Chicago USHRA Finals

[Tim Smith]

Lineup and Qualifying numbers:
1. Ecology Eliminator (Jim Ries)
2. BearFoot Racer (Fred Shafer)
3. 4 Wheel Crazy (Rob Morris, was awarded Rookie of the Year at the first round.)
4. Bigfoot 4 (John Piant, #4 had the stripes and spoiler now)
5. AM/PM Rocket (Dale Boucher)
6. Taurus 3 (Jack Willman Sr., intentionally qualified 6th so he could make the first round to race BearFoot)
7. First Blood (Rob Fuchs)
8. Evil Force (Ray Piorkowski)
------------------------------------Track Setup-------------------------------
Okay, this is the traditional Chicago setup, 3 hits on the car set, two turns. Also, this is the final points series race and Bear Foot is in the #1 position. Taurus and Jack Willman want to knock him out but he has to make it all the way to the finals and win. If he doesn't he'll lose by 1 point and if he does he'll win by 1 point. These two are paired together in the first round.

------------------------------------First Round--------------------------------
3. 4 Wheel Crazy def. 7. First Blood (This race was EXTREMELY close, I'm surprised they called 4 Wheel Crazy because I really couldn't tell. Also, after the race 4 Wheel Crazy was having brake problems and SMASHED into the wall, he would have to scramble to make it back but couldn't.)
4. Bigfoot def. 8. Evil Force (Ray's truck broke on the final turn, the back two wheels bowed forward so they were pointing at each other, but Piant had him anyway.)
6. Taurus def. 2. BearFoot Racer (WOW, talk about emotion, these two were having a definite burn down as Shafer wouldn't stage against him and Jack got out of the truck, sat on the door, and motioned for him to stage the truck and then flicked him away. These guys had really determined looks in their eyes, looked liked they REALLY hated each other. But when the race finally started, Shafer really went too wide and couldn't pull the race off. Bret was getting ****ed because Shafer kept revving the engine while he was interviewing Willman.)
1. Ecology Eliminator def. AM/PM Rocket (It was a relatively close race until the first turn where the Rocket kept the rear steer too far after the turn and spun out.)
--------------------------------------Semi Finals------------------------------
4 Wheel Crazy couldn't make the cut so the second fastest qualifier BearFoot returned.

1. Ecology Eliminator def. 2. BearFoot (Shafer was trying to be conservative but his truck just had way too bouncy a suspension and he couldn't keep up with Ries.)

4. Bigfoot 4 def. 6. Taurus DQ (This was an extremely close race, both of the two leave together, and after the first turn they were still both even, but then Taurus nose dived. After that all chaos ensued, Taurus went way wide, but stayed mashed in the throttle and hit the cars sideways. Piant, seeing him coming, stopped the blue ford to keep from getting hit. Jeff Morgan, or Morton, it was hard to hear, who was inbetween the cars watching this race had to DIVE out of the way of the oncoming Taurus, and it honestly looks like the tire and christmas tree hit him in the back. And then Taurus plowed into Bigfoot, all of this action of nearly missing the cars and getting sideways gave Willman a DQ. Bret Kepner said it really looked like it hit him and it took chops to get back up and wave on the next pair of eliminations. And because of the fact that Taurus did NOT make it to the finals, the points championship will be awarded to Fred Shafer and BearFoot. And since Fred came back for the semis, I don't even know if Taurus had a chance anyway.)

---------------------------------------Finals-----------------------------------

4. Bigfoot def. 1. Ecology Eliminator (Ries's transmission trouble that had been troubling him finally stopped him, and he could barely even make it over the first set. John had just been driving amazingly all night long and he definitely deserved the win, even though he said he thought he was driving poorly.)

The Final Points of 1990 in the USHRA Season. (They only showed the first 8, I don't know why, maybe because only 8 ran the final show?)
Truck,-Driver------------------------------------Points
1. Bearfoot, Fred Shafer & Warren Davis----------1972
2. Taurus, Jack Willman Sr. & Jr.------------------1968
3. Bigfoot #4,-John Piant-------------------------1952
4. 4 Wheel Crazy,-Rob Morris---------------------1935
5. Ecology Eliminator,-Jim Ries-------------------1847
6. First Blood,-Rob Fuchs-------------------------1829
7. Evil Force,-Ray Piorkowski---------------------1713
8. AM/PM Rocket,-Dale Boucher------------------1628

Bigfoot vs Taurus race: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKSXFwk1aQc&NR=1

[kouvre]

From the 1991 USHRA yearbook:

9. Excaliber, Chuck Paukens - 1174
10. Jeff Bainter, High Voltage - 772

Various tidbits about the event:

-The track official's name - who knows. Bret Kepner was HORRIBLE with names (i.e. Jeff "Baintner," "Jim" Schott, Jesse "Birg").

-This was the first ever Chicago-style race, despite what David Morris might have said a few years back on Motor Madness. ;D

-Evil Force's breakage was likely the result of a broken rear tie rod or a broken steering knuckle.

[dave3ba]

Date: December 1st, 1990.

Notes: Fred Shafer had a new paint scheme on Bearfoot for the first time at this show, however the new truck was not yet ready, and would be debuted the next time out, in Houston, TX.

[metalicagod]

fred raced 9 in houston, but the front 4 link mounts were still black. fred's third week out with 10 was at tampa in 1991.