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Virginia Beach, VA – When IHRA Alcohol Funny Car standout and current point’s leader Laurie Cannister and the Kalbones Grill’n Sauce crew rolled into Milan, they knew this event was going to be different for them than the last couple of events.
What they counted on being different was the fact that although both Laurie and husband, car tuner Dale Cannister, had been to Milan before, they had no information on this facility. Laurie had never been down this track since the inception of the first Motor City Nationals. They also were looking forward to Crew Chief Mike Couch being in attendance for his first event of the season along with some planned testing on Monday following the race.
That’s where the expected differences ended and a whole new ball-game began.
“Everything was fine going into the first qualifying session,” explained Laurie. “We didn’t have any issues until we came back. We went out and shook the tires pretty hard. When we came back to read the computer it was all just “garbaged-up”, if you want to call it that. We couldn’t read it, couldn’t do anything with the information. At that point we were just wondering what we were going to do for the rest of the weekend.”
Laurie went on to talk about how Racepak representative Todd Paton spent a lot of time in the Kalbones’ pit over the next couple of days, although the outcome wasn’t what the team was hoping for. “He did help to a point. He went through the car, all the wiring, everything and it’s apparently something in the box and not something that can be fixed at the track.”
So add to the fact that the team was on an unfamiliar track, and then find themselves with no computer data, they also ended up changing blocks and even the heads. All of this went down entirely prior to the third qualifying session Saturday evening.
“It had some cylinder leakage problems. The heads were actually not sealed up very well. Really don’t know why, they were just a spare set of heads. So we changed them before the last session and left them for all of Sunday. Which once we did that, it solved that problem,” Laurie said.
Based on the difficulties that were being handed to the team, the Kalbones’ crew were not only very pleased to make the field but to qualify in the number three position. “To be able to get the car down the track with everything we were facing was great. We were looking at the spark plugs, the bearings and checking all the clutch disks and floaters because without the computer data, it was all we had to go by to tune the car,” Dale explained.
“Our performance wasn’t as fast as we are use to, but we were tuning the car on the safe side. We really didn’t know how hard we could push it without the vast amount of data that we normally get from the computer,” Couch added.
While one would think the unfortunate events happening during the weekend might put some added pressure on the driver, it was far from the case for Laurie. On race day she continued to post her best and most consistent reaction times of the season averaging a .059 light during eliminations.
“I know how important it is to go to the line with a clear head and get my concentration in the right spot. I was pretty psyched about my lights and everybody was pretty happy that I was able to get my reaction times reeled in from the first two events, where I was kinda all over the place. So maybe going back to Frank Hawley’s school helped me to get my head back in the right spot,” she said. “And oh, by-the-way I’m even trying a new kind of oxygenated water. So who knows, maybe it was just a combination of a whole lot of things.”
Knowing there are no easy rounds in the Alcohol Funny Car class, the Kalbones Grill’n Sauce team still stuck to their guns when it came to their philosophy of racing the race track and not the car in the other lane. Case in point was their semi-final victory against Dale Brand, who was packing almost fifteen hundredths on the Kalbones car.
“Dale Brand is a tough customer at any given moment. We could have thrown more at it and tried to run a sixty, information from the computer or not,” Laurie said. “It’s not that we were taking him lightly, we just weren’t going to go into that round any different than we have any other time this year.”
Cannister reflects on the outcome of the weekend including the finals of the Motor City Nationals where she met up with Dr. Tom Carter. “For us to have been able to make it to the final round, let alone just being able to qualify, we were just really happy the way it turned out. Tom and his team were running really good all weekend, too. It came down to a really close race at the very end, and that’s what we like to do for the fans. Somebody’s got to win, somebody’s got to lose and it just wasn’t our turn that time. We’re not going to win them all.”
Where the team lacked having much luck in the parts and equipment department, some did seem to follow them down the track on Sunday. Considering the type of weekend the team experienced, a third trip to the final round in as many races in 2008 is a fantastic feat by anyone’s standards.
As the Kalbones Grill’n Sauce team begins their preparation for the next event on the 2008 IHRA Knoll Gas Nitro Jam Series, they continue to enjoy holding down the number one spot in the Alcohol Funny Car championship points. One might also note the margin they hold over number two is currently larger than any other professional class.
Look for Cannister and the Kalbones crew during the Torco President’s Cup Nationals coming to Maryland International Raceway in Budds Creek, Maryland, June 13 -15.
(Photos courtesy of Roger Richards and CompetitionPlus.com)
Laurie Cannister Fast Fan Facts
Birthday - July 23
Hometown - Johnstown, Ohio with husband, Tuner Dale Cannister
Children - Samson "Our Son" - Norwegian Elkhound
2008 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car Champion - Texas Nationals (San Antonio) & Spring Nationals (Rockingham)
2008 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car Runner-Up – Motor City Nationals (Milan)
2002 & 2007 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car Champion - President's Cup Nationals (Budds Creek)
2000 IHRA Pro Outlaw World Champion
1999 IHRA Pro Rookie of the Year
Career quickest Quarter Mile elapsed time is 5.669
Career fastest Quarter Mile speed is 246.89
Career quickest Eighth Mile elapsed time is 3.731 (Current IHRA ET Record)
Career fastest Eighth Mile speed is 198.32 (Current IHRA Speed Record)
Cannister is the fastest and quickest female driver in IHRA Alcohol Funny Car history (Eighth & Quarter Mile)
Kalbones’ Crew Tunes Cannister to Another Final the Old-Fashioned Way
Virginia Beach, VA – When IHRA Alcohol Funny Car standout and current point’s leader Laurie Cannister and the Kalbones Grill’n Sauce crew rolled into Milan, they knew this event was going to be different for them than the last couple of events.
