American Sports Cavalcade race day coverage of the inaugural NHRA Virginia Is For Lovers Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park in Petersburg, VA, dated June 4, 1995. Teams endure the hot conditions, and a classic rivalry between three Funny Car drivers intensifies.
Thanks for watching and enjoy the race!
All rights reserved for NHRA, TNN Motorsports, and Diamond P Sports.
🔹 Enjoying the content? Feel free to send a tip via PayPal Jar: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/cskvision
Your support to the channel is appreciated. Thanks!
🔸 Like and subscribe for upcoming classic drag races.
Race Chapters:
0:00 Top Fuel – 2nd Round
5:23 Funny Car – 2nd Round
16:16 Pro Stock – 2nd Round
25:18 Top Fuel – Semi-Final
31:00 Pro Stock – Semi-Final
36:47 Funny Car – Semi-Final
42:57 Final Rounds
Check out Dave W’s channel for the TNN Motorsports Live version of this event:
caval J whoa Cory Mack hazing the tires much like the funny cars that’s a lot of Clutch and a lot of power you saw what happened to Brotherton not much but not much been lapse time for Cory at 504 283 here’s the next pair Steve already firing up getting ready to go Rance McDaniel and Scott Keta are going to match up next Rance McDaniel running the 11th qualifying car here with a 498 294 they ran a 563 in round one that gu to pass Pat D now Scott Keta qualified third with a 480 and 294 he put Tommy Johnson on the trailer early on Steve’s caught up with a winner of our last race Cory Matt well Cory all we have to do is look at the replay to see where the elapse time went you can just look at the tires and tell tell us about them yeah I mean you can really tell out there you get about half track and all a sudden RPM goes up tires start spinning out there but you know when you’re racing you never let off and you weren’t just black treking there was smoke coming off these tires to the Finish Line yeah I kept looking for Michael to pass me but like I said when it’s race day you never lift when they get on those tires like that at the far end of the racetrack they’ll actually wear down good 6 in across the width of the tire a tire stands up when it goes off the line fills up with air that’s about the amount of contact batch that that tire is actually touching the ground it’s probably about 10 Ines across total rans McDaniel the new driving for the layback car qualified number 11 at 498 be Pat D in round one Scott Keta qualified number three at a 480 294 had another 480 in round one lower laps time of the first round to beat Tommy Johnson Sega rans m Daniel a tiny bit of Tire smoke off it’s got Keta but that big Wing definitely helping a pair of 480s and now a 491 for Scott Keta well that’s the kind of effort you got to have on a racetrack like this to keep moving through the rounds look at the clutch smoke coming out of the back of the car now at the far end here’s where you’re going to start to see those tires Haze up a little bit that big Wing doing its job because you notice it’s not as much smoke as we’ve seen earlier Scott even with all the wing you’ve got on this car it still destroyed a set of tires yeah that’s for sure you know uh we knew the track was going to be slippery out there and uh we tried to tame it down a little bit and you know we’ll just have to try and tame her down some more in the middle well the next pair set to go here’s Eddie Hill he’s going to match up with Blaine Johnson oh will you see the cruise reaction that says it all the burst panel blowing out of the nuclear banana the Penzoil back entry of Eddie Hill ersy comes over he already knows it when the burst panel lets go your Blower’s gone your Blower’s gone your race is over it’s a device that’s put into the manifold to prevent violent supercharger explosions when the pressure gets to a preset number that first panel releases that’s why the supercharger is still there but it was not pumping into the engine was going out of that first panel now watch it on the replay just behind Eddie’s head just as he approaches the end of the starting line here you’ll see a first of flame right there you know the burnout is one of the hardest things for a driver to execute you have to be careful to not over rev the engine Eddie didn’t do that none of that was his fault you have to be careful to not bog it to where maybe you don’t smoke the tires and heat up the racetrack it’s very difficult some drivers use a throttle stop that has then removed before they stage blae Johnson doesn’t he likes to do it all by himself in the Traverse tool dragster special blae has been low qualifier a number of times has made one final round but still hasn’t won a [Music] race oh blae won’t be real happy with that he was a number two qualifier at a 479 well that was only a 502 at 283 and as you could see he did not shut it up early going for Lane Choice let’s go back to the starting line with Eddie Hills kief obviously not the way the guy guys wanted to go here today fuzzy what happened I don’t know it uh blew the burst panel out we’ll have to get back and look at it and see what’s wrong with it you guys deserved a better fith than that this weekend it was going pretty good but you know just uh we’ll we’ll come back fuz he is Rodeo tough let me tell you all right the final four are set here at the virginas for lovers Nationals Cory mcclanan up against Shelley Anderson don’t they make a nice couple mcclanathan has the lane choice and in the other half of the final four it will be Blaine Johnson over Scott ketta Keta has the lane choice right now both lanes appear to be about equal it may not be an advantage but that can change quickly one guy who hates Virginia Joe Amato his frustrations continue in 1995 the Valene entry first round loser to bla Johnson stay with us we’re coming back welcome back to the Virginia is for Lovers Nationals on American Sports cavalcade take a look at the Grand stands they won’t look like that next year I guarantee you there’ll be plenty more of them as many people have they packed into this Richmond facility Virginia was one of the earliest colonies in fact it’s not really a state to this day it’s the Commonwealth of Virginia and you will find some fantastic architecture from numerous periods not only the Revolutionary War but the Civil War as well in fact