(Photos: SR Driven Media | Kirk Wolf Racing)
It was chilly in Las Vegas. When the NHRA comes to town they don’t race in mid-July, they race in April and again in October. The Track is roughly two thousand feet above sea level, and the sand that makes up most of the surroundings does not hold heat well once the sun goes down.
This past weekend at the Ford Performance Nationals the weather was normal for October – cool, but manageable. The track was in great shape and well-prepared. The cars were supposed to be fast and they were. However, many teams were scratching their heads, wondering why the performances did not equate to the conditions – simply, some cars were not getting down the track as you would expect them to. Twenty-five good Alcohol Dragsters were on the property and many teams expected the bump-spot to be as low as 5.290 seconds. That situation did not materialize when a number of top teams did not perform as expected. Still, the bump spot turned out to be a respectable 5.35 seconds.
As It Happened:
The DMP Awnings – Kentex Roofing Team ran very well, qualifying sixth in the tough field, and losing to the eventual winner Shawn Cowie in the second round. It’s tough to look at the weekend in any way other than a success.
“We had a good car this weekend that qualified in the top half of a very tough field,” said Kirk Wolf, driver of the Dubbin Motorsports A/Fuel Dragster. “We worked hard, and did very well in keeping up with the weather and the track.”
The weather and the track seemed to favor the blown cars throughout qualifying. The Injected Nitro DMP Awnings – Kentex Roofing car ended up on all sides of the performance spectrum throughout qualifying.
Dean Dubbin Explained, “We were too soft in Q1, we made a nice clean run in Q2, and we got aggressive in Q3 and the track just didn’t hold it. The car did respond to the changes we were making and that’s all you can ask from the car.”
Dubbin continued, ” We were hoping for more in round 1 but the main fuel line shook loose about 200 feet out. The car held on to make a good run and get us the win without any damage. Losing a fuel line can be catastrophic, we got lucky.”
One theme that the race held was that no team seemed to control or dominate the race – and there seemed to be a different team with low et and top speed every round. Going into round two of eliminations Wolf looked to be competitive but was aware of the outstanding performance of the supercharged methanol car of Shawn Cowie.
Wolf explained, “We made a good run in round two but dropped a hole late in the run and it cost us some ET and speed. We knew we had to be low for the round to beat Cowie – we just came up a little short. We continue to learn and improve every race, and we’ll head to Pomona feeling good about where we are.”
By The Numbers:
Qualifying For Kirk Wolf:
Q1: Ran – | 5.512 | 261.83 mph | – Qualified #18
Q2: Ran – | 5.276 | 266.21 mph | Now Qualified #5
Q3: Ran – |11.348 | 63.84 mph | Now Qualified #6 – with time from Q2
Eliminations Round 1:
Kirk Wolf | Left Lane | RT (.064) | ET: 5.349 | Speed: 269.35 mph | – WIN
Jon Bradford | Right Lane | RT (.032) | ET: 5.619 | Speed: 261.17 mph
Eliminations Round 2:
Kirk Wolf | Left lane | RT (0.054) | ET: 5.333 | Speed: 266.58 mph |
Shawn Cowie | Right Lane | RT (0.064 ) | ET: 5.266 | Speed 271.73 mph | – WIN
What’s Next:
Next up for the DMP Awnings / KENTEX Roofing Team is the In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip – Nov. 14-17 – The last NHRA Event of the 2024 season.
Dubbin Motorsports Is:
Dean Dubbin & Karen Dubbin – Team Owners and Driver (Dean)
Kenny Woods – Owner Of KENTEX Roofing Systems
Clay Copeland (with wife Lisa Copeland) – Co-Crew Chief
Chase Copeland (with wife Brittney Copeland) – Co-Crew Chief
Kirk Wolf – Driver
Trevor Jelinski
Scott Jelinski
Don Nolan
Brad Hiatt
Stay in touch with the Dean Dubbin & the DMP Awnings Team:
Facebook – @DMPAwnings
Instagram – @DMPAwnings_
Twitter – @DMPAwnings
Stay in touch with Driver Kirk Wolf:
Facebook – @KirkWolfRacing
Instagram- @KirkWolf
Team Support:
DMP Awnings | Kentex Roofing Systems | Central McGowan | Noonan | NGK Spark Plugs | Goodson | Copeland Race Cars | Wright Brothers Consulting | Aluminum Cabinet Company | Mile High Crankshafts
Motorsports Media | Dubbin Motorsports
