DJ Cox scored a timely victory at Maple Grove Raceway to stay well positioned for the NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car title.
Class leading Shane Westerfield and title contender Doug Gordon were both absent from the Maple Grove NHRA National Event. This left the door wide open for other contending teams to make ground on the leaders, and Cox took advantage of that situation.
There were good running national event winning cars in attendance from across the nation, but from the first qualifying session it was clear that Cox and Bellemeur had a performance advantage on the field.
McCosh, Hool, Leanders, and Burkart all made solid 5.490 and low 5.50 second runs but they seemed to be a step behind Cox and Bellemeur in performance.
After trading the number one position back and forth throughout qualifying Bellemeur broke through with a 5.429 second ET in Q3 to gain the number one spot going in to eliminations.
One a side note: DJ cox was responsible for a feat that may have never been accomplished in NHRA National Event Competition. He was able to record 3 consecutive 5.442 second timed quarter mile runs. That’s a 5.442 second run in every qualifying session….Simply Amazing!
In round one Cox scored a victory over Nick Januick. His 5.467 at 267 mph was too much for Januick’s 5.577 at 262.74mph.
In the second frame Cox was lined up with inter-regional rival Phil Burkart. The pair are no strangers and have had great races on the regional schedule in 2022. But on this weekend Cox was too strong, recording a 5.472 at 267mph to Burkart’s 5.519 at 264 mph.
After a night of tempered celebration at his niece’s wedding, Cox Returned Sunday morning with a great gift, a laddered bye run in the semifinals. This situations was brought about by the 11 car field and his number 2 qualifying position.
Cox would comment. “It was a great time being at my niece’s wedding reception, but I kept focused attention on what we needed to get done here today so it was easy to stay away from anything that would jeopardize that”.
In the Semifinals cox once again blistered the track with another 5.479 at 267 mph lap.
But, Bellemeur and the “Killer B’s” team would steal away lane choice for the final round with a 5.462 second 266 mph triumph over Sweeden’s Ulf Leanders who experienced severe tire shake and coasted to a 10.998 second run.
In the final it was all business for the DJ Cox team who had met Bellemeur in the final frame at the US Nationals just two weeks earlier.
Both drivers cut great lights with Cox getting away first with a .019 to Bellemeur’s .022 reaction to green. Cox had run in the 5.40s all weekend and did so again with a 5.477 at 263 mph for NHRA National Event win number three. Bellemeur rattled the tires early, pedaled the car but was never in the race – running 5.641 at 263 mph.
Cox would react later saying, “We dropped a valve just shy of the lights so the speed was down a little but we had enough to hold on for the win”. What a weekend for this team. Everyone did great and I hope we can keep the momentum going in Charlotte next week”.
The Top Alcohol Funny Cars are back in action at the Betway Carolina Nationals at ZMAX Dragway in Concord, NC, Sept 23-26.
Class leading Shane Westerfield, and multi-time 2022 event winner Matt Gill are scheduled to be back in action against a host of tough running cars with NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car title hopes up for grabs. This is getting good!
Pro Alcohol Drag Racing Media