everywhere you drive in the area of this racetrack you’ll see signs pointing you to significant battle sites especially the Petersburg national park side of one of the Civil War’s fiercest battles and here at Virginia Motorsports Park we got a pretty fierce battle too right Bob fry when he looks over into the other lane who does Al Hoffman not want to see on that side of the track did you say John Forest bat wrong answer but thanks for playing Al Hoffman does not want to see Cruz pedregon on the other side of the track the reason they have met 16 times in their career Cruz has won 13 of them including the recent semi-final match at Englishtown in the Mopar Parts Nationals maybe the fact that Cruz is disguised as the Batmobile this time will throw Al off and he’ll think of some other Joker on that side of the track I don’t think so Steve I think he knows exactly who it is yeah I think he does too you know there’s one similarity between this Sport and golf believe it or not in golf you forget the competition your enemy is the golf course and it’s the same way here today other than that your reaction time up the starting line which can be critical you’ve got to battle this RAC trck I’m telling you Cruz is the guy to keep your eyes on in this this year’s fny card [Music] Championship Hoffman and force are concentrating so much on each other that if they forget this guy and his Batmobile can have another championship on their bat belt in the points well John Force no surprise is ahead but not by as much as it’d like pendon catching up so is Al Hoffman Chuck edel still a big player he was the number one qualifier here even though he got beat in the first round and deanza well the kids looking good in the top five five Helen Hoffman backing Al up in the Western Auto slick 50 special the world record holder for py car speed at 36 mph he did it twice at iglad he ran 526 here in round number one to beat Tom Hoover on the other side is Cruz pedregon from Central California qualified number seven pretty good for that car it’s not a very good qualifier for some reason 525 only 277 mph and qualifying R 531 to beat Kenji as we said earlier in round number one they get a look in at alop and the body coming up C Chief Tom Anderson this is a ritual he goes through Austin Co and the force guard several others making adjustments they care not to tell us about Steve everybody on the circle will tell you this Western Auto car has got more horsepower in it than any other funny car the key is getting it down the racetrack round after round after round and picking up those points well Bob brand the crew chief on the Joe gibsone Chris pagon Pontiac is no slash when it comes to power either but you’re right Hoffman has the big top end charge and that is raw [Music] HP Pentagon blazes the tires after dropping a cylinder off the starting line Hoffman to 535 only and I really mean only 276 mph Pentagon at a 546 at 264 and Ral when we watch this again he had a dead hole just a few feet off the starting line on the left side watch the raw fuel come out they say there you see it right there they say that the average cylinder worth about 800 horsepower in one of these funny cars and when you’re racing against a guy who’s got more horsepower than anybody else on the circuit the one thing you cannot afford to do is lose any of your cylinders that happened to Cruz he’s out of it Hoffman talks to Steve Al Hoffman can now go see the movie Batman Forever and enjoy the Fleck cuz you handled him well that’s what we’re looking to do go rounds here we move back into second place and uh it’s going to be a long hot summer yet but uh this car over here Cruz Pentagon does a hell of a good job and it’s an honor to race him and to beat him also well put the next pair is ready to go Dean scuza versus Gary Den now denum beat Chuck Chels in round one he qualified 16th with only a 551 and 267 mph he improved though to beat etel Dean scozza lots of people are keeping an eye on this car because it ran really well at Gainesville then dropped off the base for a while and we’re starting to see scoozi get back on track he qualified number 8 with a 529 at 279 mph slowed down to a 537 but he beat Gary clapshaw to move on to the next round there’s a good look at desim who put away Chuck Chels to make this match up riddle me this or riddle me that drop cylinders hurt the bat Cruz yeah we got our wings clipped out here but uh you know we’ve raced hop an awful lot I think we’ve beat them all the times we’ve raced him this year he’s a great guy great team great sponsor but just wasn’t our day but we ran awful good here very consistent but evidently we have not dropped sers in a long time so evidently it finally caught up to us now you need Force to go out yeah I think Hoffman’s been doing good at that so maybe Hoffman can take the boy out thanks Lance Larsson one of the biggest crew chiefs in the business working for Dean scz they’ve really done a great job at dialing this MCO quick shine 99 entry in here they think they have found the right combination set to get back at ah Dena pedaling the car trying to keep it hooked up but it was scza by a mile 540 271 mph D about 594 from at 180 mph these are a lapse times and speeds from the late 70s I don’t know what the heck’s going on here there you see it the one that Hoffman has nightmares about or dreams about drools over can’t wait to get his hands on him it’s kind of a love hate relationship I’m not so sure either one of these drivers could survive right now without the other well the Roar of the crowd is an approval of Force’s trademark lengthy burnout Casey Spurlock on the other hand wants to make that a trademark of his own as he’s been extending quite a few feet to those burnouts taking them almost all the way down to trip the lights at the far end now no worries here with the Bulger crew they’re just a bit of of a low budget operation and they’re just waiting till the very last minute to conserve as much fuel as they can Steve well the only superhero Dean sco’s got is his dad Dawn and all of you are making this car go down to ice track I appreciate Steve um I think we have an extra incentive here this weekend a lot of mtco and quick shine people are here but most importantly Lance said he would take us off for pistachio ice