Take a look at this awesome pic...........

.....of the Vegas TAD final round. Marty Thacker is on a bitchin pass. http://speedzonemagazine.com/zones/alkyzone/alkyzone.html
Too bad he had to pedal or this would have been a photo finish

Dean Murdoch, SpeedZone Magazine

 

Your right, that is a good photo! I wonder if he carried them as far as Indy?

 

Thacker must have the old Chuck Baird mindset. His car is right on the edge.

 

The wheels were up for at least 600 feet according to most that were there.
Dean

 

Put the solid Centerline wheels back on. The extra few pounds would help, and they make way better rudders!

 

Holy Cow Thankgod for Wheelie Bars!

 

The track prep at LV was simply incredible. I have never seen a divisional race where so much grooming and spraying was done. I talked to several crew chiefs who actually felt it was overdone. John Haley's car came back from one run with big chunks peeled off the slicks.

Marty made me look good from the start. When he came up for the 1st qualifying session on Friday I told the guys with me that he would carry the front end more than anyone - he then proceeded to do his normal 1 foot in the air launch. In the final, the car actually left the line with a smaller than normal wheelstand that then starting taking off at the tree. Farthur downtrack the car ended up a bit higher than my picture shows. From where I was I couldn't wait any longer and took the shot. Hopefully I'll have time to get a webpage set up with more TAD & TAFC pictures from LV (I have about 175 to choose from).

Lyle Greenberg
443 TA/FC
http://www.lylegreenberg.com

 

That's one of the best pictures I've seen in a while. How far down track was he when it was taken? Good job Lyle (and Marty - too bad he had to pedal or he would have won the race).

 

Thanks. He was about 250 - 275'.

Lyle Greenberg

 

Thanks Lyle for a great picture.
It was nice to meet you too. Too bad the photo wasn't at the finish line!!!!
Kim

 

I must be a dummy because I can't seem to find the picture. Lyle is there a secret for dumm people.

 

'Fan', half way down the page on the link in the first post.
Dean

 

Greetings from sunny Las Vegas....
My name is Cliff Ricci Director of Competition at
The STRIP.I'm the guy responsible for the track prep and the guy driving the tractor grooming the track between rounds...yes i did do alot grooming
...more than a nat'l event ..the reason why?
I have the distinct ability to give the racer the
absolute best racing surface of any race track in the country...and i love it..I set the track on KILL . The track produced 25 records during the weekend from a/sr to ss/aa and more.i'm almost sure it set the mark for quickest 8 car fields ever...Darien called me sadistic...with this being the last chance for some to advance in points i thought it only right to give the best opportunity for that to happen...It was run what ya brung..and hope you brung enough....
both Gordon and Devore whom i've known for many years told me...i have no more motor ...i have no more clutch...i have no more tire...uncle i give
yet 16 fellows found a way to get down and get down fast they did......


Now to Marty's run...in my 22 years as a Cert Team member and Div 7 starter i have seen literally thousands of alc passes ...Marty's
pass was the most incredible pass i have ever seen
his round 2 qual pass was truly unbelievable
like he was on a string ...packed the wheels to atleast 7 almost 800 feet truly not a wheelstand but a powerstand...as we watched that pass from the starters box it was such a high i cant describe...it was then and there my track crew and i knew we had a "racetrack" . I actually backed off the spray after that and increased the grooming between rounds...I gave every eliminator
there a shot at a fresh track for each go round
It was the least i could do ... it was not just the spray that made the track what it was..but the surgical scraping each night after all were back in the pits ...notice we never scraped during the raceday and it never balled up....
this after a whole week of nat'l event running
We have a "magic powder" which we apply each night after we are done with scraping and pre prep
and a few more secrets i wont devulge....You fellows have your tuneup....I have mine...

Follow this link for a sequenced series of Marty's qual pass and his final round pass
It is absolutley amazing...Thanx to all who came
Hope to see you all again next year

http://www.horsepowerheaven.com/features_all/2003features/03vegasdiv/03vegasdivsat2.htm

Cliff Ricci
Director of Competition
and Technical Services

The STRIP @ Las Vegas Motor Speedway

 

Cliff,

AWESOME post and pictures. I have been going to alky races since 1974 (the first year with an offical separate category - Pro Comp)and that is the most unbelievable pass I have ever seen.

The most awesome pass I have seen was not actually a run, but a burnout. Dale Armstrong, who drove the "Alcoholic" BB/FC in the mid-70's used to smoke the tires longer than anyone - people would line the fences when he would come up to run. I wish more cars still did long burnouts - the fans would go nuts and word would get around that you do not want to go into the pits when the alky guys are running.

 

Hello Cliff from southeastern Illinois!
I had to thank you for you extremely nice words, and also an awesome race track! Almost too good!!!! LOL
The pictures on that site are GREAT!
Standing behind the starting line and watching a run does not give you the "real" perspective of how the run looks from the stands.
Thanks again, just wish we could have brought home a wally from there.
Kim

 

Your thanx are much appreciated....many times we only hear about how bad the track sucked.....
This was not the case....I've rec'd many emails
about how good the track was...and that makes me smile....My track crew and i worked long hard hours..it payed off..

Marty's passes will be forever etched in my mind and will be the ones all others are compared
to..hands down...dont know if you looked at all the pics in the multiple gallery's as the whole race is in that site... return to the event home page and look by days...the finals is also there
and soon to come is the video of the entire race
including the qual pass and final...

And Marty may want to ask Santa for a new wheelie bar...the one he has now might have been
abused too much in Vegas...

Cya next year......

Cliff

 

And for those of you who would like to see some more shots taken in Vegas i found this site also
Have a look....

http://www.northeastdragracing.com/photos/2003/vegaslodrs/index.html


http://www.northeastdragracing.com/photos/2003/vegaslodrs/tad/pages/PB013944.htm

 

Like Cliff said take a look at all the pictures from Vegas at horsepowerheaven.com, Larry does great work. We work together on many projects and he helped me set up my web site. We Share lots of stories and pictures as we both try hard to give as much exposure to racing on the west coast and particularly in the north west.

Dean