Atco Dragway - Nostalgia Fall Classic - August 22 & 23

Saturday, August 22

With all of the rumors circulating regarding the future of Atco Dragway it was good to be there…especially knowing that it might be for the last time. The weather was sunny and warm for our third event of the 2020 season. We started the day with a 17 car field.

Saturday qualifying results were as follows:

Category	Round 1
Top MPH	Denny Stewart - 139.63
Best RT	Ed Linus - .031

Saturday Eliminations Round One:

Race One: Don Fardie and Bill Magliane started off Saturday eliminations. Bill went a by a thin .006 red while Don cut a razor sharp 014 light to take the win at 10.44/128.81.

Race Two: Clayton Deming met Skip Cowell in race two. Clayton advanced with a 10.72 on a 10.61 dial with a .523 light. Skip had a slightly better light at .369 but it wasn’t enough as he ran almost .7 over his dial.

Race Three: Scott Hasko lined up against Pete Boyer for this one. Another thin red light as Pete fouled by .002 handing the win to Scott who ran 11.41 with a .057 reaction.

Race Four: Jim Wheeler and Pat Kelly went at it in race four. This was a double break out race. Pat broke out by a greater margin (10.50 on a 10.61 dial) than Jim (10.758 on a 10.80 dial) so Jim advanced to round two.

Race Five: In this race of Connecticut neighbors Bruce Deming squared off against Vinny Cocchiaro with Vinny taking the win running 10.47 on a 10.45 dial with a .283 reaction to Bruce’s 10.68 on a 10.65 dial with a .463 reaction.

Race Six: This was a race of Jersey boys with Dan Bergeron pitted against Robert Carson. Robert went .098 red giving the win to Dan who ran 12.75 at 102.56.

Race Seven: Ron Carson took the win over Denny Stewart who broke. Ron took the opportunity as another data point running 9.689 on a 9.69 dial.

Race Eight: Kevin Lynch got the competition bye when Tommy Magers broke and could not make it to the line. Another performance data point with Keven running 10.425 on a 10.42 dial.

Race Nine: By virtue of his low reaction time in time trial Ed got the bye run. Ed logged a 10.24 on his 10.00 dial at 130.18 MPH.

Saturday Eliminations Round Two:

Race One: Dan Bergeron defeated Vinny Cocchiaro running 12.82 on a 12.86 dial with a .210 RT. Vinny had a .234 dial and ran 10.49 on his 10.43 dial.

Race Two: Ed Linus and Clayton Deming were paired for race two. Ed came out on top with running 10.41 on a 10.19 with a .007 reaction time that James Bond himself would be jealous of! Clayton broke out running 10.55 on his 10.57 dial.

Race Three: This match-up of Novas saw Don Fardie in the Deuces High 67’ vs Jim Wheeler in his orange 64’. Another Saturday heartbreaking foul with Don going .002 red handing the win to Jim who ran 10.71 on his 10.75 dial.

Race Four: Scott Hasko in the Relic was pitted against Ron Carson in the Rigor Mortis for this one. Ron went .034 red giving the win to Scott who ran an 11.39 on his 11.35 dial.

Race Five: The final race of the round was a bye for Kevin Lynch who was able to get some more performance data running 10.40 on his 10.42 dial.

Saturday Eliminations Round Three:

Race One: The first match up in the semi-final was between Scott Hasko and Kevin Lynch. Kevin took the win with a .092 reaction and running 10.44 on a 10.40 dial to Scott’s 11.43 on a 11.37 dial with a .139 reaction.

Race Two: The second race of round three was Ed Linus vs. Jim Wheeler. Ed had a good .032 RT and ran 10.12 on a 10.19 dial but Jim went .149 red so Ed advanced.

Race Three: Dan Bergeron had the bye run and ran 12.68 on his 12.76 dial.

Saturday Eliminations Round Four - Semi Finals:

Race One: Dan Bergeron and Kevin Lynch fought this one out with Dan coming out on top as Kevin lit the red bulb.

Race Two: Ed Linus had the bye and ran the length to get data, crossing the stripe at 10.039 on a 10.19 dial at 130.33

Saturday Eliminations Round Five - Finals:

Dan Bergeron and Ed Linus lined up for the top eliminator title. Ed who had been having excellent reaction times all day rolled through the staging beams giving the win to Dan in the Woodsman Shaker. Congratulations Dan and Ed!

That’s a wrap for Saturday.

Sunday, August 23

Arriving back at the track on Sunday there was hazy sunshine, high humidity, and the forecast called for scattered showers and thunderstorms. The Atco team did a great job getting the show going and keeping it moving. We were limited to one time trial and eliminations started well before lunch with a 16 car field.

