Motor Sports Weekly News

By: Drew Hierwarter

Kent, WA – After the first two pairs of cars went down the track in the first round of Pro Stock eliminations at the NHRA Northwest Nationals, veteran driver Warren Johnson had some pretty harsh comments about the NHRA’s track preparations. Claiming the track was unsafe for the Pro Stock cars beyond the 1,000 foot distance that the fuel cars race to, Johnson accused the NHRA of only caring about the fuel cars.

The NHRA sprays the track with a traction compound that helps the Top Fuel and Funny car stayed “glued” to the track. According to Johnson, and several other Pro Stock drivers, they need that compound to extend the full 1320 feet.

Driver Jason Line explained it this way; “There’s a little bump down there at 1,000 feet and when you hit it, it’s like going over a jump,” Line said. “It’s very unnerving and you are going to crash the car. It’s like hitting a patch of ice at 200 mph. Somebody is going to get hurt or killed.”

The result was a long discussion at the starting line between several drivers and NHRA officials that resulted in the remaining cars returning to the pits.

I was watching the live stream of the situation on ESPN3.com and there was no audio so it was difficult to tell just what was being said, and eventually the cars returned to competition.

 But the fact remains that Pro Stock cars utilize almost no down force producing aerodynamic devices in the interest of maximizing top speed. With top end speeds approaching 210 mph, it just may be time for Pro Stock racers to add in a little bit of a wicker to the back of the car to give it some much needed down force and stability.

On a much sadder note, popular Top Alcohol Dragster driver Mark Niver, 60, of Scottsdale, AZ, was killed Sunday when the chutes failed on his car and he careened off the end of the paved strip, through the sand trap, and collided with the catch netting at the end of the track.

Niver not only had many friends in the Sportsman ranks but was also well known to many of the professional racers. Each of the three pro winners at Seattle, Cory McClenathan, Tim Wilkerson, and Greg Anderson, acknowledged Niver and dedicated their win to his memory.

Mark Niver was the winner in the final race of his life beating Shawn Cowie, 5.364 to Cowie’s losing 5.502. Niver would’ve faced Chris Demke in the final round but in a purely symbolic gesture, Demke just took the green light and shut off and was pushed back and NHRA declared him the winner.

“This is not how I wanted to win this race”, Demke said, “I want to dedicate this event to Mark Niver. He was doing what he loved most. He was just that guy everybody loved,” “You could always turn to him for a happy handshake. He was one of the nicest guys ever.”