cream if we won this thing so we’re all looking forward to that on such a hot day woo he’s getting desperate now folks he’s getting desperate well of course the pistachio has got to be the word of the day if you don’t know about uh young Mr scuza they give him a word of the day and he has got to find a way to work it into the TV shows well this guy he goes through a lot of words of the day let me tell you more than we do John forson the Castro car and he loves Gary buer you know why he takes new clutch this to buer buer puts him in the bell housing runs him what time it gives them back to Forest they work better with one run on them so that is the John Forest clutch test machine in the right hand plus it saves him a fortune on this and no there is not a threat of rain that was raw fuel bumping out of the pipes of Gary Boulder’s car running a little bit on the wrist side maybe and certainly a potential to not be able to fire that cylinder and if you can’t well you talked about it before it hurch it tremendously buers got him lit but Force comes smoking by whoa John Force 530 only 272 but buer just a bit weak at 550 255 mph so the elapse times and speed still way down but that doesn’t make it a bad drag race if anything that makes it an interesting one stay with us we’ll be back to Virginia welcome to American Sports cavalcades coverage of the Virginia is for Lovers Nationals Ralph Shaheen Steve Evans and Bob pry with you from just outside of Richmond here’s Steve Evans with John Force that was like one of them good old match races just smoking the tires wheeling and dealing right now I’m the best at it because I’ve had the most practice but I’ll tell you what she’s uh we’re starting to figure this deal out even down course it don’t matter Cruz was behind us and the points got knocked out but Hoffman and uh Hoffman I love you but I think I’ve heard enough huh heard enough well wonder what he means by that sounds like this uh rivalry is just about to reached the boiling point Jack Wyatt backs up he gets set to go he’s going to match up against maybe the Challenger to the throne of the king of the burnouts Casey Spurlock yeah and it’s huge for Jack Wyatt to be this far he doesn’t run that many national events Casey Spurlock will he qualified number four at a great 519 but that was in the cool of the evening Friday night a love Pat from Crew Chief Ron swaringen he ran 532 to beat Del Worsham in round number one but uh there too that car had no big top end charge only 269 mph the Fruit of the Loom car Spurlock woo a red light and smoke of the tires for Jack Wyatt the red light nor the tires smoke any big surprise and look at Spurlock getting down there the best elapse time of the round so far at 529 273 mph and a brilliant 45 reaction time well the red light will come blazing on here to end Jack Wyatt’s day he had to try to get the jump on KC knowing that he was going to be down on Power and as far as the final four is concerned Smiley John Force on the left and Grim Al Hoffman on the right I think that about says it all what these two thinking this rivalry Force has Lane choice deam scuza and Casey Spurlock with Casey getting the lane choice now to the far end with Steve KY you might have wore that throttle pedal out you were pedaling this thing pretty hard Hollywood yeah I was you know it wasn’t that I was coming all the way out of the pedal I was just Feathering a little bit there trying to get it to dry up a little bit tracks a little tricky out there a lot of people been having trouble this weekend but you know Steve this is eliminations and you do whatever it takes best of lapse time of the round at 529 you got Lane Choice life is good life is good you know this uh really starting to come around here and the Fruit of Loom car is really doing a nice job for us even though it doesn’t look like it you know the ETS aren’t the big ETS but what matters is we’re getting to the end of the racetrack first well with a funny car action done we’ll go back to Pro stop this is round two action where Joel Leone and Buddy ingera will match up now these are two drivers who are both very competent drivers but you don’t really expect to see them moving on into round number two here’s a look at the point standings and even though all their equipment got trash darl Alderman and Scott jeffre on still sit first and third of the points but everybody else is able to close up now maybe we’ll see possibly one of the Dodges at Columbus buddy angera is a very talented driver he has driven some pretty strange machines including turbocharged gas cars all kinds of violent mounts and it’s really taught him how to handle one of these cars he’s got a tremendous amount of experience what’s inter here is these two cars qualified 12th and 13th respectively buddy ingr Saul and the Winnebago Oldsmobile at 715 193 milph and Joel Leone in the Chevrolet Baretta with the Larry Morgan Oldsmobile motor also 715 at 193 and what was kind of unique is that both the labs times and speeds were identical to the last decimal point seldom happens Leone got to be thinking whole shot again that’s what got him this far andasol he’s not going to be pressured he been around this steel a long time [Music] dead even leave by both drivers and it’s a tremendous race but Leone goes to the final four 718 to a losing 722 the two cars left the line even but watch the rear end of Leone’s car see how it steps out pointing the front end right at the center line you got to stay straight and even to have a good run and be quick Leone is able to Pedal faster to the far end he gets another win he talks to steeve hey gang it’s Joel Leone where you been I’ve been waiting that’s all I didn’t want to do anything till we got here so now we’re ready now you got him where you want them right pretty much we uh we had Lane choice that round which was something different getting by first round was something different and having Lane choice I mean it’s too much in One race but we got by it so we’re looking forward to doing the well this time we’re glad to see you again thanks we’re glad to be here appreciate it that’s actually Leone’s third victory of the weekend I heard he put it to Evans out on the golf course before the racing got started the next pair is Kurt Johnson and Mark Osborne he is