Sunday qualifying results were as follows:

Category	Round 1
Top MPH	Denny Stewart - 141.08
Best RT	Don Fardie - .023

Sunday Eliminations Round One:

Race One: Carly Boyer and Scott Hasko started off Sunday eliminations. Carly took the win with a 10.92 on a 10.61 dial as Scott broke a rear end and had to be towed back to the pits.

Race Two: Don Fardie took on Bruce Deming in race two. This was a close race with Bruce running closer to his dial (10.78 on a 10.70 dial) than Don (10.61 on a 10.40 dial) but Don’s .065 reaction resulted in the .066 margin of victory.

Race Three: Robert Carson was pitted against Clayton Deming. Clayton has sorted out his new motor issues and was on his game running a 10.60 on his 10.59 dial with a .018 light for the win. Robert broke out running a 10.51 on a 10.55 dial with a .154 reaction.

Race Four: Dan Bergeron and Ray Bruno squared off in race four. Dan was fresh off his Saturday top eliminator victory and looking to double up. Dan had a good .095 reaction and ran 12.81 on his 12.75 dial, but it wasn’t enough as Ray cut a .035 light and ran 10.98 on his 10.88 dial for the win.

Race Five: Ron Carson squared off against Vinny Cocchiaro with Ron taking the win in a very close race. Ron ran 9.697 on his 9.69 dial with a .142 reaction to Vinny’s 10.53 on a 10.45 dial with a .103 reaction. Margin of victory was .037.

Race Six: Ed Linus lined up against Bill Magliane for this one. Ed took the win running 10.15 on a 10.07 dial with a .045 reaction to Bill’s 10.86 on a 10.77 dial with a .104 dial.

Race Seven: Denny Stewart took the win over Tommy Magers in this one. Denny ran a razor-close 9.443 on his 9.44 dial with a .101 dial. Tommy broke out running 10.63 on his 10.73 dial.

Race Eight: The final match-up of round one was a race of two cool Novas! Kevin Lynch in his 1965 and Jim Wheeler in his 1964. Kevin had a good .035 reaction and ran 10.47 on his 10.38 dial for the win. Jim had a .15 light and ran 10.77 on his 10.81 dial.

Sunday Eliminations Round Two:

Race One: Clayton Deming defeated Kevin Lynch as Kevin went a heartbreaking .006 red. Clayton took the opportunity to get some data and ran 10.41 on his 10.59 dial.

Race Two: Carly Boyer and Ed Linus were paired for race two. Carly came out on top with running .06 over her dial with a respectable .088 reaction. Ed ran 10.11 on his 10.07 dial but went .064 red.

Race Three: This match-up of 9-second cars saw Ron Carson vs Denny Stewart. Ron wisely lowered his dial to 9.66 and ran a 9.69 for the win. Denny ran a 9.38 on his 9.44 dial.

Race Four: The final race of the round pitted Ray Bruno against Don Fardie in the beautiful Deuces High Nova. Ray ran 10.977 on his 10.88 dial with a .093 reaction to Don’s 10.482 on a 10.35 dial with a .065 reaction. This was a very close race with both cars crossing the stipe fender to fender. In the end Ray took the win with a razor-close .0076 margin of victory.

Sunday Eliminations - Semi Finals:

Race One: The first match up in the semi-final was between Carly Boyer and Clayton Deming. Carly took the win with a .079 reaction and running 10.74 on a 10.63 dial. Clayton had issues and crossed the stripe at 13.18 on his 10.60 dial.

Race Two: The second race of the semi saw Ron Carson in the Rigor Mortis vs Ray Bruno in the Sidewinder. Ron dialed 9.66 to Ray’s 10.92 so he had to play catch up. Ron had the better light and consistency passing Ray on the high end for the win, running 9.92 to Ray’s 11.02.

Sunday Eliminations - Finals

The final match-up of the day was Ron Carson vs Carly Boyer. Carly went a painful .015 red handing the win to Ron who thrashed the Rigor Mortis to a 9.56 ET at 137.64 MPH. Congratulations Ron and Carly!

*I hope we are back racing here next year and for many more years to come…*

Final thoughts for the Atco weekend…

I will say it again; it was good to be at Atco. Great weather on Saturday but a very long day! Threatening weather on Sunday but the Atco team worked hard to get the event in and they did! When I got into my tow vehicle to leave I thought the clock was broken…it was 1:40! All in all an excellent weekend. Hope we are back here in 2021. See you all at Beaver Springs!

– Ray

Please excuse any errors or omissions…they are purely unintentional!