Drag

Grand Bend Al Billes Post Race Report

GRAND BEND, ONT. - Despite chasing an aggravating "gremlin" all weekend, Al Billes and the Billes Racing team had the Canadian fans on their feet every time they brought the swoopy, bright yellow '53 Studebaker to the line during the IHRA's ...

Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

GRAND BEND, ONT. - Despite chasing an aggravating "gremlin" all weekend, Al Billes and the Billes Racing team had the Canadian fans on their feet every time they brought the swoopy, bright yellow '53 Studebaker to the line during the IHRA's inaugural Mopar Parts Canadian Nationals Presented by Castrol.

Billes, of Barrie, Ontario, had qualified in the number one position at the first two events of the year, but this weekend a team from New York State made a "three-peat" a pretty tall order with a stunning 6.179 in Saturday's final qualifying session.

Billes qualified fifth overall with a very respectable 6.377. But his "Sudden Stude" has run much quicker, and in fact held the ET record of 6.268 for quite a while in 1999. Like all the Canadian racers in attendance at the landmark event, Billes wanted to put on the best possible show for the capacity crowd. But there was just "something" in the car that prevented Al from taking it that extra mile. (That would be quarter-mile in this case, wouldn't it)?

"I think we must have worked on everything under the hood and in the drivetrain during the course of the weekend," remarked Billes, "The team worked really hard, but we just couldn't pin down our problem. With the tremendous support from a huge Canadian crowd, and the cool, near-perfect supercharger weather, we were really high on our chances to get our first win of 2000."

"Of course, we're pretty satisfied with a semi-final appearance against this tough Pro Mod crowd. We just want to go a few more rounds in Cordova (Illinois). We've got two weeks before we go there, so we'll be putting in plenty of shop time between now and then getting things sorted out."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article ESS: Cornwall: Alain Bergeron wins wire to wire event

Next article BUSCH: Buckshot Jones says South Boston is a tough track

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Max Verstappen slams “unacceptable” bumps at Austin F1 track: “It's out of control”

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

2 h

Max Verstappen slams “unacceptable” bumps at Austin F1 track: “It's out of control”

Kimi Antonelli ready to "finish the job" as first F1 title chance beckons at US GP

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

3 h

Kimi Antonelli ready to "finish the job" as first F1 title chance beckons at US GP

How to watch NASCAR at Talladega II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Talladega II

3 h

How to watch NASCAR at Talladega II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV

Peterson Racing addresses online abuse after parting ways with Austin Green

NASCAR O'Reilly

NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly

Talladega II

3 h

Peterson Racing addresses online abuse after parting ways with Austin Green

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts