The event win put a huge exclamation point on a spectacular season for the Kalbones Grill’n Sauce Alcohol Funny Car team.
October 23, 2008 – Johnstown, Ohio – 2008 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car Champion Laurie Cannister went into the IHRA World Finals with some unfinished business on her mind --- winning the event and setting records. Although the Kevin and Wendy Sims’ Kalbones Grill’n Sauce team has had numerous successes since reforming just over a year ago, winning the fall Rockingham event eluded them during their first attempt in 2007.
The Kalbones’ team was the first to seal up a championship out of the five IHRA professional categories and that took place during the previous event in Epping, New Hampshire. The team’s focus for Rockingham had switched from winning the championship to doing some much needed testing.
Although Tuner Dale Cannister was a little disappointed to lose the first qualifying session on Friday, due to rain, he was pleased with what they were able to learn during the two remaining passes. “We have had some things that we have wanted to try and you just can’t take chances during the season. This was our opportunity and our first in a very long time to have air conditions like we had. I can’t remember the last time we were able to run when it was that cool. Of course that can pose a different set of problems when it gets too cold, but we learned what we needed to and we can never have too much
information.”
The Kalbones team had planned on taking advantage of the crisp fall Rockingham air and gun for a new World E.T. record. That plan changed when the weather took a turn for the worse and the first session was lost. “We had to play it somewhat safer during qualifying than we had hoped for,” Laurie said. “It got a little frantic when I was sitting in the lanes for our second and final qualifying shot after we got bumped out. During my burnout I was thinking, ‘wow, we may not make it in at the last event of the year’. We had been in the field all year long and it had me worried. We knew we couldn’t let that happen and we had to make sure we got down the track and to get back in.”
Cannister was able to make it back in the field on that last pass and although they haven’t always been the fastest during qualifying, they’ve had it when they’ve needed it on race day. “We've always been trying things here and there,” she pauses. “You know, without hurting our chances at anything. I’ve always said ‘you have to be in to win’ and we have tried to live that this entire season. It’s very possible that we actually qualified in almost every spot you can. I would have to go back and look, but bottom line we were always in for Sunday.”
When final eliminations came Sunday, Laurie was able to pour it on and pound her way through a very stout field starting with her first round opponent and friend, Dale Brand. It was during the semi final round win that the Kalbones’ AFC laid down a number a little closer to what Dale Cannister was looking for. “Laurie and I got to thinking after we ran the sixty-eight pass in the semi’s that we might have the back up run already in place for a new E.T. record. I told her let’s get the calculator and figure this out. Well, we may have had the back up number, but by the time we were able to get to make the final round pass, the track just wasn’t what it had been earlier in the day. It was just cooling off too fast and we knew we would have to toss out the idea of setting records and just concentrate on winning the race.”
It wasn’t without a great job of driving that Laurie was able to weave her way to her sixth event win of the 2008 season. With the sun and warmth long gone from the Rockingham Dragway track, both Cannister and her final round opponent Tom Carter were tested as drivers. “The starting line was still really good,” Laurie reflected. “The car left the starting line really well but when it got about one-hundred-fifty feet out, it was just too cold and it started shaking the tires. Apparently it happened to both Tom and I. We both ended up being pulled over to our respective walls, from what I was told. I mean, I know I was against the wall. Finally the thing hooked up right where I was and I didn’t want to take a chance of taking up too much of the race track trying to get to the finish line.”
“The thing shook really hard at the top of first gear. I pedaled it and shifted then it started to settle down but I was already near the wall. So I kept it there and tried not to drive fifteen-hundred feet for the thirteen-twenty,” she added.
The event win put a huge exclamation point on a spectacular season for the Kalbones Grill’n Sauce Alcohol Funny Car team. They managed to rack up six national event wins during the year making them the winningest team out of all teams in the five IHRA professional categories during the 2008 season, not to mention two runner-up finishes. A fantastic feat that neither Laurie nor the team could have dreamed of heading into the season opener.