What they counted on being different was the fact that although both Laurie and husband, car tuner Dale Cannister, had been to Milan before, they had no information on this facility. Laurie had never been down this track since the inception of the first Motor City Nationals. They also were looking forward to Crew Chief Mike Couch being in attendance for his first event of the season along with some planned testing on Monday following the race.
That’s where the expected differences ended and a whole new ball-game began.
“Everything was fine going into the first qualifying session,” explained Laurie. “We didn’t have any issues until we came back. We went out and shook the tires pretty hard. When we came back to read the computer it was all just “garbaged-up”, if you want to call it that. We couldn’t read it, couldn’t do anything with the information. At that point we were just wondering what we were going to do for the rest of the weekend.”
Laurie went on to talk about how Racepak representative Todd Paton spent a lot of time in the Kalbones’ pit over the next couple of days, although the outcome wasn’t what the team was hoping for. “He did help to a point. He went through the car, all the wiring, everything and it’s apparently something in the box and not something that can be fixed at the track.”
So add to the fact that the team was on an unfamiliar track, and then find themselves with no computer data, they also ended up changing blocks and even the heads. All of this went down entirely prior to the third qualifying session Saturday evening.
“It had some cylinder leakage problems. The heads were actually not sealed up very well. Really don’t know why, they were just a spare set of heads. So we changed them before the last session and left them for all of Sunday. Which once we did that, it solved that problem,” Laurie said.
Based on the difficulties that were being handed to the team, the Kalbones’ crew were not only very pleased to make the field but to qualify in the number three position. “To be able to get the car down the track with everything we were facing was great. We were looking at the spark plugs, the bearings and checking all the clutch disks and floaters because without the computer data, it was all we had to go by to tune the car,” Dale explained.
“Our performance wasn’t as fast as we are use to, but we were tuning the car on the safe side. We really didn’t know how hard we could push it without the vast amount of data that we normally get from the computer,” Couch added.
While one would think the unfortunate events happening during the weekend might put some added pressure on the driver, it was far from the case for Laurie. On race day she continued to post her best and most consistent reaction times of the season averaging a .059 light during eliminations.
“I know how important it is to go to the line with a clear head and get my concentration in the right spot. I was pretty psyched about my lights and everybody was pretty happy that I was able to get my reaction times reeled in from the first two events, where I was kinda all over the place. So maybe going back to Frank Hawley’s school helped me to get my head back in the right spot,” she said. “And oh, by-the-way I’m even trying a new kind of oxygenated water. So who knows, maybe it was just a combination of a whole lot of things.”
Knowing there are no easy rounds in the Alcohol Funny Car class, the Kalbones Grill’n Sauce team still stuck to their guns when it came to their philosophy of racing the race track and not the car in the other lane. Case in point was their semi-final victory against Dale Brand, who was packing almost fifteen hundredths on the Kalbones car.
“Dale Brand is a tough customer at any given moment. We could have thrown more at it and tried to run a sixty, information from the computer or not,” Laurie said. “It’s not that we were taking him lightly, we just weren’t going to go into that round any different than we have any other time this year.”
Cannister reflects on the outcome of the weekend including the finals of the Motor City Nationals where she met up with Dr. Tom Carter. “For us to have been able to make it to the final round, let alone just being able to qualify, we were just really happy the way it turned out. Tom and his team were running really good all weekend, too. It came down to a really close race at the very end, and that’s what we like to do for the fans. Somebody’s got to win, somebody’s got to lose and it just wasn’t our turn that time. We’re not going to win them all.”
Where the team lacked having much luck in the parts and equipment department, some did seem to follow them down the track on Sunday. Considering the type of weekend the team experienced, a third trip to the final round in as many races in 2008 is a fantastic feat by anyone’s standards.
As the Kalbones Grill’n Sauce team begins their preparation for the next event on the 2008 IHRA Knoll Gas Nitro Jam Series, they continue to enjoy holding down the number one spot in the Alcohol Funny Car championship points. One might also note the margin they hold over number two is currently larger than any other professional class.
Look for Cannister and the Kalbones crew during the Torco President’s Cup Nationals coming to Maryland International Raceway in Budds Creek, Maryland, June 13 -15.
(Photos courtesy of Roger Richards and CompetitionPlus.com)
Laurie Cannister Fast Fan Facts
Birthday - July 23
Hometown - Johnstown, Ohio with husband, Tuner Dale Cannister
Children - Samson "Our Son" - Norwegian Elkhound
2008 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car Champion - Texas Nationals (San Antonio) & Spring Nationals (Rockingham)
2008 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car Runner-Up – Motor City Nationals (Milan)
2002 & 2007 IHRA Alcohol Funny Car Champion - President's Cup Nationals (Budds Creek)
2000 IHRA Pro Outlaw World Champion
1999 IHRA Pro Rookie of the Year
Career quickest Quarter Mile elapsed time is 5.669
Career fastest Quarter Mile speed is 246.89
Career quickest Eighth Mile elapsed time is 3.731 (Current IHRA ET Record)
Career fastest Eighth Mile speed is 198.32 (Current IHRA Speed Record)
Cannister is the fastest and quickest female driver in IHRA Alcohol Funny Car history (Eighth & Quarter Mile)