a pretty good stick Kurt Johnson they’ve been trying a lot of things with this car his dad told me Warren Johnson that he expects Kurt with this race to really start making a move in the points Mark Osborne atte this guy can jump up and bite you at anytime he only qualified 14th here at 716 718 was the bump but that doesn’t say anything about the Russ’s Pizza car he’s won a national event this year and he is just deadly off the starting line a quiet man that lets his reaction time to his talking Kurt Johnson Mark Osborne Johnson near lanee who’s going to Stage [Music] h w by almost a full car length it is Kurt Johnson his dad is Right a 709 heat of the day not bad 194 mph Osborne trails with a 715 over in the pits it’s kind of like the Rose Parade if he youngster wants a good view of the action hey get on Daddy’s shoulders he won’t mind stay with us in h drag races took the Virginia is for Lovers motto to Heart Tommy Johnson Jr announced his engagement to the lovely Debbie Saturday afternoon at Eddie Hills pit well Eddie and ersie were matron and best man of honor to a wedding of their fans and in Pro Stock Jerry Amman to not be outdone pled his honeymoon to coincide with this [Music] event and up in the grand stands a whole lot of fun going on up there they love their Drag Racing Pro type drag racing as a matter of fact Jim Yates backs up he gets set to go racing well Yates is a native of Virginia that’s what a lot of those cheers were for and Troy coflin we told you earlier banging up driving up the starting line from the operator the JS mail order eMobile hasn’t been doing this all that long Jim Yates been doing it a long time in tab this year to fill the Pro Stock slot in the McDonald’s team and his Pontiac was the number two qualifier to Warren Johnson Johnson was low a 705 Yates at a 710 that is the closest anybody has been to Oren Johnson all weekend 500s of a second and that’s a century in Pro Stock racing I really think Jim Yates is putting more pressure on himself to win he’s got to get one [Music] soon he’s in trouble here whoa Yates pulls it out by a bumper 710 exactly what he qualified with 194 mph Coughlin with a much better light by 500 watch this the reason why I say Yates has got to win because everyone of Joe Gibbs other drivers including Bobby lebani now have won Yates has got to be feeling some pressure even though Gibs tells him to hang in there Yates did a good job of catching up and passing cofin before he got to the far end just barely a 710 to a 78 18 made the difference Yates gets to meet steeve Jim you tell me is a 710 good 710’s pretty good for this heat out here I think it’s awful good I tell you we just uh we’ve been working on this thing awful hard and the crew back a has been working on it and it’s running pretty good right now we just got to keep it up and cut some lights maybe uh well I tell you it’s just getting tougher and tougher out there I think we’re concentrating a lot more on the car and a little less on driving how bad was that one he was out on the bit about 500s that’s too much left let him go I don’t think that’ll happen again at least I hope not if I’m going to win this thing I can’t have that happening no no it says right in the rule book that’s exactly right Steve he can’t afford to let that ever happen again because if you have to match up against somebody like Ray Franks or Warren Johnson they won’t give you a chance to catch back Ray Franks has been looking pretty strong and he just might be able to take advantage of somebody in a racetrack like this one today this is a guy that kind of sneaks up on them you got to read the qualifying list to see they qualified number eight at a 714 or Johnson well is it any surprise number one at a 705 195 hoping to make a points Harvest while those Dodges are still sidelined of got Jeffrey on and Daryl Alderman after the criminal vandalism at the Wayne County Speed Shop they may not even make the next race on the nhr trail the oldmobile Spring Nationals we’re hoping they do boy and Warren’s got to do it now Steve he’s won the D punt challenge which shows he still has it but he’s got to get points while the Dodges are away WJ hasn’t won since inding of last year redl at first at the last [Music] race or is behind but not for long you heard him powering through the 5-speed Transmissions Johnson this is really outstanding 706 his best has been a 705 and that was at night 196 mph big speed to the conditions one of the trickiest tracks all season but one of the best pro stock runs we’ve seen all season out of Warren Johnson the master goes to work and he just goes after Ray Franks Franks got him out of the box for the 453 reaction time but down here is where Warren came on strong a 706 [Music] 196.168 against Joe Leone Johnson’s got Lane Choice Leone has his hands full here’s Steve I think from this point on this may turn into a driver’s race Warren you’re 706 there’s an 09 out there and a 10 I’ll tell you it’s going to be a driver’s race but it’s also going to be a crew chiefs race the Heat starting to come into this track getting a little tricky out there we moved around I saw Kurt move around a little bit I’m sure Jim didn’t make a picture perfect pass either well Warren we know you got plenty of information stock file back in your trans to dial in for this semifinal action coming up bla Johnson’s ready for his semi-final run but Wheeling him into the staging area now stay with us American Sports cavalcade coming back for more the Virginia is for Lovers [Music] Nationals Steve and I are book originally from California we’ll tell you the great thing about the summer time out there is it’s dry you come come to the southeast not only is it hot but it’s humid when you’re working hard at the track humidity is not your friend here’s Steve you know it’s a hot day when the tough guys on the safety sephar Get Out The Umbrellas to keep the sun off their brow everybody is feeling it the drivers more than anybody else they’re in five layer suits sometimes we’re up to 20 minutes waiting in the staging Lanes a&v ambulance down here is doing some preventative first aid and it’s called ice and cold water every driver gets out of the car they’re right there with a cold rag to mop their brow and a drink of water it can do a lot to prevent some