Laurie Cannister Fast Fan Facts
Birthday - July 23
Hometown - Johnstown, Ohio with husband, Tuner Dale Cannister
Children - Samson "Our Son" - Norwegian Elkhound
2008 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car World Champion
2008 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car Champion - Texas Nationals (San Antonio), Spring Nationals (Rockingham), President’s Cup Nationals (Budds Creek), Rocky Mountain Nationals (Edmonton), Northern Nationals (Martin) & World Finals (Rockingham 2)
2008 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car Runner-Up – Motor City Nationals (Milan) & Sooner Nationals (Tulsa)
2002 & 2007 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car Champion - President's Cup Nationals (Budds Creek)
2000 IHRA Pro Outlaw World Champion
1999 IHRA Pro Rookie of the Year
Career quickest Quarter Mile elapsed time is 5.669
Career fastest Quarter Mile speed is 246.89
Career quickest Eighth Mile elapsed time is 3.731 (Current IHRA ET Record)
Career fastest Eighth Mile speed is 198.32 (Current IHRA Speed Record)
Cannister is the fastest and quickest female driver in IHRA Alcohol Funny Car history (Eighth & Quarter Mile)
All race team related info and photos – www.kalbonesracing.com
About Kalbones Grill'n Sauce:
Serious Sauce for Serious Grill'n! We make it easy for you to become a grill master with our unique family recipe using only the finest and freshest ingredients. There are two secrets to producing great barbecue. The first is the slow cooking process which allows the meat to tenderize while maintaining all of the moist, natural, mouth-watering juices. The second is the sauce. Kalbones is a Southern Virginia style sauce which enhances and compliments the natural flavor of the meat with a distinctive home-style barbeque flavor. Whether the occasion is a pig pickin', tailgate party, or a backyard barbeque, Kalbones is your essential ingredient to success. Six mouth watering flavors to choose from and a new rub.
Better yet - Try them all! Mop Kalbones on beef, poultry, and seafood too - It's "not jus' for yer butts!"
Special Thanks to – Flatout Gaskets
October 23, 2008 – Johnstown, Ohio – 2008 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car Champion Laurie Cannister went into the IHRA World Finals with some unfinished business on her mind --- winning the event and setting records. Although the Kevin and Wendy Sims’ Kalbones Grill’n Sauce team has had numerous successes since reforming just over a year ago, winning the fall Rockingham event eluded them during their first attempt in 2007.
The Kalbones’ team was the first to seal up a championship out of the five IHRA professional categories and that took place during the previous event in Epping, New Hampshire. The team’s focus for Rockingham had switched from winning the championship to doing some much needed testing.
Although Tuner Dale Cannister was a little disappointed to lose the first qualifying session on Friday, due to rain, he was pleased with what they were able to learn during the two remaining passes. “We have had some things that we have wanted to try and you just can’t take chances during the season. This was our opportunity and our first in a very long time to have air conditions like we had. I can’t remember the last time we were able to run when it was that cool. Of course that can pose a different set of problems when it gets too cold, but we learned what we needed to and we can never have too much
information.”
The Kalbones team had planned on taking advantage of the crisp fall Rockingham air and gun for a new World E.T. record. That plan changed when the weather took a turn for the worse and the first session was lost. “We had to play it somewhat safer during qualifying than we had hoped for,” Laurie said. “It got a little frantic when I was sitting in the lanes for our second and final qualifying shot after we got bumped out. During my burnout I was thinking, ‘wow, we may not make it in at the last event of the year’. We had been in the field all year long and it had me worried. We knew we couldn’t let that happen and we had to make sure we got down the track and to get back in.”
Cannister was able to make it back in the field on that last pass and although they haven’t always been the fastest during qualifying, they’ve had it when they’ve needed it on race day. “We've always been trying things here and there,” she pauses. “You know, without hurting our chances at anything. I’ve always said ‘you have to be in to win’ and we have tried to live that this entire season. It’s very possible that we actually qualified in almost every spot you can. I would have to go back and look, but bottom line we were always in for Sunday.”
