3S National Gathering 2002 Drag Race

Turbo Quick 8

August 10th, 2002


Come Saturday morning of the National Gathering, the excitement levels were high as a majority of the 3S cars in attendance headed over to the local drag strip, Osceola Dragway, to participate or spectate in the first 3S National Gathering drag race.  While many of the big names were missing for lame reasons like "getting married"; Mike Mahaffey with his 20G orange beast, was present and ready to take on all competition including the ET record holder at the time, Jack Tertadian (10.81 which stood for 5 years until Mike Mahaffey claimed it later during the summer of 2002).

 

There were six different drag racing classes as follows:

 

Quick 8 Classes:

 

Turbo - AWD turbo cars, anything goes

Naturally Aspirated - NA cars, including OEM NA cars with power adders (nitrous, turbo, etc.), basically the FWD class

 

Bracket Racing Classes:

 

Beginner A - less than 10 passes prior to event, 13.99 or quicker

Beginner B - less than 10 passes prior to event, 14.00 or slower

Advanced A - more than 10 passes prior to event, 13.99 or quicker

Advanced B - more than 10 passes prior to event, 14.00 or slower

 

There were plenty of cars racing to fill all 16 spots of the two quick 8 classes and enough bracket racers to fill 1st - 3rd place in each bracket class.  Anyone who failed to make the quick 8 could continue racing by selecting the appropriate bracket racing class.  The turbo quick 8 ran a Pro tree (.400 light) with all others opting for a Sportsman tree (.500 light).

 

The remainder of this page will follow the events and races leading up to the Turbo Quick 8 winner.

 

The first couple hours of the day were used to test, tune, and attempt to qualify in the quick 8.  Jack Tertadian led a majority of the morning with an 11.57 second pass and didn't bother to try and regain the #1 spot when Mike Mahaffey posted an impressive 11.19 pass later in the session.  When all was said and done, the drag race tree was determined from the following qualifying efforts:

   

Qualifiers, Turbo Quick 8

 

Driver 3S model 1/4 E.T. (seconds) Comments
1)  Mike Mahaffey '94 R/T TT 11.19 AAM TD05H-20G
2)  Jack Tertadian '94 VR-4 11.57 17G with 50hp NOS
3)  Ryan Alavia '99 VR-4 12.81 17G (no NOS in qualifying)
4)  Jeff Williamson '92 VR-4 12.84 GT 357s
5)  Jeremy Gleason '91 R/T TT 12.89 9B
6)  Mark Boksa '92 R/T TT 12.91 13Gs (12.82 timeslip never printed)
7)  Curt Gendron '95 R/T TT 12.99 9B
8)  Francis Morice '96 R/T TT 13.08 9B

 

 

In each case, the winner is highlighted in white.

 

Round 1, Turbo Quick 8

 

Driver R.T. (seconds) 60 ft (seconds) 1/8 E.T. (seconds) 1/8 mile
(MPH)
1/4 E.T. (seconds) 1/4 mile
(MPH)
1)  Mike Mahaffey 1.120 1.923 7.380 101.58 11.063 133.53
5)  Jeremy Gleason 0.767 1.799 8.275 82.72 12.954 105.14
3)  Ryan Alavia 0.983 1.905 7.622 96.36 11.707 120.32
7)  Curt Gendron 0.813 2.060 8.609 80.79 13.270 104.17
2)  Jack Tertadian 0.823 1.862 8.389 84.75 12.869 108.17
6)  Mark Boksa 0.702 2.105 8.714 81.52 13.273 109.22
4)  Jeff Williamson 0.540 2.174 8.376 87.04 12.826 107.14
8)  Francis Morice 0.810 2.495 9.272 81.37 13.919 106.89

 

The first race was very entertaining with Jeremy Gleason, the sacrificial lamb, getting a huge jump and better 60 foot only to see the lead disappear and be overtaken near the 1/8th at nearly a 20 mph differential.  Mike Mahaffey with 26psi boost on tap ate up the track at an awe inspiring rate but still fell short of 10s.  Click here for video from Jeremy's car.  Also of interest, Ryan decided to see how his car reacted to a 50 shot and ran far better than his 12.81 qualifying effort with an 11.707 @ 120.32 (although this would have still placed him as 3rd seed).  Jack on the other hand had his hands full much of the day with the carbon carbon clutch locking him out gear on many of his passes (Jack has an older style clutch prior to the fixes).  He also reported a weak engine that required a 50hp shot to run where it would have been when healthy.  Jack was running 20 psi with no NOS on this run and the next.  We all know xwing, basically, if it starts, it will be raced to its full potential.  Lastly, Jeff Williamson advanced in his 140,000 mile daily ride to the semis with another low 12.8 second pass and excellent .540 light.  It was getting interesting with three of the four cars left demonstrating the necessary hardware and skills to go well into the 11s if not further.