drivers from going to the hospital we saw that in Phoenix this year heat prostration was a big problem it is a tad warm needless to say the uh soft drink concessionaires are doing a booming business here this weekend people are sucking up all the liquids they can get their hands on Shelley Anderson and Cory Mack backing up into position getting set for their semifinal runs that’s right the loser goes in the trailer the winner goes into the final round Cy Mack and Shelley Anderson and have a very nice relationship up watch them at the end of the RAC track win or lose and uh they seem to really enjoy each other’s company and each other’s competition Cory Mack second in points he can do something about that here today with Larry Dixon the points leader out in round number one that’s just more pressure on the driver the crew saying come on kid get a good light and Cory has not been catching good lights the car has been winning these races for him Cory Mack who’s sporting the Washington colors on his helmet this weekend Cory Shelly and bla Johnson Steve are all graduates out of the alcohol classes back National event winners Shy Anderson had him off the starting line but Cory Mack had the power and more importantly the traction 4.96 seconds 281 mph the speed starting to ease up where they ought to be now as maybe the afternoon is Cooling watch shell boy she really had him at the light she got in a 486 reaction time to a slower 533 had she not lost it right there she had Cory Max number at the far end of the racetrack Cory came on strong of 496 281 mph but you can see he still Haze the tires a little bit not as bad as earlier but worse than we’ve seen from him you know I kind of like him smoking the tires like that I think it adds a lot visually it means the drivers’s got stuff to do in there maybe lift or grab the break or something it makes for interesting drag racing you know a lot of people have been saying that the Nitro classes have gotten into a crew chiefs Division and it’s really just if the crew chief dials up the car today’s a good sign that the drivers are really active behind the wheel absolutely bla Johnson a four-time alcohol dragster Champion still looking for the big one here in the big leagues of Top Fuel and he’d love to get it right here in Virginia as I said he’s been below qualifier through four times this year he at top speed of the me has top speed here at 304 mph his big problem is going to be he SC Keta that’s his brother Allan Johnson who manufactures cylinder heads that a lot of these teams are using that’s one way they finance their racing effort with the Travers cool car a lot of people were telling us that you know Al Hoffman has the most horsepower in funny car a lot of people will tell you that Allan johnon makes the most horsepower in Top Fuel I’ve heard that dick Le takes not a back seat any either he’s looking over at alen Johnson Allan says okay yeah we’re ready let’s go let’s trag Grace I think the biggest problem for alen Johnson has been getting that horse power to the ground Steve and today is really going to be the tricky day for that and they’ve been killing crankshafts in the car which is super expensive Allan says yes as he walks away just to bump up his brother Scott likes to go in last and he’ll get his wish this baby is over but oh did the Johnson car sound ugly at the finish line and there’s the result he’s happy but I don’t know about ever who keeps the books on this team cuz that’s a lot of pist smoke coming out of the pipes he’s happy till he looks behind him Steve here you see it’s all over right there as Scott Keta goes up and a ball of smoke but watch the far end of the RAC track is Allan Johnson’s motor just drops cylinders it drops Parts it drops everything out of the back side of that car but l Johnson will move on to match up with Cory Mack in the final Ma has the late Choice here’s Steve until it started to feed on itself this baby was humming yeah we had some of the best short times we’ve had today and uh we were just looking forward to getting into the final you know I don’t know what happened to Scotty he maybe smoked the tires nobody told me but I’m just glad to be in the final and uh we can fix all the damage that we did today you’ve raised Cory Mack plenty of times oh yeah we we’s been around for a while we raised Al call for a while and uh I like racing them it should be interesting I haven’t racing too much in fuel yet but uh we’re going to give it another shot if you get that 300 mph speed back you could be deadly oh definitely you know it’s dropping cylinders the heat out here it’s kind of spinning on the top end but uh we’re going to do our best in the final well Allan Johnson will have a quick opportunity to put his car back together let his brother get back to the staging lanes and get ready to go we return with more semifinal action funny cars and Pro Stock still to go stay with us welcome back to the Virginia is for Lovers Nationals it is Pro Stock final four and here is a tremendous matchup the O mobile of Kurt Johnson in the previous round a 709 he will be up against the Pontiac the McDonald’s Pontiac of Jim Yates in the round earlier a 710 Tony Y using hand signals to direct him through the burnout process now the crew they have a better way of talking to their driver as Bob found out everything’s high-tech in the world of racing now even in the Pro Stock category dick masin the crew chief for the McDonald’s car tell us what you do with this little headset on dick well the whole crew has us set and we all communicate with one another and then we communicate with the driver and try to tell them what’s going on up there who’s turning what what Lane looks the best uh all kinds of things go on I think it’s kind of a neat little unit why do I want to order a Big Mac fries in a CO when I look at that I don’t know Bob that’s meal number four you sa about 65 cents just say meal number four all right there’s she eight in the far L I tell you this could be a Dandy Pro stacker sometimes will play a game or two at the starting [Music] line red light for Kurt Johnson yat has this one in the sack and listen to these numbers up Kurt by 4,000 of a second gave that one away that is absolutely unheard of we talked about how frustrating of a season has been for