When final eliminations came Sunday, Laurie was able to pour it on and pound her way through a very stout field starting with her first round opponent and friend, Dale Brand. It was during the semi final round win that the Kalbones’ AFC laid down a number a little closer to what Dale Cannister was looking for. “Laurie and I got to thinking after we ran the sixty-eight pass in the semi’s that we might have the back up run already in place for a new E.T. record. I told her let’s get the calculator and figure this out. Well, we may have had the back up number, but by the time we were able to get to make the final round pass, the track just wasn’t what it had been earlier in the day. It was just cooling off too fast and we knew we would have to toss out the idea of setting records and just concentrate on winning the race.”
It wasn’t without a great job of driving that Laurie was able to weave her way to her sixth event win of the 2008 season. With the sun and warmth long gone from the Rockingham Dragway track, both Cannister and her final round opponent Tom Carter were tested as drivers. “The starting line was still really good,” Laurie reflected. “The car left the starting line really well but when it got about one-hundred-fifty feet out, it was just too cold and it started shaking the tires. Apparently it happened to both Tom and I. We both ended up being pulled over to our respective walls, from what I was told. I mean, I know I was against the wall. Finally the thing hooked up right where I was and I didn’t want to take a chance of taking up too much of the race track trying to get to the finish line.”
“The thing shook really hard at the top of first gear. I pedaled it and shifted then it started to settle down but I was already near the wall. So I kept it there and tried not to drive fifteen-hundred feet for the thirteen-twenty,” she added.
The event win put a huge exclamation point on a spectacular season for the Kalbones Grill’n Sauce Alcohol Funny Car team. They managed to rack up six national event wins during the year making them the winningest team out of all teams in the five IHRA professional categories during the 2008 season, not to mention two runner-up finishes. A fantastic feat that neither Laurie nor the team could have dreamed of heading into the season opener.
Laurie Cannister Fast Fan Facts
Birthday - July 23
Hometown - Johnstown, Ohio with husband, Tuner Dale Cannister
Children - Samson "Our Son" - Norwegian Elkhound
2008 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car World Champion
2008 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car Champion - Texas Nationals (San Antonio), Spring Nationals (Rockingham), President’s Cup Nationals (Budds Creek), Rocky Mountain Nationals (Edmonton), Northern Nationals (Martin) & World Finals (Rockingham 2)
2008 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car Runner-Up – Motor City Nationals (Milan) & Sooner Nationals (Tulsa)
2002 & 2007 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car Champion - President's Cup Nationals (Budds Creek)
2000 IHRA Pro Outlaw World Champion
1999 IHRA Pro Rookie of the Year
Career quickest Quarter Mile elapsed time is 5.669
Career fastest Quarter Mile speed is 246.89
Career quickest Eighth Mile elapsed time is 3.731 (Current IHRA ET Record)
Career fastest Eighth Mile speed is 198.32 (Current IHRA Speed Record)
Cannister is the fastest and quickest female driver in IHRA Alcohol Funny Car history (Eighth & Quarter Mile)
All race team related info and photos – www.kalbonesracing.com
About Kalbones Grill'n Sauce:
Serious Sauce for Serious Grill'n! We make it easy for you to become a grill master with our unique family recipe using only the finest and freshest ingredients. There are two secrets to producing great barbecue. The first is the slow cooking process which allows the meat to tenderize while maintaining all of the moist, natural, mouth-watering juices. The second is the sauce. Kalbones is a Southern Virginia style sauce which enhances and compliments the natural flavor of the meat with a distinctive home-style barbeque flavor. Whether the occasion is a pig pickin', tailgate party, or a backyard barbeque, Kalbones is your essential ingredient to success. Six mouth watering flavors to choose from and a new rub.
Better yet - Try them all! Mop Kalbones on beef, poultry, and seafood too - It's "not jus' for yer butts!"
Special Thanks to – Flatout Gaskets
