Martin, MI (Oct. 1)--A phone call from Bill Bader, Jr., pretty much summed it up..."WE WON!"

At the IHRA Summit Team Finals at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, Team Norwalk staged a come-from-behind victory to win the event. An elated Team Captain Bader called it, "one of the greatest comebacks in the history of sports." When the smoke cleared not only did Norwalk claim the Division 5 title but had two world champions as well.

Team Norwalk had 30 points after Round 1 and what appeared to be a commanding early lead, but by the second round lost the lead to Milan Dragway. By Round 3, Team Norwalk was down by as many as 13 points and many were looking for the team from Milan to win it all. But in a Hollywood-style plot, Norwalk was paired against racers from Milan in later rounds and picked them off one by one.

By early evening, Norwalk had overcome a 13-point deficit to claim victory with a 10-point margin.

Capping the night, it was an all-Norwalk final in Street, with Dan Doell winning over Gary Hurst to become the IHRA Division 5 Street E.T. World Champion.

Norwalk racer Ricky Baehr, last year's Summit Super Series No Box World Champ, emerged as this year's IHRA Division 5 Modified World Champion.

Bader called the entire race "a great team effort."

"I'm so incredibly proud of this team," said Bader in an interview Sunday evening. "This was a tremendous team effort, the team was awesome, and it was a storybook finish."

Top three final team points: Team Norwalk 72 points; Milan Dragway, 62 points; Byron Dragway, 60 points.
www.NorwalkRaceway.com


**Also the US131 Motorsports Park starter was run over by a dragster from Byron Dragway on Saturday night during the first round of eliminations in TOP. The driver of the Dragster was backing up after his burnout and the starter was moping up some fluids when the dragster backed over him. The EMS crew was VERY SLOW! When I purchased a 50/50 ticket to help raise money for the starter the person that sold me the ticket said that he is going to have surgery on Wednesday.

Division 5 Summit Team Finals Complete Results



Division 5 Team Finals Norwalk, Ohio (Oct. 3)--Here are the complete results from the Division 5 Summit Team Finals, from U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan, held September 28 to October 1.

For our web visitors not familiar with the format of this race, at the end of a season each IHRA track selects their top racers in points from Top, Modified, Super, Motorcycle, Junior Dragster, and other classes. This select group represents their track at a divisional Summit Team Finals. Norwalk went to the Division 5 race. Points accumulate each time a racer has a round win and are tabulated during the weekend. The team from each division with the most points at the end of the race is recognized as the Team Champion at the annual IHRA Awards Banquet.

Team Norwalk won the event in a come-from-behind victory, from being down 13 points after Round 3 to winning by a margin of 10 points.

Summit Team Finals team standings:



Place Team Final Points Points Back
1st Place Norwalk Raceway Park 72 ----
2nd Milan Dragway 62 -10
3rd Byron Dragway 60 -12
4th Osceola Dragway 48 -24
5th Eddyville Raceway Park 43 -29
6th Great Lakes Dragway 41 -31
7th Wisconsin International Raceway 37 -35
8th Cordova Dragway 37 -35
9th U.S. 131 Motorsports Park 34 -38
10th Mt. Park Dragway 30 -42
11th Grand Bend Motorplex 29 -43
12th Muncie Dragway 19 -53
13th Cedar Falls Raceway 19 -53
14th US 41 Dragway 9 -63
15th Gimli Motorsports Park 1 -71




Summit Team Finals winners:

Finish
Name
Track
Dial
R.T.
E.T
mph

Top
Win
Eddie Hall
US 131 Motorsports Park
4.70
.0082
4.7278
144.62 mph

RU
Andy Wroblewski
Osceola Dragway
5.56
.0170
5.5590
123.23 mph

Box Summit SuperSeries PR Run-Off

Win
Steve Keller
Wisconsin International Raceway
5.43
.0159
5.4410
127.47 mph

RU
David Lanning
Osceola Dragway
4.97
.0100
4.9911
133.84 mph

Gamblers Race – Box

Win
Unable to finish

RU

Modified

Win
Rick Baehr
Norwalk Raceway Park
6.76
.0169
6.7800
97.38 mph

RU
Garth Mogan
Byron Dragway
6.08
.0068
6.0651
112.00 mph

No Box Summit SuperSeries PR Run off

Win
John Coyle
Byron Dragway
7.51
.0048
7.5272
90.89 mph

RU
Stan Jones
U.S. 131 Motorsports Park
5.70
-.0379
5.7229
119.98 mph

Gamblers Race – No Box

Win
Unable to finish

RU

Motorcycle

Win
Kurt Clark
Cordova Dragway
5.86
.0508
5.8751
108.42 mph

RU
Joe Novak Sr.
Milan Dragway
5.43
-.0061
5.5341
120.94 mph

Gamblers Race – Motorcycle

Win
Kurt Clark
Cordova Dragway
5.90
.0231
5.9070
108.97 mph

RU
BC Carl
US 41 Dragway
5.22
.1610
5.2079
132.04 mph

Street

Win
Dan Doell
Norwalk Raceway Park
7.87
.0238
7.8491
86.35 mph

RU
Gary Hurst
Norwalk Raceway Park
8.16
.0141
8.1150
83.91 mph

Junior Dragster

Win
Chad Bacon
Eddyville Raceway Park
8.96
.0389
9.0060
75.38 mph

RU
Robbie Massey
Eddyville Raceway Park
7.94
-.0059
11.9778
40.83 mph

Junior Dragster Race Of Champions

Win
Kyle Riederer
Wisconsin International Raceway
7.90
.0608
7.9182
82.24 mph

RU
Lee Newmeyer
Norwalk Raceway Park
8.90
.0598
8.8823
72.33 mph

High School Race

Win
Chris Cadle
Milan Dragway
10.04
.0700
10.1077
67.81 mph

RU
Brandon Williams
Eddyville Raceway Park
10.95
.1071
11.0169
62.67 mph

High School Gamblers Race

Win
Brandon Williams
Eddyville Raceway Park
10.95
.0750
10.9682
63.27 mph

RU
Matt Freitas
Great Lakes Dragway
10.53
-.0731
10.7182
66.14 mph



Summit Team Finals Special Awards:

Best Team Spirit: Milan Dragway
Best Appearing Team: Eddyville Raceway Park
Best Appearing Sponsor Banner: Mt Park Dragway
Olympics Of Drag Racing: US 131 Motorsports Park
Best Appearing Full Body: Donnie Brown – Mt. Park Dragway
Best Engineered Full Body: Dan Klein – Wisconsin International Raceway
Best Appearing Open Body: Steve Poynter – Mt Park Dragway
Best Engineered Open Body: Kevin Knight – Grand Bend Motorplex
Best Appearing Motorcycle: Lee Warren – Milan Dragway
Best Engineered Motorcycle: B.C. Carl – US 41 Dragway
Best Appearing Jr. Dragster: Brandon Pippert – Cedar Falls Raceway
Best Engineered Jr. Dragster: Robbie Massey – Eddyville Raceway Park
Best Grilled Meat – 1st Place: Tracy Smart – Muncie Dragway
Best Grilled Meat – 2nd Place: Larry Dash – Eddyville
Best Chili – 1st Place: Kurt Pfiedderer – Osceola Dragway
Best Chili – 2nd Place: Trixie – Great Lakes Dragway
Best Desert – 1st Place: Robin Norris – Great Lakes Dragway
Best Desert – 2nd Place: Kim Davis – Milan Dragway