PENNER PROVES TOO TOUGH FOR SOUTHWEST
SUPERCHARGERS
The Southwest
Superchargers returned to El Paso Dragway
September 11 for their seventh race of the 2011
season and Jacob Penner of Seminole, Texas had a
“max performance” kinda day.
VIDEO The first qualifying session for the 11 SWSC cars
started around 6:30. Gary Hill made a stunning
7.602/181.89 right out of the trailer. Charlotte
Schmidt had a great 7.78/171.49 in her and Al’s
pro-mod style Camaro. Relative newby Ricky
Esparza went 8.00/191.97 in his and Dad’s
big-block-urged front motored rail. Buck Woolen,
Sr. clicked off a close 7.64/183.02. Sue
Stringer hazed the hides horribly and had to
quit in her first pass. Bill Norman/Norman
Bros./Bennett & Oliver funster made a decent
7.71/188. Local SWSC standout and recent winner
Lyle Byrum made a sub-index 7.52/180.86. SWSC
past points champion Julian Moody went
7.56/184.57 out of the box. But Jacob Penner
made the run of Q-1 when his 7.601/190.03 came
in under Gary’s 7.602 for the #1 spot on the
SWSC pairings board. Honorable mention and Kudos
to Penner for the stir-fry fajitas served up
after Rd. 1 Qualifying!
Qualifying opportunities returned around 8:00 pm.
Buck’s Q-2 pass was 7.53/187. Sues run was an
8.03 on a half-track pass. Lyle stepped up to a
7.71/172. Julian went 7.63. Brittny Blakely
showed a nice 7.62/183.82. Ricky ran a sub-index
7.54/191. Gary Hill slowed to 8.22/176. Bill
Norman made a respectable 7.65/186.25. And
Penner’s Q-2 was 7.63. Charlotte had shredded a
front tire in Q-1 and could not return for Q-2,
and Al Selig broke (Sorry ‘bout that, good to
see you out!)
The SWSC ladder lined up like this:
#1 Jacob Penner (7.601) would race #8 Lyle Byrum
(7.520, .080 under), #2 Gary Hill (7.602) vs. #7
Ricky Esparza (7.543, .057 under), #3 Brittny
Blakely (7.580, .020 under) would meet #6 Bill
Norman (7.650), and #4 Julian Moody (7.630)
would do battle with #5 Buck Woolen Sr. (7.641).
Sue, Charlotte and Al missed the field.
Let the racing begin! #4 Moody lined up to race
#5 Buck. When the smoke cleared the clocks
showed Buck had run under the SWSC index of 7.60
(7.517/174) and Julian had matched his
qualifying numbers to the thousandth, 7.630 for
the first round win. Next up was #3 Brittny
Blakely who lost a double breakout duel to Bill
Norman, her more serious 7.502 to Bills winning
7.551/186. #2 Gary Hill gave away a nicely
launched pass to #7 Esparza when Gary lifted to
save an under index pass, slowed to a 7.829/139
and allowed Rick’s slingshot the win with his
7.627/184.70 after blazing the bolonies
blatantly at the hit. Great job! Finally #1
Penner won over #8 Lyle Byrum with a sub
7.567/184.72 to Lyle’s 7.529/185.18.
Rd 2 SWSC saw #6 Norman Bros run #7 Esparza. In
what may have been the closest race of the event
Esparza got the win light with a 7.686/166.79
over Bill’s 7.71/181.74. The other match in the
semi-final round was #1 Penner vs. #4 Moody.
Julian had a rare race equipment failure (.20c
cotter pin ) and couldn’t back up after the
burnout, handing the win to Penner who hung it
out to a crowd-pleasing 7.473/186.10.
The final round revealed #7 Ricky Esparza
(Mesilla Park, NM) had lane choice over #1 Jacob
Penner (Seminole, TX). Ricky’s story-book race
ended early on his red-light start and instant
Runner-Up finish as Jacob cruised to a soft 7.90
for the SWSC win. Congrats to Penner Auto
Machine Team and more Congrats to the Rick &
Ricky Esparza team of Esparza Race Chassis on
their first money win with the windmill crowd!
And Best Wishes to Ginger Esparza & Get Well
Soon!
Go
here to see more great videos:
http://www.southwestdrags.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14717
OK, race fans, only one race left on the SWSC
2011 race calendar. Lets have a big one in
Roswell in October! We’ll see you at the races!
FRiS
Jacob Penner winner in El Paso, Tx.
Rick
and Ricky Esparza runner up in El Paso.
Good Vibrations Quick Light of Elims Julian
Moody (.422)
Mears Mazda Top Qualifier Bonus’ #1 Jacob Penner
#2 Gary Hill
Jerry Norman Race Cars/SMC Driver Bounty not
awarded
MSD Winner Bonus Jacob Penner
MSD Runner Up bonus Ricky Esparza
Davidson Racing Fuels 30-gal drum of Methanol to
Winner Jacob Penner
7.60 passes 12
7.50 “ 10
180+ mph 19!
Spread of field (7.601-7.520) .081!