Kurt Johnson 4,000 of a second cost him from going into the finals here at Richmond something he desperately needed to get that boost and instead Steve talks to Yates to say Jim Yates is excited would be an understatement second final in the row another s 10 and you’ve taken over the points lead it don’t get no better than this right now I tell you I want to thank McDonald’s and Joe Gibbs and Dynamax Pontiac everybody for working so hard dick has put some serious horsepower in this car and we’re finally learning how to get it down the racetrack can you find any more horsepower for this racetrack will it take it yeah that’s what we did that run the run before we ran bad we just had a lot of clutch out of it we were trying to baby the track and the track will take everything we threw at it I mean that felt really good it hooked up hard out there and it runs strong through low gear let’s find out who he’s going to race it is good Yates picked up National event win at Brainard last year and as Steve said was in the finals in English Tamp but he needs a win here in 1995 so it’s Warren Johnson and Joel Leone boy this is both ends of the Pro Stock Spectrum Joel Leone who just uh he’s kind of like a gypsy out there going around the country great guy everybody loves him Rob Shaheen found out maybe one of the reasons why one quick look around jol Leone’s race trailer and you’ll figure out exactly what he’s all about there more jokes on the wall in this trailer than there are pictures of race cars in fact they’ll even tell you how you can get a will workk for food franchise out of these guys now Joe Leone and his team well it’s just Joe Leone really he has no team Joe you guys are having a great run here this week and Richmond what’s making the difference um believe it or not we sort of got a little luck on with us um no we um just got some uh Larry Morgan supplies engines and um we got it at the combination looks like we got it right for the track and it’s a constant battle between getting a clutch in the power line up in the track and it seems like things are going our way right now but I do hear you have one big speed secret yeah what happens is if somebody does get a little bit out in the front of me now I do this and they move over andless of course he’s distracted by the picture of the very lovely young woman taped to the steering wheel Leone does indeed love life and it loves him what a special thing this would be if he could literally fair and square feet waren Johnson you know Steve not that sitting next to you is such a bad deal but if I can drive AO stock car professionally happy loving life too better get on the hor Joe you got a big problem that was some brilliant driving on the part of the opp to even gain control of that automobile and get back on the throttle Warren wins at 707 guess what kitties that gives him Lane choice at 195 mph let’s watch again Leone woo remember when we saw Leon’s car skip out earlier watch this same problem even worse this time and you can’t afford to have any hiccups when you’re racing Warren Johnson he’s able to straighten it out and get it down the racetrack great bit of driving but he is no match for WJ the professor dialed up another big one runs a 707 195 mph he goes on to the finals to meet the golden arches of Jim Yates WJ gets the link Choice Steve all I think we have a great Final on our hands Pontiac versus ‘s mobile Jim Yates versus Warren Johnson that’s good billing that’s a good billing for JM there’s no doubt about that you got two GM cars two strong cars out there Kurt’s running well today Jim’s running well we’ve been hanging right in there I think we’re going to see a great race you got Lane Choice big deal not really I don’t think so both lanes seem to be just about the same they’re hot they’re a little greasy we’re just going to have to take a look at what we got to deal with that’s Warren Johnson for it they’re both bad a 707 sends him to the final well y has been getting better but Warren Johnson is definitely the professor know he’s got this track I think figured out just a little bit better right now they’re shaking hands now but they’re getting set to do battle and two guys that did not shake hands before they strapped in were John Force and Al Hoffman coming back they’re next welcome back to the Virginia is for lover Nationals Ralph Shaheen Steve Evans and Bob fry with you and what we’ve all been waiting for Tom Anderson set to lower the body on AL hopman’s Western autoed entry he’s going to do battle with none other than John Force and the Castro crew and Steve this is the epitome of NH drag racing in 1995 this is it it doesn’t get any better we want you to hear that long long burnout of John Forest as he whips his crowd into a frenzy you know you look at Al hop and you think boy he looks like a tough guy is he really well B fry tried to find out when it comes to drag racing everybody in the sport is well nice there’s one driver that takes a little different approach this Hal Hoffman now when it comes to racing you make no bones about it no more Mr Nice Guy I’m nice give me a break here no it’s you know everybody’s out here they’re serious they want to win this is a tough race it’s really hot out here right now and uh we’re just going around by round we move back into second place and we’re going to try to win this deal and then we’ll be right on the world championship deal pretty good weekend for you you took out that Batmobile in the last round you got old what’s his name coming up this round yeah what’s his name uh I got a pretty good score going against him this year so I was more worried about Cruz than I am what’s his name but anything can happen out there don’t have that face or that smile for you Al hofman wants to rip their tongues out now with a pair of pliers John Forest is not happy with a new Al Hoffman t-shirt that turns his stick kind of against him what really made him mad it’s a Springsteen as the king and we all know what an Elvis fan force is that got go that’s what he meant by I’ve had enough the one thing about these two drivers though Steve is they mutually respect each other and each other’s teams and because of that respect they love beating each other because they know how good of a win it is if you can put the other guy in the