 

Semi-Finals, Turbo Quick 8

 

Driver R.T. (seconds) 60 ft (seconds) 1/8 E.T. (seconds) 1/8 mile
(MPH)
1/4 E.T. (seconds) 1/4 mile
(MPH)
1)  Mike Mahaffey 1.020 1.769 7.195 102.51 10.917 132.35
3)  Ryan Alavia 0.853 1.798 8.956 88.24 13.263 115.09
2)  Jack Tertadian 0.868 1.747 7.861 87.21 12.213 112.78
4)  Jeff Williamson 0.815 2.266 8.557 87.72 12.905 112.22

 

With a little prodding from Brian LaFuente (GT Pro), Mike tried to get more aggressive on the launch and lowered boost to 24.5 psi to help alleviate some hesitation issues.  The lower boost run netted his first of four 10 second passes!  A "no nitrous" 10.917 ET record!, beating Matt Monett's previous record of 10.96 (GT368s @ 3600 ft, correction factors aside).  Jack again had issues but advanced largely in part to his superior launch over Jeff Williamson who posted a not to shabby 112 mph trap.  So it would be Mike Mahaffey against Jack Tertadian in the finals.  At this time, Jack was busy replacing the 50hp jet (which he didn't use since the 11.57 qualifying effort) with a 75hp nozzle to make it interesting.

 

Picture supplied by Jeff Hawkins ("Darktail" on 3si.org)

 

Finals, Turbo Quick 8

 

Owner & Vehicle R.T. (seconds) 60 ft (seconds) 1/8 E.T. (seconds) 1/8 mile
(MPH)
1/4 E.T. (seconds) 1/4 mile
(MPH)
1)  Mike Mahaffey 0.873 1.840 7.420 102.97 10.900 133.93
2)  Jack Tertadian 0.537 1.924 8.344 81.82 12.729 113.92

 

The 10.900 run would prove to be the best of the day and Mike broke his own "no NOS" ET record set the previous round.  Despite the best R.T. of the eliminations, Jack couldn't keep it close after being locked out of third again by his carbon carbon clutch.  Jack's 75hp shot kept him close to Mike until third gear (still well short of the 1/8th mile mark when you are as fast as these guys).  With that, Mike Mahaffey claimed top honors at the 2002 NG.

 

3rd Place Run-off, Turbo Quick 8

 

Owner & Vehicle R.T. (seconds) 60 ft (seconds) 1/8 E.T. (seconds) 1/8 mile
(MPH)
1/4 E.T. (seconds) 1/4 mile
(MPH)
3)  Ryan Alavia 0.679 1.907 7.420 91.09 12.620 117.19
4)  Jeff Williamson 0.974 2.126 8.467 86.21 12.902 109.22

 

To determine the 3rd and 4th place finishers without a doubt, a run off between the two semi-final losers (that sounds bad) was staged.  After leading by a comfortable margin, Ryan must have missed a shift but recovered nicely with a 50 shot to give him the win over Jeff and take home the 3rd place trophy.

 

The event also featured a turbo MKIV Supra, turbo 300Z, and a '97 Mustang GT which between the three of them made perhaps 25 passes with only a couple victories (none for the Supra).  GT Pro also made two passes in their stock Skyline to the delight of the crowd.  This and much, much more can be seen on the NG video being compiled as of this writing.

 

In closing, it was awesome seeing AAM, Jack, and others duke it out in the quick 8, but look at the people and times that qualified.  There were too many big names missing from the list.  Our community has at least eight 11 second cars that are in running condition at any given time.  Imagine the excitement we will generate when we get a quick 8 together where the 8th seed is an eleven second car!  Perhaps St. Louis 2003?

 

 

since August 13th, 2002

 

Last Updated: 12/08/02 10:20 PM