8th Annual Night Of Fire And Thunder
Tucson, AZ - Altereds, Altereds, and more Altereds! Last Saturday night was the annual race of races for the Fuel Altereds at Southwest International Raceway, and they made the best of it. Long smokey burnouts and side by side mayhem greeted the standing room only crowd that made the trip out to watch the wildest class in drag racing. Three late model AA/FA's, four Nostalgia Nitro Fuel Altereds, and over 16 Blown Alcohol Fuel Altereds were what awaited to assault the senses of the appreciative crowd.
Before the assault of the quartermile began the Altereds made their customary parade in front of the grandstands to the loud approval of the crowd. Candy and other items were seen thrown to the crowd from the teams as they paraded past. The customary playing of the National Anthem was followed by the raising of the Missing In Action flag, and a moment of silence. This is the only track that I have been to that honors those service members that have sacrificed and are missing to this day.
In the Late Model Fuel Altered Class, Steve Neese in the "Neese & Knowles" and Mike Boyd in the "Mike Sullivan" split their two meetings with both running in the mid 5 second elapsed time range at well over 250 miles per hour. Neese ran a best of 5.645 @ 254.33 mph and Boyd checked in with a best of 5.580 @ 251.49.
Mac McCord in his "Gorilla" Altered made one attempt at the quartermile carding a 6.163 @ 237.50.
The first pair of Nostalgia Nitro Fuel Altereds featured Ron Hope in the "Rat Trap" squaring off against Mike Boyd in the famed "Winged Express" for a best of two match race with both altereds taking one win apiece. Hope in the “Rat Trap” ran a best of 6.848 @ 209.07. Boyd in the “Winged Express” ran a best of 7.691 @ 169.17.
The second pair in the Nostalgia Nitro Fuel Altered category pitted Ron Maroney in the “Shark Attack” up against Craig Michael in the “Vegas Heat” with Maroney winning both rounds running a best of 6.392 @ 197.02. Michael in the “Vegas Heat” ran a best of 6.525 @ 208.81.
Also squaring off in a two round match race was Stormy Byrd in the "Revellation" and Dave Gruzen in the "Strange Brew/Morphidite Mouse" with each taking a win. Gruzen ran a best of 7.324 @ 183.39 and Byrd ran a best of 7.379 @ 181.08.
Danny Levitt outlasted the stout Blown Alcohol Fuel Altered Class when he drove around Dean Oberg in the final round late Saturday night after Oberg’s burst panel blew out. Levitt’s win was no walk in the park considering he had to outrun the likes of Jim Maroney, Dave Ward, Darren Hamby, Tim Brown, Ed Middlebrook, Jerry Hall, Jim Kelso, Andy Dawson, Mike Williams, Mike Magyar, Sheldon Lofgreen, Frank Davidson, and Jeff Morgan.
The 8th Annual Night Of Fire And Thunder is what Fuel Altered racing is all about. Half track burnouts, dry hops, and side by side racing was the order of the day. There were no oil downs and the break in the action in between rounds was just long enough to allow the crowd to interact with the racers in the pits. This was without a doubt one of the best Fuel Altered events in recent memory. If you are in the area next year you need to put this event on your calendar, it was that good...
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AA/FC News Photo Coverage Of 9th Annual Night Of Fire & Thunder
