Race Results (PDF format)

2001 Advanced Clutch Technology IDRC Lone Star Nationals

Rain Attacks Again, but Racers Counter With Broken Records

Want to know what the biggest rivalry is in import drag racing? Is it Craig Paisley versus Adam Saruwatari? Is it Lisa Kubo against Kenny Tran? The answer is none of the above. For the start of the 2000 international drag racing season, the biggest rivalry has been the racers against the rain.

The 2001 season kicked off in full-swing on Sunday, March 18th at the IDRC Lone Star Nationals. Even with an overwhelming cloud cover, the crowds came in force to see the new chariots of 2001. By Sunday, rain delayed the start of the action until 1pm, when the start of the Spearmint Rhino Ultimate Body Contest got the party started. Overall, the turnout was spectacular with 10,000 fans passing through the gates over the two days.

Lone Star Preparation
On Sunday, March 18th, the state of Texas was anxious to see the IDRC players come to town. The players, too, were anxious to put on a show. APEX Integration and Venom Racing rented the track from Wednesday to Friday. Venom's testing would unveil an 8.40-second pass and a promising 1/8-mile time that equated to a seven-second pass before encountering some mechanical challenges. The "never say quit" Venom team purchase a complete powerplant from a local shop and put it in place for Sunday's event. Apex Integration and the entire GT Racing staff from Japan would start their testing with an 8.98 off the trailer. Further tweaking yielded an 8.84 as the team went back to base camp to decipher the data from passes. Optimizing the suspension and boost settings, the APEX Integration team was confident that 8.70s would be achieved with 8.60s as good possibilities.

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Sunday Fighting the Storm
With dark clouds hovering over the track, the gates opened at 8am to a never-ending line of racers and spectators. The IDRC Race Director and local track operators watched the radar in hopes of predicting when, for how long and how hard the storm would hit. At first, the storm was approaching with a good momentum to rain for anywhere from ½-hour to an hour before moving on. As the storm started to sprinkle on the track, it also lost its speed and essentially parked over the track. At around noon, the storm broke and the track dryers began getting the surface ready for racing. As the track was almost ready for racing, the storm launched another wave and drenched the racers, vendors and fans. The race was on rain delay until it was finally called when it was determined that there would be insufficient time to dry the track and complete the event. Over 3500 fans came but the rain sent them home without the IDRC experience.

To Race or not to Race
What to do? The IDRC was faced with a difficult decision to make. Nearly a dozen race teams have traveled from the two coasts and Japan to make it to the event. If the IDRC chose the following weekend or a later make-up rain date, all of the expenses incurred by the teams to get to the event would be in vain. Stephan Papadakis proposed the concept of a Monday rain date on the Saturday night before the event. At first, the idea was met with laughter, but soon after the pluses and minuses of such a decision were under debate. For the racers that made the trek to San Antonio, this would be the best solution. With a motto of "By the Racers, for the Racers," the IDRC incurred the financial hardships to produce the event on the following day Monday. As for the fans, the IDRC didn't leave them in the cold. Spectator tickets would be good for the Monday event or for the following IDRC event in San Antonio on November 11th.

Biggest Monday Import Event Ever
As the gates opened at 9am on Monday, a record was instantly set for attendance on a Monday import event. In addition to about half of the spectators returning from Sunday, an additional 500 tickets were sold at the gate. All but four racers were able to return for competition on Monday.

Unfortunately, one of the four that was unable to return was APEX Integration racing team. At the time the decision not to stay was made, the APEX Integration team had been hit by bad weather on the Wednesday testing session, hit again with a rainout on Sunday and had been basing their event operations nearly three hours away in Houston. Bottom line is that the team was exhausted, the rescheduling was a nightmare and they were pessimistic about the weather on Monday. Had they had the opportunity to do it all again, they would have loved the opportunity to face Steph for the opportunity to go side-by-side for the title of World's Quickest FWD. As this story goes to print, the APEX Integration in Japan and the US is planning for the rematch this year at a future IDRC event.

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World's Quickest and Fastest Outlaw
Stephan Papadakis and the AEM DRAG Civic were on top of their game for the Lone Star Nationals. After a win at the season opener while setting the track record for a front-wheel-drive, Steph continued to rewrite the record books by stunning the crowd with an 8.57-second blast that eclipsed at 174.5mph. Not only did this run re-establish the Civic as the World's Quickest FWD, it also set the top mph record for the APEX Integration IDRC Outlaw class (Vinny Ten is still the elapsed time record holder with his 8.10-second pass from last season at Maple Grove). Stephan went on to take the win and the points lead in the Apex Integration Outlaw Class. If Steph can hold on, he'll receive an additional $25,000 bonus at the end of the season. Vinny Ten, Craig Paisley, Chris Rado and Ray Lochhead have other plans for the championship payoff.

