The first big car and ATV combined race of the year had us back at Dome Valley Raceway just a few short weeks after we wrapped up the PSDA Arizona ATV Nationals. Unlike the PSDA race, all the big names in the car side of the sport came to play. After far too long of an extended off season, Dome Valley Raceway saw a large turnout at the Arizona Sand Drag Shootout with many out-of-staters flocking in for the three day race weekend. The big cars returned for competition at Dome Valley after many years without an official event being held at the facility for those cars. Big stories included some new and old faces in competition. Steve Hoffman officially ended his retirement with the “Smooth Sucka” team out for blood in the Fast Fours class. Jordan Quintal III brought out the famous “Cubic Bucks” Nissan powered buggy for its debut back at the track. We also saw Hall Racing’s “Farmer’s Daughter” Top Eliminator dragster on the property with its new owner Jamie Regina. Another highlight was seeing Bob Gill’s old funny Jeep back out with a new powerplant under the ownership of Sam Montgomery.
The weekend kicked off with a brief bout of test and tune before the heads-up classes took to the track for their first qualifying session. Mark Punos, out of Las Vegas took the number one spot in Top Eliminator. In Fast Fours the two highlighted racers we were looking at both experienced issues with Hoffman rolling through the beams and Quintal experiencing issues right after the vehicle launched. Greg Johnson took the number one spot with. a 2.798 which he said should have been better if it weren’t for an air leak. Unlimited ATV (a class we see with the Mid-America Sand Drag Series) saw Brock Racing take the top two spots with some soft tune ups. Angel Castillo experienced traction issues on the Tyler Hardt built nitrous twin rounding out the field.
Qualifying Orders after Session 1:
Top Eliminator
1. Mark Punos – 2.970
2. Aaron Bailey – 3.138
3. David Stidham – 4.114
4. Jim Naffziger – 2.832
Fast Fours
1. Greg Johnson – 2.798
2. Brian Chapman – 4.077
3. Jordan Quintal III – 12.844
4. Steve Hoffman – LBY
5. Sally Rasmussen – DNR
Unlimited ATV
1. Chris Carlson – 3.371
2. Mike Brock – 3.879
3. Angel Castillo – 5.168
After head-up qualifying, test and tune for the bracket cars and bikes resumed with the Gambler class eliminations immediately to follow. As ladders were built, Top Eliminator, Fast Fours, and Unlimited ATV took back to the track for their second qualifying session. Jim Naffziger in Terry Crawford’s “Yabba Dabba Doo” dragster bumped Punos out of the number one spot with a 2.952. Shawn Thompson joined the field in “Wild” Bill Tieman’s “Silver Bullet” small block Chevy dragster with a 3.212 to put him in the number 4 spot. Greg Johnson held onto the number one spot in Fast Fours with Hoffman putting in a 3.379 with some issues to put him on the board. The buggy entries of Chapman and Quintal also saw improvements. Castillo and Brock both saw improvements to their qualifying times, but no change in the order was made.
Qualifying Orders after Session 2:
Top Eliminator
1. Jim Naffziger – 2.952
2. Mark Punos – 2.970
3. Aaron Bailey – 3.024
4. Shawn Thompson – 3.212
5. David Stidham – 3.752
Fast Fours
1. Greg Johnson – 2.798
2. Steve Hoffman – 3.379
3. Brian Chapman – 3.514
4. Jordan Quintal III – 3.774
5. Sally Rasmussen – DNR
Unlimited ATV
1. Chris Carlson – 3.371
2. Mike Brock – 3.454
3. Angel Castillo – 3.567
The Gambler eliminations continued into the night with split car and motorcycle fields. After battling a large field of Car Gambler competitors, Chris Adamson would put his Larry Minor Motorsports Jeep into the winner circle taking out Oregonian Scoty Burris.
In the ATV Gambler Nevaeh Robinson on the Can-Am utility quad went rounds to meet WSDN’s own Caleb Mings in the final. Robinson would jump the gun with a red light handing the win over to Mings.
Friday Car Gambler
1st Chris Adamson
2nd Scoty Burris
Friday ATV Gambler
1st Caleb Mings
2nd Nevaeh Robinson
Sport Class test and tune should have started off the Saturday morning in Wellton, Arizona, but a nicked wire in the timing system starting line backed the entire day up with the track unable to run for several hours while the wiring was painstakingly repaired.
Once the wiring was repaired we jumped forward to the third round of qualifying of the heads-up categories. Highlights in Top Eliminator were seeing Aaron Bailey adding power back in to bump Mark Punos down into third as well as Jamie Regina’s first qualifying attempt with a 3.590 on a ¾ pass to put him in the running. Steve Hoffman improved his time with a full pull at 2.860 in Fast Fours getting very close to the guard rail. Sally Rasmussen made her first qualifying attempts after not being able to make a pass on Friday’s sessions. Her 3.452 was not representative of how good the “Poison Ivy” dragster was running as they actually ran a 2.750 during an after hours test run Friday night. Chris Carlson lowered his number one spot with a 3.217 on a wheels up charge down the 300ft strip.
