthews fired up their blown hot rods in the next pair, set to see who would equate the second half of the NE 1 final round in Wichita Falls. Matthews was off the line first but ran into mechanical issues while Breiten posted low elapsed time of the event with a 4.74 at 145 mph to take lane choice into the final against Wendland-Graves. Breiten was headed to his third straight NE 1 final round dating back to last season.
In the final, side by side burnouts filled the sky with smoke and all the fans had their fingers in their ears as the all blown NE 1 final round crept into the beams. Breiten took the starting line advantage at the flash of amber and had the lead at half-track. Wendland-Graves was charging hard and had the ponies to drive around him at the top end, posting a 4.74 at 147 mph to take her first win of the season over Breiten's 4.99 at 139 mph. Tera rounded out a dominating raceday with the win after qualifying number one and now leads both the NE 1 points standings and the Good Vibrations Motorsports NE 1 Shootout standings.
NE 1 Round By Round Results:
Round 1
(W) Tera Wendland-Graves (.603 rt) 4.86 @ 133 vs. (L) Dale McKee (.508 rt) 5.30 @ 141
(W) Wes Breiten (.529 rt) 4.90 @ 141 vs. (L) Chris Graves (Foul) 5.00 @ 149
(W) Steve Matthews (.483 rt) 4.82 @ 144 vs. (L) Jason O'Neill (No Time)
(W) Gary Ballard (.604 rt) 5.41 @ 136 vs. (L) Robert Lee (Broke)
Semi-Final
(W) Tera Wendland-Graves (.428 rt) 4.75 @ 146 vs. (L) Gary Ballard (.681 rt) 4.88 @ 141
(W) Wes Breiten (.491 rt) 4.74 @ 145 vs. (L) Steve Matthews (.443 rt) 6.09 @ 88
Final Round
(W) Tera Wendland-Graves (.779 rt) 4.74 @ 147 vs. (L) Wes Breiten (.545 rt) 4.99 @ 139
NE1 WINNER Tera Wendland-Graves; photo by MaxCacklePhotos.com
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