Official 2011 GS Nationals TSM Results Bowling Green, KY
GS Nats in Bowling Green, KY was the final race of the year for the Turbo Street Modified series. The great weather and the largest turnout to date promised to bring an awesome race with a lot of new personal bests and a tight racing field. The entire field had an avg ET of 9.50 with 7 of the 10 cars faster than 9.40. I want to give a personal Thank You to all of the TSM Participants for this race and all the 2011 races.
Here are the stats.
Official Qualifying Order:
1. Jason White 8.963 @ 153.13
2. Chris Hogeland 9.266 @ 146.89
3. Randy Alexander 9.302 @ 143.70
4. Tim Lemay 9.346 @ 145.14
5. John Plog 9.361 @ 145.96
6. Walt Judy 9.392 @ 127.96
7. Richie "Hi PSI" Balcom 9.403 @146.07
8. Bobby "Buick" Slusser 9.754 @ 137.29
9. Steve Pitts 10.004 @ 120.60
10. Fred Doerer 10.308 @ 129.03
(1) Jason White vs (10) Fred Doerer - Newcomer Fred D comes into this race with a new boost controller setup after his old controller fell down on the job. Not having alot of information to go on he put a tune up on it and let her rip. Fred lines up against the TSM points leader and takes a shot. He trips the lights at 10.194 @ 124.24 with a .896 R/T as Jason pursues a quest of running an 8 second pass in eliminations running 9.019 @ 150.36 and taking the win.
(2) Chris Hogeland vs (9) Steve Pitts - Steve lost a head gasket in qualifying and decided not to push it so Chris gets a broke bye but uses that to dail in his car running 9.292 @ 143.52
(3) Randy Alexander vs (8) Bobby "Buick" Slusser - Randy Alexander comes all the way from nowhere Monticello, MS ( ) to BG on a mission to set the new iron headed record in TSM. He qualified with a 9.302 which does just that. Randy has to run Bob Slusser in the first round and sqweaks by "Bouncing Bobby Wheelstander" runninng a 9.406 @142.58. Bobby runs a 9.774 @ 137.96. Randy had a .667 R/T to Bobby's .941 R/T giving Randy a little head start that could not be overcome.
(4) Tim Lemay vs (7) Richie "Hi PSI" Balcom - In testing earlier in the week Richie ran some impressive 9.20s on his way to running Team Banana in the first round. Eagle eye reaction time by Tim Lemay of .045 and running a consistant 9.452 @ 145.69 allows him to stay out in front of Richie's quicker 9.375 @ 143.23. All I know is that I heard Ronnie telling Richie that he wasn't getting in the way of team banana working their way to the number one qualifier JW. Looks like he was right for now.........
(5) John Plog vs (6) Walt Judy - Iron Head matchup: Walt Judy, a seasoned TSM competitor, ran hard in qualifying lifting a head on Friday. On Saturday morning he swapped the gasket and was running again for the last round of qualifying before eliminations. It just wasn't in the cars as the other head gasket let loose before he could complete another pass. This allows John Plog to go to the line for a broke bye and take it easy. John doesn't take the easy way out and shoots for lane choice while running 9.369 @ 143.55 with a .084 R/T... Very impressive.
(1) Jason White Bye - Jason decides to take it down the track easy on the bye run 14.006 @ 92.56
(2) Chris Hogeland vs (5)John Plog - This is the meat and taters run here for John and Chris. Two cars that are close in ET and will make for an exciting side by side run. It was exciting but far from the outcome we expected. Chris and John lined up with John taking the lead with a .157 R/T to Chris' .349 R/T. John is on another consistant pass running 9.489 @ 143.75. The problem was that Chris decided to take a detour as the right side axle broke sending him to the wall. He corrected but the car came back around and smacked the opposite wall. It was a wild ride for sure and we are glad that Chris was just shaken up and not seriously hurt. I was at the scales waiting when John explained that he saw Chris in his rear view mirror slamming into the wall head on.
(3) Randy Alexander vs (4) Tim Lemay - Race of the evening came when Tim Lemay and Randy Alexander lined up. Randy knew he was up against a tough competitor and decided to turn up the wick just a little. Randy gets a late start with a .111 R/T to Tim's .098 and as George Jones says... "The race is on...." Randy's car smokes the tires immediately as Tim heads west. Randy starts shifting gears not letting up off the throttle trying to run down the yellow blurr.. Randy pulls out the win barely with a 11.218 @139.50 to Tim's 11.488 @ 129.11. What Tim failed to tell anyone was that they lost compression on a cylinder and pulled the injector wire to save the engine and played his cards and almost won.
(1) Jason White vs (3) Randy Alexander - After qualifying and setting new personal bests on the same pass on Friday night, Mississippi racers Jason (8.96) and Randy (9.30) lined up agaist each other against each other to let it all hang out in the semi finals. Jason leaves the line with a .195 R/T to Randy's sandwich making /nap taking .776 R/T. When the smoke cleared and Randy wiped the sleepy out of his eyes it was done. Jason went through the lights with a 9.055 @ 150.05 to Randy's slowing 9.824 @ 131.33.
(5)John Plog Bye Run - John not being one to let a good track go without trying to tear up the asphalt blisters the pavement with a .007 R/T and another 9.366 @ 147.49 setting a new iron head record for MPH that Randy had just previous set at 145.55 mph.
(1) Jason White vs (5) John Plog - Two heavy hitters lined up in the TSM finals at the GS Nats. John with his string of 9.30 passes and Jason with his string of 9.00 passes put the pressure on both racers to cut a good reaction time to make sure they get to the finish line first. Just a week prior, John with his DLS engine, had to tear his car down and put back together just to make it to the Nats. All that work and the car was still the most consistant car in the field. John and Jason line up for the finals. Both staging their cars together into the lights and standing on the throttle waiting for the Green. John let's his transbrake release to the tune of a .078 R/T which is excellent in the TSM field but Jason was right behind him with a .088 R/T giving John only about .01 of a second head start. Jason's silver car comes up and keeps climbing up but the throttle never closes as the gears are shifted in the air and finally comes down. John's car runs down the track clicking off a 9.441 @ 143.17 to Jason's 9.102 @ 151.60.
Thanks to all the participants at this race and all the other TSM races in 2011.
Good to meet some new faces and have some exciting racing.
Excellent write up Jason. It was nice to see a good car count at one of the events finally. Congrats on the win and the 8 second pass. John, congrats on the runner up.
Even with car troubles, that was one of the most fun races I have been to in a while.
Nice write up! Any video of the finals? Jason, you did an awesome job of staying in the throttle and keeping it straight.
Johns car is unbelievable. Ac, iron heads and a 200. Just your average street cruiser (that runs 9.3's and goes to the finals in probably the fastest tsm field ever) lol
) to BG on a mission to set the new iron headed record in TSM. He qualified with a 9.302 which does just that. Randy has to run Bob Slusser in the first round and sqweaks by "Bouncing Bobby Wheelstander" runninng a 9.406 @142.58. Bobby runs a 9.774 @ 137.96. Randy had a .667 R/T to Bobby's .941 R/T giving Randy a little head start that could not be overcome. 
