Bill Reichert

Jill Canuso

The save my seat letters are in the mail to the B’laster Cavalcade of Stars presented by Budweiser.  Patrons have from now until February 13th to renew your tickets to this year’s show which is building to be one of the largest divisional races on the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Tour.  There will be funny cars, dragsters, the legendary Bob Motz and his jet Kenworth, jet dragsters, geezer gassers and hundreds of sportsman racers to entertain you throughout the weekend!  And that’s not all…we’ll conclude the Friday and Saturday Night shows with fireworks!
 
Beginning Valentine’s Day, February 14th, tickets will go on sale to the general public to this year’s show which is May 18 – 20, 2012.  Renew now while it’s still fresh on your mind, by clicking here or calling the office at 419-668-5555.

We are deeply saddened to report another member of our racing family passed away over the weekend, Jim Rahl.  

James "Jim" Rahl, age 62, passed away suddenly on Saturday, January 21, 2012 at his residence.  Born on July 3, 1949 in Lorain, Jim graduated from Admiral King High School in 1967.  Like many young men in the mid-1960's, Jim was drafted into the U.S. Army where he proudly served as an infantryman during the Vietnam War. Among the many citations and medals awarded to him were the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with 2 Bronze Service Stars, Army Commendation Medal with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster and The Purple Heart. After leaving the service, Jim went to work at the Ford Motor Lorain Assembly Plant. Upon retiring, he was able to devote all his time his true passion "all things cars". He loved racing his cars especially his "Rahl's Royce". He will be sadly missed by his many racing buddies, not only because of his skills on the drag racing track, but also his ability to repair anything related to cars.

Preceded in death by his mother, Betty Sterrett; his grandparents, Albert "AW" and Edith Rahl and Henry and Nell Esch.

Jim leaves behind to cherish his memory his beloved father and step-mother, Claude and Viola Rahl; his sister, Claudia Rahl; his niece, Courtney Rahl; a great-nephew, Matthew Rahl and his faithful companion, "Buck".

The family will receive friends on Friday, January 27, 2012 from 4-8 p.m. in the Dovin and Reber Jones Funeral & Cremation Center, 1110 Cooper Foster Park Rd., Amherst. Funeral services will be held on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. in the funeral center. Pastor Bob Daugherty will officiate. Burial will follow in North Murray Ridge Cemetery, Elyria with military honors being conducted.  Family and friends may leave online condolences at www.dovinreberjones.com.

It’s that time of year again! Moto Lenz Photos will be taking family portraits in the Portia room. There will be two different backdrops to choose from and different packages to be offered including canvas wrapped photos. Be sure to grab your order form at Registration and stop by and see Moto Lenz Photos after 4:00pm in the Portia Room!!  If you have any question prior to Saturday, you can contact Mike at 419-569-3253 or by email at mike@motolenzphotos.com.

We are pleased to announce, Marketplace will be part of this year’s banquet festivities. The Marketplace will be open from 10:00am to 3:00pm in the Kalahari Nia Center on Saturday, January 28^th.  The following vendors will be on site to demonstrate and answer questions about their products:  Dart, Flaming River, Hagerty Insurance, the I-X Center, Key Bank, Krystowski Tractor Sales, Mr. Gasket, R&R Auto Body, Racers for Christ, Summit Racing Equipment, Thermo-Tec, Velvet Ice Cream and Wiseco.  Ken Hillman and Myron Halczuk from our tech department will also be available to answer tech questions.

As a reminder, this Friday, January 20^th is the last day to register for the 2011 Mr. Gasket Banquet of Champions.  You can click here or call the office at 419-668-5555 to make your reservations.  Ticket prices are $46 (adult) and $25 (child 14 and under).  If you would like to block a table, you can do so for an additional fee of $10. 

Read this thru slowly and try to comprehend the amount of force produced in just 4 seconds!

There are no rockets or airplanes built by any government in the world that can accelerate from a standing start as fast as a Top Fuel Dragster or Funny Car!
                                
DEFINITION OF ACCELERATION
One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows of stock cars at the Daytona 500.

It takes just 15/100ths of a second for all 8,000+ horsepower of an NHRA  Top Fuel dragster engine to reach the rear wheels.

Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 gallons of nitro
methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.

A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster's supercharger.

With 3,000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition.

Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.
At the stoichiometric (stoichiometry: methodology and technology by
which quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions are
determined) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture of nitro methane, the flame front
temperature measures 7,050 deg. F.

Nitro methane burns yellow... The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.

Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.

Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After halfway, the engine is dieseling from compression, plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1,400 deg F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting the fuel flow.

If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in
the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow
cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half.

In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must
accelerate an average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200 mph (well
before half-track), the launch acceleration approaches 8G's.

Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have
completed reading this sentence.

Top fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light!
Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions
under load.

The RPM redline is actually quite high at 9,500 rpm.

Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for
free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimate
$1,000.00 per second.

The current top fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.428
seconds for the quarter mile ( 11/12/06, Tony Schumacher, at Pomona, CA). The top speed record is 336.15 mph as measured over the last 66' of the run (05/25/05 Tony Schumacher, at Hebron, OH).