World's Smartest Racer?
Christian Rado easily earned the smartest racer award by taking his rental and competing in the Outlaw Class. Armed with a Venom Nitrous system (the official nitrous system of the IDRC) and his Lexus IS300 rental, Chris qualified and by a stroke of luck made it to the final where he faced Steph. Along the way Rado earned enough points to take second in the points standings. So will rentals and big name racers be the new thing? Not likely, the IDRC has closed the loop hole by now requiring all Outlaw and Pro class vehicles to have an NHRA or IHRA certification. In this way, the cars will be 9-seconds or quicker.

Kubo Back On the Attack
Lisa Kubo and her Nitto Tire/Extrude Hone Civic was back in attack mode qualifying number one and going on to take the win in the Nitto Tires Turbo magazine Quick Class. The Kubo Racing team missed a points opportunity at the season opener when they packed up early, but this time they stayed through the weather and it payed off. The crowd went wild when the scoreboard lit up with a 9.142-second elapsed time. Was it an official record run? The IDRC has not qualified this time as official since the 60-foot time was obviously incorrect (read 0.980-second on the timeslip) and the elapsed time was not supported with a comparable performance.

Signal Auto Sets The Pace in Points Championship
While Lisa dominated this event, Kosuke Kida and the Tanabe/Nitto Tire Civic extended its points lead in the 2001 IDRC Champioship race. Kida made it to the Semi-finals where he redlit against the team PFI competition. Still, it was enough to extend Kida's lead over Kubo by 49 points (Kida 140, Kubo 91). Heather Zender remains in third place as it marks the first time that two women have been in the top three positions in the championship points race. If Zender and KG Racing can put together the budget, they'll definitely be able to give Kubo and Kida a run for the big money.

New Team, New Stars
For the first-time, a three-car team has emerged from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The PFI Racing team consisting of three Quick Class Hondas made an instant impact as JJ Olson's Civic earned a Finals Quick Class appearance while Brent Levistad made it to the Semifinals and earned enough points to make the top-5 cut in the points race. The mile-high team looks to be a definite force as its just a matter of time before they dip into the 9s.

All Motor, New Respect
The West Coast's top all-motor drivers made the trek to the Lone Star state to earn some new respect. Their plan was a complete success when Jarrod Silvers blistered to a 10.98 and 11.00. While his B-series powerplant was setting records, Bisi Ezerioha's D-series SOHC engine was breaking records of its own putting the crowd on its feet with an 11.24, 11.29 and 11.35 performances. The two met in the DC Sports All-Motor Class final but despite a holeshot, Bisi's missed shift gave Jarrod the win. Still, Bisi's runner-up finished at the first two races moved him into the lead in the championship points race.

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FORD Contingency Instant Success
Ford Racing Performance Parts stepped up for the 2001 IDRC season and took over the sponsorship of all three bracket classes. Additionally, Ford posted the richest contingency purse of any sponsor with $63,000 available to the racers with on-the-spot cash payouts. All you need to qualify is a Ford-badged vehicle. At this event, the Super Stock class was filled with Ford entries as over half the class was built Ford tough. In the Super Stock final it was a Ford Excursion versus a Ford Taurus. The Excusion took the win, earned a $500 winner payout and another $1000 from Ford on the sport. The Taurus earned $200 and another $500 on the sport from Ford. Needless to say, Ford has made racing their vehicles a smart choice.

Pro Class---Abel Injured, But Team Still Winning
In the Toyo Tires Pro Class, Abel Ibarra was in attendance supporting his teammate Efren Vazquez, the driver of the Toyo Tires/Extrude Hone R-100. His support was enough to help Efren clinch another victory when he defeated the Venom Racing Pro Tacoma in the finals. Now Efren has extended his lead in the Pro Class championship. Abel we'll be back in his Toyo Tires RX-7 for the East Coast Nationals on May 20th at Maple Grove Raceway.

Speedvision Airing Double Prime-Time Slots
For the first-time in the history of import drag racing, two prime-time slots will air the broadcasts of an import drag racing event. On Sunday April 8th the first broadcast will start at 11pm (PST). This will be followed by a rebroadcast on April 9th at 7pm (PST). Set your VCR's to record.

East Coast Leg Begins May 20th
On May 20th, the IDRC show comes to Maple Grove Raceway followed by an Atco appearance on June 3rd. Then on June 30th, the IDRC's biggest event of the season, the Nitto Tire NT-555R Summer Slam nationals kicks off to an expected 30,000 race fans.