trailer Helen Hopman would tell you their all ofate frustration with Forest is not that he’s a great racer everybody knows that it seems like he also has the luck to go along with it when he needs it and that just drives him around the B let’s see if he’s got it here race of the today coming your way Hoffman shuts it off at 1,000 ft you saw the butterflies close down on that injector and it is Forest at a 525 getting better and better at 273 mph won’t have Hoffman to kick around anymore well Hoffman looked pretty good off the line especially just a few hundred feet down the track you’ll see Force’s rear end dance around on him a a little bit see right in there I thought that was going to spell the end for John for however the headers break on Hoffman they drag causing Sparks his day is done Steves with John John let’s be honest about it there was more runting on that one than prize money or points I know Steve I mean I make jokes to Castro and Pontiac I say Batman Cruz is stuck to the roof back in the hotel and you know the whole deal but it’s all hype but you’re right racing Al Hoffman it’s tough and uh he’s a kind guy that goes out there and does his thing and we’re the kind of guys that we do our thing to and uh we try to back up what we do but we’re having a good day here for the people don’t give a damn it’s America and this ain’t corny crap I’m just glad to be a truck driver that went somewhere in life and truck drivers we can all do it I’m glad to have met you John what else can you say Casey Spurlock he’s backing up from his burnout from the 1,000 foot Mark he’s backing up from his burnout this guy’s really laying claim to King of the burnout out well the Virginia fans are loving the burnout but Ronnie SAR Casey’s crew chief is not that excited about these new lengthy burnouts because they can really do a lot of damage to the parts well Hopman loses a force but he still talks to steeve there cannot be for you a more frustrating guy to lose to than John Forest when you got him in a corner well it’s a long year yet it’s tough conditions here you know it’s a great track great facility but you know it’s green it’s first race here it’s going to take a little time for to come around I’m happy for Western Auto on slick 50 to go this far I mean we moov back into second we got Cruz the last round force is a good racer that’s why he’s world champion so we’ll be back good attitude you see on the right side of the car which will actually be camera left here where the crew is working the header pipes sitting down on the ground where they broke that’s what caused the Sparks forced Hoffman to shut off and if he wins this Championship he will have forgotten all about Richmond Dean sco is who Casey Spurlock is going to match up with and either one of these cars can move on through this rounde very easily Steve Spurlock has the advantage on Vaper but they’re on [Music] pavement scza back pedals oh and Spurlock Clos the motor scozza was closing fast but not quite enough that was an expensive Run for the froom active wear car 548 and only 246 well how much of that was due to that 1,000 F foot burnout do you think Ronnie sar’s got some work to do there you see the tires letting go on sco’s car he backpedals gets back in it boy with a nice bit of driving by Dean skoza Lance Larson will be proud of his boy when he gets back to the pit on the other side watch the pp of smoke the big one right at the line Casey moves on to match up with John Force to the Virginia is for Lovers finals Steve gets to talk to the Hollywood guy these things you usually give you a sign something bad is about to happen usually yeah I had a sign that time it started spinning the tires really hard and shaking I pedal it a couple times on that last pedal when I got all the way back into the throttle it popped but like we talked about before you’re trying to get to the finals here you’re trying to win this race this is elimination day I’ve got more Motors we’ll change them every round if we have to who will do the longest burnout you or Forest no question about it Hollywood’s the king 1,000 ft is the record here this afternoon maybe more when we come back stay with us back in Virginia with pedregon out Hoffman out John Forest is in high cotton and he’s enjoying every minute of it relaxing with his fans and there’s plenty of them all right it is time right now for the Pro Stock final you know the players Jim Yates looking for his first win of the Year up against Warren Johnson in the eMobile the number one and number two qualifiers R Shaheen Steve I bet you WJ is thinking more about the fact that he needs to win here to get the points to beat the Dodge guys that he is about the fact that he’s racing Jim Yates and Warren Johnson has not won a race yet this year either which is just almost impossible to believe the Dodges were so dominant but they’re not here Jim Yates has got to be thinking about his driving in fact both drivers have to concentrate on that Christmas Street neither has been spectacular in that department let’s see if they play any games [Music] nope the professor and his Carew Chief Greg Anderson Back In The Starting Line likes what he sees on the scoreboard another 706 for Johnson another 710 for Yates lots of sportsmanship on the starting line 196 for Johnson 195 for Yates but waren ruled up the starting line both drivers did pretty much what they’ve done all day to today pretty slow at the starting line nothing real amazing up there but the times at the far end of the racetrack were both very very good problem for Jim Yates is just that wj’s been better all day not by much but just enough to win his first national of the Year [Music] Steve ready right Steve it’s been so long he still working this job congratulations thank you Steve contrary to Jim Yates I stand on my earlier statement nobody was close to Warren Johnson this weekend tremendous job off the starting line first of the Finish Line well Jim’s awful good on the tree so I knew I had to do my job there Greg’s been doing a great job on his race car all weekend long I believe we’ve been in the 70’s all all weekend long I don’t know what this last run was was but it felt pretty good it doesn’t matter it was a 706 for the record well as you can see even though Yates lost here today he