Leicester: Von Smith final report

LEICESTER, NY.- The weekend rains didn't start early enough and stopped too soon for Von Smith as his two-race IHRA win streak against Scott Weney went down the drain yesterday during the first round of Pro Funny Car eliminations at the CARQUEST Empire Nationals hosted by New York International Raceway in Leicester, NY.

The loss by the Tennessean also opened the door for Weney to recapture the points lead. Smith, who wrestled the points lead from Weney a month ago with his victory during the Amalie Oil Summer Nationals in Cordova, Ill., nailed his arch rival to the Christmas tree with a reaction time of .465 seconds to .549. in his Atomic City Tool-Nitro fish Trans Am.

Weney, however, had too much power for the two-time defending Funny Car champion as he went by on the top end to win by .029 seconds or about 10 feet. Weney covered the New York International Raceway Park quarter-mile in an elapsed time of 5.943 seconds at 235.54 mph to Smith's 6.056/236.96.

Smith's problems surfaced during qualifying. On Friday, his car battled tire shake, drifted towards the centerline and eventually clipped a foam timing block. The run was disqualified for crossing the centerline.

With the threat of rain on Saturday, Smith used a conservative run to qualify, albeit the 15th spot, with a pass of 6.108/231.47.

Smith will resume his battle with Weney for the king of the funny-car drivers during the CARQUEST Northern Nationals on Aug. 4-6 at the Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton.