Photo: NHRA
Gordon Team With Statement Win In St Louis
You never know how bringing a new race car to the track is going to go. They can roll out of the trailer and go right down the track or it can take months and many races to get things sorted out on the new machine.
Doug Gordon and “Team Estrogen” as they call themselves (with Mom Cheryl, Wife Christina, and Daughters Maddi and Macie leading the way) got their new car figured out quickly and came away with the Lucas Oil Series win in St Louis this past weekend.
It was a statement win, and that statement was that even though it’s getting late in the season, the 2020 championship team “came to play” and compete for the 2022 Championship.
But, the Gordon Team will tell you that returning from the devastating crash in Brainerd is a much bigger undertaking than even they had anticipated.
Doug Commented, “The crash was a huge blow to our team financially, mentally, and in the points battle. We had hopes of getting back out maybe as early as Reading but getting recertification’s done on fire bottles and wheels were our biggest hurdle to overcome to meet that goal. Also just all of the other little fine tune manufacturing things that always take longer than you would think they should. Dad is super particular about making sure everything is done perfect and right so we’re not going to come back till we thought we were totally ready.”
After some early testing issues Gordon qualified the Beta Motorcycles backed machine in the number 2 spot with a 5.426 at 271 mph. It was a great way to start the first race back with the new Jonnie Lindberg car.
“We made the efforts to get to the track Tuesday in hopes of making 3-4 test runs Wednesday to work out the bugs, said Doug. We ended up with some rubber O-ring pieces in the fuel system which caused some issues on the initial fire up and then plugged a nozzle on the first run causing it to bang the blower at 150′ on the first run in the new car. We got back and went through every detail of the fuel system to make sure this wasn’t going to happen again. This cost us most of the day leaving us time to make 1 more hit which spun the tires at 100′ out. So day one never made it out of low gear. On Thursday the track was nice enough to give everyone 1 run which we were able to get it down to a 5.57. Was a great feeling and confidence builder to get down the track and get back on that horse as they say.”
Just in front of Gordon occupying the number one position was current NHRA TAFC Champion Sean Bellemeur and the “Killer B’s” Team with a dominating 5.397 at 269.08 mph pass.
The atmospheric conditions were off the charts on the good side and teams scrambled to make the most of the “Below Sea-Level” type air. Some teams found it, and some teams struggled with the uniquely good conditions.
Gordon drew Rob Pfeister in the first round. Rob is not a frequent racer on the Lucas Oil Series Tour but he did set a personal best in qualifying and could not be taken lightly by the Gordon Team. Doug went straight down the track with a 5.435 second 270.75 mph run which was too much for Pfeister’s troubled 11.065 second pass.
In the second round Gordon did not slow down and dispatched Phil Esz with another consistently fast and straight 5.453 at 269.19 mph run.
The new car and the Gordon team were showing their muscle with consistently fast and straight runs. They would need all of that performance as they matched up with frequent final-round foe Sean Bellemeur and the Steve Boggs tuned machine in the Final.
In the final round it would be all Gordon again with a consistent 0.046 reaction to the green light and another powerful 5.451 at 270.00 mph pass – straight down the track. Bellemeur cut a great “trademark” 0.028 light but was unable to contend for the win after he had to pedal the car, posting a 5.584 265.80 mph run.
You can’t say enough about the performance of the Gordon team. As mentioned earlier, you can never count on a new car behaving properly, let alone being fast and consistent enough to win a race. But, that’s just what the Gordon Team did and threw themselves right back into the NHRA Lucas Oil National Championship battle.
Doug reflected on the win: “After some early struggles in testing we just worked on figuring out what this car wanted to run fast. We were fortunate enough to hit the tune up quickly and get the big win”.
This weekend at Dallas all the players in the Top Alcohol Funny Car Championship battle are entered, along with some really fast cars that would like to destroy the hopes of those contenders. All the cars on the sheet are 5.40 second players and most are NHRA National Event winners. Whoever leaves Ennis with the Wally will have earned it every round….don’t miss it!
Race summary:
Qualifying:
1 1 Sean Bellemeur, Placentia CA, ’22 Camaro 5.397 269.08
2 2 Doug Gordon, Paso Robles CA, ’20 5.426 271.79
3 3 Bob McCosh, Columbia MO, ’22 Camaro 5.488 266.32
4 32 Chris Foster, Davenport IA, ’20 Camaro 5.514 264.70
5 34 Tony Bogolo, Hamilton OH, ’19 Camaro 5.626 262.74
6 35 Phil Esz, Amelia OH, ’17 Camaro 5.686 257.04
7 322 Rob Pfeister, Bedford KY, ’02 Camaro 5.742 246.08
8 313 Andy Bohl, Racine WI, ’22 Camaro 6.389 245.09
Eliminations:
Round 1:
35 Phil Esz 3 Bob McCosh
E1 ****WINNER**** 0.050 5.629 262.39 0.060 7.675 120.81
2 Doug Gordon 322 Rob Pfeister
E1 ****WINNER**** 0.064 5.435 270.75 0.112 11.065 75.00
1 Sean Bellemeur 313 Andy Bohl
E1 ****WINNER**** 0.027 5.554 267.53 0.106 8.427 112.49
32 Chris Foster 34 Tony Bogolo
E1 ****WINNER**** 0.053 5.555 251.58 0.126 6.584 151.65
Round 2:
1 Sean Bellemeur 32 Chris Foster
E2 ****WINNER**** 0.032 5.435 267.48 0.078 5.595 258.37
2 Doug Gordon 35 Phil Esz
E2 ****WINNER**** 0.055 5.453 269.19 0.029 5.630 262.13
Final Round:
2 Doug Gordon 1 Sean Bellemeur
E3 ****WINNER**** 0.046 5.451 270.00 0.028 5.584 265.80
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