Putting all of this into perspective:  You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter 'twin-turbo' powered Corvette Z06. Over a mile up the road, a top fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a quarter mile strip as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the 'Vette hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line and pass the dragster at an honest 200 mph. The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment.  The dragster launches and starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums and within 3 seconds, the dragster catches and passes you. He beats you to the finish line, a quarter mile away from where you just
passed him.

Think about it, from a standing start, the dragster had
spotted you 200 mph and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1,320 foot long race course.                                    
...... And that my friend, is ACCELERATION!

Lingenfelter Performance Engineering (LPE) is excited to announce a brand new event for customers and enthusiasts in 2012: The Lingenfelter Performance Nationals.
 
The Lingenfelter Performance Nationals is a jam-packed weekend that will feature drag racing, autocross, car show, speed stop challenge, countryside cruise and a manufacturer's midway Sept. 21-23, 2012 at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.
     
With classes that level the playing field between professional and amateur drivers, the Lingenfelter Performance Nationals will offer drag racing, an invitation-only bracket race and a Battle of the Brands event that pits Ford, GM and Chrysler vehicles against one another.  Trophies, plaques and cash prizes will be awarded to car show and race winners.  The Lingenfelter Performance Nationals will also be an official qualifying event for the OPTIMA(r) Batteries Ultimate Street Car Invitational.

 "Our customers know racing is a huge part of the Lingenfelter DNA, and what better way to say thank you to them than by creating a weekend-long car enthusiast experience," said Ken Lingenfelter, owner of Lingenfelter Performance Engineering.  "There is a lot of brand crossover among our customers, so The Lingenfelter Performance Nationals and our Battle of the Brands event is an opportunity for those LS-powered vehicles and late-model customers - and everyone in between - to have an entertaining weekend at a great facility."  Lingenfelter will announce additional event details throughout the year.

Each week, Ritch Bowers, the Division 3 Tech director, sends out weekly tech updates.  The following tech update is in an area we feel directly impacts many of our racers.  For additional tech updates, please visit NHRARacer.com.  

There has been a change in window nets for 2012 racing season.  A window net meeting SFI Spec 27.1, is mandatory in any full-bodied car when roll cage is required by class rules.  A SFI Spec 27.1 ribbon-type or mesh-type window net expire 2-years after the manufacture date on the SFI tag.  Also if window net does not have an SFI 27.1 dated tag it needs to be replaced.

Reminder, 2000 helmets expired at the beginning of the month, January 1, 2012.

You still have time, to make your Kalahari hotel reservations, but you need to do so by this Friday, January 6 at 5:00pm.  Room rates are $149 night until the block is full, then the nightly room rate could be as high as $300 per night.  Rooms may only be secured by Summit Motorsports Park guests buying Mr. Gasket banquet tickets.  Once banquet guests are accommodated, any available rooms left in the block will be made available to our guests on a first come first serve basis.  

To make ordering easy, you can book your room reservation and purchase your banquet tickets by filling out the Mr. Gasket Banquet of Champions Reservation form and return by mail or fax or by calling or stopping into our office.  In order to book a hotel room, you MUST order your banquet tickets at the same time.  

If you DO NOT need hotel reservations, you can purchase banquet tickets using the Banquet of Champions Reservation form or order online by clicking here.  You can purchase your tickets from this menu and you also have the ability to purchase a table block if you are attending with 4-8 guests.  You can still order via mail or in person at our office.  The deadline to order banquet tickets is Friday, January 20, 2012.

If you have any questions, please call our office at 419.668.5555.

Just received word and wanted to share with our racing community, Summit Motorsports Park received the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Track of the Year award at the 2011 annual “Land of the Winners” Awards Banquet last evening.  More details will follow.

John Force will be here July 5-8 & August 11, 2012

Bob Motz and his famous Jet Kenworth

A Sample of the New Ring of Fire Fireworks Show at the Auto Plus Night Under Fire

Tickets to Summit Motorsports Park!

Santa, we can help you with that one!  Celebrate speed, horsepower and our nation’s birthday during the week of July 4th, 2012, by attending the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA National Event.  Tickets are currently on sale and good seats are still available! 

Beginning this coming Monday, December 12 at 12:12pm, tickets to the Auto Plus Night Under Fire, (August 11, 2012), the largest single day drag race in the world, will go on sale to the public.  Tickets can be purchase online www.SummitMotorsportsPark.com or via phone at 419-668-5555.  

For a limited time only, you can purchase tickets to either event or both for just $5.00!  Your payments will be deferred until 2012 and you’ll receive your tickets by Christmas!  The only way to take advantage of the deferred payment offer, is by calling the office by Monday December 19th at noon, (419) 668-5555.

And it keeps getting better.  Purchase your event tickets before Monday December 19 (noon) and we’ll also send you three complimentary tickets to the B’laster Cavalcade of Stars (May 18-20, 2012).  Two events for the price of one!  Now that’s a deal!

If you’re uncertain what to get your race fan, don’t fret, we also offer gift certificates in increments of $25.  Gift certificates can be used towards the purchase of event tickets, sportsman racing entries and/or Summit Motorsports Park merchandise.  Click here to purchase gift certificates.

You don’t have to wait on the mail, print your tickets or gift certificates at home!  It’s easy!  Just order online and use the e-ticketing option.  You can print, package and place under your tree in minutes!  Stop procrastinating and finish your Christmas shopping now, so you can spend more time enjoying the holidays with friends and family!