Rocky Mountain Race Week 1.0 Wrap Up – Hurley, Thompson and Shaffer Highlight the Winners’ List
It started one week ago in Nebraska at Kearney Raceway Park, as the 2023 edition of Rocky Mountain Race Week (RMRW) kicked off seven days of racing and street driving for the competitors, as well as the Road Week participants.
Following the opening day of race competition on June 24th, the pack of enthusiasts did the long drive on day two from Nebraska to Colorado. Once there, they guided their rides to Bandimere Speedway for the second day of racing, on the third day of RMRW.
Day number four led the tour to Pueblo Motorsports Park for the third day of racing, and the tour would return for a second-straight day of racing at Pueblo Motorsports Park for day five.
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A drive day to conquer the 425-mile jaunt from Colorado to Nebraska highlighted day six, and the final day, June 30th, had the competitors and Road Weekers back at Kearney Raceway Park for day seven for the final day of racing, and to crown winners.
The Unlimited class was all Jason Hurley and “The Meltdown Firebird.” Battling everything from broken valve springs to a complete engine swap to finish the final drive, Hurley got the job done with a 7.56 average to secure his second-straight Unlimited class victory.
Jon Wischmann carded a 9.65 average for the second spot, and Jason Cunningham nabbed third with a 10.08 average.
Another class that was led start to finish was the Hot Rod class, where Corey Thompson reigned supreme.
Although a suspension incident on the street with his 7-second ’67 Chevelle did cause some stress, Thompson put together an 8.08 average for the class win, his fourth RMRW Hot Rod class win and fifth drag-and-drive class win in as many events.
Walter Doyle’s ’66 Chevelle averaged 8.94 for second, and Brandon Tapp came in third with a 9.02 average.
A titanic battle waged in Ultimate Radial between Ricky Daniels and Brad Thiessen. Danial and his ’86 Mustang led the class through the first two days, but as the competitors turned to Pueblo, Thiessen got his second wind by clocking his two best runs of the week, an 8.10 followed by an 8.05 to solidify an 8.253 average.
Daniels also improved on days three and four, clocking an 8.25 and then an 8.12, giving him an 8.261 average to hand Thiessen the title by just eight thousandths of-a-second. Clay Meyer rounded out the top three with a 9.80 average.
A new champion was crowned in the eighth-mile Rowdy Radial class. Travis Martin came in a two-time and defending champion, but Matt Moore became the new king on the tiny 235 sized radials.
Opening with a 5.13 new record single pass for the class, Moore stayed in the 5.1-second range all week, except for day three where he clocked the first 4-second pass in the class, a 4.95 at 145 mph. His average came in at 5.08, also a new class record, to go with his Rowdy Radial class victory.
Martin’s respectable 5.31 average secured second place, and Donavan Linwood landed third courtesy of a 5.37 average.
Aaron Shaffer and the “Silverback” Camaro would top all comers in an 8.50-limited time slip class, this time picking up the win in Limited Street. In a close battle with Trevor Branden over the first two days, Shaffer pulled ahead on days three and four in Pueblo to win by a comfortable margin with an 8.57 average.
Payden Bullock and Steven Willingham both finished with 8.81 averages, but Bullock was one thousandth of-a-second better to grab the second spot, negating Willingham to third.
Donavon Leeder took control of the Outlaw Street class from the word go, as the only car in the 8-second range collected four 8-second time slips for an 8.61 average and the win.
Kenny McGarry’s Nova averaged 9.34 for the runner up spot, and another Nova finished third, as Bob Ruppel’s 10.03 average did the trick.
The Pro Street class was initially led by Mike Hazelwood, but when he dropped out after day two with problems, Adam Crego stepped up to the plate with an 8.95 average to get the class win.
David Bell with a 9.19 average locked up the second spot, and Jon Pickering put his Chevy pick-up truck in third with a 9.33 average.
The Stick Shift class was a battle through the week between Tom Stark wheeling his recently-completed Ford Mustang, Bill Armstrong and his classic Fairlane, and Joel Magill’s Chevy pick-up.
Stark led the 9-second trio until day three when Armstrong came around him, and the Fairlane driver held the lead to the end with a 9.43 average getting the overall win. Magill earned second place with a 9.98 average, and a final day 13-second pass slowed Stark’s average to a 10.52 for third.
The Gasser class had a good variety of entries, and in the end, it was Joe Grier’s ’70 Chevy pick-up with an 11.01 average getting the win over Bob Larsen’s ’38 Dodge coupe in second, and Jason King’s ’50 Willys Jeep in third.
For those that choose to run without power adders, RMRW offers two classes: Naturally-Aspirated Small Block and Naturally-Aspirated Big Block.
The N/A Small Block class found Matt Koetting at the top of the list with his ’68 Chevy Camaro thanks to a 10.23 average, while Michael Crow denied all competitors in the N/A Big Block class with a 10.12 average from his ’69 Dodge Dart.
The index classes always bring a large crowd to RMRW, and five titles were up for grabs.
The 9-Second class was won by Luna Tran with a 2020 GTR posting a 9.08 average. Vince Ruhe was second, and Shawn Slaubaugh rounded out the top three.
The 10-Second class found the Buick Regal of James Chance on top with a 10.03 average for the win. Tim Meyer was just a hundredth of-a-second behind in second, and David Young earned the third-place finish.
Camron Thorpe put his LS-powered Volvo station wagon atop the 11-Second class with an 11.03 average, with Ryan McFadden in second, and number three going to Michael Trejo.
The 1972 Chevrolet Nova of Greg Jones came out on top of the 12-Second class with a 12.03 average. Travis Boltman and Ron Goscha earned the second and third place positions.
The 13-Second class would produce the closest finish of the entire event, with the top three averages separated by just eleven thousandths of-a-second! A 13.068 average for Caleb Dorn was enough to secure the win over Rich Thorpe by a mere one thousandth of-a-second, and Geoff Dugopolski came in third place.
The largest class was the 14-Second class, with over 40 rides battling for the top spot. Kyle Calkins denied all with a 14.02 average earning the first-place accolades, Cody Van Winkle finished second, and Josh Odom rounded out the trop three.
Junior Street, contested on the eighth-mile standard, found Austin Allsup captured the title with a 9.11 average, Logan Iske in second with a 9.33 average, and Elijah Slaubaugh rounded out the top three with a 9.44 average.
The Motorcycle class was captured by Shane Werner, who used a 10.69 average to lock up the class win. Daniel Donavan’s 11.63 average secured the number two spot, while Roland Taber got third with an 11.88 average.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of 1320 Video and Motion Raceworks.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com