moves to the lead of the point standings Alderman drops down to third jeffon falls out of the top three WJ slides up to number two bla Johnson fires up his car he’s ready to go Top Fuel final getting set to get underway Cory Mack getting ready to go as Lee beard takes a look over the engine makes a few adjustments inside the cockit all looks well on the Johnson car likewise on the mcclanathan car one thing these two drivers have in common besides excellent burnouts is they’re members of the national hot rad Association you can be two for just $52 a year that gets you 48 issues of national dragster magazine a rule book a pen a patch a decal and if you call the number on your screen right now I’ll make absolutely sure they throw in your free copy of diamond peas drag racing 94 so join NH the world’s largest Motorsports sanctioning body and the first time in h is a feed here in Virginia is this afternoon and we’re looking at the next to last race the Top Fuel final Alan Johnson what what what do you think I think it’s a pickup Ralph I really think so too Stephen and I wouldn’t have said that had this been an earlier race in the day the reason why I’m saying that is because earlier today was very very hot Blaine was quick and qualified second quickest as a matter of fact and that was done in the cool of the evening now that we’re later in the afternoon the track is cooled down the air temperature is cooled down some of that horsepower is coming back to blame Johnson Cory Mack has his hands full this is also a battle between the Cur Chiefs Allen Johnson and Lee beard you saw them walk away nothing they can do now to help Cory Mack was up to the challenge he just drill bling Johnson Off The Starting Line 4.96 the winning elapse time to a 498 only 200s between them but with 400s off the starting line his best line of the day Cory Mack made it look worse than it had to be Cory obviously figured out it to cool down as well and he got on the light as quick as he could a 456 to a 497 that really helped out Cory M because down at the far end of the racetrack Johnson was not much slower than Cory Mack a 496 to a 498 Cory Mack had just enough and the winning crew celebrates Big Max for everybody on the other side oh so so close you can’t be that far off Steve and everywhere in Southern California they’re dancing on the tables and ordering another round Cory Mack has done it again how about this burger car huh how about that drag race it was a good drag race I could hear him all the way down there I knew he’d be on time the starting line just one of those things man I have to thank Joe Gibbs Interstate Batteries Shell Oil EDS Champion spark plugs all the above thank you for everything thanks and thank you for a great day of racing this is why it’s so important to ad Dan on through the rounds Larry Dixon goes out in round one Cory Mack wins look at the flipflop at the top of the leaders here in the point standings bla Johnson actually sits fifth in the points now behind Cory Mack Ronnie SAR Engen wondering if his driver is going to give him another lengthy burnout and stress the parts on that Fruit of Loom backed entry on the other side of the starting line Austin Coyle Waits patiently as John Force gets set for the funny car final next welcome back to the funy car final for the Virginia is for Lovers Nationals John Forest backing into position Steve found out earlier that signing autographs and the force family is in the jeans like father like daughter that is Courtney John Force’s youngest she just learned to write she’s in the first grade and she’s working the crowd signing autographs yesterday she started doing this all by herself the crowd was chanting that they wanted Courtney toci so she is fact her signature’s better than for’s force is hoping he’s just a better driver right now than his [Music] daughter John Forest weing deing smoke of the tires he doesn’t care that’s way he likes it he wins the Virginia is for Lovers Nationals at a 519 best the lap time of the day with a jump speed of 270 boy he came loaded for this one Steve the better reaction time of 477 to a 526 for KC Spurlock at the big end of the racetrack how about a 519 to a 557 and all kinds of problems for Spurlock look at Force he’s smoking he’s popping he’s beling he’s doing everything and he’s winning and the crew is pumped at the far end of the racetrack Force climbed out of his hot rod as he calls it gets to talk to Steve Well I tell you what John Forest fighting to get his helmet off he’s exhausted he’s worked very hard all day in this heat and John it was like he had a Target right in the middle of your forehead all day they all wanted a shot hey it’s been all day but they tell me the nightmare is over but kitties it ain’t long as you got coil and Bernie federally and a Pontiac and castle and all them people to pay big duck on the Block here one what can I say F allite we’ done our job Cruz is still stuck to that ceiling Batman that’s why I love him well Force did just what he had to do he put away pedron they put away Hoffman and he extended his points lead here at the inaugural Virginia is for Lovers Nationals a promotional consideration has been provided for a feed paid by the special offer from Diamond P Sports what could follow the three volumes of diamond peas and they walked away series a fourth and they walked away four like its predecessors captures the most perilous moments in recent Motorsports history unmerciful dumbles unbelievable flips BS and fires and in every harrowing incident the driver beats the odds once again man and machine test their metal through Mayhem and over a dozen Motorsports disciplines you can’t find this video in stores you can’t run it and anyone who has it won’t let you beg b or steal it then how do you get your own copy of and they walked away for call 800 652 8686 or send 2495 plus $4 shipping and hand link to the address on your screen 1 1800 652 8686 or charge it on your Visa Mastercard or discovered card every time there’s a new drag race on the schedule everybody’s anticipation gets high and the inaugural running of the Virginia for lovers Nationals didn’t let us down as we look back [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] for Bob fry and Ralph shahim I’m Steve Evans sing so long from Richmond
