The chill of the fall weather is a blessing and a curse. It offers free added performance for personal bests but also brings a drag racing season near its end in the north. The October Heads Up Event is the last of the series. It appeared to me that Robert Cox would walk away with the Championship. I knew the points leader Dale Arbogast had suffered engine damages beyond immediate repair (while making an unbelievably quick pass on a 26″ tire) the weekend before. The points series is obviously important to Dale as he showed up in a borrowed car just to claim whatever points he could. After the two rounds of qualifying I was more convinced than ever when Cox qualified number 1 with a class record 4.23 and had 3 tenths on the rest of the field going into Eliminations. The qualified field looked like this:
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Robert Cox – 4.23
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Matt Reese – 4.53
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Wes Blankenship – 4.56
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Rick Reynolds – 4.58
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Mike Smith – 4.69
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Don Turner – 4.77
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Kyle Ehorn – 4.80
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Mike West – 4.88
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Aaron Johnson – 4.93
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Jim Parrott – 4.93
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Scott Carter – 5.05
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Domenic Friguglietti – 6.60
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Dale Arbogast – 18.01
The first round of eliminations:
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Cox – Bye
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Smith over Parrott
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West over Ehorn
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Turner over Johnson
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Reese over Arbogast (Number 1 in Points)
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Blankenship over Friguglietti (transmission broke in qualifying)
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Reynolds over Carter
The second round of eliminations:
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West over Cox (Number 2 in Points)
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Smith over Reynolds (Number 4 in Points)
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Reese – Bye
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Blankenship over Turner
Semifinals:
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Blankenship over Reese
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Smith over West
Finals:
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Blankenship over Smith
So to recap
#1 in points (121 Points) Dale Arbogast broke his car the week before and brought a loaner that wasn’t competitive. (+10 = 131 Points)
#2 in points (108 Points)Robert Cox qualified #1, won his bye, then went out in round 2. (+ 23 Points = 131 Points)
#3 in points (90 Points) Kevin Hecht couldn’t make the last race.
#4 in points (82 Points) Rick Reynolds (+20 = 102 Points).
#5 in points (80 Points) Wes Blankenship (+51 = 131 Points)
I did the math for you so that you wouldn’t have to. That’s officially a 3 way tie in points for first place!
Now what!? It’s tie breaker time!
BONUS POINTS:
+3 for every event win
+2 for every event runner up
+1 for every event semi final
I wish we could have had a camera when they figured out that after bonus points there was STILL A TIE between Arbogast and Blankenship. What now? Tie Breaker #2! Who had the fastest ET of the season?
<drumroll> <suspense> <drumroll again>
Wes Blankenship is your 2019 Aeroquip Heads Up Series, VP Racing sponsored Drag Radial Class Champion!
It’s been a struggle for the Blankenship’s (Father Russ and son Wes) the entire year trying to get their car and new combo under control. Power wasn’t an issue, but applying it to the track has been a battle from the start. The countless times the tires spun at various parts of the track, the aborted passed, the testing…. it all paid off on this Friday when they ran personal bests, won the event, and clinched the Championship! It’s a shame that the car is just now starting to come around at the end of the season. I believe they are still just scratching the surface with this car. It’s my opinion that the car will go teens, but you know what they say about opinions. I’m hoping to sit down with Wes and Russ this winter to see what their opinion on it is and talk about whatever else might comes up.
There have been a lot of improvements to this class including some rule changes. I predict a couple more rules coming before spring to get the class to fit in with all of the LDR rules. The smaller 295 tire rule change this year was combined with contracting Total Venue Concepts for a better track surface. Although it is a smaller tire, the track’s drag radial class record was broken multiple times. The ET aren’t opinion based, they are fact based… …and the facts say, its an improvement!