Qualifying Orders after Session 3:
Top Eliminator
1. Jim Naffziger – 2.952
2. Aaron Bailey – 2.969
3. Mark Punos – 2.970
4. Shawn Thompson – 3.212
5. Jamie Regina – 3.590
6. David Stidham – 3.752
Fast Fours
1. Greg Johnson – 2.798
2. Steve Hoffman – 2.860
3. Sally Rasmussen – 3.452
4. Brian Chapman – 3.514
5. Jordan Quintal III – 3.774
Unlimited ATV
1. Chris Carlson – 3.217
2. Mike Brock – 3.454
3. Angel Castillo – 3.567
4. Lance Root – 3.810
Sportsman classes hit the track after the big cars for their test sessions and then went into round robin eliminations. Hometown favorite out of Yuma, Arizona, Isaac Garcia was looking to put another Oregonian on the trailer as he was set to face Christopher Wells in the final of Sport Car. Garcia defeated Scotty Burris in the previous round earning him a bye to this final. Wells proved too much to overcome though giving Chris some nice hardware to take back home.
In the Sport ATV class, Randy Mings got a bye round into the final leaving his son Caleb to face off against Grant Hutchinson in the other half of the semi-finals. Caleb got by Hutchinson who had issues shifting to make it an all Mings Racing final. Caleb and Randy lined up for the final bout, but it was Randy who turned on the red bulb to give the win over to Caleb marking his second win of the weekend.
Sport Car
1st Christopher Wells
2nd Isaac Garcia
Sport ATV
1st Caleb Mings
2nd Randy Mings
The fourth qualifying round of the heads-up categories was up next. Jamie Regina bumped into the number 4 spot with a clean 3.196. In Fast Fours, Sally got hooked up and ran a 2.874 improving her qualifying efforts, but it was Steve Hoffman who stole the show blasting out a 2.737 to take over the number one spot held by Greg Johnson all weekend. Greg continued to battle the air leak issue that had been plaguing the “In Excess” dragster and wasn’t able to answer Hoffman’s performance in the final session. In Unlimited ATV Lance Root laid down a career best 3.123 to blast by Carlson’s now number spot of 3.217. Angel Castillo was unable to make the call and retired from competition due to a broken wheelie bar tire.
Qualifying Orders after Session 4:
Top Eliminator
1. Jim Naffziger – 2.952
2. Aaron Bailey – 2.969
3. Mark Punos – 2.970
4. Jamie Regina – 3.196
5. Shawn Thompson – 3.212
6. David Stidham – 3.602
Fast Fours
1. Steve Hoffman – 2.737
2. Greg Johnson – 2.798
3. Sally Rasmussen – 2.874
4. Brian Chapman – 3.514
5. Jordan Quintal III – 3.636
Unlimited ATV
1. Lance Root – 3.123
2. Chris Carlson – 3.217
3. Mike Brock – 3.355
4. Angel Castillo – 3.567
The beginning of a long night of racing was just starting. The Index classes were up next. In the 4.50 Index final we saw Mike Smith and Victor Woolem face off with Smith taking the win. A bizarre turn of events necessitated a rerun of the final round, but Mike Smith was unfazed and was able to get around Woolem a second and final time to take the win.
The 3.95 Index had plenty of stiff competition with Mr. 3.95 Tommy Zavala, the sand-bagging Christopher Wells, locals like Alex Garcia, and the wild card Sam Montgomery getting used to the new Jeep. Through it all, it came down to Isaac Garcia looking to take a victory after playing bridesmaid earlier in the day and Sam Montgomery showing that a new ride doesn’t mean anything if you have skill. Montgomery took that skill to the winner circle taking the win over Garcia on a 4.06 to 4.09 decision.
As the night dragged on, Gambler classes had yet to be contested. Leading well into the darkness, the finals arrived. In the ATV Gambler it was Joseph Weaver taking the win over Tyler Hanrahan who ended Caleb Mings’ winning streak in earlier rounds. Over in the Car Gambler class, it was Ron Huff staying wheels up with the win over Tyler Large.
3.95 Index
1st Sam Montgomery
2nd Isaac Garcia
4.50 Index
1st Mike Smith
2nd Victor Woolem
Saturday Car Gambler
1st Ron Huff
2nd Tyler Large
Saturday ATV Gambler
1st Joseph Weaver
2ndTyler Hanrahan
Sunday started with Youth competition hitting the track in the morning. This time no pesky wires interrupted the racing action. Classes were split between the Junior Dragster and Junior ATV categories. Only two junior dragsters were on the property so the decision was made to make it a best two out of three match between Cooper DePasse and first time racer Kenzie Rex. In the first round Kenzie got the better of Cooper marking her first round win ever. As the two made their ways back up to the line for round two, the story got interesting. Kenzie Rex launched her junior dragster, but broke right at the 60ft mark, while DePasse stalled the car at the line. Because Kenzie broke the beams, she was handed her first ever victory in sand drag competition.
