American Car - November 2015

ACM

race

report

56

Pro classes, even though every effort

had been made to return it to its pre-

washed state.

Day-one Sportsman qualifying gave

every indication that all was well as far

as the track itself was concerned, and

the same could be said about the Pros,

even if it was evident that many were

initially running conservative tunes

due to the unsure state of the Rico

Anthes Quarter-mile. The scheduled

sessions were progressing nicely

until proceedings were brought to

a halt when a front-engine dragster

left a trail of lubricant from just past

the tree all the way to the finish line.

The estimated amount of time it

would take to clean up after the late-

afternoon mishap effectively meant

the second session of Pro qualifying

would not be completed by the

extended curfew hour of 7.45pm, and

so to the chagrin of racers and paying

punters alike, Q2 was cancelled.

The early finish meant there was

time aplenty to catch up with the

passel of Brits that had come along

to participate in the sole annual

drag race of any note held in the

Fatherland; all seemed pleased with

the typical Teutonic efficacy and

organisation of the race, although

there were some tales of woe

concerning travails en route to the

’Ring, none of which unduly detracted

from the general air of bonhomie

prevalent in the pits... something

which may or may not have been

due to the quantity of alcoholic

beverages being swigged to

counteract the oppressive heat

enveloping the facility.

Performances stepped up the

following day, the septet of Top

Fuellers on hand turning up the wick

to take account of the proven grip.

Defending champion Micke Kågered

ended qualifying on pole (4.22/267)

and Switzerland’s Urs Erbacher

occupied the bottom rung of the

ladder @ 4.65/219. It was encouraging

to see all the drivers running in the

fours, which boded well for Sunday’s

final eliminations.

The two Top Methanol classes

• TMD and TMFC – both drew very
  few entries for round four of the
  European Drag Racing Championship,
  numbering just three and two
  respectively, but at least there was an
  okay number of ultimate doorslammer
  Pro Mods on hand. Fans of the factory
  hot rod Pro Stockers were out of luck
  insomuch as the group decided to
  give the German round a miss because
  of traction problems encountered last
  year, which caused them to park their
  cars after just one qualifying attempt.
  The race organisers had to erect
  additional grandstand seating along
  the left-hand side of the track to
  accommodate the sheer number 

Right: Florian

Uebel’s Highway

Patrol Mustang

went a couple of

rounds in Super

Pro ET.

Bottom: Andy

Hadfield in the

Twister T-bucket

was declared

the winner in

Supercharged

Outlaws.

hockenheim.indd 56 21/09/2015 11:40:19