Dave & Tony Elrod Double Top Dragster Final Weekend at Mountain Park IHRA Division Event
- Aug 30, 2011
Harrod, Ohio resident, Tony Elrod made his way to the Top Dragster final during the Saturday division race with his 2008 Adkins dragster loaded up with a 632 big block Chevy. "I first want to say what a difference we have seen in all our team cars this year with the addition of the K&N scoops," he pointed out. "It is just amazing the amount of air that the motors are being fed now. We all run big motors and it's important to get as much fresh air in as you can. Our cars have picked up not only ET but also mile-per-hour." "I was really happy with my group of lights," Tony said of his string of great reaction times in eliminations. "And I didn't take more than a hundredth of the stripe all weekend." Tony took care of business in round one and by his round two win over Chris Moore, he had his car right where he wanted it. Thanks to having the best reaction time of the round, Tony earned the bye in the quarterfinals and took an easy stroll down the track to save it for the semifinal round. "My car was just great all day," he commented. "From time runs to eliminations, the car only varied six thousandths of a second in my sixty foot times. I pretty much kept it dialed on a 4.75, except for one round. For the semifinals, that made it a heads up run against Todd Stredling. I knew as long as I had a fifteen or better light, I could get in on him and take the win." Tony did take the starting line advantage and with his dead-on 4.753 ET, he took the stripe by .009 and on to his family's first final of the double IHRA weekend. When so many races are won and lost by just mere thousandths of a second, Tony missed having a perfect light in the final by literally less than a blink of an eye with his .003 red. Elrod Racing was far from done for the weekend. With a stable of five team cars, team leader and multi-time IHRA World Champion, Dave Elrod did his own nice piece of driving during the second divisional event of the weekend on Sunday. Like son Tony, Dave was also entered for the weekend's events in Top Dragster and behind the wheel of his 2006 American Race Cars dragster also equipped with a 632 big block Chevy, plowed his way to the final on day two. Dave was also quick to point out how pleased he is with the addition of K&N products to their team cars this season, "well despite whatever rumors there are about the scoops slowing the cars down, it couldn't be further from the truth. All of our cars picked up quite a bit after adding the K&N scoops with the air filters. One car picked up as much as five mile-per-hour. It's like they not only get more air into the motors, but they also seem to distribute the air more evenly and the cars all seem to be a little more consistent even." Dave also put together a string of great lights during his trek to the Top Dragster final on Sunday. In round one, his .004 starting line advantage parlayed into a squeaker at the stripe over David Barr and a .002 margin between the two crossing the finish line or only five inches. He continued to have extremely close races right into round two, where his years of experience carried him into the semi's after a double breakout when he forced Travis Nelson to go under his dial by just one thousandth of a second more. Dave used his huge .031 starting line advantage in the semifinal round to easily skate by Jonathan Barr and into his team's now third final of the weekend. Son Jacob Elrod was also having a good race day and was off to his own final in the team's Corvette Roadster over in Super Rod. Just as so many of the rounds before, the final proved to be another tight one at the finish line. While Dave was .006 on the tree, he was already .004 behind and with a .008 margin at the finish line, garnered the Top Dragster Runner up honors for race two of the weekend. "It was a tough day and it was hot," he noted. "We just couldn't do what we do without the entire family. You have to have crew with just one or two cars, but to run five like we do you have to have help. Basically the family is the crew. Not only Tony and Jacob, but even Jamie. She was running herself ragged over the weekend just trying to keep up with everything that needed to be done." "Being with them is why I still race," he admitted. "Seeing both Jacob and Tony do well is great and I really enjoy helping them, I enjoy seeing them win as much as winning myself and I guess I would rather see them win than myself even." Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world. |