The Junior ATV class was run in a double elimination format with many new faces coming out to race. The final two came down to the new racer, Jojo Zavala, in only his second race ever and on a new junior drag ATV to boot lining up against first time racer Nevaeh Robinson who already had a runner-up finish from the Friday ATV Gambler. Neveah came to the final from the loser’s bracket and had to beat Zavala twice to take the win. Several seconds separated their dial-ins with Nevaeh having to run Jojo down each time. She was able to stay patient on the starting line and not take herself out with red light being able to run Jojo Zavala down twice to take the win in the Junior ATV class.
Junior ATV
1st Nevaeh Robinson
2nd Jojo Zavala
Junior Dragster
1st Kenzie Rex
2nd Cooper DePasse
The Unlimited ATV class once again saw some attrition in the field due to Angel Castillo being unable to make the round one call after heading home early leaving it a three bike class. Brock Racing faced each other in round one with Mike Brock getting the win over Chris Carlson who had a huge wheelstand that forced him to let off the throttle. That set up the final between the Suzuki power of Brock and the Kawasaki trike of Lance Root. Brock had what seemed to be an insurmountable performance disadvantage next to Root’s 3.123 qualifying effort. He would have to make that disadvantage up on the tree. Unfortunately that led to Brock trying a little too hard and red lighting before blowing up another transmission in the “Extreme” laydown trike. That wasn’t where this round ended though as Lance Root went on a wild ride down the center of the track, taking out several cones and crossing the centerline to hand the win over to Brock.
Fast Fours saw the buggy competitors line up in a first round pairing with Quintal having issues getting off the line and Chapman on a wheels up charge to a best of the weekend for the Power Plus Team with a 3.486. The remaining three racers each had byes in the first round. Rasmussen ran her bye alongside Johnson and had a bit of scare in the shutdown area, but was able to regain control of the “Poison Ivy” dragster. Second round saw Sally come back to play the upset taking out Johnson in their official match up with her 2.894 being enough to get around his 3.152. Hoffman essentially had to make sure he stayed green and ran straight against the nitrous assisted VW buggy of Chapman and did just so with a 2.786 to a 3.67 wild pass. This set up the final with Hoffman straight out of retirement taking on Rasmussen who had been finding her groove with husband Mike turning the screws the right way on this weekend with the “Poison Ivy” car. Unfortunately Sally couldn’t hold the car at the line tripping the guard beam against what might have been a very vulnerable Steve Hoffman in the “Smooth Sucka” dragster who only managed a 2.929. Steve was elated to take the win though on his first time back out in the class.
Top Eliminator, similar to the Fast Fours class had a pair of byes with Aaron Bailey and Jim Naffziger earning the easy way into round two. Punos got the job over Stidham’s “The Grinch” Jeep and Jamie Regina upset Shawn Thompson on a holeshot victory. Round two had wins being handed over on red lights with Bailey going negative on the tree against Mark Punos and Regina pushing the tree too much against Naffziger. Overall a great appearance for Jamie Regina on his first time out with the “Farmer’s Daughter” car. Vegas teammates Mark Punos and Jim Naffziger doing the driving duty for Terry Crawford in “Yabba Dabba Doo” took to the line for the final round. In this super tough matchup, Punos would through away a quicker 2.962 to Naffziger’s 2.966 on a redlight. Terry Crawford the car owner let out a big “Yabba Dabba Doo” as the win light came on for Jim Naffziger in the first Top Eliminator final of the season.
Top Eliminator
1st Jim Naffziger
2nd Mark Punos
Fast Fours
1st Steve Hoffman
2nd Sally Rasmussen
Unlimited ATV
1st Mike Brock
2nd Lance Root
In Pro 1, two Arizonians made it to the final round with Tommy Beck in the Beck Motorsports Jeep facing off against Kenny Hayes driving the newly completed “Child’s Play” Jeep. Beck had the easy path to the final getting the semi-final round bye after defeating Travis Scouten in round three. Hayes worked his way through the Pro 1 field taking out drivers from near and far and had the super tough matchup against Tommy Zavala in the semis. In the final round, Kenny made an uncharacteristic staging foul handing the win over to Beck.
The Pro 2 final would come down to Chris Adamson and Ron Huff. Both racers had already taken a victory this weekend and it was a race to see who could double up. Huff had taken the pot in the Saturday Car Gambler and Adamson had done the same on the Friday edition of the class. Chris went red, handing the win and the double up bragging rights to Huff in the “Hanging Loose Jeep”.
Pro ATV saw another final round for Joseph Weaver looking to double up this weekend after taking home the Saturday ATV Gambler. Joey got the bye into the final against Mike Brock who had to take out Tyler Hanrahan in the semis. Brock crossed it up heading to the centerline out of the hole and had to peddle it leading to a chop fest at the finish line with Weaver coming out the losing end of this battle. With a win Pro ATV, Mike Brock joined the double up club at Dome Valley Raceway.
Pro 1
1st Tommy Beck
2nd Kenny Hayes
Pro 2
1st Ron Huff
2nd Chris Adamson
Pro ATV
1st Mike Brock
2nd Joseph Weaver
